MOLLIE'S 
 
 SUBSTITUTE 
 
 HUSBAND 
 
 MAX MCCONN
 
 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE 
 HUSBAND
 
 "Get the paper!" 
 
 Page 74
 
 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE 
 HUSBAND 
 
 BY 
 MAX McCONN 
 
 WltH FRONTISPIECE BY 
 
 EDWARD C. CASWELL 
 
 NEW YORK 
 DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 
 
 1920
 
 COPYEIGHT, 1920 
 
 BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY, INC.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I " THE PROFESSOR" ON A SPREE . . l 
 
 II THE PRETTIEST GIRL .... 9 
 
 III FRIENDLY STRANGERS .... 18 
 
 IV AN UNSCRUPULOUS EEFORMER . . 25 
 V ALICIA AND THE MOTIVES OF MEN . . 38 
 
 VI STAGE-SETTING . . . . . .47 
 
 VII BOY AND GIRL 60 
 
 VIII PASSAGES WITH MAYOR BLACK . . 68 
 
 IX AUNT MARY 81 
 
 X A SENATOR MISSING 94 
 
 XI CONFESSIONS OF WAITER No. 73 . . 102 
 
 XII GRAPEFRUIT AND TELEGRAMS . . . 116 
 
 XIII A CHANGE OF MANAGEMENT . . . 129 
 
 XIV HOLDING THE FORT 141 
 
 XV COUNCIL OF WAR 158 
 
 XVI THE SENATORIAL DINNER . . . 168 
 
 XVII A DEVIOUS JOURNEY .... 180 
 
 XVIII JENNIE 195 
 
 XIX A NEW ANTAGONIST .... 210 
 
 XX AN EVENTFUL SUPPER PARTY . . . 225 
 
 XXI FLASH LIGHTS 239 
 
 XXII VIRTUE TRIUMPHANT .... 250 
 
 XXIII RETURN . . . . . . .266 
 
 XXIV THE REFORM LEAGUE 276
 
 vi CONTENTS 
 
 XXV SECOND COUNCIL OF WAR . . .291 
 
 XXVI THE BUSINESS OF BEING AN IMPOSTOR . 306 
 
 XXVII THE CODE TELEGRAM . . . . 321 
 
 XXVIII SIMPSON AS DETECTIVE .... 329 
 
 XXIX THE FINAL DILEMMA . . . .344 
 
 XXX MOLUE JUNE . , , , . 359
 
 2137185 '
 
 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE 
 HUSBAND 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 " THE PROFESSOR " ON A SPREE 
 
 TOKN" MERRIAM, Principal of the High School 
 *l at Riceville, Illinois " Professor " Merriam, as 
 he was universally called by the citizens of Rice- 
 ville was wickedly, carnally, gloriously happy. 
 He was having an unwonted spree. 
 
 I fear the reader will be shocked. The principal 
 of a high school, he will say, has no right to a spree, 
 even an occasional one. The " Professor " has girl 
 students in his classes mostly girls, indeed, and 
 usually the prettiest ones in town and women 
 teachers under his supervision. Every seventh day 
 he teaches a young people's class in a Sunday 
 School. He makes addresses at meetings of the 
 Y. P. S. C. E., the Y. M. C. A., and other alpha- 
 betically designated societies that make for right- 
 eousness and decorum. He should at all times and 
 in all places be a model, an exemplar, to the bud- 
 ding young men and women of the community in 
 general and his school in particular. 
 
 In this reasoning the reader is in strict accord 
 with what the sentiment of all Riceville would have 
 been if it had known if it could have known. 
 
 1
 
 2 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 Nevertheless, it is the regrettable and shocking 
 fact that John Merriam was sitting on that pleasant 
 April evening in the Peacock Cabaret of the Hotel 
 De Soto in the wicked city of Chicago. He was 
 attired in evening clothes, a fact which in itself 
 would have seemed both odd and reprehensible to 
 Eiceville, and he was alone at a tiny table with a 
 yellow-silk-shaded lamp. He had just been guided 
 to that table, and pending the arrival of a waiter, 
 he was gazing eagerly, boyishly about him at such 
 delights as the somewhat garish Peacock Cabaret 
 displayed. 
 
 For John Merriam, though a "professor," was 
 young. He was only twenty-eight. He was tall 
 and blond and athletic, as young men who grow up 
 on farms in the Middle West and then go to college 
 have a way of being. And after his season of 
 strenuous and highly virtuous labours at Eiceville 
 he was really hungry, keen, fotf something well, 
 just a little less virtuous. 
 
 A distinguished looking gentleman in a dinner 
 jacket, conspicuously labeled with a number, some- 
 what haughtily and negligently approached, bear- 
 ing a menu card. 
 
 About three paces away this gentleman, having 
 glanced at young Merriam, fairly stopped and 
 stared at him. An odd expression showed upon 
 his face an expression, one would almost have 
 said, of intense animosity. Then, as he still stared, 
 one might have decided that his look betokened 
 perplexity. He winked his eyes several times and
 
 " THE PROFESSOR " ON A SPREE 3 
 
 once more scrutinised his waiting guest. At length 
 perhaps ten seconds had passed his face slowly, 
 wonderingly cleared, his usual air of vacant indif- 
 ference returned, and he advanced and placed the 
 menu card in Merriam's hands. The latter, still 
 drinking in the sights and sounds of his unaccus- 
 tomed environment, had noticed nothing. 
 
 Now it is always prudent to note a waiter's num- 
 ber when he first presents himself, for in case he 
 should decide to begin his summer vacation im- 
 mediately after taking your order you may need to 
 mention his number to the head waiter. In this 
 case the number was 73. 
 
 The hauteur and negligence displayed were partly 
 habitual professional, so to speak but were inten- 
 sified perhaps by the reaction from the emotion, 
 whatever it was, which he had apparently just ex- 
 perienced perhaps also by the look of alert and 
 genuine pleasure on Merriam's face. Such a look 
 did not wholly commend itself or him to a sophisti- 
 cated metropolitan taste. What right had a patron 
 of the Peacock Cabaret to look really pleased? It 
 was hardly decent and argued a small tip. 
 
 Inwardly Merriam, now aware of the waiter's 
 presence, reacted acutely to this clearly perceptible 
 disdain. Which shows how young and how rural 
 he was. We maturer, urban folk are never, of 
 course, in the least nonplused by those contemptu- 
 ous, blase silences of waiters who possess the bear- 
 ing and manner of a governor or a capitalist. 
 
 But John Merriam had been excellent in amateur
 
 4 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 dramatics at college, and he now roused himself to 
 a magnificent histrionic effort in the role of " man 
 of the world." 
 
 He pushed the menu card aside without looking 
 at it. 
 
 "A clam cocktail, please, and a stein of beer," 
 he murmured, low enough to force the distinguished 
 one to unbend slightly in order to catch the 
 words. 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Waiter No. 73, with a tentative 
 suggestion of respect in his tone. A customer who 
 did not bother to look at the menu might be worth 
 while afrcer all. 
 
 " And then what? " 
 
 " I'll see how I feel then," said Merriam with a 
 half yawn. 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Waiter No. 73, almost courte- 
 ously, and departed at a pace slightly quickened 
 over that of his approach, as a man strolling at 
 complete leisure w T ill instinctively increase the 
 tempo of his step if he chances to recall a definite 
 engagement on the day after to-morrow. 
 
 Merriam grinned delightedly. He had put it 
 across his little piece of acting. He had measur- 
 ably imposed his role on his audience of one; at 
 least he had shaken him. 
 
 And then I shudder when I recall the views on 
 nicotine of the Board of Education at Eiceville he 
 drew from his pocket a package of cigarettes, and 
 took a match from the table, and lit a cigarette, and 
 sent a volume of smoke out through his nostrils
 
 " THE PROFESSOR " ON A SPREE 5 
 
 proving, alas, that it was not his first indulgence, 
 and, with a sigh that might almost be described as 
 ecstatic, turned his attention again to the scene 
 about him. 
 
 That scene was piquant to him after the ugly 
 dining room of his boarding house at Eiceville and 
 the barren assembly hall of the High School to a 
 degree almost incredible to persons more habituated 
 to the Peacock Cabaret and similar resorts. Not 
 being quite so fresh from Riceville, nor yet the 
 advertising manager of the Hotel De Soto, I cannot, 
 I fear, paint the prospect as Merriam saw it. I 
 shall not be able to conceal some mental reserva- 
 tions as to its charms. The purple peacocks upon 
 the walls and ceiling, from which the restaurant 
 took its name, were certainly a trifle over-gorgeous, 
 just as the music which the orchestra intermittently 
 dispensed was too much syncopated. Again, the 
 scores of small tables, each with its silk-shaded 
 lamp, its slim glass vase for a single rosebud, its 
 water bottle bearing the arms of the Chevalier De 
 Soto, and its ash receptacle all alike as shoe 
 boxes in a shoe shop are alike, might to a tired 
 fancy suggest a certain monotony of pleasure, a 
 too-much-standardised, ready-made brand of bliss. 
 The small, skimped stage, with its undeniably banal 
 curtain, and the crowded dancing floor did not 
 really promise unlimited delights. Some percep- 
 tion of all this was apparent in the faces and bear- 
 ing of many of the white-shirt-fronted men who sat 
 at the scores of tables and of the women who were
 
 6 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 with them, however bird-of-paradise-like the rai- 
 ment of the latter might be. Not a few indeed dis- 
 played an air of languor and ennui that might have 
 won approval even from Waiter No. 73. 
 
 But in speaking thus of the Peacock Cabaret I 
 am stepping outside my story, violating unity of 
 point of view in short, committing a heinous liter- 
 ary crime. For to Merriam at that moment the 
 screaming purple peacocks, the regiments of rose- 
 buds, the musical comedy melodies, the gay attire 
 and bare shoulders of the women, and even the tired, 
 look of his fellow-diners, which he interpreted as 
 sophistication rather than simple boredom, were 
 thrillingly symbolical of all the delights which the 
 great world held and which were absent from Eice- 
 ville. And when Waiter No. 73 leisurely returned, 
 to find him outwardly almost too near asleep to 
 keep his cigarette going, and deposited his clam 
 cocktail and the wicked stein before him, and at the 
 same moment the orchestra became more noisy than 
 ever, and all the lights except those upon the tables 
 went out, and the stage curtain rose upon a short- 
 skirted chorus, he was really in a sort of Omar 
 Khayyam paradise. It was lucky that Waiter No. 
 73 had again departed to those unknown regions 
 where waiters spend the bulk of their time, for 
 Merriam could not have concealed the zest with 
 which he alternately ate and drank and surveyed 
 the moderately comely demoiselles upon the little 
 stage. 
 
 Having finished his cocktail and drunk some of
 
 THE PKOFESSOR " ON A SPEEE 7 
 
 Ms beer and seen the curtain descend on the first 
 "act" of the cabaret's dramatic entertainment, 
 Merriam lit another cigarette, shifted his chair, and 
 settled himself to await the probable future return 
 of his servitor. His thoughts dwelt contentedly on 
 the evening before him. For after his meal he 
 would have a stroll with a cigar in the spring twi- 
 light (it was barely six-thirty then) through the 
 noisy, brightly lighted streets of the Loop, which 
 never failed to thrill him with a sense of a somehow 
 wicked vastness, power, and riches in the great city 
 of which they were the center. And then he was 
 going to the " Follies." He fingered the small 
 envelope in his pocket which held his ticket. And 
 after the show he would have a supper in another 
 cabaret. 
 
 Beyond that he did not let his fancy wander. 
 For after that there was nothing for it but to catch 
 the 2 : 00 A. M. train on the Illinois Central that 
 would carry him back to Kiceville for the remaining 
 six weeks of the school year. He had come up to 
 Chicago on this spring day a Tuesday it was to 
 attend a convention of high-school principals and 
 to engage a couple of new teachers for the next year, 
 to replace two that were to be married in June. 
 And he had faithfully done these things. And now 
 he was giving himself just this one evening of 
 amusements two cabaret meals and a "show," 
 sauced, so to speak, with a little tobacco and beer 
 and the wearing of his evening clothes. Surely, 
 whatever Kiceville might have thought, he will not
 
 8 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 seem to most of us very derelict from the austere 
 ideals of his profession. 
 
 The only real point against him most of us 
 might argue lies in the fact that when you touch 
 even the outermost fringes of the night life of a city, 
 you are never quite certain what may come to you. 
 For there are things happening all about you, under 
 the conventional, monotonous surface things 
 amusing and things terrible men and women play- 
 ing with the fire of every known human passion, 
 and if the finger of some adventure reaches out for 
 you you may not be able to resist its lure, perhaps 
 even to escape its clutch.
 
 CHAPTER H 
 
 THE PKETTIEST GIRL 
 
 I HAVE said that Merriam had shifted his chair 
 a little as he lit his second cigarette. A moment 
 later he was looking very hard at a certain pretty 
 woman at a table half way across the room. His 
 heart stopped. At least that is the phrase a novelist 
 seems to be required to use to indicate the sudden 
 pulse of amazement and pleasure and alarm which 
 he certainly felt. 
 
 The young woman at whom he was staring had a 
 name which is very important for this story and 
 which I shall presently tell you, but in John Mer- 
 riam's mind her name was " the prettiest girl," and 
 her other name, which he seldom dared whisper to 
 his heart, was " Mollie June." She was from Kice- 
 ville hence the alarm with which his pleasure was 
 mixed, and during his first four months of teach- 
 ing, three years before, she had been in his senior 
 class in the High School the " prettiest girl " in 
 the class and in the school and in the town and in 
 the State and the United States and the world, if 
 you had asked John Merriam. Advanced algebra 
 with Mollie June in the class had been the most 
 golden of sciences pleasure squared, delight cubed, 
 and bliss to the rath power. I am not myself abso- 
 
 9
 
 10 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 lutely convinced of Mollie June's proficiency in 
 solving quadratic equations, yet the official records 
 of the Kiceville High School show that she re- 
 ceived the highest mark in the class. 
 
 But she was the daughter of James P. Partridge, 
 the owner of all Riceville ; that is to say, of the coal 
 mines outside the town, of the grain elevator, of the 
 street car and electric light company, and of the 
 First National Bank. Who was John Merriam, 
 the son of a poor farmer in a southern county, who 
 had worked his way through college and come out 
 with nothing but a B. S. degree, a football reputa- 
 tion that was quite unnegotiable, and three hundred 
 dollars of fraternity debts an enormous sum, to 
 mix anything warmer or livelier than a 2 -b 2 in his 
 thoughts of a class to which Mollie June Partridge 
 deigned to belong? Even if Mollie June herself did 
 come up to his desk in the assembly room two or 
 three times a week for help in her algebra and spend 
 most of the time asking him about college instead, 
 and join his Young People's Class, which she had 
 previously refused to attend, and allow him to " see 
 her home " from church sociables, and compel that 
 docile magnate, John P. Partridge, her father, to 
 invite the new " professor " to dinner twice during 
 the half year? As well almost might a humble 
 tutor in the castle of a feudal lord have raised his 
 eyes to the baron's daughter. 
 
 Almost, but not quite. After all this is a free 
 republic. Even a poor pedagogue is a citizen with 
 a vote and a potential candidate for the presi-
 
 THE PRETTIEST GIRL 11 
 
 dency which, at least two poor pedagogues have 
 attained. So John Merriam permitted himself to 
 be very happy during those four months and was 
 not in the least hopeless. Only he saw that he 
 must bide his time. 
 
 But early in January Mollie June left school, 
 and in a few days it came out that she had left to 
 be married married to Senator Norman! 
 
 Senator Norman was the famous " boy senator " 
 from Illinois at the time of his election the young- 
 est man who had ever sat in the upper house of Con- 
 gress. The ruddiness of his cheeks, the abundance 
 of his wavy blond hair, and the athletic jaunti- 
 ness of his carriage won votes whenever he stumped 
 the State. They went far to counteract malicious 
 insinuations as to the means by which he was roll- 
 ing up a fortune and his solidity with " interests " 
 which the proletariat viewed with suspicion. 
 
 And now, having been a widower for eighteen 
 months his first wife was older than he and had 
 brought him money, he had stayed for a week-end 
 during the Christmas holidays with James P. Par- 
 tridge, who was a cousin of the Senator's first wife 
 and his political lieutenant for a certain group of 
 counties, and had seen Mollie June and wanted her 
 and asked for her and got her, as George Norman 
 always asked for and got whatever he wanted. 
 
 All this was, of course, in John Merriam's mind 
 as he gazed across a dozen tables in the Peacock 
 Cabaret at the unchanged profile of the prettiest 
 girl that is to say, Mrs. Senator Norman. And
 
 12 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 with it came an acute revival of the desolation of 
 that January and February at Blceville, when he 
 had perceived with the Hebrew sage that " in much 
 learning " or in little, for that matter " is much 
 weariness," and that algebra should have been 
 buried with the medieval Arabians who invented 
 it when even the State championship in basket 
 ball, won by the Eiceville Five under his coaching, 
 was only a trouble and a bore. 
 
 There is no doubt he stared rudely. At least it 
 would have been rudely if his eyes had held the look 
 which eyes that stare at pretty women commonly 
 hold. But such a look as stood in Merriam's eyes 
 can hardly be rude, however intent and prolonged 
 it may be. 
 
 He was merely entranced in the literal sense of 
 that word. Her girlish white shoulders he had 
 never seen her shoulders before in Blceville 
 women no more have shoulders than they have 
 legs the soft brown hair over her ears even the 
 mode of the day, which called for close net effects 
 and tight knobs, could not conceal its fine soft- 
 ness the colour in her cheeks, which unquestion- 
 ably shamed all the neighbouring rosebuds the 
 quite inexplicable deliciousness of those particular 
 small curves described by the lines of her nose and 
 chin and throat as he saw them in half profile 
 were more than he could draw his eyes away from 
 for an unconscionable number of seconds, Of her 
 charmingly simple and unquestionably very ex- 
 pensive frock as a separate fact, and of the thin,
 
 THE PRETTIEST GIRL 13 
 
 pale, and elderly, but gorgeously arrayed woman 
 who was lier companion, lie had no clear percep- 
 tion, but undoubtedly they both contributed, along 
 with the lights and colours and music of the Pea- 
 cock Cabaret, to the deplorable confusion of his 
 mind. 
 
 Out of that confusion there presently arose cer- 
 tain clear images and tones and words, which made 
 up his memory of the last time he had seen and 
 spoken with the present Mrs. Senator Norman. 
 
 It was at and after a miscellaneous kind of young 
 people's entertainment which occurred at the Meth- 
 odist Church on the evening of that bitter day on 
 which the news of her engagement to Senator Nor- 
 man had run like a prairie fire through the streets 
 and homes of Riceville, fiercely incinerating all 
 other topics of conversation, and consuming also 
 the joy in life, the ambition, the very youth, it 
 seemed to him, of John' Merriam. He would not 
 have gone to that entertainment if he could have 
 escaped. But there were to be charades, and he 
 had arranged and coached most of them and was 
 to be in several. He " simply had to go," as Rice- 
 villians might have said. 
 
 She was there with her mother. When had she 
 ever come just with her mother, that is to say, with- 
 out a male escort, before? That fact alone was 
 symbolical of the closing of the gates of matrimony 
 upon her. Naturally, in his pain he followed his 
 primitive and childish instincts and avoided her. 
 
 But he was aware he was almost sure of her
 
 14 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 eyes continually following him throughout the 
 evening, and during " refreshments " she deliber- 
 ately came up to him and said that her mother was 
 obliged to leave early, and would he see her home? 
 Well, of course, if she asked him, he had to. I am 
 afraid that the tone if not the words of his reply 
 said as much, and Mollie June had turned away 
 with quick tears in her eyes. Yet I question 
 whether she was really hurt by his rudeness. For 
 why should he be rude to-night when he had never 
 been so before unless he to use the most expressive 
 of Americanisms "cared"? 
 
 For the rest of the evening, as a result of those 
 tears, which he had seen, it was his eyes that fol- 
 lowed her, while hers avoided him. But he did not 
 speak with her again until " seeing-home " time 
 arrived. 
 
 Mollie June lingered till the very end of every- 
 thing. Perhaps the little girl in her for she was 
 barely eighteen clung to this last shred of the 
 familiar, homely social life of her girlhood before 
 she should be plunged into the frightful brilliance 
 of real "society" in terrific places known as 
 Chicago and Washington as a senator's wife ! 
 
 But at last they were walking together towards 
 her home. 
 
 " Take my arm, please," said Mollie June. 
 
 The boys in Biceville always take the girls' arms 
 at night, though never in the daytime. John ought 
 to have taken her arm before. He took it. 
 
 "Have you heard that I am going to be mar*
 
 THE PKETTIEST GIRL 15 
 
 ried? " asked Mollie June as if she did not know 
 that everybody in the county knew it by that 
 time. 
 
 "Yes," said John, his tone as succinct as his 
 monosyllable. 
 
 But girls learn early to deal with the conversa- 
 tional difficulties and recalcitrances of males un- 
 der stress of emotion. 
 
 " It means leaving school and Eiceville and 
 everything," said Mollie June. 
 
 John could not fail to catch the note of pitiful- 
 ness in her sentence. If the prospective marriage 
 had been with any one less dazzling than George 
 Norman, he might have reacted more properly. As 
 it was, he replied with a stilted impersonality 
 which might have been caught from the bright 
 stars shining through the bare branches under 
 which they walked. 
 
 " You will have a very rich and brilliant life," 
 he said. 
 
 " I suppose so," said Mollie June. 
 
 They walked on, he still obediently clutching her 
 arm, in silence; conversation not accompaniable 
 with laughter is so difficult an art for youth. 
 
 Presently Mollie June tried again. 
 
 "Aren't you sorry I'm leaving the school Mr. 
 Merriam? " 
 
 " I'm very sorry indeed," responded " Professor " 
 Merriam. " You ought to have stayed to graduate." 
 
 "I don't care about graduating," said Mollie 
 June.
 
 16 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 Again their footsteps echoed in the cold January 
 silence. 
 
 Then Mollie June made a third attempt : 
 
 " You look ever so much like Mr. Norman." 
 
 " I know it," said Merriam. " We're related." 
 
 "Oh, are you?" 
 
 " On my mother's side. We're second cousins. 
 But the two branches of the family have nothing 
 to do with each other now." 
 
 " He has the same hair and the same shape of 
 head and the same way of sitting and moving," 
 Mollie June declared with enthusiasm, "and almost 
 the same eyes and voice. Only his are " 
 
 " Older ! " said John Merriam rudely. 
 
 " Yes," said Mollie June. 
 
 Distances are not great in Riceville. For this 
 reason the ceremony of " seeing home " is usually 
 performed by a circuitous route, sometimes involv- 
 ing the entire circumference of the " nice " part of 
 the town. But on this occasion John and Mollie 
 June had gone directly, as though their object had 
 been to arrive. They reached her home a matter 
 of two blocks from the church before another word 
 had been said. 
 
 There Mollie June carefully extricated her 
 arm from his mechanical grasp and confronted 
 him. 
 
 He looked at her face, peeping out of the fur 
 collar of her coat in the starlight, and for one 
 instant into her eyes. 
 
 She was saying : " I am very grateful to you, Mr.
 
 THE PRETTIEST GIRL 17 
 
 Merriam, for all the help you have given me in 
 algebra." 
 
 He ought to have kissed her. She wanted him 
 to. He half divined as much afterwards. 
 
 But the awkward, callow, Anglo-Saxon, rural, 
 pedagogical cub in him replied, " I am glad if I 
 have been able to help you in anything." 
 
 That, I judge, was too much for Mollie June. 
 She held out her little gloved hand. 
 
 " Good-bye, Mr. Merriam ! " 
 
 He took her hand. And now appears the ad- 
 vantage of a college education, including amateur 
 dramatics and courses in English poetry and 
 romantic fiction. He did what no other swain in 
 Riceville could have done. He raised her hand to 
 his lips and kissed it ! At least he kissed the glove 
 which tightly enclosed the hand. 
 
 " Good-bye, Mollie June ! " he said, using that 
 name for the first time. 
 
 Then he dropped her hand, somewhat suddenly, 
 I fear, turned abruptly, and walked rapidly away. 
 
 As to what Mollie June said or thought or felt, 
 how should I knc^v? There was nothing for her 
 to do but to go into the house, and that is what 
 she did.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 FRIENDLY STRANGERS 
 
 JOHN MEREIAM raised his eyes from the table- 
 cloth on which they had rested while these 
 images from the distant past two and one-half 
 years ago moved across the screen of his memory. 
 To his now mature perceptions the stupidity and 
 gaucherie of his own part in that scene save for 
 the redeeming kissing of the glove were clearly 
 apparent, and were for the moment almost as pain- 
 ful to him as the fact that Mollie June was another 
 man's wife. 
 
 He glanced around, avoiding only the table at 
 which Mrs. Senator Norman sat. The glory was 
 gone from the Peacock Cabaret. The garishness 
 of the peacocks, the tin-panniness of the music, the 
 futility of beer and cigarettes and evening clothes, 
 were desolatingly revealed to him. He put his 
 cigarette aside, to smoke itself up unregarded on 
 the ash tray. 
 
 It had been his duty to " forget," and it is neither 
 more nor less than justice to say that after a' fashion 
 he had succeeded in doing so. His winter and 
 spring, three years ago, had been miserable ; but he 
 had undeniably enjoyed his summer vacation, and 
 had found interest in his work again in the fall. 
 
 18
 
 FRIENDLY STRANGERS 19 
 
 To be sure, the edge was gone from his ambition. 
 He had stuck ploddingly at teaching, too indifferent 
 to try to better himself. Still he had not been 
 actively unhappy. But now 
 
 He was diverted by the return of Waiter No. 73. 
 No need of play-acting now to conceal any un- 
 sophisticated delight in his surroundings. But he 
 must pull himself together. He must not exhibit 
 to the world, as incarnated in Waiter No. 73, a de- 
 pression as boyish as his previous pleasure. He 
 must still be the stoical, tranquil man of the world, 
 who knows women and tears them from his heart 
 when need be. It was the same role with a dif- 
 ference ! 
 
 " What next, sir? " 
 
 Merriam glanced hastily at the menu card and 
 ordered a steak with French fried potatoes and a 
 lettuce-and-tomato salad. He was not up to an 
 attack on any unfamiliar viands. 
 
 As he gave his order he was aware of a party of 
 three persons, seated a little to his left the oppo- 
 site direction from the fateful spot inhabited by 
 Mollie June, who seemed to be taking particular 
 note of him. And as he lit another cigarette after, 
 the waiter had left him he noticed them again. Un- 
 questionably they were furtively regarding him. 
 Now and then they exchanged remarks of which 
 he was sure he was the subject. 
 
 The three persons included a square-jawed man 
 of about forty-five, a pale, benevolent-looking 
 priest and a very beautiful woman. The woman
 
 20 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 had not only shoulders and arms but also a great 
 deal of bosom and back, all dazzlingly, powderedly 
 fair and ideally plump. She had black hair and 
 eyes brilliantly, even aggressively, black. Her 
 gown was a lavender silk net with spangles. Her 
 age well, she was certainly older than Mollie June 
 and certainly within, safely within, " the age at 
 which women cease to be interesting to men," what- 
 ever that age may be. 
 
 Our youthful man of the world was a little em- 
 barrassed at first by the scrutiny of this gorgeous 
 trio. He glanced quickly down at his own attire, 
 as a girl might have done. But there could be 
 nothing wrong with his evening clothes. (A man 
 is so safe in that respect.) They were only five 
 years old, having been acquired, in a heroic burst of 
 extravagance, during his senior year in college. 
 He wanted to put his hand up to his white bow to 
 make sure it was not askew, but restrained himself. 
 
 Presently Merriam began to enjoy the attention 
 he was receiving. If one must play a part, it is 
 pleasant to have an audience. It helped him to keep 
 his eyes off Mollie June. He began to give atten- 
 tion to the smoking of his cigarette. He handled 
 it with nonchalant grace. He exhaled smoke 
 through his nostrils. He recalled an envied ac- 
 complishment of his college days and carefully blew 
 a couple of tolerably perfect smoke rings. And he 
 wished that Mollie June would turn and see him 
 in his evening clothes. 
 
 Presently the clerical gentleman, after an earnest
 
 FKIENDLY STKANGEKS 21 
 
 colloquy with the square- jawed one, rose and came 
 across to Merriam's table, while the other two now 
 openly watched. 
 
 The priest rested two white hands on the edge 
 of the table and bent over him with a friendly 
 smile. 
 
 "Will you pardon a frank question from a 
 stranger? " he asked. 
 
 " I guess a question won't hurt me," said Mer- 
 riam. 
 
 At this simple reply the cleric straightened up 
 quickly as if startled and looked at Merriam closely 
 and curiously. Then he said : 
 
 "Are you by any chance related to Senator Nor- 
 man? " 
 
 " Yes, I am," said Merriam. 
 
 " May I ask what the relationship is? " 
 
 Merriam told him. 
 
 " Thank you," said the priest. " The resemblance 
 is really remarkable. And we saw you looking at 
 Mrs. Norman. Do you know her? " 
 
 " Yes. I knew her before before she was 
 married." 
 
 " I see. Thank you so much." 
 
 The inquisitive priest returned to his friends, 
 who appeared to listen intently to his report. 
 
 At the same time Waiter No. 73 arrived with 
 Merriam's steak and salad. 
 
 He ate self-consciously, feeling himself still un- 
 der observation from the other table. But when 
 he was half way through his salad his attention was
 
 22 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 effectually distracted from those watchers. FOP 
 Mollie June and her companion had risen to 
 go. 
 
 Merriam put down his fork and looked at her. 
 She was really beautiful to any eyes so fresh and 
 young and alive amid the tawdry ennui of her sur- 
 roundings, a human girl among the labouring 
 ghosts of a danse macabre. To Merriam she was 
 what you will radiant, divine. He wished he had 
 not lost a moment from looking at her since he 
 first saw her. 
 
 A waiter had brought a fur cloak and now held 
 it for her. As she adjusted it about her shoulders 
 she glanced around and saw Merriam. 
 
 For a moment she looked straight at him. Mer- 
 riam would have sworn that her colour heightened 
 ever so little and then paled. She smiled a mechan- 
 ical little smile, bowed slightly, spoke to her com' 
 panion, and threaded her way quickly among tables 
 to an exit. 
 
 " I beg your pardon ! " 
 
 Merriam started and looked up to find the 
 black-eyed, white-bosomed woman from the other 
 table standing beside him. He was conscious of a 
 faint fragrance, which a more sophisticated person 
 would have recognised as that of an extremely ex- 
 pensive perfume, widely advertised under the name 
 of a famous opera singer. 
 
 He rose mechanically, dropping his napkin. 
 
 " No, no," she smiled. " Won't you sit down 
 and let me sit down a moment, too? "
 
 FRIENDLY STRANGERS 23 
 
 She took the chair opposite him. 
 
 " My name is Alicia Wayward," she said. There 
 was a kind of deliberate sweetness in her tone. 
 
 John Merriam got back somehow into his chair 
 and looked at her, but did not reply. His eyes saw 
 the face of Mollie June, peeping out of her furs, as 
 on that last night at Riceville, her changing colour, 
 her mechanical smile, and the hurrying away with- 
 out giving him a chance to go to her for a single 
 word. 
 
 " Won't you tell me your name? " said Alicia, 
 with the barest suggestion in her voice of sharp- 
 ness in the midst of sweet. 
 
 " John Merriam." 
 
 "And you are a second cousin of Senator Nor- 
 man? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " I am an old friend of Senator Norman's," said 
 Alicia. " We are all friends of his." She nodded 
 towards the other table. "And we should very 
 much like to have a little private talk with you 
 about a very important matter. How do you do, 
 Simpson? " 
 
 Merriam looked up again. Waiter No. 73 was 
 standing over them. But he was a transformed be- 
 ing. The ramrod had somehow been extracted from 
 his spine, and his stern features were trans- 
 figured in an expression of happy and ingratiating 
 servility. 
 
 " Very well, Miss Alicia," he said. 
 
 " Simpson used to be my father's butler," ex-
 
 24 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 plained Miss Wayward. " We've never had so good 
 a butler since." 
 
 " Thank you, Miss Alicia," said Simpson fer- 
 vently. 
 
 " Send me the head waiter," said Miss Wayward. 
 
 " Yes, Miss Alicia," and Simpson departed al- 
 most with alacrity. 
 
 " You are just ready for your dessert, I see," said 
 Alicia. " I am going to ask the head waiter to 
 change us both to one of the private rooms and give 
 us Simpson to wait on us. Then I can present you 
 to my friends, and we can have the private talk I 
 spoke of. You don't mind, do you? " 
 
 Merriam thought of the " Follies." But the idea 
 of the " Follies " bored him after seeing Mollie 
 June. And one cannot refuse a lady. He re- 
 captured some fraction of his manners. 
 
 " I shall be pleased," he said. 
 
 " Thank you," said Alicia, with augmented 
 sweetness.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 AN UNSCRUPULOUS REFORMER 
 
 head waiter arrived. Could they be re- 
 A moved to a private dining-room? Most cer- 
 tainly they could. Yes, Simpson should serve them. 
 Obviously anything that Miss Alicia Wayward de- 
 sired could be done, must be done, and it was done. 
 
 They ordered ices and cafe noir. 
 
 "And a liqueur? " suggested Alicia. 
 
 Merriam assented. 
 
 " What should you prefer? " 
 
 Now Merriam knew the name of just one 
 liqueur. He made prompt use of that solitary 
 scrap of information. 
 
 "Benedictine, perhaps," he suggested, as who 
 should say, " Out of all the world's vintages my 
 " mature choice among liqueurs is Benedictine." 
 
 "Good," smiled Alicia. (I am afraid she was 
 not effectually deceived. ) 
 
 Merriam was introduced first to Father Murray. 
 
 " He isn't a real Father," said Alicia. " He's not 
 a Komanist. Only a paltry Anglican. But he's 
 so very, very High Church that a layman can 
 hardly tell the difference." 
 
 Father Murray was deprecatory but unruffled. 
 A Christian priest must forgive all things. 
 
 25 
 \
 
 26 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " This is Mr. Philip Rockwell of the Reform 
 League," said Alicia. "His fame has doubtless 
 reached you. ' One-Thing-at-a-Time Rockwell.' ' 
 
 His fame had not reached Merriam, but the latter 
 bowed and shook hands as though it had, instinc- 
 tively meeting the stare in the other man's eyes with 
 an unblinking steadiness of his own. 
 
 After the introductions Merriam glanced about 
 him with perhaps insufficiently concealed curiosity. 
 He had never been in a private dining-room before, 
 and this adventure was beginning to interest him. 
 It was better than spending his evening his one 
 evening in sad thoughts of Mollie June. 
 
 The room was just large enough to afford com- 
 fortable space for a table for four persons, with a 
 small sideboard to serve from. It was really rather 
 pretty. Subdued purple hangings at the door and 
 windows and a frieze of small peacocks above the 
 plate rail indicated its affiliation, so to speak, with 
 the Peacock Cabaret. There were attractive French 
 prints in garland frames on the walls. The table 
 was charmingly laid, with a bowl of yellow roses 
 in the center, and the ices were already served. On 
 the sideboard the coffee in a silver pot was bubbling 
 over an alcohol flame, and there was a long bottle 
 which Merriam correctly interpreted as the con- 
 tainer of his choice among liqueurs. 
 
 " This is much cosier, isn't it? " said Alicia. 
 
 She took the head of the table. 
 
 " Father Murray shall sit opposite me," she said, 
 " to see that I behave. You, Mr. Merriman, shall
 
 AN UNSCRUPULOUS REFORMER 27 
 
 sit on my right, as the guest of honour. That leaves 
 this place for you, Philip. Reformers must be con- 
 tent with what they can get." 
 
 Merriam mustered the gallantry to hold Alicia's 
 chair for her, and was warmed by the approving 
 smile with which she thanked him. He had not 
 especially liked Alicia at first, but she grew upon 
 him. 
 
 They consumed ices, and Alicia conversed, in the 
 sprightly fashion she affected, with Merriam. The 
 other two men hardly participated at all. 
 
 In the course of that conversation Alicia art- 
 lessly, tactfully, but efficiently pumped Merriam. 
 By the time Simpson was pouring the sweet- 
 scented wine into thimble-like glasses she and her 
 companions were in possession of all the sub- 
 stantial facts of his brief biography and had 
 guessed the secret of his heart. They knew of his 
 boyhood on the farm, of his father's death, and his 
 mother's a few years later, of his college days, with 
 something of their athletic, dramatic, and frater- 
 nity incidents, of his teaching at Riceville, of the 
 Riceville football and basket-ball teams, of the oc- 
 casion for this trip to Chicago and of Mollie June. 
 
 At length the sherbet glasses were removed and 
 some of the coffees, including Merriam's, refilled, 
 and they all lit cigarettes. Merriam was pleas- 
 antly startled when Alicia too took a cigarette. He 
 had read, of course, of women smoking, but he had 
 never seen it, or expected to see it with his own 
 eyes, except on the stage. It was more shocking
 
 28 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 to his secret soul than any amount of bosom and 
 back. 
 
 " You need not wait, Simpson," said Alicia. 
 " We'll ring if we need you again." 
 
 When the waiter had withdrawn Philip Bock- 
 well took the center of the stage. He tilted back 
 in his chair and abruptly began to talk. Part of 
 the time he looked straight ahead of him as if ad- 
 dressing an audience, but now and again he turned 
 his head and aimed his discourse straight at Mer- 
 riam. He made only a pretence of smoking. 
 
 " Mr. Merriam," he said, " by a curious chance 
 a freak of nature, as it were you, who have thus 
 far taken no part in the politics of the State and 
 Nation, are in a position to render a great service 
 this very night to the cause of Reform and inci- 
 dentally to Senator and Mrs. Norman." 
 
 " How so? " said Merriam. He was rather on 
 his guard against Mr. Philip Rockwell. 
 
 " It is a long story, perhaps," said that gentle- 
 man. " I gathered when we were introduced that 
 you had heard of me. But I was not sure how 
 much you have heard. I am at the present time the 
 President of the Reform League of this city and its 
 guiding and moving spirit." 
 
 "And endowed with the superb modesty so char- 
 acteristic of reformers," interjected Alicia. 
 
 The reformer paid no attention to this frivolous 
 parenthesis. 
 
 " Miss Wayward," he continued, " alluded earlier 
 to my sobriquet l One-Thing-at-a-Time Rockwell.'
 
 AN UNSCRUPULOUS REFORMER 29 
 
 The epithet was first applied to me derisively by 
 opposition newspapers. But it is a true descrip- 
 tion. Indeed it was derived from my frequent use 
 of the phrase in my own speeches. I believe that 
 to be successful, practically successful, Reform 
 must center its efforts on one thing at a time not 
 waste its energies, its munitions, so to speak, by 
 bombarding the whole entrenched line of evil and 
 privilege at once, but concentrate its fire on one 
 exposed position after another take that one posi- 
 tion accomplish finally one definite thing and 
 then go on to some other one definite thing. Do 
 you get me? " 
 
 Merriam signified that he comprehended. 
 
 Father Murray was more enthusiastic. " It is a 
 truly splendid idea," he volunteered. " Since we 
 have adopted it, under the leadership of Mr. Rock- 
 well, the Reform League has really begun to do 
 things. To do things!" he repeated, with an al- 
 most mysterious emphasis. 
 
 "At the present time," Rockwell resumed, " the 
 one thing which the Reform League is undertaking 
 to do is to secure decent traction conditions in this 
 city adequate service. We have so far succeeded 
 that we have forced an unfriendly city council to 
 pass the new Traction Ordinance. You are familiar 
 with the new Ordinance, Mr. Merriam? " 
 
 " Yes," said Merriam. By which we must sup- 
 pose he meant that he had read headlines about it 
 in the Chicago papers. 
 
 "Those rascals," continued Rockwell, "never
 
 30 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 would have passed it the men who own them 
 would never have permitted them to pass it, no 
 matter how unmistakable the demand of the people 
 might be, if they had not counted on one thing." 
 
 Merriam perceived that an interrogation was de- 
 manded of him and took his cue. 
 
 " What is that? " he asked. 
 
 " They are counting," said Eockwell impress- 
 ively, " they are counting on Mayor Black. They 
 have believed the whole time that he can be de- 
 pended on to veto it. And they are right! The 
 scoundrels usually are. The Mayor, as every one 
 knows, is a mere puppet. He will do as he is told. 
 Only, the League has made such a stir, the people 
 are so tremendously aroused, that he is frightened. 
 And so, before acting, before writing the veto, 
 which he has sense enough to see is likely to mean 
 political suicide, he is coming here to-night to see 
 Senator Norman, to get his instructions. That's 
 what it amounts to. Norman holds the State ma- 
 chine in the hollow of his hand. If Norman tells 
 him to veto, Black will veto. It may be bad for him 
 with the voters if he does it, but it would be certain 
 political death for a man like him to cross Norman. 
 And Norman will say, ' Veto! ' " 
 
 " I see," said Merriam. 
 
 Which was hardly true ; he did not as yet see an 
 inch ahead of his nose into this thing, but he 
 thought it sounded well. 
 
 "Where do I come in, though? " he added, bely- 
 ing his assumption of sagacity.
 
 AN UNSCRUPULOUS REFORMER 31 
 
 " That's my very next point," said Rockwell. 
 
 His chair came down on all fours. He squared it 
 to the table, laid his neglected cigarette aside, put 
 his arms on the cloth, and looked very straight at 
 Merriam. 
 
 " Are you aware, Mr. Merriam, that you bear a 
 most striking physical resemblance to Senator Nor- 
 man? " 
 
 " I have been told so," said Merriam. " My 
 mother often spoke of it. And Mrs. Norman men- 
 tioned it to me before she was married. I have 
 seen his pictures, of course, in the papers. I have 
 never seen him in person." (This was true, for 
 John Merriam had, quite inexcusably, stayed away 
 from Mollie June's wedding.) 
 
 " He has never seen you, then? " 
 
 " He probably doesn't know of my existence." 
 
 " So much the better," said Rockwell. " The 
 only difficulty then is Mrs. Norman. And she can 
 be eliminated." 
 
 This facile elimination of Mollie June did not 
 make an irresistible appeal to Merriam, but he held 
 his tongue. 
 
 Alicia Wayward saw the reformer's mistake. 
 
 " Mr. Rockwell means," she threw in, " that Mrs. 
 Norman can be shielded from the difficulties of the 
 situation." 
 
 "Exactly," said Rockwell quickly. "Mr. Mer- 
 riam," he continued, " if you have never seen the 
 Senator with your own eyes, you can have no reali- 
 sation of the closeness of your resemblance to him.
 
 32 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 Hair, eyes, nose, mouth, size, carriage, manner, 
 movement it is truly wonderful. And it is the 
 same with your voice. Father Murray here says he 
 fairly jumped when you first spoke to him out in 
 the Cabaret when he went over to question you." 
 
 " He also says," interrupted Alicia, as if mis- 
 chievously, " that it is Providential." 
 
 " Please do not be irreverent, Miss Alicia," said 
 the priest. " It does surely seem Providential on 
 this night of all nights. It surely seems so." 
 
 " Well," said Merriam, a trifle bluntly perhaps, 
 " I don't know what you mean by that. If my 
 cousin and I look so much alike as you say, no 
 doubt it's quite remarkable. Still such things hap- 
 pen often enough in families. What of it? " 
 
 " I have explained," said Rockwell, with an air of 
 much patience, " that Mayor Black is coming here, 
 to this hotel, to-night, to see Senator Norman about 
 the Ordinance, and that Norman will order him to 
 veto it. We thought we had Norman fixed, but he 
 has gone over to the magnates as he always does 
 in the end ! Black will do as he is bid, and it will 
 be a death blow. We can never pass it over his 
 veto. It means the total ruin of five years of work, 
 involving the expenditure of tens of thousands of 
 dollars. And the cause of Reform in this city will 
 be dead for years to come. The League will never 
 survive, if we fail at this last ditch. It will col- 
 lapse." 
 
 " In short," said Alicia sweetly, " Mr. Rockwell 
 himself will collapse."
 
 AN UNSCRUPULOUS REFORMER 33 
 
 Rockwell took no heed of her. 
 
 " Half an hour ago," he said, " I was sitting yon- 
 der in the Cabaret, dining with Miss Wayward and 
 Father Murray. I was eating turtle soup and 
 olives " he laughed theatrically, " but I was a 
 desperate man. I had no hope, no interest left in 
 life. Then I looked up and saw you. At first I mis- 
 took you for Senator Norman even I, who have 
 known the old hypocrite for a dozen years. I stared 
 at you, wondering whether I should go over and 
 make one last personal appeal to you to him. And 
 then I realised that you could not be he. For I knew 
 positively that he was dining in his room. I looked 
 closer. I saw that you were really a younger man 
 not that massaged, laced old roue. I stared on 
 in my amazement, till Miss Wayward and Father 
 Murray looked too, and Miss Wayward said, ' Why, 
 there's Senator Norman now/ ' By God ! ' said I, 
 ' perhaps it is ! ' Do you see, Mr. Merriam? " 
 
 " No," said Merriam, " I don't." 
 
 "Ah, but you will, you must," said Rockwell. 
 "Listen!" He looked at his watch. ".It is now 
 twenty minutes past seven. Norman is dining in 
 his room. There is a man with him, a Mr. Crockett 
 one of the dozen men who own Chicago. He is as 
 much interested in the Ordinance as I am on the 
 other side. He is giving Norman his instructions, 
 for the Senator is Crockett's puppet, of course, as 
 much as the Mayor is Norman's. Crockett will 
 leave promptly at a quarter to eight. Mayor Black 
 is due at eight."
 
 34 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " How do you know these things? " interrupted 
 Merriain. 
 
 " It is my business to know things," said Rock- 
 well. " The fact is," he added, " I planned to burst 
 in on Norman and Black at their conference and 
 threaten them in the name of the Reform League. 
 It would have done no good, but I owed that much 
 to the League." 
 
 " And to yourself," said Alicia softly. 
 
 " And to myself, yes ! " said Rockwell, infinitesi- 
 mally pricked at last. But he hurried on : 
 
 "At ten minutes to eight, Mr. Merriam, I will 
 telephone Norman. I will pretend to be old Schu- 
 bert, the Mayor's private secretary. He has a dry, 
 clipped voice that is easy to imitate. I will say 
 that the Mayor is sick at his house. I will imply 
 that he is drunk. He often is. I will say he is not 
 too sick to veto the Ordinance before the Council 
 meets at nine, but that he insists on seeing Senator 
 Norman before he does it and asks that Norman 
 come out to his house. I will say that I am sending 
 a car for him. Norman will curse, but he will go. 
 He is under orders, too, you see. At five minutes to 
 eight we will send up word that Mayor Black's car 
 is waiting for Senator Norman. There will be a 
 car waiting. The driver will be Simpson." 
 
 " I can fix it with the hotel people to get him off," 
 said Alicia in response to a look from Merriam. 
 " He was a chauffeur once for a while. And he will 
 do anything I ask him to," she added. 
 
 "Norman will go down and get into that car.
 
 AN UNSCRUPULOUS REFORMER 35 
 
 He will be driven, not to the Mayor's house, of 
 course, but to a certain flat, where he will be de- 
 tained for several hours very possibly all night." 
 
 " By force? " asked Merriam, rather sternly. 
 
 " Only by force of the affections," said Rockwell 
 suavely. " The flat belongs, for the time being, to 
 a certain young woman, a manicurist by profession, 
 who is undoubtedly very pretty and in whom Nor- 
 man takes an interest. I happen to know that he 
 pays the rent of the flat." 
 
 Rockwell paused, but Merriam made no reply. 
 He blushed, subcutaneously at any rate, for Alicia 
 and Father Murray. The latter indeed affected in- 
 attention to this portion of Mr. Rockwell's dis- 
 course. But Alicia Wayward made no pretence of 
 either misunderstanding or horror. 
 
 In Merriam's mind a slight embarrassment 
 quickly gave place to anger. That George Norman 
 after three years how much sooner who could tell? 
 should leave Mollie June for a his mind paused 
 before a word too ancient and too frank for profes- 
 sorial sensibilities. 
 
 Rockwell quickly resumed : 
 
 "As soon as Norman has gone I will take you to 
 his room. We will put his famous crimson smok- 
 ing jacket on you and establish you in his big arm- 
 chair with a cigar and some whiskey and soda be- 
 side you. When Black comes he will find Senator 
 Norman you. All you will have to do is to be curt 
 and sulky, damn him a bit, and tell him to sign the 
 Ordinance. He'll never suspect you. As a matter
 
 36 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 of fact, lie doesn't know the Senator well never 
 spoke with him privately above three times in his 
 life. We'll have only side lights on. He won't 
 stay. He'll be mightily relieved about the Ordi- 
 nance and in a hurry to get away. Then you your- 
 self can get away and catch your train for 
 for " 
 
 " Riceville," supplied Alicia. 
 
 " That will be a real adventure for you, young 
 man, and you will have saved the cause of Reform 
 in the city of Chicago ! " 
 
 John Merriam smiled, frostily. 
 
 " The reasons, then, Mr. Rockwell, why I should 
 fraudulently impersonate a Senator of the United 
 States, who happens to be my cousin, and in his 
 name act in an important matter directly contrary 
 to his own wishes are for the fun of the adventure 
 and to save your Reform League from a setback. 
 Is that correct?" 
 
 " Philip," said Alicia quickly, " you and Father 
 Murray go for a walk. I want to have a little talk 
 with Mr. Merriam alone. Come back in twenty 
 minutes." 
 
 The implication of her last phrase was distinctly 
 flattering to Merriam if he had understood it. 
 Alicia Wayward would not have asked for more 
 than ten minutes with most men. 
 
 Rockwell smiled with lowered eyelids a smile 
 which it was certainly a mistake for him to permit 
 himself, for it could not and did not fail to put 
 Merriam on his guard against Alicia.
 
 AN UNSCRUPULOUS REFORMER 37 
 
 " Come, Murray," said Rockwell rising, " I should 
 like a breath, of real air, shouldn't you? And when 
 
 Miss Wayward commands " He waved his 
 
 hand grandly. " Au revoir ! " 
 
 And he and the priest hastily departed.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 ALICIA AND THE MOTIVES OF MEN 
 
 '"THAKE another cigarette, won't you, Mr. Mer- 
 
 A riam? " said Alicia, as the curtain at the 
 door fell behind Rockwell and Father Murray. 
 
 " Thank you," said Merriam. 
 
 He was excited, of course. All the stimulations 
 of his evening, including more coffee than he was 
 used to and an unaccustomed taste of wine and 
 mystery and intrigue, could not fail to tell on the 
 blood of youth. But he felt extraordinarily calm, 
 and he was not in the least afraid of Alicia. He 
 had not fully made up his mind about the proposed 
 adventure, but Alicia knew several things about the 
 wantings of men. 
 
 " Let me light it for you," she pursued. 
 
 She struck a match, which somehow she already 
 had out of its box, put out a white hand and arm, 
 took the cigarette from his fingers, put it to her own 
 lips and lighted it, and handed it back to him. 
 
 " Thank you," said Merriam again, just a little 
 confused. Hesitatingly, with an undeniable trace 
 of thrill, he put the cigarette to his own lips. Poor 
 boy ! It was an uneven contest ! 
 
 Alicia deftly moved her chair to the corner of the 
 38
 
 ALICIA AND THE MOTIVES OF MEN 39 
 
 table, bringing it not very close but much closer to 
 Merriam's. Close enough for him to catch the 
 faint, unfamiliar perfume. She put out her hand 
 again and drew one of the yellow roses from their 
 bowl. She rested both arms on the table and 
 played with the rose, drawing it through her fingers 
 and up and down one white, rounded forearm. 
 
 " Mr. Merriam," she said, " perhaps you have 
 wondered why I am in this thing." 
 
 As a matter of fact he had neglected to be curious 
 on that point, but now he was. 
 
 " Yes," he said. 
 
 " Mr. Rockwell converted me. Oh, I can see you 
 don't like him. You think he is hard and un- 
 scrupulous and self-seeking. Well, he is. All men 
 are at least, almost all men are" she glanced 
 at Merriam. " But he is a genuine reformer for all 
 that. He is heart and soul for what he calls the 
 People. He works tremendously for them all his 
 time. And he is shrewd and fearless." 
 
 Now it is probable that Alicia's little character 
 sketch presented a very just picture of Philip Kock- 
 well. But it did not appeal to Merriam as true, 
 much less as likable. He was too young. He still 
 wanted his heroes all heroic and his villains naught 
 but black and red with almost visible horns and 
 tail. 
 
 He did not reply. He could not, however, remove 
 his eyes from the felicitous meanderings of the yel- 
 low rose. 
 
 " Well," sighed Alicia, " I was going to tell you
 
 40 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 how Mr. Bockwell converted me. You see, my 
 fatker but you don't know who my father is, do 
 you? The newspapers always refer to him as i the 
 billionaire brewer.' They like the alliteration, I 
 suppose. He's very busy now converting all his 
 plants for the manufacture of near-beer." (She 
 laughed as if that were a good joke. ) " His young- 
 est sister, my Aunt Geraldine, was Senator Nor- 
 man's first wife. So I know George Norman well. 
 I was quite a favourite of his when he used to come 
 to our house before poor Aunt Jerry died. So 
 Philip wanted me to ' use my influence ' with Mr. 
 Norman about his precious Ordinance. I wasn't 
 much interested at first. I hadn't ridden in a 
 street car, of course, in years." 
 
 " Hadn't you? " said Merriam, quite at a loss. 
 
 " No. When I go out I take either the limousine 
 or the electric. So I really didn't know much about 
 conditions, except, of course, from the cartoons 
 about strap-hangers in the newspapers. Philip 
 saw that that was why I was unsympathetic. So 
 he dared me to go for a street-car ride with him. 
 Of course I wouldn't take a dare. 
 
 " It was about five o'clock in the afternoon. We 
 took the limousine down to Wabash and Madison. 
 There Philip made me get out on the street corner. 
 It was horrid weather a cold, blowy spring rain. 
 But Philip was hard as a rock. He told the chauf- 
 feur to drive to the corner of Cottage Grove and 
 Thirty-Ninth Street and wait for us. And we 
 waited for a car. It was terrible. We stood out in
 
 ALICIA AND THE MOTIVES OF MEN 41 
 
 the street under the Elevated by one of the posts, 
 you know for a little protection from the train. 
 We hadn't any umbrella. The wir i tore at my 
 skirts and my hair. The trains going by overhead 
 nearly burst your ears with noise. And automo- 
 biles and great motor trucks crashed past within a 
 few inches of us and splashed mud and nearly 
 stifled us with gasoline smells. And a crowd of 
 other people got around us and knocked into us and 
 walked on our feet and stuck umbrellas in our eyes. 
 For a long time no car at all came. Then three or 
 four came together, but they were all jammed full 
 to the steps, so that we couldn't get on. 
 
 " I was ready to give up. I told Philip so. 
 
 " ' Let's go into Mandel's,' I begged, ' and you can 
 call a taxi.' 
 
 " ' No you don't,' he said. ' Here, we can get on 
 this one.' 
 
 " Another car had stopped about twenty feet 
 from us. We joined a kind of football rush for the 
 rear end. I tripped on my skirt when I tried to 
 climb the steps, but Philip caught me by the arm 
 and dragged me on, as though I had been a sack of 
 flour. 
 
 " Then for a long time we couldn't get inside but 
 had to stand on the platform wedged like olives in 
 a bottle. It was so dark and cold and noisy, and 
 everybody was so wet and crushed and smelly. A 
 man beside me smelled so strong of tobacco and 
 whiskey and of not having had a bath for a long 
 time, that I was nearly ill. And I thought a poor
 
 42 MOLLIE ? S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 little shop girl on the other side of me was going to 
 faint. 
 
 " After a long time some people got out at the 
 other end of the car at Twelfth Street, Philip 
 says, and some of us squeezed inside into the 
 crowded aisle. Inside it was warm hot, in fact, 
 but still smellier. Philip got me a strap, and I 
 hung on to it. I don't care for strap-hanger jokes 
 any more. It's terribly tiring, and it pulls your 
 waist all out of shape. 
 
 " * Bet you won't get a seat,' grinned Philip. 
 
 " Of course I was bound then that I would. I 
 looked about. Some of the men who were seated 
 were reading papers the way they are in the car- 
 toons. Others just sat and stared in front of them. 
 I didn't blame them much. They looked tired, too. 
 But I had to get a seat to spite Philip. The young 
 man in the one before which I was standing, or 
 hanging, looked rather nice. I made up my mind 
 to get his seat. I had to look down inside his news- 
 paper and crowd against his legs. At last, after 
 looking up at me three or four times, he got up with 
 a jerk as if he had just noticed me and took off his 
 hat, and I smiled at him and at Philip and sat 
 down. But he kept staring at me so that I wished 
 I had let him alone. 
 
 " I made the poor little shop girl sit on my lap. 
 Nobody gave her a seat. I suppose she wouldn't 
 work for it the way I did. She was a pretty little 
 thing, too. Just a tiny bit like Mollie June Nor- 
 man. Not so pretty, of course, but the same type.
 
 ALICIA AND THE MOTIVES OF MEN 43 
 
 " Then there was nothing to do but wait till we 
 got to Thirty-Ninth Street. Ages and ages. They 
 ought to have been able to go to the South Pole and 
 back. 
 
 " When we did get there I put the little girl in 
 my seat she was going to Eighty-First Street, poor 
 little thing, and Philip and I got out and went 
 home in the limousine, and he told me all about how 
 the Ordinance would better things, and I promised 
 to help him if I could." 
 
 "And you did? " said Merriam. He was 
 touched whether by Alicia's own sufferings in the 
 course of her remarkable exploration or by those of 
 the little shop girl who looked like Mollie June, 
 does not, perhaps, matter. He now quite fully 
 liked Alicia. He saw that, in spite of her extreme 
 decollete and her cigarettes, she had a generous 
 heart. 
 
 " I tried to," replied Alicia. " I saw George Nor- 
 man, and I did my best my very best. But he 
 wouldn't promise anything. He only laughed and 
 tried to kiss me." 
 
 " Tried to kiss you ! " echoed Merriam, naively 
 aghast. 
 
 "Yes," said Alicia, with her eyes demurely on 
 the rose between her fingers. 
 
 And John Merriam, looking at her, grasped 
 clearly the possibility that a " boy senator " with 
 whom Alicia had done her very best might try to 
 kiss her. 
 
 " So that is one reason why I am in it to the
 
 44 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 death," Alicia went on, " because George Norman 
 wouldn't listen to me. And I don't want Philip to 
 fail." 
 
 She laid one hand quickly over one of Merriam's 
 hands, startling him so that he nearly drew his 
 away. " I love him," she said, and her eyes shone 
 effulgently into Merriam's. "He hasn't much 
 money, and he is hard and and conceited, but he is 
 courageous. He dares anything. He dared to 
 
 take me on that street-car ride. He would dare to 
 
 ? 
 
 burst in on the Senator and Mayor Black to-night. 
 He dares think up this plan. A woman loves a 
 Man." 
 
 There is no doubt that Alicia pronounced " man " 
 with a capital letter, and she looked challengingly 
 at Merriam. 
 
 " We are to be married next month," she added. 
 
 " Oh ! " gasped Merriam, his eyes staring in spite 
 of himself at her hand that lay on his. 
 
 The hand flew away as quickly as it had alighted, 
 but he still felt its soft coolness on his fingers as she 
 said : 
 
 " Of course all this is why / am in it, not why you 
 should be. You can't do it just to please me. But 
 v you really ought to think of all those poor people, 
 like the little shop girl all the tired men and 
 women millions of them, Philip says who have 
 to endure that torture every night after long days 
 of hard work. It's truly awful, and it might all be 
 so much better if we only got the Ordinance. You 
 could get it for them in one little half hour ! "
 
 ALICIA AND THE MOTIVES OF MEN 45 
 
 She looked hopefully at Merriam. He was in 
 fact hesitant. To have the fun of the thing, to 
 gratify this strange, attractive Alicia, and to render 
 an important service to the population of a great 
 city it was tempting. 
 
 " There's another thing," Alicia hurried on. 
 " You knew Mollie June Norman. She was one of 
 your students. I think you ought to do it for her 
 sake." 
 
 " Why so? " Merriam's question came swift and 
 sharp. 
 
 " Because if Senator Norman kills the Ordinance 
 it will be his ruin. It will cost him Chicago's vote 
 in the next election, and he can't win on the Down- 
 State vote alone." 
 
 " I thought Rockwell said the League would col- 
 lapse." 
 
 Possibly Alicia had forgotten this. But she only 
 shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 " It may or it mayn't. But either way the people 
 are aroused. Philip swears they will beat Norman 
 if he betrays them now. He is sure they can and 
 will. And if the ' boy senator ' were unseated and 
 had to retire to private life it would be terrible for 
 Mollie June. He's bad enough to live with as it is." 
 
 At this point Merriam was visited by a sudden 
 and splendid idea. Since he did not disclose it to 
 Alicia, I feel in honour bound to conceal it for the 
 present from the reader. 
 
 Alicia detected its presence in his eyes and judi- 
 ciously kept silent.
 
 46 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAOT) 
 
 It took about ten seconds for that idea to grow 
 from nothingness into full flower. For perhaps 
 five seconds longer Merriam inwardly contemplated 
 its unique beauty. Then he said : 
 
 "I'll do it!"
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 STAGE-SETTING 
 
 ALICIA gave him no time for reconsideration 
 or after-thoughts. 
 
 " Good ! " she cried, " I was sure you would." 
 
 She was on her feet in an instant, and as he got 
 to his she held out her hand. Merriam took it to 
 shake hands on their bargain was his thought. But 
 Alicia never exactly shook hands. She touched or 
 pressed or squeezed according to circumstances. 
 On this occasion it was a warm, clinging squeeze. 
 Her other hand patted Merriam's shoulder. 
 
 "I was sure you would," she repeated. "No 
 Man " again the capital letter was unmistakable 
 " could have resisted the the opportunity." 
 
 The curtain at the door was lifted, and Philip 
 Rockwell's voice said: "May I come in? The 
 twenty minutes are up." 
 
 They were. Just up. Alicia had done her part 
 in exactly the fraction of an hour she had given her- 
 self. No vaudeville act could have been more pre- 
 cisely timed. 
 
 " Yes. Come in, dear," said Alicia. " Mr. Mer- 
 riam will do it. We were just shaking hands on it." 
 
 Rockwell crossed the room in a rush and caught 
 
 47
 
 48 HOLME'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 Merriam's hand as Alicia relinquished it. He 
 pumped vigorously. In Ms eyes shone the unmis- 
 takable light of that genuine enthusiasm which 
 Alicia had described to her skeptical auditor. 
 
 " You're the right sort," he cried. " You are do- 
 ing a great thing, Mr. Merriam. You will never 
 regret it. But I can't thank you now," he added, 
 dropping Merriam's hand in mid-air, so to speak. 
 " It's ten minutes of eight. That money-bag, 
 Crockett, came out of the elevator just before I 
 came back. I have a car at the Ladies' Entrance." 
 
 " With Simpson? " asked Alicia. 
 
 " Yes. I had to get things ready. The time was 
 so short. I fixed the head waiter. Simpson seemed 
 ready enough. Has some old grudge against Nor- 
 man, I think." 
 
 " Yes," said Alicia, " he has. I'm a little afraid 
 I wish I could have seen him. Never mind. It 
 can't be helped. Where's Father Murray? " 
 
 " Watching to buttonhole the Mayor if he should 
 come too soon." 
 
 He looked critically for a moment at Merriam, 
 seemed satisfied, and crossed to the telephone on the 
 sideboard. 
 
 " I'll ring up the curtain," he said. 
 
 He laughed boyishly in Ms excitement and new 
 hope. He seemed very different now from the hard- 
 eyed, middle-aged fellow of an hour ago. Merriam 
 saw how Alicia might admire him. 
 
 " Give me Room Three-Two-Three," he said into 
 the telephone, Ms eyes smiling at them.
 
 STAGE-SETTING 49 
 
 A moment later a harsh, dry old man's voice was 
 saying : 
 
 " Is this Senator Norman? This is Mr. Schu- 
 bert, private secretary to Mayor Black. The Mayor 
 is sick. I can't help it, sir. He's sick all right. 
 He's out here at his house. Yes, he can veto the 
 Ordinance all right if it's necessary. But he won't 
 do it without seeing you first. He wants you to 
 come out. He's sent a car for you. It ought to be 
 down there at the Ladies' Entrance by now. No, 
 it won't do any good to call him up. I'm here at 
 his house now. He's in bed. And he won't veto 
 unless he sees you. Really, sir, if you'll pardon 
 me, you'd better come. Thank you, sir ! " 
 
 Rockwell clicked the receiver triumphantly into 
 its hook. 
 
 " That's done," he said. " Alicia, dear, go up to 
 the lobby on the women's side and watch the hall- 
 way leading to the Ladies' Entrance. Norman 
 should pass out that way within five minutes. 
 Follow him far enough to make sure that Simpson 
 gets him. And then let us know. Meanwhile I'll 
 coach Mr. Merriam a little." 
 
 " Right," said Alicia. 
 
 She moved to the door. The eyes of both men 
 followed her. When Alicia moved the eyes of men 
 did follow. And she knew it. At the doorway she 
 turned and blew a kiss, which might be said to fall 
 with gracious impartiality between her lover and 
 the younger man. It was a pretty exit. 
 
 " She's a splendid girl," said Rockwell, his eyes
 
 50 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 lingering on the curtain that had cut her off from 
 them. 
 
 "Yes," said Merriam. 
 
 Eockwell, still by the sideboard, reached for the 
 long bottle. 
 
 " Have another glass of this? " 
 
 " I don't mind," said Merriam. The fact is, a bit 
 of stage fright had come in for him when Alicia 
 went out. 
 
 " There's not much I can tell you," Eockwell said, 
 as he poured out the yellow fluid. " You'll have to 
 depend mostly on the inspiration of the moment. 
 You look the part all right. Your voice is all right, 
 too. Act as grumpy as you like. Damn him about 
 a bit. You can swear? " he asked hastily. A sud- 
 den horrible doubt of pedagogical capabilities had 
 crossed his mind. 
 
 Now Merriam was not a profane man, but some 
 of his fraternity brethren had been. Also he re- 
 membered the vituperative exploits of his .football 
 coach between halves when the game was going 
 badly. 
 
 " Swear? " he cried, as harshly as possible. " Of 
 course I can swear, you damn fool ! " 
 
 For three seconds Rockwell was startled. Then 
 he laughed. 
 
 " Fine ! " he cried. " You'll do it ! All there is 
 to it, really, is to tell him to sign the Ordinance and 
 to get out. He may ask about Crockett. If he 
 wants to know why he's changed his mind, tell 
 him it's none of his damn business. If he refers
 
 STAGE-SETTING 51 
 
 to a Madame Couteau, you must look pleased. 
 She's the pretty little manicurist whom Norman 
 will be on his way to visit. Black knows of that 
 affair, and he knows Norman likes to talk about it. 
 So he may drag it in with the idea of getting on 
 your blind side. You can tell him to shut up, of 
 course, but you must act gratified." 
 
 " Yes," said Merriam in a noncommittal tone. 
 
 But Rockwell did not notice. He was sipping 
 the Benedictine, ivith his mind on his problem. 
 
 " That's all I can think of," he said in a moment. 
 " I'll be in the next room the bedroom of the suite, 
 you know, and if you should get into deep water, 
 I'll burst in, just as I meant to on the real Senator, 
 and pull you out. We ought to get it over in fifteen 
 minutes at the outside and get you off. There's 
 just the least chance in the world, of course, that 
 Senator Norman might get away from Simpson and 
 come back. And there's Mrs. Norman." 
 
 " Where will she be? " asked Merriam as he took 
 a rather large sip of his cordial. 
 
 " She's in the lobby now with Miss Norman the 
 Senator's sister, you know, listening to the orches- 
 tra." ( Merriam vaguely recalled the elderly woman 
 whom he had seen with Mollie June in the Caba- 
 ret. ) " The Senator was going to take them to the 
 theater after he had finished with Black." 
 
 " What will they do when he doesn't show up? " 
 Merriam inquired; but to all appearances he was 
 chiefly interested at the moment in the best of 
 liqueurs.
 
 52 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " Probably go without him. She's used to George 
 Norman's broken engagements by now." 
 
 " I see," said Merriani without expression. 
 
 " Alicia and Murray will keep an eye on them, of 
 course," Rockwell added. 
 
 And then both men jumped. It was only the 
 telephone, but conspiracy makes neurastkenics of 
 us all. 
 
 Rockwell answered it. 
 
 "Yes. Good. That's all right. Ok ! Yes, 
 we'll go at once." 
 
 He turned excitedly to Merriani. 
 
 " It's Alicia. Norman has come down and got 
 into Simpson's car. Mrs. Norman is still in the 
 lobby. And the Mayor has come in. Murray's got 
 him, but he won't be able to hold him long. We 
 must go right up to the room. Come Sena- 
 tor!" 
 
 Merriam followed out of the private dining-room 
 and down the corridor at a great pace into a main 
 hallway and to an elevator. 
 
 Several people looked hard at Merriam. One im- 
 portant-looking elderly man stopped and keld out 
 his hand : 
 
 " How are you, Senator? " 
 
 But Rockwell crowded rudely between tkem. 
 
 " Excuse me, Colonel, but we must catch this 
 car. Very urgent ! " he called as the door 
 clicked. 
 
 And Merriam had the presence of mind to add, 
 " Look you up later ! "
 
 STAGE-SETTING 53 
 
 " Good " Kockwell began as they stopped at 
 
 the main floor, but he paused on the first word with 
 his mouth open. 
 
 A very large man, large every way, in evening 
 clothes, with a fine head of white hair and an air of 
 conscious distinction, was stepping into the car. 
 He saw Merriam and Kockwell. Then instantly he 
 appeared not to have observed them, hesitated, 
 backed gracefully out of the little group that was 
 entering the elevator, and was gone. 
 
 The car smoothly ascended. 
 
 " Three ! " said Eockwell to the elevator man. 
 Then to Merriam he whispered, " That was the 
 Mayor! He's got away from Murray." 
 
 " Ask for your key," whispered Kockwell, as they 
 stepped out. 
 
 For five protracted steps Merriam's mind strug- 
 gled frantically after the room number. He had 
 just grasped it ( 3-2-3 ! ) when he perceived that his 
 perturbation had been unnecessary. 
 
 For the floor clerk a pretty blonde of about 
 thirty was looking at him with her sunniest smile. 
 
 " Your key, Senator? " 
 
 " Yes, please," he managed to say. 
 
 As she handed him the key her fingers lightly 
 touched his for a second, and she said in a low tone, 
 " The violets are lovely." 
 
 He saw that she was wearing a large bunch of 
 those expensively modest flowers at her waist and 
 understood that his cousin's extra-marital interests 
 might not be limited to Madame Couteau.
 
 54 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAOT> 
 
 He lingered just a moment and replied in a tone 
 as low as her own, " They look lovely where they 
 are now." 
 
 But an appalling difficulty loomed over him even 
 as he murmured. For he did not know whether 
 Boom 323 lay to the right or the left, and if he 
 should start in the wrong direction 
 
 But Rockwell knew and was already moving to 
 the left. Merriam followed. In his relief he 
 smiled brightly back at the floor clerk. 
 
 At the corner where the hall turned Kockwell 
 stopped, and Merriam, coming up with him, read 
 " 323 " on the door before them. Both men looked 
 up at the transom. It was dark. 
 
 " In ! " said Kockwell. 
 
 Merriam inserted the key, turned it, and cau- 
 tiously opened the door a couple of inches, becom- 
 ing, as he did so, thrillingly conscious of the bur- 
 glarious quality of their enterprise. 
 
 No light or sound came from within. 
 
 For only three or four seconds Rockwell listened. 
 Then he pushed the door wide, stepped past Mer- 
 riam, and felt for the switch. 
 
 " You haven't invited me in, Senator," he said as 
 the room went alight, " but I'm a forward sort of 
 fellow. Come inside, and close the door," he 
 added. 
 
 Merriam pushed the door shut behind him and 
 stared about. The apartment was probably the 
 most gorgeous he had ever seen. The walls were a 
 soft cream colour, the woodwork white, the carpet
 
 STAGE-SETTING 55 
 
 and hangings and lampshades rose. Most of the 
 furniture was mahogany, some of it upholstered in 
 rose-coloured tapestry. On a table half way down 
 one side of the room stood a bowl of red roses. In 
 the wall opposite Merriam, between the windows, 
 was a fireplace of white marble, containing a gas 
 log, with a large mirror above the mantel in a frame 
 of white and gold. Before this fireplace stood a 
 huge upholstered easy chair, with a pink-shaded 
 floor lamp on one side of it and a small mahogany 
 tabaret on the other. 
 
 While Merriam was endeavouring to appreciate 
 this magnificence, Rockwell quickly crossed the sit- 
 ting room and passed through a door at one side. 
 After a moment he returned, crossed the room 
 again, and disappeared through a second door. 
 Reemerging, he announced triumphantly, " No one 
 in the bedrooms ! " 
 
 But Merriam's eyes rested, fascinated, on a gar- 
 ment which Rockwell had brought back with him 
 from the second bedroom a luxurious smoking 
 jacket of a most lurid crimson colour, which clashed 
 outrageously with the rose and pinks of the sena- 
 torial sitting room. 
 
 Rockwell grinned at the look on Merriam's 
 face. 
 
 " A historic garment, sir," he declared. " The 
 Boy Senator's crimson smoking jacket is a house- 
 hold word with most of the six million souls of this 
 commonwealth of Illinois. Off with your tails, sir, 
 and into it ! "
 
 56 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " Hurry ! " lie cried, as Merriam hesitated. " The 
 Mayor will be here any minute." 
 
 "Why didn't he come up in the elevator with 
 us? " Merriam asked while changing. 
 
 " All because of me, sir," replied Eockwell, in ex- 
 cellent spirits. " The Mayor abhors me and all 
 my works so sincerely that I feel I have not lived 
 in vain. Now, then, sit in that big chair before 
 the fireplace. Here, light this cigar. I'll start the 
 gas log going and bring in the tray with the siphon 
 and glasses and rye that I saw in the other room. 
 Ah!" 
 
 The telephone had rung, and Merriam had leapt 
 out of his chair. 
 
 " Answer it," said Eockwell. 
 
 Merriam stepped to the telephone, which was on 
 the wall, laid down his cigar, gripped his nerve 
 hard, and put the receiver to his ear : 
 
 "Hello!" 
 
 A deep voice, boomingly suave, replied : 
 
 " Senator Norman? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " This is Mr. Black. Have you got rid of Kock- 
 well yet? " 
 
 " No, not yet." 
 
 " Well, can't you throw him out? I am due at 
 the Council meeting at nine, of course. And I 
 don't care to discuss matters with you in his 
 presence, naturally. When shall I come up? " 
 
 Now the Mayor's rather long speech had given 
 Merriam time to think. He recalled his great idea,
 
 STAGE-SETTING 57 
 
 and a new inspiration, as to ways and means, came 
 to him. 
 
 " Eight-thirty," he replied curtly. 
 
 " But, good God ! " cried the Mayor, " that gives 
 us so little time. Can't you " 
 
 " I said eight-thirty, damn you! " 
 
 And Merriam hung up and turned to face Bock- 
 well at his elbow. 
 
 " But why eight-thirty? " demanded the latter as 
 soon as he understood that it had been the Mayor. 
 " Man alive, we ought to be gone by then ! What 
 are we to do with the next twenty minutes? You 
 must have lost your head. Call him again. Call 
 the desk and have him paged and told to come 
 right up." 
 
 Without a word Merriam turned to the telephone 
 again and asked for the desk. 
 
 But a moment later he gave Philip Rockwell one 
 of the major surprises of the latter's life. For what 
 he said was : 
 
 " Please page Mrs. George Norman, with the mes- 
 sage that Senator Norman would like to see her 
 right away in their rooms. Repeat that, please. 
 That's right. Thank you ! " 
 
 " What in hell ! " cried Rockwell, belatedly re- 
 leased by the click of the receiver from a paralysis 
 of astonishment. 
 
 Merriam picked up his cigar, walked back to the 
 easy chair, and seated himself comfortably. He 
 was excited now to the point of a quite theatrical 
 composure.
 
 58 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " Nothing in hell," he said. " Quite the contrary, 
 in fact. I want to have a few minutes' conversa- 
 tion with Mrs. Norman. That's all." 
 
 " See here ! " said Rockwell. " What funny busi- 
 ness is this? I won't have " 
 
 "Won't you? All right. Just as you say. If 
 you don't like the way I'm playing my part, I'll 
 drop it and walk right out of that door. I have a 
 ticket for the theater to-night. I can still be in 
 time." 
 
 The other man stared and gulped. It was hard 
 for him to realise that this young cub was master 
 of the situation, and not he, Kockwell. 
 
 " But this is serious ! " he cried. " The Ordi- 
 nance! The Keform League! The whole city of 
 Chicago ! You can't risk these for " 
 
 He stopped. Then : 
 
 " Do you realise, you young fool, that if we're 
 caught in this room, it will mean jail for both 
 of us?" 
 
 But Merriam in his present mood was incapable 
 of realising anything of the sort. In his mind's 
 eye he saw Mollie June stepping into the elevator 
 and saying in a voice of heavenly sweetness to the 
 happy elevator man, " Three, please ! " 
 
 An outer crust of his consciousness made pert 
 reply to Rockwell : 
 
 "That would be bad for the Reform League, 
 wouldn't it? " and added, " But you're willing to 
 fisk it for the Ordinance? " 
 
 " Yes, I am," began Rockwell, " but "
 
 STAGE-SETTING 59 
 
 "Would you risk it for Alicia? " Merriam inter- 
 rupted. 
 
 " What has Alicia got to do with it? " 
 
 But he understood, and knew that argument was 
 useless, and stared in helpless anger and alarm 
 while the younger man carefully, grandly blew a 
 beautifully perfect smoke ring into the air. 
 
 It was the youngster who spoke, still theatrically 
 calm: 
 
 " You'd better go into the bedroom. f She'll be 
 here in a moment. Shut the door, please. And 
 keep away from it ! " 
 
 It was one of the secrets of Philip Rockwell's suc- 
 cess in politics that, masterful as he was, he knew 
 when to yield. He took a step towards one of the 
 bedrooms. 
 
 " Make it short," he pleaded. 
 
 " Eight-thirty ! " said Merriam. 
 
 A gentle knocking sounded at the door. 
 
 Merriam was on his feet without volition of his 
 own, while Rockwell, almost as instinctively, 
 slipped into the bedroom. 
 
 Then the younger man recovered himself, sat 
 down, his feet to the gas log and his back to the 
 door, and called, " Come in! "
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 BOY AND GIRL 
 
 door was opened and closed. John Mer- 
 JL riam's straining ears could catch no definite 
 sound of footsteps or skirts, and he did not dare to 
 look around. Yet by some sixth sense, it seemed, 
 he was aware of Mollie June's progress half way 
 across the room and aware that she had stopped, 
 some feet away from him. 
 
 " What is it George? " she asked. 
 
 It was only too clear that Mollie June's lord and 
 master was not in the habit of sending for her. 
 
 " Where is Miss Norman? " 
 
 Merriam was conscious that Senator Norman 
 probably did not refer to Ms sister in that fashion, 
 but he did not know her given name. 
 
 " Aunt Mary? I left her in the lobby. Did you 
 want her too? " 
 
 There was a note of eagerness in the question. 
 
 " No ! " 
 
 Silence. Mollie June stood waiting in the center 
 of the room. The significance of her failure to ap- 
 proach her husband was unmistakable. 
 
 Then he said : " Would you very much mind if 
 you should miss the theater to-night? " 
 
 60
 
 BOY AND GIRL 61 
 
 "Why no. Is there anything the matter, 
 George? " 
 
 "Not for me," said Merriam, and he rose and 
 faced her. 
 
 " I was afraid " She stopped, looked hard. 
 
 " George, you look oh ! " 
 
 She passed her hand across her eyes. It was a 
 stage gesture, but when stage situations occur in 
 real life the conventional " business " of the boards 
 is often justified. 
 
 She looked again. 
 
 " Mr. Merriam ! " 
 
 John Merriam stepped quickly forward. It oc- 
 curred to him that she might faint. He had read 
 many novels. 
 
 But Mollie June did nothing of the sort. 
 
 " Mr. Merriam ! " she cried again. " How do you 
 come here? Where is Mr. Norman? How did 
 you get in that?" 
 
 She pointed to the famous smoking jacket. Her 
 bewilderment was increasing. She looked nerv- 
 ously about, as if suspecting that Merriam, for the 
 sake of the crimson garment, had murdered her 
 husband and concealed his body. 
 
 Merriam had stopped. Almost he might have 
 wished that she had fainted. It would have been 
 delicious to carry her in his arms and place her in 
 the Senator's easy chair and bring water and when 
 her eyes opened wonderingly upon him softly whis- 
 per her name. As it was he could only say for- 
 mally:
 
 62 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAOT> 
 
 " Let me take your cloak Mrs. Norman won't 
 you? And sit down." 
 
 Mechanically she let him take the opera cloak 
 from her shoulders, and when he caught hold of the 
 senatorial chair and swung it around and pushed it 
 towards her she sat tremblingly erect on the edge of 
 it. Her eyes dwelt upon his face as if fascinated. 
 
 " Isn't it funny you look so much alike? I 
 never realised it so much. But where is he? 
 Why ?" 
 
 Merriam caught up a small chair, placed it in 
 front of hers, and sat down, 
 
 " Listen, Mollie June," he said pleadingly, using 
 unconsciously the name that ran in his thoughts. 
 
 His plan, as it had taken shape while he talked 
 with Mayor Black on the telephone, was to tell her 
 in advance of Rockwell's plot and to carry it 
 through only with her approval or consent for was 
 not his first loyalty to her? His original idea, and 
 his real motive, of course, had been only to see her. 
 And now that he had her there he found he hated to 
 waste time on explanations. But there was noth- 
 ing for it. She could not be at ease or clear in her 
 mind until she understood. So, rapidly and can- 
 didly, he related how at the instance of Mr. Kock- 
 well the Senator had been decoyed away, while he 
 was there to impersonate him with Mayor Black, so 
 that the latter should sign instead of vetoing the 
 Traction Ordinance. Then he waited for he knew 
 not what amazement, fright, anger, dissuasion. 
 
 But Mollie June did not seem much interested in
 
 BOY AND GIRL 63 
 
 traction ordinances. Presumably Senator Norman 
 had not cared to educate his young wife about po- 
 litical matters. 
 
 " Why did you send for me? " she asked. 
 
 Her question was almost too direct for him. He 
 could not say, to ask her approval of the plan 
 against her husband. 
 
 " I had to see you," was all he could reply. 
 
 " Why? " 
 
 But she knew the real reason. The turning of 
 her eyes away from him confessed it. 
 
 It was his chance to say, " Because I love you." 
 An older man might have said it. But the young 
 are timid and conventional not bold and reckless, 
 as is alleged. He remembered that she was another 
 man's wife and only spoke her name : 
 
 "Mollie June!" 
 
 Perhaps that did as well. In fact it was, in the 
 reticent dialect of youth, the same thing. 
 
 She looked at him a moment, then quickly away 
 again. 
 
 " You never called me that but once before to- 
 night," she said. 
 
 At first he found no answer. His mind scarcely 
 sought one. He was absorbed in merely looking at 
 her. She was indeed girlishly perfect as she sat 
 there, almost primly upright, in her white frock, 
 her slender figure framed in the rose-coloured tap- 
 estry of the big chair's back and arms, which gave 
 an effect as of a blush to her cheeks and to the white 
 shoulders which he had never seen before except
 
 64 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBA3O) 
 
 across the spaces of the Peacock Cabaret. To the 
 eyes of middle age she would have been, perhaps, 
 merely " charming." In his she shone with the 
 divine radiance of Aphrodite. And his were right, 
 of course. 
 
 He was almost trembling when at length he said : 
 
 " That was on that last night." 
 
 " Yes," said Aphrodite, who is always chary of 
 speech. 
 
 Suddenly he saw that her averted face was wist- 
 ful, sad. 
 
 " Are you happy, Mollie June? " he cried. 
 
 Though she turned only partly to him he saw that 
 her eyes were more a woman's eyes than he had 
 known them and were full of tears. 
 
 " Not very," she said. 
 
 He sat dumbly on his chair, full of pain for her, 
 yet not altogether saddened that she should not be 
 entirely happy with another man. 
 
 But now her face was fully towards him, and her 
 eyes had become dry and looked past him. 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Merriam you don't know! I can't 
 tell you " 
 
 He was filled with horror almost boyishly terri- 
 fied by such dim visions as a man may have of 
 what her lot might be. 
 
 " If I could only help you ! " he cried, as earnestly 
 as all the other separated lovers in the world have 
 said those very words. 
 
 The eyes that looked beyond him came back to his 
 face. The Mollie June whom he had known had
 
 BOY AND GIRL 65 
 
 had her girlish poise, and this more tragic Mollie 
 June did not lose her self-control for long. 
 
 " You have helped me Mr. Merriam. Oh, I am 
 glad you brought me here ! When I saw you in 
 the Cabaret, I just ran away from you. I couldn't 
 even let you speak to me. Afterwards I waited up- 
 stairs in the lobby. I thought I might see you 
 there. But you didn't come. Then I thought 
 George had sent for me ! " 
 
 She stopped as if that was a climax. 
 
 Merriam leaned forward. He wanted to put his 
 hand over one of hers that lay on the arm of her 
 chair, but did not dare to. His tongue, however, 
 was released at last. 
 
 " If ever I can help you in any way, Mollie June, 
 you must let me know. I would do anything for 
 you. I will always be ready." 
 
 He paused abruptly, though only for a second. 
 A dark thought had crossed his mind : after all the 
 " Boy Senator " was an old man (from the stand- 
 point of twenty-eight), and leading a life unhealthy 
 for old men. He hurried on : 
 
 " I will wait for you always. Perhaps some 
 day " 
 
 Did she comprehend his meaning? He could not 
 tell, and he did not know whether to hope she did or 
 did not. But stress of conflicting emotions made 
 him venturesome. He did put his hand over hers. 
 
 Hers did not move. 
 
 His fingers slipped under hers, ready to raise her 
 hand.
 
 66 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " That last night in Riceville, Mollie June, I 
 kissed your glove. To-night I want to kiss your 
 hand to make me yours if you should need 
 me." 
 
 She did not draw her hand away, but she said : 
 
 " You oughtn't to now Mr. Merriam." 
 
 The formal name by which she had continually 
 addressed him pricked. 
 
 "Won't you call me 'John,' Mollie June, just 
 for this quarter of an hour before the Mayor 
 comes? " 
 
 " Oh, the Mayor ! " she cried in alarmed remem- 
 brance. 
 
 " Call me ' John/ dear for fifteen minutes ! " 
 
 In his voice and eyes were both entreaty and com- 
 mand, and Mollie June could not resist them. 
 
 " John ! " shf whimpered. 
 
 And he raised her hand and bent quickly forward, 
 and his lips pressed her fingers. A bare second. 
 Yet it was in his mind a solemn, a sacramental kiss. 
 He straightened up triumphant, happy. Youth 
 asks so little. 
 
 " Now you know you have a right to me ! " he 
 cried. " To send for me. To use me any way, any 
 time ! " 
 
 There came a loud knocking at the door. 
 
 Mollie June started half way out of the chair and 
 then sank back. Merriam, on his feet and part 
 way across the floor, stopped confused. He per- 
 ceived that he ought to get Mollie June out of the 
 room.
 
 BOY AND GIRL 67 
 
 The knocking resounded again. And immediately 
 the door was tried and opened, and a man stepped 
 in. It was the large man with the white hair who 
 had started to enter the elevator Mayor Black.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 PASSAGES WITH MAYOR BLACK 
 
 THE Mayor of the great city of Chicago was 
 hurriedly apologetic: 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Senator. You said eight- 
 thirty, you know, and it's that now. I came up and 
 knocked. Evidently you did not hear. A man I 
 met in the lobby told me that you had left the hotel 
 in a taxi half an hour ago. He said he saw you go. 
 So I tried the door and when it opened stepped in, 
 just to make sure. I am sorry to have intruded." 
 
 Apparently, however, he did not intend to with- 
 draw. 
 
 Mollie June crouched frightened in her chair, but 
 Merriam was rapidly pulling himself together. 
 
 " It is I who should apologise for keeping you 
 waiting, Mayor Black," he said. " I will ask Mrs. 
 Norman to excuse us. Will you step into the next 
 room for a few minutes, Mollie June? We shall 
 not be long." 
 
 He went back to her chair and held out his hand. 
 
 She took it and rose. Her spirit, too, was re- 
 asserting itself. She faced the Mayor with a smile : 
 
 " Good evening, Mr. Black." 
 
 " Good evening, Mrs. Norman." He bowed gal- 
 lantly. " I am very sorry " 
 
 68
 
 PASSAGES WITH MAYOR BLACK 69 
 
 " Oh," she cried lightly, one would have said hap- 
 pily, " business is business, I know." Then to Mer- 
 riam : " You won't be long? " 
 
 " Only a minute dear." 
 
 (Perhaps we can hardly blame him for profiting 
 by the license his role gave him to address her 
 so.) 
 
 He moved to the door opposite to that through 
 which Rockwell had slipped away fifteen minutes 
 earlier and opened it for her. She passed through 
 into the darkness of the other room. He felt for 
 the switch and pushed it. 
 
 As the light went on she turned and smiled at 
 him : 
 
 " Thank you." 
 
 For an instant it seemed to him perhaps to both 
 of them that she was really his wife, who was 
 leaving him for a few minutes only, whom he would 
 soon rejoin. 
 
 Then he turned to face Mayor Black. 
 
 " I need stay only a minute, Senator," the Mayor 
 was saying. " If I had known you were engaged 
 with Mrs. Norman, I shouldn't have bothered you. 
 It wasn't really necessary. I met Mr. Crockett 
 downstairs while I was waiting. He told me the 
 answer. But since I had the engagement with you 
 I came up. If I may, I'll write the veto right here, 
 and then I can go on to the Council meeting." 
 
 As he spoke he drew a thick roll of paper from 
 his overcoat pocket, unfolded it, opened it at the 
 last sheet, and laid it on a small writing table.
 
 70 
 
 "I shan't give any reasons," he added, sitting 
 down and picking up a pen. " Least said, soonest 
 mended eh, Senator? " 
 
 " But you're not to veto ! You're to sign ! " cried 
 Merriam. 
 
 Perhaps if he had more fully grasped the signifi- 
 cance of the other's statement about Mr. Crockett 
 he would have been less abrupt; but that mighty 
 financier was only a dim name to his mind. 
 
 " What? " said Black, turning in his chair. 
 
 The Mayor's tone gave Merriam some realisation 
 of the seriousness of the new situation. But he 
 could only stand to his guns. 
 
 "You're to sign! I don't care what Crockett 
 said. I don't care a damn what he said," he cor- 
 rected himself. " You do what I say, damn you ! " 
 
 "But how is this?" exclaimed the Mayor. 
 " Crockett said you fully agreed that the best in- 
 
 He stopped, looking intently at Merriam. 
 
 In the excitement of the dialogue which had fol- 
 lowed Merriam's sending for Mollie June Eockwell 
 had neglected the precaution he had had in mind of 
 having only side lights on. Kockwell had planned, 
 also, that Merriam should sit facing the gas log 
 with his back to the room and look at the Mayor as 
 little as possible. Now the boy stood where the full 
 glare of the chandelier shone on his face. Perhaps, 
 too, the emotions of a youthful love scene, such as 
 he had just passed through, were not the best prepa- 
 ration in the world for counterfeiting the slightly
 
 PASSAGES WITH MAYOR BLACK 71 
 
 worn cheeks and slightly tired eyes of an elderly if 
 well-preserved politician. 
 
 " Who in hell are you? " gasped the Mayor. 
 
 Merriam was certainly startled. Perhaps he 
 showed it just a little. But he stood up bravely. 
 
 " You know damn well who I am. And you do 
 as I say or get out of Chicago politics. I'll attend 
 to Crockett," he added. " That's my affair." 
 
 " Is that so? Well, I guess it's my affair who 
 makes a monkey of me ! I " 
 
 Again the Mayor stopped abruptly and stared. 
 Then suddenly he rose. 
 
 " I was told the Senator had left the hotel. I 
 think I was correctly informed. What sort of a 
 trick is this? Who are you? " 
 
 " Damn you " Merriam began, with realistic 
 
 sincerity, but with the vaguest ideas as to what 
 more substantial statement should follow. 
 
 At this moment, however, Rockwell opened his 
 door and stepped into the room. 
 
 " Aha ! " cried the Mayor. No stage villain could 
 have said it better. " Mr. Rockwell ! Of the Re- 
 form League, I believe ! " He bowed sardonically. 
 " ' One-Thing-at-a-Time Rockwell!' Well, one 
 thing at a time like this " he pointed at Merriam 
 " ought to be enough for a reformer ! " 
 
 " Good evening, Mayor Black," said Rockwell. 
 " I believe you were about to sign the Ordinance." 
 
 " I was not. In spite of the Senator here. I 
 don't get a chance to defy Senator Norman every 
 day. I rather enjoy it! And let me tell you,"
 
 72 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 he added, " if you and your friends in that damned 
 League make any more trouble for me or Senator 
 Norman or the Ordinance or anything else after 
 this if you don't shut up and lie low and keep 
 pretty damn quiet, we'll show you up, my boy. 
 This would make a pretty little story for the news- 
 papersand for the State's Attorney, too! We 
 might call it 'The Ethics of Eeform!' Oh, we 
 have you where we want you now, Mr. Reformer ! 
 As for this young impostor here, we'll have to look 
 him up a bit. A very promising young gentle- 
 man ! " 
 
 The Mayor evidently enjoyed the center of the 
 stage. He towered tall and imposing and righteous, 
 and looked triumphantly from Rockwell to Mer- 
 riam and back again. 
 
 " I really think you'd better sign it," said Rock- 
 well. He spoke rather low. 
 
 " What do you mean? " cried the Mayor. 
 
 Then he thought he saw. 
 
 " Oh, it's strong-arm work next, is it? " 
 
 There was a note of alarm mingled with his 
 irony, and the magnificence of his pose weakened a 
 little. Rockwell was a determined-looking fellow, 
 and there was Merriam to help him, and the Mayor 
 was not really a very brave man. But he went on 
 talking to save his face : 
 
 " You certainly are a jewel of a reformer, Rock- 
 well!" 
 
 Then he saw a point and quickly recovered his 
 full grandeur.
 
 PASSAGES WITH MAYOR BLACK 73 
 
 " I don't quite see how you're going to manage, 
 though.. Of course, if it were a case of preventing 
 me from signing, you might do it the two of you ! 
 But signing's rather different, isn't it? You can 
 
 lead a horse to water Of course, you can club 
 
 me or hold a revolver to my head. But, you see, I 
 know you wouldn't dare to fire a revolver here in 
 this room. So just how will you force my fingers to 
 form the letters? Or perhaps you will try forgery? 
 Is forgery the next act, Mr. Reformer? " 
 
 Rockwell smiled. He was in no hurry to reply. 
 Merriam still stood, as he had throughout this un- 
 foreseen dialogue, a rigid spectator. 
 
 Then, in the moment's silence, very inoppor- 
 tunely, a clock, somewhere outside, struck the hour 
 a quarter to nine. 
 
 Rockwell tried to drown it, saying, " I'm hardly 
 so versatile as that." 
 
 But the Mayor had heard and understood. 
 
 " Oh, that's it ! " he cried. 
 
 " Yes, that's it ! " said Rockwell, and the center 
 of the stage automatically shifted to him. " If that 
 Ordinance is not returned to the Council with your 
 veto by nine o'clock to-night, it becomes a law 
 whether you sign it or not ! You're a bit slow, Mr. 
 Mayor, but you've got it at last ! " 
 
 The Mayor did not answer. He shifted slightly 
 on his feet. His hand shot out. He grabbed the 
 Ordinance from the writing table and "rushed for 
 the door. 
 
 " Catch him ! " shouted Rockwell. " Hold him ! "
 
 Merriam had been a football player. As if re- 
 leased from a spring he darted after the Mayor. 
 From habit he tackled low. They went down with 
 something of a crash, knocking over an ash stand as 
 they fell, and the Mayor gave a groan. If he had 
 ever known how to fall properly, he had forgotten. 
 Merriam hoped there were no bones broken. 
 
 But Rockwell was wasting no thoughts on com- 
 miseration. He was kneeling over the fallen ruler 
 of the city with his hands clapped over his mouth 
 to prevent further groans or other outcry. 
 
 " Get the paper ! " he said. 
 
 Merriam scrambled forward and tried to pull the 
 Ordinance from the hand at the end of the out- 
 stretched arm. It was held tight. He was afraid 
 of tearing it. 
 
 " Twist his arm," said Eockwell. 
 
 A very little twist sufficed. The Mayor gare up. 
 Merriam rose to his feet with the document. 
 
 " Will you be quiet? " Eockwell demanded in the 
 Mayor's ear, and released his mouth enough to en- 
 able him to answer. 
 
 " Yes," said the Mayor feebly. " Let me up." 
 
 "All right. That's better. If you make any 
 rumpus we'll down you again, you know, and tie 
 you up and gag you. Give me the paper," he added 
 to Merriam, " and help him up, will you? " 
 
 He stood watching while the younger man as- 
 sisted the Mayor in the ponderous job of getting on 
 his feet. 
 
 " I hope you aren't hurt, sir," said Merriam.
 
 The Mayor looked sourly at him. " Thanks ! " 
 He felt of his arms and passed his hands up and 
 down over his ribs. " I guess I'm all right except 
 my clothes." 
 
 In fact his white shirt front was crumpled and 
 his broadcloth coat and trousers were dusty with 
 cigar ash from the fallen stand. Merriam was in 
 little better condition. They were not dressed for 
 football practice. Rockwell only was still immacu- 
 late. 
 
 " I'll get a brush," said Merriam. No longer a 
 Senator, he felt very boyish and anxious to be use- 
 ful. 
 
 As he spoke he turned to the room the fall had 
 occurred near the door into the hall and stopped 
 nonplused. For in her bedroom door stood Mollie 
 June, her eyes full at once of eagerness and of ap- 
 prehension. 
 
 How much she had heard I do not pretend to 
 know. Perhaps some of Merriam's unprofessorial 
 profanity, possibly the Mayor's triumphant irony, 
 certainly Rockwell's shout, " Catch him ! " and the 
 fall. Doubtless the silence after that thud had 
 been too much for her self-control. 
 
 The Mayor's rueful gaze travelling past Merriam 
 also rested on Mollie June. A light came into his 
 eyes. He drew himself up. 
 
 " Come in, Mrs. Norman," ke said. " Your hus- 
 band " with a significant emphasis on the word 
 "has been giving a demonstration of his athletic 
 prowess. He is indeed the Boy Senator and a suit-
 
 76 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 able mate for a woman as young and pretty as your- 
 self." 
 
 He paid no attention to Merriam's angry and 
 threatening glance but turned to Rockwell. 
 
 " Mr. Rockwell," he said, " I think you'd better 
 give me that Ordinance after all." 
 
 Rockwell spoke in a low tone to Merriam : 
 
 " Get her out ! " 
 
 The Mayor had no objection to that. The older 
 men watched while Merriam walked rapidly across 
 the room to Mollie June. 
 
 " You'd better go into the other room again, 
 dear," he said. 
 
 But Mollie June's eyes were bright and her 
 colour high and her white shoulders very straight. 
 
 " No ! " she said. 
 
 " You really will oblige us greatly, Mrs. Nor- 
 man," said the Mayor, " if you will withdraw for a 
 moment longer." 
 
 " No ! " said Mollie June. " This is my room. I 
 have a right to be here. And I don't like scuffling. " 
 
 She cast a disdainful glance at their crumpled 
 shirts and dusty trousers. And, womanlike, she 
 sought a diversion. 
 
 " What a mess you are in ! " she cried. " Mr. 
 George, get the whisk broom from the bedroom 
 there!" 
 
 It was an almost haughty command. And Mer- 
 riam rejoiced to obey this new mistress of the situa- 
 tion. He darted into the bedroom. 
 
 The two older men looked at each other. Rock-
 
 PASSAGES WITH MAYOK BLACK 77 
 
 well was content: time was passing. When the 
 Mayor started to speak he forestalled him. 
 
 " She's really right," he said. " You can't leave 
 like this. And some one mignt come in." 
 
 Merriam was back with the whisk broom. 
 
 " Come under the light," ordered Mollie June, 
 addressing the Mayor. 
 
 That dignitary reluctantly advanced. 
 
 " Turn around. Now, George, brush him." 
 
 Merriam sought diligently to remove the ashes 
 from the Mayor's garments. It required vigorous 
 work, for the dust was rubbed deeply into the cloth. 
 Mollie June superintended closely. The Mayor had 
 to turn about several times and raise an arm and 
 then the other arm. He could not make much 
 progress in the regaining of his dignity ; and he, no 
 less than Kockwell, was conscious of the fleeing mo- 
 ments. But, glancing again and again at Mollie 
 June, girlishly imperious and intent, he could not 
 as yet muster his brutality for what he saw the next 
 move in his game must be. Rockwell waited se- 
 renely in the background, the Ordinance in his 
 hand. 
 
 At last the Mayor's broadcloth was fairly pre- 
 sentable. Nothing could be done, of course, with 
 his shirt front. 
 
 "Now, George," said Mollie June, "it's your 
 turn. Give me the broom." 
 
 "No, no!" 
 
 " Owe me the broom! " She took it from his 
 hand. " Turn around ! "
 
 78 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 And with her own hands and in the manner of 
 wifely solicitude she began to dust his collar and 
 lapels. 
 
 This was not unpleasant for Merriam, but it 
 prompted the Mayor to take his cue. As he watched 
 his eyes hardened, and in a moment he said : 
 
 " You take good care of your husband, don't you, 
 Mrs. Norman? " 
 
 " I try to," said Mollie June rather pertly, dust- 
 ing away. Evidently she had not heard enough to 
 know that Merriam had been found out. 
 
 " It must be pleasant," said the Mayor, " to have 
 such a nice young husband." 
 
 Mollie June stopped her work and looked at him 
 in sudden alarm. 
 
 " What do you mean? " she said. 
 
 Rockwell stepped forward and caught her arm : 
 
 " Let me lead you into the next room, Mrs. Nor- 
 man. You must let us talk with the Mayor." 
 
 " No ! " she cried, snatching her arm away, and 
 turning eyes of angry innocence on Mayor Black. 
 " What do you mean? " 
 
 " I mean," he said, with smiling suavity he was 
 not to be daunted now, and, short of violence, there 
 was no way of stopping him, "that you are a 
 young woman. This gentleman whose name I do 
 not have the honour of knowing is also young, and 
 rather handsome. The Senator, of course, is get- 
 ting old. I find you two alone in your husband's 
 rooms, your husband having been tricked away. 
 You can hardly expect me to believe that you mis-
 
 PASSAGES WITH MAYOR BLACK 79 
 
 took him for your husband. You display no dislike 
 for his person. I draw my own conclusions. Every 
 one in Chicago will draw the same conclusions if 
 this interesting situation, quite worthy of Boccac- 
 cio, should become known. That's why I think " 
 he turned suddenly to Rockwell " that you'd bet- 
 ter give me the Ordinance after all." 
 
 Mollie June's cheeks were blazing. Merriam's 
 also; he could not look at her. But Rockwell 
 pulled his watch from his pocket. 
 
 " It is now two minutes past nine," he said. 
 " The Ordinance has become law. You can have it 
 now, Mr. Mayor." He held out the document. 
 
 The Mayor snatched it. 
 
 " It's not legal ! " he cried. " And it won't stand. 
 I can prove that I was prevented by foul means 
 by foul means," he repeated, " from exercising my 
 charter right of veto. I'll take out an injunction, 
 and I'll fight it to the Supreme Court. And in the 
 process all Chicago the whole United States 
 shall be entertained with the piquant story of these 
 young people " he waved a hand towards Merriam 
 and Mollie June, " aided and abetted by Mr. Re- 
 former Rockwell. I'll ruin them, and you and your 
 League, whatever else comes of it. Oh, you're a 
 clever lot, you you reformers ! " 
 
 He paused out of breath. Then, dramatically, 
 for he was always self-conscious and inclined to 
 pose: 
 
 " Madame and gentlemen ! " but the effective- 
 ness of his bow was somewhat marred by the sorry
 
 80 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 state of his shirt front " I wish you a very good 
 evening ! " 
 
 But Rockwell was before him with his back to the 
 hall door. 
 
 " You've forgotten your hat, Mayor," he said. 
 
 (In fact, his tall hat still stood on the writing 
 table where he had set it down before he spread out 
 the Ordinance there to write his veto. ) 
 
 " Damn my hat ! Let me go ! " 
 
 " Presently, presently. I still think you'd better 
 sign the Ordinance." 
 
 " Do you mean to knock me down again? " 
 
 " I'd like nothing better, you cad ! " cried Mer- 
 riam, who had stood bursting with outrage a min- 
 ute longer than he could endure. 
 
 The Mayor almost jumped at the savage sincerity 
 of this threat in his rear. Rockwell smiled at the 
 startled look on his face, but he spoke quietly : 
 
 "No violence. I hope to convince you that it 
 would be to your best interests to sign it. Since it 
 has become a law anyway." 
 
 " Never ! " cried the Mayor. " Do you think I 
 would be a traitor to to my party? And I mean 
 to get even with this gang, whatever else I do ! " 
 
 But the next instant he jumped indeed. A new 
 voice spoke a woman's. 
 
 " Mayor Black," it said, " you're a fool ! "
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 AUNT MARY 
 
 ALL four of the actors in the little scene turned, 
 and Mollie June uttered an exclamation : 
 
 "Aunt Mary!" 
 
 In the doorway from which Rockwell had 
 emerged a few minutes earlier stood the thin, pale, 
 elderly woman whom Merriam had seen with Mollie 
 June in the Peacock Cabaret. She wore a black 
 evening gown, rather too heavily overlaid with jet, 
 was tall and very erect, and had streaked gray hair, 
 a Roman nose, and a firm mouth. The effect as she 
 stood there, framed in the door, was decidedly 
 striking sibylline. 
 
 Mollie June ran to her. 
 
 " Oh, Aunt Mary ! " she cried. 
 
 Merriam was afraid that Mollie June would burst 
 into tears. Very possibly she would have liked to 
 do so, but Aunt Mary gave her no opportunity. 
 
 " Lock the door, Mr. Rockwell," she said, putting 
 an arm about Mollie June's waist. Her tone and 
 manner were vigorous and dominant. 
 
 " Good evening, Mr. Black," she continued, while 
 Rockwell hastened to obey her. And to Merriam : 
 " Good evening, Mr. Wilson. Now I think we 
 had better all sit down and talk it over." 
 
 81
 
 82 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " I can't," said the Mayor. " I'm late for the 
 Council meeting already. I've been shamefully 
 tricked, Miss Norman." 
 
 " I think you have," returned Aunt Mary, releas- 
 ing Mollie June and advancing a step or two into 
 the room. " But that's the very reason why you 
 need to consider your position at once. Yoa're in a 
 mess. So are we. Perhaps we can help each other 
 out. The Council can wait. 'Phone them that 
 you've been detained. They can go ahead, I sup- 
 pose. Eeally, Mr. Black, I see a point or two in 
 this business that I think will interest you." 
 
 Mayor Black met Mary Norman's direct, pur- 
 poseful gaze. He was impressed by her air of com- 
 mand and intelligence. He recalled gossip to the 
 effect that it was really she who ran George Nor- 
 man's campaigns, that she even wrote some of his 
 speeches. 
 
 " Very well," he said, " I'll stay ten minutes. 
 Never mind 'phoning." 
 
 " Good," said Aunt Mary. " There are seats for 
 all of us, I believe. Take that one, Mayor." 
 
 She indicated the large armchair with the rose- 
 coloured tapestry in which Mollie June had been 
 ensconced half an hour before, and laid her own 
 hand on the back of the smaller one close by in 
 which Merriam had sat. 
 
 Then she turned to Mollie June : 
 
 " Do you wish to leave us, dear, or to stay? " 
 
 " I'll stay ! " said Mollie June. Her colour was 
 still high, and the glance she threw in the Mayor's
 
 AUNT MARY 83 
 
 direction was distinctly hostile, but she had recov- 
 ered her self-control. We shall be able to forgive 
 young Merriam a throb of admiration at her 
 spirit. 
 
 " Very well," said Aunt Mary. " Sit over there, 
 then. Mr. Wilson," she added, to Merriam, " on 
 that table yonder you will find a humidor. Pass 
 the cigars, please. And pick up that ash stand and 
 set it here by the Mayor." 
 
 She and the Mayor and Mollie June sat down. 
 Rockwell remained standing. Merriam, though 
 somewhat confused at having turned from Norman 
 into Wilson, hastened to do as he was bid. He 
 picked up the ash stand, straightening the box of 
 matches into place, and brought it and set it by the 
 Mayor's chair. Then he got the humidor, opened 
 its heavy lid, and passed the gold-banded perfectos 
 therein to the Mayor and to Rockwell. 
 
 " Are you leaving me out, young man? " de- 
 manded Aunt Mary, who had watched him in ap- 
 praising silence. 
 
 Merriam turned to her with the humidor, hesitat- 
 ing. 
 
 " There don't seem to be any cigarettes," he said. 
 " I have some in my pocket." 
 
 But Aunt Mary leaned forward and took from 
 the humidor a package of " little cigars " that had 
 been slipped in at one end of the box of perfectos. 
 
 " No cigarettes for me," she said. " I smoke 
 when I'm with men so as to be one of them. A 
 cigarette leaves me a woman. A cigar, even one of
 
 84 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 these little ones, makes a man of me. Give me a 
 match, please." 
 
 With what seemed to himself amazing self-con- 
 trol, Merriam took a match from the ash stand, 
 struck it, and would have held the light for her. 
 But Aunt Mary took it from him and, looking all 
 the while amazingly like his own mother, deliber- 
 ately and efficiently ignited the " little cigar." 
 
 Then she looked up quizzically at Merriam, blew 
 out the match, handed it to him, and said, " Sit 
 down, Mr. Wilson." 
 
 Having seated himself, Merriam found Aunt 
 Mary looking intently at the Mayor, who was smok- 
 ing and returning her gaze. 
 
 But Rockwell broke in : 
 
 " How much do you know, Miss Norman? And 
 how do you know it? "' 
 
 " As to how I know it," said Aunt Mary, " that's 
 my own business for the present. Not because 
 there need be any secret about it, but because we 
 haven't time for explanations." She puffed at her 
 little cigar. " As to how much I know, I believe I 
 understand the whole affair except how Mrs. Nor- 
 man came into it." She looked at Rockwell. 
 
 That gentleman did not reply. Merriam broke 
 the silence: 
 
 " I sent for her." 
 
 He said it very well not defiantly, but as a 
 plain, necessary statement of fact. 
 
 Aunt Mary turned in her chair to look at him. 
 
 "Ah!" she said.
 
 AUNT MARY 85 
 
 He felt that lie was colouring under her gaze. 
 Perhaps that colour answered her obvious next 
 question as to why he had done so. She did not ask 
 that question, but turned back to the Mayor : 
 
 " I overheard a little of your conversation from 
 the doorway before I spoke. Mr. Eockwell was 
 saying he thought that, as things stand now, it 
 would be best for you to sign the Ordinance. I 
 think so too." 
 
 The Mayor would have interrupted, but she 
 waved her little cigar at him. 
 
 "You can, of course," she continued, "explain 
 that you were tricked. But how much would that 
 help you with Mr. Crockett or any of his cronies 
 and allies? They would only think the worse of 
 you and throw you over the more quickly. A man 
 of your age and standing cannot afford to be 
 tricked. If he is, he had better conceal the fact. 
 And how about the people of Chicago, before whom 
 you come up for reelection in the fall? Will their 
 sympathies be with you or with the persons who 
 tricked you into giving them the Ordinance they 
 wanted? The American people love a clever trick. 
 And a trick is clever if it succeeds. As for the 
 illegality, they won't care a picayune for that. You 
 said you would fight it in the courts. Well, you 
 might. But it would be a long fight. You your- 
 self mentioned the Supreme Court. And in the 
 meantime it is a law and goes into effect at once. 
 Unless, of course, you take out an injunction. And 
 if you do that, you will make yourself so unpopular
 
 86 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 that you can never even be nominated again. Let 
 us suppose it goes into effect. Then by the time 
 your fight was won, if you won it, the new condi- 
 tions would be established, and nobody would dare 
 try to unscramble the eggs. The Council would 
 simply have to pass it over again, and you or your 
 successor, rather, for you would be out by then 
 would promptly sign it. No, my friend, there is 
 no road for you in that direction. You would lose 
 out both ways with the bosses, who would have 
 no more use for a man who had allowed himself to 
 be fooled at a critical juncture, and with the people. 
 Your only chance unless you wish to retire quickly 
 and ignominiously to private life is to cut loose 
 from the bosses and throw in your lot with the 
 people sign the Ordinance, claim the credit, join 
 forces with Rockwell here, defy Crockett, and come 
 out as the people's champion ! " 
 
 The Mayor was not smoking. He was looking 
 hard at Aunt Mary, as one man looks at another. 
 (Her little cigar had effected that.) There was 
 aroused interest in his eyes. 
 
 " Wouldn't you rather like to go into politics as 
 your own boss for a change?" Aunt Mary asked. 
 " Bather than as one miserable little cog in a big, 
 dirty machine? " 
 
 The Mayor flushed a little and took refuge be- 
 hind a puff of smoke. 
 
 "Perhaps I would," he said. Then, suddenly: 
 "How about Senator Norman? Do I defy him 
 too?"
 
 AUNT MARY 87 
 
 " Not at all," said Aunt Mary. " He also will 
 go over to the people." 
 
 " Can you answer for Mm? " 
 
 " I think I can. He will be forced to do so in the 
 same way you are. He too has been victimised." 
 
 She leaned forward and deposited her small 
 cigar, of which she had really smoked very little, 
 in the ash tray. Sitting erect, she folded her hands 
 in her lap and became forthwith a woman again a 
 sedate, almost prim, elderly woman. 
 
 " That," she explained simply, " is the source of 
 my interest in this matter. I like you, Mayor Black, 
 because you have some of the courtliness of the old 
 school in your manner. I should be sorry to see 
 you in misfortune. But I care much more, natu- 
 rally, for my brother, George Norman, and more 
 still for the name of Norman " from her tone she 
 might have referred to the Deity, " which has been 
 an honourable name in this country for eight gen- 
 erations, and which George, with his spoils politics 
 and his dissipations, is compromising. I have long 
 wanted him to break with his present associates, 
 to live straight, and to become a real leader, as the 
 Normans were in New York State in the early years 
 of the last century. I have tried again and again 
 to get him to do so. Over and over he has promised 
 me he would. But he is weak. He has never done 
 it. Now he will have to do it ! " 
 
 All the members of the little group looked with 
 some admiration, I fancy, at Aunt Mary, sitting 
 straight, an incarnation of aristocratic, elderly
 
 88 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 femininity, in her chair. Where a moment or two 
 before she had been an unsexed modern, she looked 
 now like an old family portrait. 
 
 Rockwell broke the momentary silence: 
 
 " Miss Norman has presented, so much better 
 than I could have done, the argument which I tried 
 to suggest to Mr. Black." 
 
 It was probably unfortunate that Rockwell had 
 recalled attention to himself. The Mayor glanced 
 at him with animosity, and at the silent Mer- 
 riam, and over at Mollie June, listening eagerly 
 in the background. Then at Aunt Mary again. 
 He leaned back, pulling at his cigar, thinking 
 hard. 
 
 In the silence a slight noise became audible from 
 the bedroom behind Aunt Mary a word or two of 
 whispering and then a sound as if some one tip- 
 toeing had stumbled a little. 
 
 The Mayor jumped to his feet. 
 
 "Who's there?" he cried, pointing. 
 
 For an instant Aunt Mary was out of counte- 
 nance. But only for an instant. Then, without 
 rising or turning her head, she called : 
 
 " Come in, Alicia." 
 
 A moment's silence. Then a laugh, of a pre- 
 meditated sweetness which Merriam remembered, 
 and Alicia Wayward stood in the doorway. 
 
 The Mayor and Merriam rose. Mollie June, too, 
 jumped up. Only Aunt Mary remained calmly 
 seated. 
 
 After a second's pause in the effective framing of
 
 AUNT MAKY 89 
 
 the door, Alicia advanced with, an air of eager 
 pleasure and held out her hand to the Mayor. 
 
 " Good evening, Mr. Black." 
 
 The Mayor was a very susceptible male where 
 women like Alicia were concerned. He took her 
 hand. 
 
 " Good evening, Miss Wayward." But, still hold- 
 ing the hand, he looked steadily at her and asked, 
 " Who else is in there? " 
 
 " Who else? " repeated Alicia, raising her pretty 
 dark eyebrows. 
 
 " Or were you whispering to yourself? " pursued 
 the Mayor. 
 
 Alicia laughed and drew her hand away. " It's 
 only Father Murray." Then, raising her voice a 
 little : " You'll have to come in, Father Murray, to 
 save my reputation. This is really all of us," she 
 added, as the priest rather sheepishly presented 
 himself. " You can search the room if you 
 like." 
 
 She smiled at him in the manner which novelists 
 commonly describe as roguish. 
 
 The Mayor smiled back at her, but he turned to 
 the latest arrival. 
 
 " Were you in this plot, too, Father Murray? " 
 
 " Indeed he was," Alicia answered for him. " He 
 didn't quite approve of it at first. But we quite 
 easily converted him. So, you see, it can't be so 
 black as it first seemed to you, Mr. Mayor. And 
 really," she hurried on, " you ought to do as Miss 
 Norman suggests. It's a splendid chance for you.
 
 90 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 To really be a a Man, you know! And I can 
 help." 
 
 " How can you help? " asked the Mayor. 
 
 " I am quite sure," said Alicia, " that I can get 
 my father to subscribe quite a lot of money a hun- 
 dred thousand dollars, say to your campaign 
 fund yours and Senator Norman's and the Reform. 
 League's." 
 
 " Is Mr. Wayward so keen on reform? I should 
 think he had had nearly enough of it. They've 
 practically put him out of business, these re- 
 formers." 
 
 " He's rather keen on me, you know," said Alicia. 
 "And he likes Mollie June and Miss Norman and 
 George Norman and " 
 
 "Father Murray, I suppose," interrupted the 
 Mayor, " and anybody else you can think of. You 
 mean you can get it out of him." But his ap- 
 preciative smile made a compliment of the accusa- 
 tion. 
 
 Alicia only raised her eyebrows again. 
 
 Aunt Mary rose and took the reins of business 
 into her own hands once more. 
 
 " I should be willing to subscribe something, too, 
 out of my own income," she said. "And the League 
 can raise plenty of money. You won't lack for 
 funds. Here's my proposition, Mr. Black. You 
 lie low and keep still till noon to-morrow. Don't 
 go to the Council meeting at all. Keep the Or- 
 dinance in your own possession. Refuse to see any 
 one. See what the papers say in the morning. And
 
 AUNT MARY 91 
 
 wait for a message from George Norman. If by 
 noon to-morrow he telephones you that he will go 
 with you, will you go over to the League, sign the 
 Ordinance, break with Crockett and the rest of 
 them, and appeal to the people on your own? " 
 
 The Mayor looked from Aunt Mary to Alicia's 
 appealing and admiring eyes and back at Aunt 
 Mary. He avoided Rockwell and Merriam and 
 Mollie June. 
 
 " That's fair enough," he said. " I'll do that." 
 Then : " You know where Norman is, do you? " 
 
 " Yes," said Aunt Mary. It was plain, however, 
 that she did not intend to communicate the in- 
 formation. 
 
 "And what becomes of this young gentleman? " 
 The Mayor looked at Merriam. 
 
 " He will disappear where he came from." 
 
 " Well, well," said the Mayor genially, " it has 
 been a very stimulating evening. Rather like a 
 play. You have certainly put me in a box. But 
 I'll admit I'm interested in your suggestion, Miss 
 Norman. I'll think it over carefully. Now I be- 
 lieve I'll call a taxi." 
 
 " Let me," said Rockwell, and he stepped to the 
 telephone. 
 
 The Mayor addressed himself to Merriam: 
 
 " Will you bring me my hat, Mr. Wilson? " 
 
 Merriam was near the writing table on which the 
 hat stood. He picked it up and brought it. 
 
 " The resemblance is marvellously close," said 
 the Mayor, studying his face. "And you did your
 
 92 HOLME'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 part very well, young man. But let me advise you 
 to keep away from the neighbourhood of Senator 
 Norman. You might get into serious trouble." 
 
 Merriam did not reply or smile but handed him 
 the hat. 
 
 " There's a taxi ready," said Rockwell, turning 
 from the telephone into which he had been speak- 
 ing. 
 
 " Thank you," said the Mayor. He looked at 
 Mollie June, who stood some distance from him : 
 
 " I hope you will forgive me, Mrs. Norman, for 
 my rudeness earlier this evening. I am afraid I 
 was too angry then to know what I was saying." 
 
 Like Merriam, Mollie June did not answer or 
 smile. Possibly she was imitating his demeanour. 
 But she bowed slightly. 
 
 " Really," interjected Alicia, " Mollie June had 
 never seen Mr. Mr. Wilson since before she was 
 married until five minutes before you came in." 
 
 " Quite so. Of course," said the Mayor. He 
 held out his hand to Aunt Mary. " You are a won- 
 derful woman, Miss Norman." 
 
 " George shall telephone before noon," she re- 
 plied, shaking hands like a man. 
 
 " Till then at least you can depend on me." 
 
 He turned to Alicia. 
 
 Alicia kept his hand a long minute. " We have 
 always liked you, Mr. Black we women," she said. 
 " In your new r61e we shall admire you so much ! " 
 
 " I would do much to win your admiration," re- 
 turned the Mayor, somewhat guardedly gallant.
 
 AUNT MARY 93 
 
 " Good night, Father Murray. Good night, Rock- 
 well you precious reformer! Good night, Mr. 
 Wilson. That's only a stage name, isn't it? Well, 
 good night, all ! " 
 
 The suave politician bowed himself out.
 
 THE members of the group that remained 
 looked at one another. Alicia dropped into 
 a chair. 
 
 " Whew ! " she said. 
 
 Father Murray crossed quickly from the door- 
 way, where he had stood silent ever since his 
 shamefaced entrance, to Aunt Mary's side. 
 
 " Wonderful, Miss Norman ! " he cried. 
 
 Aunt Mary smiled at him her first smile in that 
 scene. " Thank you, Arthur," she said. 
 
 But she added instantly to Eockwell : 
 
 "See if George is there. Telephone. He must 
 be by now. Then you and Arthur must take a taxi 
 and go after him and bring him back here. The 
 number is Harrison 3731." 
 
 Rockwell turned back to the telephone. 
 
 Merriam walked over to Mollie June and put 
 his hands on the back of the chair in which she 
 had been sitting prior to the entrance of Alicia. 
 
 " Hadn't you better sit down? " he said. 
 
 " Yes, if you'll move it up a little." She wanted 
 to be closer to the rest of the group. 
 
 He pushed the chair forward, and she sat and 
 smiled up at him : 
 
 94
 
 A SENATOR MISSING 95 
 
 " Thank you ! " 
 
 A woman's eyes are never so appealingly beauti- 
 ful as in a quick upward glance. Merriam fell sud- 
 denly more deeply in love with, her than he had ever 
 been. And he was for the moment very happy. 
 There was something between them, something very 
 slight, as tenuous and as innocent as youth itself, 
 but existent and precious. 
 
 Rockwell turned from the telephone. 
 
 "He's not there" he said, "and he's not been 
 there." 
 
 (There was a tacit conspiracy among them, on 
 account of Mollie June, not to refer more definitely 
 to George's destination.) 
 
 " Not ! " exclaimed Aunt Mary. Like the men, 
 she was still standing. She looked at Alicia. 
 " The driver was instructed to go directly there? " 
 
 " Yes," said Alicia. Then she added in a low 
 tone: 
 
 " The driver was Simpson." 
 
 " Simpson ! " Aunt M!ary echoed. " That's dan- 
 gerous. Why didn't you tell me that before? " 
 
 The reader will have guessed the explanation of 
 Aunt Mary's presence, and Alicia's and Father 
 Murray's, and I insert it here only to gratify his 
 sense of acumen : that Alicia and Murray, " keep- 
 ing an eye on " Mollie June and Aunt Mary in ac- 
 cordance with Rockwell's plan, in the hotel lobby, 
 had witnessed the former's unexpected departure 
 in response to Merriam's summons, and had joined 
 Miss Norman to find out what had happened ; and
 
 96 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAOT) 
 
 that Aunt Mary, who was more than a match for 
 both of them, especially in their alarm over Mollie 
 June's being dragged into the affair, had obtained 
 first an inkling and presently the whole story of 
 the plot, and had insisted on coming upstairs, and 
 had entered through the bedroom. 
 
 Alicia did not reply to Aunt Mary's question. 
 Indeed she hardly had time to do so, for Aunt Mary 
 followed it quickly with another of a more prac- 
 tical character: 
 
 " What time is it? " 
 
 Merriam was the most prompt in producing his 
 watch. " Ten o'clock," he said. 
 
 "And it was barely eight when George left the 
 hotel. How long should it have taken to get 
 there? " 
 
 " Less than half an hour," said Rockwell. 
 
 "Are you sure he's not there? They might have 
 lied to you." 
 
 " They might. But I didn't think so." 
 
 " Mr. Rockwell and I can go and see," volun- 
 teered Father Murray, who seemed very eager to 
 be helpful. 
 
 While Aunt Mary was considering this sugges- 
 tion, Merriam had an idea. 
 
 " My voice is very like Senator Norman's? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " Yes, it is," said Aunt Mary. 
 
 " Then let me telephone." 
 
 " Good ! " cried Rockwell. " From the bedroom." 
 This was, of course, to spare Mollie June.
 
 A SENATOR MISSING 97 
 
 " Very well," said Aunt Mary. 
 
 The two men stepped into George Norman's bed- 
 room the one into which Mollie June had earlier 
 retreated. As they did so, Aunt Mary's eyes fol- 
 lowed Merriam with the appraising look which 
 they had held whenever she regarded him through- 
 out the evening. 
 
 Rockwell shut the door. 
 
 "Harrison 3731," he said. "Say, 'This is 
 George Norman,' and ask for ' Jennie.' " 
 
 The telephone was on the night table. Merriam 
 sat down on the edge of the bed and raised the in- 
 strument. He realised that he had not the slight- 
 est idea what to expect. Rockwell sat beside him, 
 close enough to hear what should come through the 
 receiver. 
 
 In a moment Merriam had the connection. A 
 not unmusical voice said: "Who is it, please? " 
 
 " This is George Norman. Is Jennie there? " 
 
 "Why, Georgie, boy! Don't you know me? 
 You always do. And you ought to ! " A tender 
 little laugh followed, which thrilled Merriam in 
 spite of himself. 
 
 " I didn't at first," he answered and stopped at a 
 loss. 
 
 Rockwell put his mouth close to Merriam's ear 
 and formed a tunnel from the one orifice to the 
 other with his hands. " Can I see you to-night, 
 dearie? " he prompted. 
 
 " Can I see you to-night, dearie? " Merriam 
 obediently repeated.
 
 98 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 "Oh, can you come? Goodie! But" the un- 
 mistakably loving voice was lowered "you must 
 be careful, Georgie." 
 
 "Careful?" Merriam queried cautiously. 
 
 " Yes. Some one thinks you're here already." 
 
 " Who? " 
 
 "I don't know. Some man. He wouldn't tell 
 me who he was. He called up just a minute ago. 
 He was awfully sure you were here. He wouldn't 
 believe me when I said you weren't. Is it danger- 
 ous?" There was a touching note of anxiety in 
 Jennie's voice. 
 
 " I guess not." 
 
 " Can you come anyway? " eagerly. 
 
 "I'm not sure. Don't wait for me long. Til 
 come within an hour if I can get away." 
 
 " You'll telephone again? " 
 
 " Yes if I can." 
 
 " Georgie, boy ! " There followed a little sound 
 of lips moved in a certain way unmistakably a 
 kiss. 
 
 John Merriam played up with an effectiveness 
 that surprised himself very much. 
 
 " Dearie ! " he whispered tenderly into the tele- 
 phone, " good night ! " and abruptly hung up. 
 
 " You don't need much prompting ! " exclaimed 
 Rockwell, rising. " Well, she didn't lie to me." 
 
 "No," Merriam assented confusedly. Wiiatever 
 else he had anticipated from Norman's mistress, the 
 disreputable manicurist, it had not been that note 
 of sincere affection or that he himself would be for
 
 A SENATOR MISSING 99 
 
 an instant carried off his feet. As he automatically 
 followed Kockwell, who made for the sitting room, 
 he was unwillingly conscious of a new charity for 
 George Norman. 
 
 " He's not there," Eockwell reported. "And he 
 hasn't been." 
 
 " Sure? " Aunt Mary looked at Merriam. 
 
 Our hero nodded. He could not speak. And he 
 dared not look at Mollie June, of whose bright eyes 
 fixed on his face he was nevertheless acutely aware. 
 
 In a moment, however, it was of Aunt Mary's 
 gaze that he was sensible. She seemed to read 
 him through. He thought, ridiculously, that that 
 momentary telephonic tenderness could not be hid 
 from her. 
 
 But when she spoke her question both relieved 
 and startled him. 
 
 "At what hour in the morning does your train 
 go?" 
 
 " It goes to-night. At 2 : 00 A. M." 
 
 " If George is back here by then, it does," said 
 Aunt Mary. " If not, you stay." 
 
 "But I must go to-night," cried Merriam, sud- 
 denly awakened to realities and feeling as though 
 the curtain had descended abruptly on some mad 
 combination of melodrama and farce. "I must 
 meet my classes in the morning ! " 
 
 Aunt Mary, who must have sat down while the 
 two men were telephoning, rose and walked up to 
 Merriam. 
 
 " Mr. Merriam," she said, " you more than any
 
 one else are responsible for the present situation 
 because of your sending for Mrs. Norman. I don't 
 ask why you did that, but you did it. If you hadn't 
 stepped outside your part that way, I verily be- 
 lieve, when I look at you, that the trick could have 
 been played as Mr. Rockwell planned it. The 
 Mayor would not have seen Crockett downstairs. 
 I don't believe he would have recognised you. He 
 would have signed the Ordinance and gone away 
 committed and ignorant of the deception. Now 
 he's only half committed, and he has recognised 
 you as an impostor. If he doesn't hear from 
 George Norman by noon to-morrow as I promised, 
 if he turns against us and tells his story, he can 
 ruin us all." ( She said " all," but she glanced at 
 Mollie June.) "And now we don't know where 
 George is. As soon as we find him, you can go. 
 But Mayor Black must get a message from Sen- 
 ator Norman before noon to-morrow from the true 
 one or the false one! Do you see? Until we find 
 George you must stay." 
 
 " Yes, by Jove ! " cried Rockwell. " You can't 
 back out now. You can telegraph to where 
 is it? " 
 
 " Riceville," said Alicia, who was leaning ex- 
 citedly forward in her chair. " Oh, you will ! " 
 
 Merriam looked at Alicia. The same combina- 
 tion of appeal and admiration in her eyes which he 
 had seen her work a few minutes before on the 
 Mayor did not move him. 
 
 His eyes travelled to the face of Mollie June.
 
 A SENATOR MISSING 101 
 
 She was not leaning forward, but sat erect on the 
 edge of her chair. There was a flush of excite- 
 ment was it eagerness? on her cheeks. Unwill- 
 ingly he compared her with the warm seductiveness 
 of the voice on the telephone. She was not like 
 that, though perhaps she could be. But she was 
 radiantly bright and pure, a girl, a woman, to be 
 worshipped and protected from all evil. He re- 
 membered how he had wished to help her. He had 
 said he would be always ready. Now was his 
 chance. And he desired passionately to expiate his 
 involuntary infidelity of feeling and tone over the 
 telephone. He rose superior to the cares, the 
 duties, of a "professor," even before she spoke. 
 
 " Oh, please Mr. Merriam," she said. 
 
 Merriam smiled at her, but looked back at Aunt 
 Mary. 
 
 " You think it very necessary? " he asked not 
 because he had not decided but to avoid any shadow 
 of compromising Mollie June by seeming to yield 
 directly to her. 
 
 " I do," said Aunt Mary. 
 
 " Then of course I'll stay," said Merriam.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 CONFESSIONS OF WAITER NO. 73 
 
 FROM a sleep which had been heavy but was 
 becoming restless and dreamful, Merriam was 
 awakened about seven o'clock the next morning by 
 a knocking at his door. He leaned over and pulled 
 the little chain of the night lamp, and as the light 
 glowed asked, " Who is it? " 
 
 " Rockwell," came the answer. 
 
 By a rather athletic bit of stretching Merriam 
 was able to turn the key in his lock without getting 
 out of bed. " Come in," he called. 
 
 Rockwell entered, closed the door behind him, 
 and stood looking down at Merriam, who had lain 
 back on his pillow. 
 
 "Slept well?" he asked. 
 
 " Like a football player," laughed Merriam, some- 
 how ashamed of this fact. 
 
 " Feeling fit? " 
 
 " Certainly. Always feel fit." 
 
 For a moment longer Rockwell looked, with per- 
 haps a touch of an older man's envy of the un- 
 conscionable imperturbability of youthful health. 
 Then he said: 
 
 " Well, I have news." 
 
 102
 
 CONFESSIONS OF WAITER NO. 73 103 
 
 Merriam waited. 
 
 "About half an hour ago I called up * Jennie ' 
 again. When I said I was a friend of Norman's, 
 she admitted he was there. By asking a good many 
 questions I learned that he turned up about two 
 o'clock this morning and that he was very drunk. 
 I judge he's having a touch of D. T. ' Jennie ' was 
 evidently rather disgusted at his arriving so late 
 and in that condition after your affectionate tone 
 earlier in the evening, you know." 
 
 Merriam evaded this thrust with a question: 
 
 " Where can he have been in the meantime? " 
 
 " That is a point on which we shall have to seek 
 information from our friend Simpson. Since tele- 
 phoning I have seen Miss Norman, and we have 
 agreed to order breakfast for all of us in Senator 
 Norman's rooms with Simpson to serve us. He 
 goes on duty again at seven o'clock, and I have 
 asked that he be sent here as soon as he reports to 
 take a breakfast order." 
 
 " Why here? " 
 
 "Well, he will be more likely to talk freely to 
 you and me alone than to you and me and Miss 
 Norman to say nothing of Mrs. Norman. And, 
 if he has played some trick on us, he might refuse 
 to go to Senator Norman's suite, but this room will 
 mean nothing to him. Of course, he may not show 
 up at all this morning. Ah, there he is, I hope ! " 
 
 A vigorous knock had sounded at the door. It 
 proved, however, to be only a porter with Merriam's 
 suit case and hand bag, for which the industrious
 
 104 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 Kockwell had also sent so early that morning to the 
 more modest hotel at which Merriam had been 
 registered. 
 
 " Now I can dress," said Merriam. " I was 
 afraid I should have to turn waiter myself, having 
 only evening clothes to put on." 
 
 " Yes, get into your things," said Rockwell, " and 
 let me think some more. This conspiracy business 
 takes a lot more thinking than mere Reform ! " 
 
 Merriam hurried through a bath a tubful of hot 
 water early in the morning was so unwonted a 
 luxury to a citizen of Riceville that he could not 
 bring himself to forego it even on this occasion 
 and began to dress carefully, realising with pleas- 
 ant excitement that he was to have breakfast with 
 Mollie June. 
 
 He had no more than got into his trousers when 
 another knock came at the door. 
 
 Rockwell motioned to Merriam to step into the 
 bathroom and himself went to the door. " Come 
 in," he said and opened it, keeping behind it. 
 
 Sure enough, Simpson stepped into the room with 
 his napkin and order pad. 
 
 Rockwell promptly closed the door behind him, 
 locked it, and stood with his back against it. He 
 also pushed the switch for the center chandelier 
 for only the dim night lamp had been on. 
 
 In the sudden light Simpson whirled with a 
 startled and most unprofessional agility to face 
 Rockwell. 
 
 " Good morning, Simpson."
 
 CONFESSIONS OF WAITER NO. 73 105 
 
 The waiter fairly moistened his lips before he 
 could answer. 
 
 " Good morning, Mr. Rockwell." 
 
 The man's face was certainly haggard. His eyes 
 even were a trifle bloodshot. It was clear he had 
 had a strange night. But after a moment of hos- 
 tile confrontation the professional impassivity of a 
 waiter which is perhaps the ultimate perfection 
 of sang froid descended about him like a cloak 
 and mask. 
 
 "I was sent to this room Mr. Wilson's room, 
 I understood to take a breakfast order." 
 
 " Right, Simpson ! " cried Merriam cheerily, 
 emerging from the bathroom in his shirt sleeves. 
 
 For a moment the human gleamed again through 
 the eyes of the functionary. 
 
 "Are you Mr. Wilson? " he asked. His manner 
 was perfect servility, but there was mockery and 
 malice in the tone. 
 
 " Yes, Simpson," said Merriam. " This morning 
 I am Mr. Wilson. I have read of an English duke 
 who puts on a new pair of trousers each morning. 
 But I go him one better". I put on an entire new 
 personality each morning." 
 
 " Very good, sir," was the ironical, stage-butler 
 reply to this sally. " The grapefruit is very good 
 this morning. Will you have some? " 
 
 Merriam glanced at Rockwell. 
 
 "Very likely we'll have some," said the latter, 
 " but we want something else first." 
 
 "Before the grapefruit?" inquired Simpson.
 
 106 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 "Yes, before the grapefruit," said Rockwell, a 
 trifle sharply. "And what we propose to have be- 
 fore the grapefruit is a bit of talk with you, Mr. 
 Simpson about last night. Do you care to sit 
 down? " He pointed to a chair. 
 
 Simpson was undoubtedly agitated, but he con- 
 trolled himself excellently. He even lifted his 
 eyebrows : 
 
 " I hope I know my place, sir." 
 
 He raised his pad and wrote on it. 
 
 " Grapefruit," he said with insolent suavity. 
 " For two? And then what? We have some ex- 
 cellent ham." 
 
 " Damn your ham ! " cried Rockwell. He 
 snatched the man's pad and threw it on the floor. 
 " Sit down in that chair and drop this damned pose ! 
 We're going to talk to you man to man." 
 
 But Simpson only stooped and picked up his pad. 
 
 " Mr. Rockwell," he said, " I know my place. It 
 is a very humble one. It is to take orders for 
 meals, to be served in this hotel. So long as that 
 is what you want I am yours to command. But" 
 the American citizen stood up in him ; no European 
 waiter could have said it " outside of that I am 
 my own master as much as you are. When you 
 call me ' Mr. Simpson ' and tell me to sit down, I 
 don't have to do it. And I don't have to talk of 
 my personal affairs unless I choose, any more than 
 any one else ! " 
 
 For an instant he glared at Rockwell as one 
 angry man at another, his equal. Then he quietly
 
 CONFESSIONS OF WAITER NO. 73 107 
 
 became the waiter again. He lifted his pad and 
 poised his pencil : 
 
 " Shall we say some ham? " 
 
 Kockwell looked at him a moment longer. Then 
 he laughed : " Ham let it be ! " 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Simpson, deferentially writing. 
 "And some baked potatoes, perhaps? And coffee?" 
 
 " Yes," said Kockwell, " and the telephone book. 
 Hand me the telephone book, please." 
 
 Simpson hesitated, but this was clearly within 
 the line of his duties. 
 
 "Yes, sir," he said, and stepped towards the 
 stand on which the book lay. 
 
 " Wait ! " said Kockwell. " Perhaps it isn't 
 necessary. I think you can tell me the number I 
 want." 
 
 He paused a moment to let this sink in. Then : 
 
 " Miss Alicia Wayward's number. I see I shall 
 have to bring her here. You see," he explained 
 pleasantly, " I have locked the door. There are 
 two of us against you." 
 
 He indicated Merriam, who still stood in the 
 bathroom door, following the progress of the in- 
 terview with excited interest. 
 
 "We are going to keep you here, not by any 
 authority that we as guests of this hotel may have 
 over you as you have very well pointed out, we 
 have none in such a matter, but by simple force, 
 till Miss Wayward can come down. We shall see 
 whether she can make you talk." 
 
 To Merriam's astonishment the waiter, with a
 
 108 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 sound somewhere between a sigh, and a groan, sank 
 into the chair which he had thus far so perti- 
 naciously refused to take. For a moment he stared 
 at the floor. Then he raised his eyes to Rockwell : 
 
 " What do you want to know? " 
 
 " That's better," said Rockwell, leaving the door 
 and preparing to sit down opposite Simpson. 
 " Will you have a cigar? " 
 
 Simpson shook his head and repeated his ques- 
 tion. 
 
 " What do you want? " 
 
 Rockwell dropped into his chair and glancing at 
 Merriam pointed to another seat. Merriam was 
 too much excited to care to sit down, but he came 
 forward and leaned on the back of the chair. 
 
 " We want to know about last night, of course," 
 said Rockwell. "At five minutes to eight Senator 
 Norman got into the taxi which you were driving. 
 At about two o'clock this morning he tumbled into 
 Madame Couteau's, delirious with drink. We want 
 the whole story of what happened between eight 
 and two." 
 
 Simpson sat on the edge of his chair, his hands 
 on his knees. His order pad was under one hand, 
 and its flexure showed that he was exerting intense 
 pressure. His napkin dangled loosely half off his 
 arm. He was looking at the floor again. 
 
 He remained in this position for a number of 
 seconds, the other two men intently regarding him. 
 Then he straightened up, pushed himself farther 
 back in his chair, and looked at Rockwell.
 
 CONFESSIONS OF WAITER NO. 73 109 
 
 " You shall have it," he said. 
 
 For a moment he stared. Then : 
 
 " I hate Senator Norman enough to kill him." 
 
 The reader will observe that I use no exclama- 
 tion points in punctuating Simpson's sentence. 
 There were none in his delivery of it. But it was 
 the more startling on that account. 
 
 " Do you know why? " he unexpectedly de- 
 manded. 
 
 " No," said Rockwell. 
 
 " Five years ago I was butler to Mr. Wayward. 
 The the girl you call Madame Couteau was the 
 parlour maid there. Her real name is Jennie 
 Higgins. I was in love with her, and she had 
 promised to marry me. I had a little money saved 
 up. At that time Senator Norman's first wife was 
 still alive, who was Mr. Wayward's sister, you 
 know, Miss Wayward's aunt. Senator Norman 
 came often to the house. He took a fancy to Jennie 
 and turned her head. The fact that she was in his 
 own brother-in-law's house made no difference to 
 him. She went off with him on a lake cruise, in 
 his yacht. When they came back he set her up in 
 that flat and got her work as a manicurist. Ever 
 since he has been her paramour ! " 
 
 The odd, old-fashioned word, which Simpson 
 must have gleaned from some novel, came out 
 queerly. But it served to express his bitterness as 
 no ordinary word could have done. 
 
 " That's all. A parlour maid ruined. A butler 
 cheated of his wife. It's nothing, of course."
 
 110 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 He was looking down again. Neither Eockwell 
 nor Merriam ventured to speak. When he raised 
 his eyes there was a gleam in them. 
 
 "Last night I had him in my power." (One 
 sensed novels again. ) " In my taxi, not knowing 
 who I was. I was minded to kill him. You had 
 told me to drive him directly to to Jennie's. Not 
 much! I drove as fast as I dared out Michigan 
 Avenue. For a long time lie suspected nothing. 
 He thought he was on his way to the Mayor's, and 
 that was the right direction. But when I turned 
 into Washington Park he got scared. He called 
 through the tube to know where in hell I was going. 
 I answered, l This is Simpson. You can try jump- 
 ing, if you like into hell ! ' I put the machine up 
 to forty miles an hour. He opened the door once, 
 but I guess he didn't dare try it. He shut it again. 
 Of course, it was pure luck I didn't get stopped for 
 speeding. But I got through Washington Park 
 and across the Midway and out into a lonely place 
 at the south end of Jackson Park. Then I stopped 
 and got down and opened the door and ordered 
 him out." 
 
 The man stopped. When he spoke again there 
 was more contempt than hatred in his voice. 
 
 " The coward. He went down on his knees on 
 the wet road and cried and begged me not to hurt 
 him. He said he was sorry, and he didn't know I 
 cared so much, and he would make it all right yet. 
 He would give me a lot of money and set me up 
 in a business, and I could marry Jennie after all,
 
 CONFESSIONS OF WAITER NO. 73 111 
 
 and wouldn't I forgive him and go back to town 
 and have a drink? The worm ! I could have spit 
 on him. Senator Norman! 
 
 "He saved his life all right," he added re- 
 flectively. " If he had showed fight I would have 
 strangled him and thrown his body in the Lake." 
 Simpson shuddered a little. " But you couldn't 
 strangle a crying baby. I kicked him once or 
 twice. But what more could I do? He kept 
 begging me not to hurt him but to go back to town 
 and have a drink. That gave me an idea. I jerked 
 him up and pitched him into the car and drove back 
 to a saloon. We sat at a table and drank, and he 
 kept offering me money and saying I should marry 
 Jennie. As if I would take his leavings! He 
 drank a lot. I only took one or two to steady my 
 nerves poured out the rest. But he drank four or 
 five cocktails. Then we went on in the taxi to an- 
 other saloon and did it again. And then to an- 
 other. And about midnight we ended up at a cheap 
 dance hall on the Wesf Side, and I turned him 
 loose among the roughnecks and the women there. 
 
 " He was pretty drunk told everybody who he 
 was and showed his money, and in a few minutes 
 a lot of the girls were around him to get the money 
 away from him. Most of the men they were with 
 didn't mind egged them on. Pretty soon he had 
 a dozen couples in the bar with him and was paying 
 for drinks all around. But one big foreigner, who 
 was with the prettiest girl in the room, was ugly. 
 When Norman, after buying a second round of
 
 112 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 drinks, tried to kiss his girl, he roared out at him 
 and knocked him down. But Norman only stum- 
 bled up again with his lip bleeding and begged his 
 pardon and handed the girl a fifty-dollar bill and 
 bought drinks again. And then he got his arm 
 about another girl and took her out to dance. It 
 was an hour before I found him again. He was 
 sitting on the stairs, with his collar off, crazy 
 drunk seeing things and all cleaned out as to 
 money. 
 
 " I thought then he was about ripe for what I 
 wanted. I carried him downstairs and put him in 
 the taxi and drove to Madame Couteau's ! There 
 I carried him up to her flat and propped him 
 against the door and knocked and then waited part 
 way down the stairs. When the door was opened 
 he fell in, and I ran downstairs and took my taxi 
 home." 
 
 Evidently Simpson had finished his tale. And 
 it had done him good to tell it. He was much less 
 agitated than when he began. He looked steadily 
 rather than angrily at Rockwell. 
 
 " That's the story you wanted," he said. " Of 
 course now you can get me fired and blacklisted. 
 It's little I'll care." 
 
 Rockwell had let his cigar go out while Simpson 
 talked. Now he lit it again with a good deal of 
 deliberation. He was evidently thinking. Even 
 Merriam perceived the point that was uppermost 
 in his mind, namely, that with Norman still at 
 Jennie's they had need of Simpson's silence and
 
 CONFESSIONS OF WAITER NO. 73 113 
 
 would be likely to need his help again. They 
 must try to conciliate him and win his loyal 
 support. 
 
 " I see no reason why I should do anything like 
 that," Rockwell began, referring to Simpson's de- 
 fiant suggestion. " I can hardly pronounce your 
 conduct virtuous. But it was very natural very 
 excusable. It's lucky you did no worse ! " 
 
 (Merriam had a sudden vision of the horrid pre- 
 dicament they would have been in if Norman had 
 actually been murdered in Jackson Park at the 
 very time when he was impersonating him at the 
 hotel.) 
 
 " Still," continued Rockwell, " I think you made 
 a mistake." 
 
 "A mistake ! " echoed Simpson. 
 
 "Yes. Do you still love Miss Higgins?" 
 
 " What's that to you? " 
 
 " Evidently you do. Why didn't you take his 
 offer his money, and marry her? It would have 
 been the sensible thing to do and the kind thing 
 to her. You might be happy after all. Of course, 
 if you're too stern a moralist! " 
 
 The man's face worked queerly. " It's not that. 
 But she wouldn't have a waiter now. And he 
 wouldn't have done it let her alone." 
 
 "Well, perhaps not, as things stood. But he 
 will now. Have you seen the morning papers? " 
 
 " The papers? No, sir." 
 
 "If you'll read them you'll find that Senator 
 Norman has broken with all his old life and turned
 
 114 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 over a new leaf entirely, which he can't turn' back. 
 You have helped him do it, in fact ! " 
 
 " What's the idea? " growled Simpson sus- 
 piciously. 
 
 "Listen, Mr. Simpson." 
 
 Eapidly Eockwell sketched the principal events 
 which had taken place at the hotel while the waiter 
 was driving his enemy about Chicago: Merriam's 
 impersonation, the Mayor's failure to veto the Or- 
 dinance in time, and the necessity which both the 
 Mayor and Norman were now under of breaking 
 with the " interests " and coming out as the can- 
 didates of the Reform League. 
 
 " In that role," he concluded, " George Norman 
 will have to lead a strictly virtuous life. It will 
 be the business of his friends and backers my 
 business, for example to see that he does so. I 
 will personally undertake to see that you get the 
 money he promised you. All you will have to do 
 is to make it up with Jennie. You may not be able 
 or willing to do that right away. But in a few 
 
 months There's no reason why you shouldn't 
 
 be set up in a nice little business of your own a 
 delicatessen or caterer's, or a taxicab firm, OP 
 whatever you would like in some other city, with 
 Jennie for your wife. Will you think it over? " 
 
 Simpson looked at Eockwell and then at Mer- 
 riam. 
 
 " You certainly are as like as two plates," he 
 said irrelevantly to the latter. 
 
 "Won't you think it over?" returned Merriam,
 
 CONFESSIONS OF WAITER NO. 73 115 
 
 as persuasively as if he had been reasoning with 
 some irate patron of the Riceville High School. 
 
 " Yes," said Simpson after a bit, " I'll think it 
 over." 
 
 " In the meantime," said Rockwell, " you must 
 keep still about all this, of course. And we may 
 need your help again for taxi driving and so 
 forth." 
 
 " What if I choose to blow the whole thing? " 
 
 " In that case you will do more than any one 
 else could to help Norman to the thing he will most 
 want a reconciliation with Crockett and the rest 
 of the gang. And he will go on in his old ways 
 Jennie included." 
 
 Rockwell let Simpson digest that for a moment, 
 and then said : 
 
 " Well, think it over as you have promised. And 
 now we really do Want breakfast." 
 
 Simpson got to his feet. He straightened the 
 napkin on his arm and mechanically enunciated his 
 servile formula: 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "And, Simpson ! " 
 
 " Yes, sir? " 
 
 '.' I will talk with you again this afternoon. Till 
 then, at least, keep your mouth shut and think. 
 Think sensibly." 
 
 " Very good, sir." 
 
 Waiter No. 73 bowed gravely and left the bed- 
 room.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 GRAPEFRUIT AND TELEGRAMS 
 
 WHEN the door closed behind Simpson, Bock- 
 well and Merriam naturally looked at each 
 other. 
 
 " Poor fellow ! " said Merriam. 
 
 In spite of himself his mind was visited by a 
 tantalising recollection of Jennie's voice as it had 
 come to him over the telephone. With no more 
 evidence than that he was inclined to think that 
 Simpson was right in saying that she would not 
 have a waiter now. But it was impossible to speak 
 of this to Rockwell. 
 
 The latter had apparently dismissed the incident 
 and was looking at his watch. 
 
 " It's nearly eight o'clock," he said. " Put the 
 rest of your things on and go down to Norman's 
 rooms on the next floor. You're to have breakfast 
 there with Miss Norman and Mrs. Norman. You'd 
 better go down the stairs rather than in the ele- 
 vator ; you will be less likely to meet some one who 
 will take you for the Senator. I am going to hunt 
 up Dr. Hobart, the house physician here, and take 
 him with me to this Madame Couteau's, or Jennie's, 
 to see Norman. We must get him on his feet at 
 once. A hotel physician will be the very man for 
 that." 
 
 116
 
 GKAPEFKTJIT AND TELEGRAMS 117 
 
 " I must shave," said Merriam. 
 
 " Oh, never mind that. Time is precious." 
 
 Merriam thought of the train which he now 
 planned to take. It left at nine-fifteen and would 
 get him to Biceville a little after noon. He re- 
 membered, too, that he must telegraph to his as- 
 sistant principal that he would miss the morn- 
 ing session. And he thought of the coming break- 
 fast hour with Mollie June. Certainly time was 
 precious to him. Nevertheless he said decidedly: 
 
 " I'm going to shave all the same." 
 
 Rockwell looked at him with a comprehending 
 smile. "All right, my boy," said the older man. 
 " Doubtless it's very necessary. Hurry up and try 
 not to cut yourself. I'll run along with the doctor." 
 
 He moved to the door, stopped with his hand on 
 the knob to say, " I shall probably drop in at the 
 rooms before you're through breakfast," and was 
 gone. 
 
 Merriam sighed a certain relief and went into 
 the bathroom to shave. 
 
 A few minutes later, following Rockwell's in- 
 junction, he descended to the floor below by the 
 stairs rather than the elevator. He forgot even to 
 look at the pretty floor clerk on Floor Three, who 
 last night was wearing his Norman's violets. 
 
 When he knocked at the door labeled 323 it was 
 the voice he most desired to hear that said, 
 " Come in." 
 
 He opened the door. The rose-and-white room 
 was bright with morning sunshine, and half way
 
 118 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 down its length Mollie June, in a blue satin break- 
 fast coat, with a lacy boudoir cap covering her hair, 
 was standing before the little table which held the 
 bowl of roses. 
 
 " Good morning, Mr. John," she said. 
 
 He half perceived that her voice sounded tired 
 and a little sad. But the daintiness of breakfast 
 coats and boudoir caps was as strange in Merriam's 
 world as white shoulders were. His eyes drank it 
 in delightfully. In his pleasure her note of sad- 
 ness escaped him. He answered almost gaily : 
 
 " Good morning Mollie June ! " 
 
 His tone probably betrayed his mood, and I dare 
 say Mollie June guessed the reason for his happi- 
 ness. But she ignored both mood and reason. She 
 had turned back to the roses. 
 
 " Come and help me," she said. " These flowers 
 must have fresh water." 
 
 Merriam pushed the door shut behind him and 
 advanced rapidly. I am almost afraid he might 
 have taken her in his arms. But Mollie June was 
 already half way across the room with the roses, to 
 lay them on a newspaper which she had previously 
 spread on the seat of a straight-backed chair. So 
 all that Merriam got his hands on was the bowl. 
 
 " Empty it in there," said Mollie June, indicat- 
 ing the bathroom between the sitting room and 
 Norman's empty bedroom, "and fill it with cold 
 water." 
 
 Thankful that no reply was immediately de- 
 manded, Merriam did as he was bid.
 
 GRAPEFRUIT AND TELEGRAMS 119 
 
 When lie reentered the sitting room with the 
 fresh water, Mollie June stooped over the chair, 
 gathered up the roses, and came towards him. 
 
 " Set it back in the same place," she said. 
 
 Merriam did so, and she came up to him that 
 is to say, to the bowl and inserted the stems all 
 together, and with her pink fingers wet from the 
 cool water deftly arranged the blossoms. Then, 
 drying her finger tips on a very small handkerchief, 
 she turned and raised her eyes to him gravely. He 
 saw at last that she was pale that she had been 
 wakeful. Perhaps she had been crying. In sudden 
 concern he stood dumb. 
 
 " Did you sleep well? " she asked. 
 
 He mustered his forces to reply. 
 
 " I am afraid I did," he said, ashamed. 
 
 She looked at him forgivingly. 
 
 " Of course you must have been dreadfully tired," 
 she said. " I hardly slept at all," she added. " I 
 am terribly worried about George. We didn't even 
 know where he was until a little while ago." 
 Evidently Rockwell had already reported some 
 part, at least, of Simpson's disclosure. 
 
 For a moment they stood silent, tacitly avoiding 
 reference to George Norman's ascertained where- 
 abouts. 
 
 Then Mollie June raised her eyes again. 
 
 "I'm worried, too, about what we did last 
 night. We mustn't do so, again." 
 
 She met his eyes, very serious. 
 
 " No ! " Merriam assented.
 
 120 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " I can't call you ' Mr. Merriam/ though," she 
 cried. "And I mustn't call you i John.' I've de- 
 cided to call you ' Mr. John ' ! " 
 
 " Thank you," said Merriam gravely. He was 
 deeply touched by the unconscious confession. 
 
 Mollie June turned away. " I must tell Aunt 
 Mary you are here." 
 
 Just then there came a knocking at the hall door. 
 
 For an instant the boy and girl stared at each 
 other as though in guilty alarm. Merriam started 
 to go to the door. But Mollie June had recovered 
 her wits. 
 
 " No," she said. " You must be careful about 
 being seen. Sit there." She pointed to the arm- 
 chair which still faced the gas log between the win- 
 dows at the end of the room farthest from the hall. 
 " I'll see who it is." 
 
 It proved to be no one more dangerous than 
 Simpson, who with an assistant was prepared to 
 set up a table in the sitting room and serve the 
 grapefruit. 
 
 And even while Mollie June was bidding him 
 come in, Aunt Mary entered from the bedroom. 
 With her was Miss Alicia Wayward, apparently 
 much excited, with her hands full of newspapers. 
 
 Merriam stood up, and Alicia, catching sight of 
 him, dropped on the floor the paper she held in her 
 right hand and advanced with an air of eagerness. 
 
 "Oh, Mr. ," she began. Then, as Merriam 
 
 took her hand, she stopped short in her sentence, 
 laughed, and said, "Who are you this morning?"
 
 GRAPEFRUIT AND TELEGRAMS 121 
 
 Merriam, whom Alicia always stimulated to play 
 up, bowed over her hand as elegantly as he could 
 and replied: 
 
 " Senator Norman, I believe at your service. 
 Good morning, Miss Norman," he added, politely, 
 to the older woman. 
 
 Aunt Mary merely nodded, rather grimly, and 
 turned away as if to inspect Simpson's preparation 
 of the breakfast table. Merriam wondered how 
 much of Simpson's confession Rockwell had found 
 time to report to her. 
 
 But Alicia gave him little time for speculation. 
 
 " Well, Senator," she rejoined, withdrawing her 
 hand (you were always conscious when Alicia gave 
 her hand and when she withdrew it) , " you and the 
 Mayor have made quite a noise in the world this 
 morning. See ! " 
 
 She displayed the newspaper which she still held 
 in her left hand. It was one of the leading Chicago 
 dailies, which invariably prints one bold black 
 headline across the top of the entire front page. 
 The topic may be a world war or a dog fight, but 
 the headline is always there in the same size and 
 startling blackness of type. This morning it read : 
 
 Mayor Black Signs Ordinance 
 
 And one of the columns below carried the further 
 head: 
 
 The Mayor and Senator Norman 
 
 Reported to Have Broken 
 
 With Traction Interests
 
 122 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " Oh. ! " exclaimed Mollie June, who had ap- 
 proached and read these captions. She looked at 
 Merriam with wide-open eyes. I surmise that the 
 newspaper headlines gave her, as indeed they gave 
 to Merriam himself, the first actual realisation of 
 the public interest attaching to what they had 
 really felt to be a little private drama of their own. 
 
 Aunt Mary had joined them. 
 
 " Mr. Black has definitely signed it, you see," 
 she said, with a touch of triumph in her tone. 
 
 It appeared that the Mayor had not gone to the 
 Council meeting at all, and the paper did not fail 
 to point out that the Ordinance had become law 
 without his signature, under fie provisions of the 
 City Charter, at nine o'clock; but late in the even- 
 ing, shortly before the Council adjourned, the docu- 
 ment had arrived by a messenger, with the Mayor's 
 signature attached. 
 
 Keporters had immediately set out in relentless 
 pursuit and had routed the Mayor out of bed at his 
 house between twelve and one o'clock and obtained 
 a brief interview ; the substance of which was that 
 the public interest of the city demanded the im- 
 proved conditions which the new law would insure, 
 and that he was proud to complete with his ap- 
 proval the public-spirited action of the Councilmen 
 in passing it. 
 
 The rest was mere rumour and speculation, in- 
 terlarded with many prudent " it is said's," but it 
 seemed that some if not all of it must have been 
 inspired by the Mayor. " It was said " that an im-
 
 GRAPEFRUIT AND TELEGRAMS 123 
 
 portant representative of the Traction interests had 
 seen Senator Norman in his rooms at the Hotel 
 De Soto early in the evening and pleaded with him 
 the cause of the interested bondholders and stock- 
 holders, whose investments would be imperilled by 
 the changes involved, but that he had stood firm on 
 the ground of the public welfare. " It was said," 
 too, that later Mayor Black had had a long confer- 
 ence with the Senator well, it had been rather 
 long, and that they had agreed that the interests 
 of the plain people of Chicago must at all costs 
 decide the issue. " It was said," finally, that both 
 Senator Norman and Mayor Black would probably 
 join forces with the Reform League, whose program 
 they had finally so powerfully supported, in de- 
 manding and obtaining other needed improvements 
 in municipal conditions. 
 
 From all of which it seemed to be clear that the 
 Mayor, having taken an hour or so to think over 
 the situation in which he found himself, had be- 
 come convinced of the soundness of Aunt Mary's 
 logic and had decided, without waiting for any 
 further communication from the Norman camp, to 
 claim the credit for the Ordinance and appeal for 
 popular support thereon, taking care, however, to 
 involve Senator Norman's name so that the real 
 Norman should be compelled to join forces with 
 him in his new departure. 
 
 By the time the column of news and comment 
 and a brief and cautious editorial on the occurrence 
 had been read out by Alicia and one or two other
 
 124 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 papers glanced at, Simpson had set up and laid his 
 table and had his first course served. He respect- 
 fully approached and inquired if they were ready 
 for breakfast. 
 
 " Certainly ! " said Aunt Mary. 
 
 Merriam looked at his watch. It was half past 
 eight. 
 
 " I ought to send my telegram to Riceville first," 
 he said, " to let them know I shall be there on the 
 noon train." 
 
 "After the grapefruit," said Aunt Mary, with a 
 decided note in her voice which led Merriam to 
 look at her inquiringly. 
 
 But he desired to exhibit the coolness of a man 
 of the world, to whom telegrams were customary 
 incidents of daily living and who habitually ran 
 close to the wind in the matter of trains. So he 
 acquiesced with a bookish "As you please," and 
 moved with the others to the table. 
 
 Simpson had decorated the center of the board 
 with one of the hotel's slim glass vases holding a 
 couple of pink carnations. Mollie June regarded 
 this ornament with disfavour. 
 
 " Let's have the roses instead, Mr. John," she 
 said. 
 
 And Merriam, to the scandal of Simpson, him- 
 self removed the carnations and set the bowl of 
 roses in their place. 
 
 They said little over the grapefruit. Alicia 
 added a few humorous comments on points in the. 
 newspaper article, but Aunt Mary was divided be-
 
 GRAPEFRUIT AND TELEGRAMS 125 
 
 tween an anxious absent-mindedness and a curious 
 questioning scrutiny of Merriam, and Merriam was 
 distracted between a suppressed worry over his: 
 telegram and approaching train time and the de- 
 light of stolen glances at Mrs. Senator Norman. 
 As for Mrs. Senator Norman, she devoted herself 
 chiefly to the fruit. Once or twice, in looking up, 
 she almost unavoidably intercepted one of Mer- 
 riam's guilty glances. When this happened, she 
 met his eyes frankly but with a gravity that was 
 pathetically, forgivingly rebuking. 
 
 Presently Simpson was removing the fruit rinds 
 and placing finger bowls. Merriam looked quickly 
 at his watch again and spoke to the waiter : 
 " Bring me a telegraph form, please." 
 Aunt Mary's absent-mindedness instantly van- 
 ished. 
 
 "What message are you going to send?" she 
 asked in a restrained voice. 
 
 " Missed night train. Will arrive at noon." 
 " No ! " said Aunt Mary. " Mr. Merriam," she 
 pursued quickly, "until George is brought back 
 here you must stay. After all this in the papers 
 this morning there will be scores of people to see 
 him to-day. He is known to be a late riser and. 
 never sees any one before ten or they would have 
 been here before this. In a very few minutes they 
 will begin to come. We will put off most of them, 
 of course. But there are likely to be some whom 
 we can't put off. We can't tell where George is, 
 and we can't say we don't know where he is, and
 
 126 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAOT) 
 
 there will be one or two to whom we can't say we 
 won't tell where he is. We must have you in re- 
 serve. You shall go to bed in George's room, ill 
 with with lumbago. Dr. Hobart will attend 
 you. When absolutely necessary we can show a 
 man into the room, and you can say a few words. 
 I will tell you what to say in each case. You can 
 have your head half way under the covers, and can 
 make your voice weak and husky. You will be 
 safe enough from detection. Then by this even- 
 ing at the latest we shall bring George back, and 
 you can go down to Kiceville on the night train. 
 You will only have missed one day, and you will 
 have saved us from a most serious dilemma." 
 
 There was an appeal in the elderly woman's 
 voice to which Merriam was not insensible, though 
 the pull of habitual regularity at his school was 
 strong in him. 
 
 It is to be feared that Alicia spoiled Aunt Mary's 
 effect. Across the table from Merriam, she was 
 partly hidden from him by the flowers. But she 
 leaned forward, bringing her face almost beside the 
 roses, and spoke in her most honeyed tones : 
 
 " Oh, do, Mr. Merriam ! How can you resist it? " 
 she added. " If I were a man and had the chance 
 
 to be Mollie June's husband even for a day " 
 
 She stopped with her archest smile. 
 
 Mollie June, with possibly the slightest aug- 
 mentation of colour, brought forward a practical 
 argument. 
 
 " Since you will miss the morning anyway, it
 
 GRAPEFRUIT AND TELEGRAMS 127 
 
 won't much matter if you miss the whole day. 
 You haven't but one class in the afternoon, have 
 you? " 
 
 " Only senior algebra," said Merriam. 
 
 " Miss Eldon can take that." 
 
 " I suppose she could," said Merriam, who was 
 realising that on this particular day advanced 
 algebra would be to him the most distasteful of all 
 branches of human learning. 
 
 " Then you'll stay and help us Mr. John ! " 
 
 The reader will perceive that this simple appeal 
 was really much superior to any which the too 
 sophisticated and calculating Alicia could contrive. 
 A touch of wistfulness came into Mollie June's face 
 with the word "help." His high promise of the 
 night before was irresistibly recalled. And "Mr. 
 John " reminded him of the delightfulness of fresh 
 water for roses and of the unconscious confession 
 which her compromise name for him had implied. 
 
 Alicia discreetly retired behind the roses, and 
 Aunt Mary waited with lips somewhat grimly 
 pursed. 
 
 Then, while Merriam hesitated, with his eyes 
 on Mollie June's face we must suppose that 
 he was weighing her very practical argument, the 
 telephone rang. 
 
 Simpson, with telegraph blanks in his hand, an- 
 swered it, and reported that Mr. Rockwell wished 
 to speak to Senator Norman. 
 
 " This is Norman," said Merriam cautiously 
 into the telephone.
 
 128 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 "Ah ! " said Rockwell's voice. " Well, you'll be 
 pleased to learn that you are quieter. You aren't 
 seeing things any more." (I'm not sure of that, 
 thought Merriam.) "But you, he has a severe 
 cold fever and a cough touch of bronchitis, prob- 
 ably. Hobart says he can't possibly be moved till 
 to-night. Anyway, I don't see how we could get 
 him into the hotel till then. You must stay, Mer- 
 riam." 
 
 "All right," said Merriam, surprising his in- 
 terlocutor by his ready acquiescence, " I'll stay." 
 
 " Good ! I'll be down at the hotel in half an 
 hour." Rockwell rang off. 
 
 Merriam turned to face the three women. 
 
 When Aunt Mary heard the news about George, 
 she held out her hand to Simpson for the telegraph 
 forms and wrote. 
 
 In a moment she read: 
 
 " ' 111 with a touch of bronchitis. Hope to be 
 back to-morrow. John Merriam.' Will that do? " 
 
 " I suppose so," he assented. 
 
 His words were almost drowned by a loud knock 
 at the door. 
 
 " Our day has begun," said Aunt Mary, rising 
 with admirable composure. She handed the tele- 
 gram to Simpson. " Send it at once. Into the 
 bedroom, Mr. Merriam. Get into bed as soon as 
 you can. You have bronchitis, you know, not 
 lumbago." 
 
 But before Merriam could obey the door was sud- 
 denly opened.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 A CHANGE OP MANAGEMENT 
 
 THE man who thus burst into Senator Nor- 
 man's sitting room at nine o'clock in the 
 morning without waiting for an invitation was an 
 unpleasant but important personage none other 
 than J. J. Thompson (one never thought of call- 
 ing him "Mr."), Norman's private political man- 
 ager in all matters that involved handling the peo- 
 ple's vote. 
 
 He was a short, stoutish, belligerent type, about 
 forty-five, with thin, untidy hair, a thin, untidy 
 moustache, and, somewhere between the moustache 
 and the hair, a pair of small blue eyes, which 
 seemed incapable of any other expressions than 
 aggressiveness and anger. Senator Norman the 
 real Norman had long found him nearly as dis- 
 agreeable as the reader will find him, but so use- 
 ful in many political contingencies that he had 
 never been able to bring himself to dispense with, 
 him. 
 
 Having popped explosively into the room, 
 Thompson stopped short at sight of the three 
 women. For the first instant or two he did not 
 notice Merriam, who had quietly slipped into the 
 
 129
 
 130 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 great armchair that faced the gas log, with his back 
 almost squarely to the room. 
 
 " Good morning, Mr. Thompson," said Aunt 
 Mary. " We were just having breakfast." 
 
 Alicia and Mollie June still sat at the table, and 
 Simpson stood a little at one side. Thompson 
 knew who the two girls were, and they knew who 
 he was, but he had never been presented in Nor- 
 man's family except to Miss- Norman a fact which 
 he resented keenly, so they did not speak. Alicia 
 sat back in her chair and stared insolently, while 
 Mollie June leaned forward and rearranged a rose 
 in the bowl. 
 
 " I'm sorry to break in this way," Thompson 
 said even he was slightly abashed, " but I've got 
 to speak to the Senator." 
 
 " Come back a little later, Mr. Thompson," ven- 
 tured Merriam in a hoarse whisper. 
 
 The " Mr." was a false note, and its effect was 
 to anger Thompson. 
 
 " No ! " he cried, the pugnacious gleam that was 
 never far below the surface of his little eyes ap- 
 pearing in them. " I've got to speak to you now ! 
 I've got a right to ! " 
 
 He advanced. He would have passed the table 
 so as to approach Merriam. But there was only a 
 narrow space on either side of it, and in one of 
 those avenues stood Simpson behind Alicia, while 
 Aunt Mary had quietly moved into the other, stand- 
 ing with her hand on the back of the chair in which 
 Merriam had been sitting. So Thompson found
 
 A CHANGE OF MANAGEMENT 131 
 
 himself barricaded, as it were, and stopped short 
 and shouted across the table and over the head of 
 Mollie June. 
 
 " What in what's the meaning of all this this 
 stuff in the papers? " 
 
 Thompson's difficulty in expressing himself un- 
 der the handicap of the interdiction against pro- 
 fanity imposed by the presence of the women was 
 a trifle ludicrous. But his tone and manner were 
 almost as bad as an oath would have been. 
 
 Alicia's eyebrows rose. She rose herself. 
 
 " Perhaps we had better withdraw," she said. 
 
 If Merriam, who had never seen her in any other 
 than a gracious and seductive mood, could have 
 turned his head to look, he would have marvelled at 
 her freezing disdain. Mollie June imitated her in 
 rising and in a more youthful hauteur. Without 
 waiting for any reply Alicia turned and walked 
 into the bedroom, and Mollie June followed. 
 
 But feminine disdain, however magnificent, had 
 little effect on Thompson. He was obviously re- 
 lieved. He looked at Aunt Mary, plainly desiring 
 that she should go too. 
 
 " No, I think I'll remain, Mr. Thompson," she 
 said pleasantly. 
 
 Then he looked at Simpson, and the latter cast 
 an inquiring glance at Aunt Mary. 
 
 "You may stay, please, Simpson," said she. 
 "We shall be finishing our breakfast pres- 
 ently." 
 
 Before Thompson could digest this snub Alicia
 
 132 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 reentered from the bedroom. She carried a white 
 knitted wool scarf, with which she went to Mer- 
 riam. 
 
 " Don't you feel chilly, George? " she asked. 
 " You can't be too careful with that throat." 
 
 She knelt down by his chair, put the scarf over 
 his head, brought it down past his cheeks, tied it 
 loosely under his chin, and threw the ends back 
 over his shoulders. 
 
 " Now, lean back. Isn't that better? Mr. Nor- 
 man has a severe cold," she said in the general 
 direction of Thompson. " The doctor is afraid of 
 bronchitis," she added, as she rose and drew the 
 shades. " That light is getting too bright for your 
 eyes." 
 
 She flashed a glance at Aunt Mary and returned 
 to the bedroom. 
 
 Merriam had been feeling that it was only a 
 matter of minutes before Thompson whoever 
 Thompson might be would somehow force his way 
 to his side and look down into his face and, prob- 
 ably, perceive the imposture as Mayor Black had 
 done. But now, with the welcome aid of the scarf, 
 he had the bravado to turn partly in his chair and 
 say throatily: 
 
 " What do you want? " 
 
 Thompson had remained a gaping spectator of 
 the tying up of Merriam's head, but this question 
 enabled him to recover his natural aggressiveness. 
 With one defiant glance at Aunt Mary, he started 
 forward and pushed his way past Simpson, who
 
 A CHANGE OF MANAGEMENT 133 
 
 could have stopped him only by an actual physical 
 offensive. 
 
 "What do I want?" he repeated sarcastically, 
 as he stood looking down on the senatorial head 
 bundled in the scarf. " I want to know what the 
 hell you've gone and done you and Black with- 
 out letting anybody know you were going to! 
 What about Crockett? Didn't you promise him at 
 eight o'clock last night that you would tell Black 
 to veto? And then this! " 
 
 Thompson had drawn a folded newspaper from 
 his coat pocket. He struck it with his other hand. 
 
 " Is that the way to treat your friends who've 
 stuck by you? What about the election next week? 
 What about the state machine? What about your 
 campaign fund? Have you gone nutty? Did you 
 really do it, or is the Mayor lying? That's what I 
 want to know ! " 
 
 " What business is it of yours? " asked the victim 
 of this torrent of questions as he stared from be- 
 tween the folds of his woolen scarf at the unlighted 
 gas log. 
 
 Merriam really was asking for information, but 
 the politician could not know this. It seemed to 
 him the last insult and repudiation. He fell back 
 a step dramatically. 
 
 " So that's it! " he cried. "After IVe managed 
 two campaigns for you ! IVe done your dirty work 
 for ten years ! And now, over night, what business 
 is it of mine? You throw me over ! And all your 
 friends. The men who sent you to the Senate of
 
 134 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAOT) 
 
 the United States and kept you there. And what 
 for? To join that fool Black! And the Eeform 
 League, I suppose. Philip Rockwell and his gang 
 of preachers and short-haired women and long- 
 haired mollycoddles! You'll appeal to the dear 
 People! Bah!" 
 
 Thompson had by this time apparently forgotten 
 entirely the presence of Aunt Mary and Simpson. 
 He snatched a cigar from his waistcoat pocket and 
 bit the end off it, produced a match from some- 
 where, and lighted it, emitting volumes of smoke. 
 He thumped with his newspaper on the arm of Mer- 
 riam's chair and in an impressively lowered tone 
 continued : 
 
 " Listen to me. It won't do, Senator. You can't 
 get away with it. Not you. Eeform and the people 
 and pure politics and all that. If you'd started in 
 on that line twenty years ago, may be! I don't 
 say it couldn't be made to pay. But not by you, at 
 this time of day. It's too late. You've tied up 
 with the other gang. They know you. They know 
 too much about you. They won't let you dp it. 
 It's no use trying. Of course, if you're tired of your 
 job if you're hankering to quit if you want to go 
 down in a grand smash, all right! But if you 
 want to stay in the United States Senate, there's 
 just one way you can do it, and that's to play the 
 old game in the old way with the old crowd. 
 Savez? " 
 
 All this was a trifle hard on young Merriam. 
 Thompson had told who he was, so that the boy
 
 A CHANGE OF MANAGEMENT 135 
 
 realised the critical character of the interview. 
 But there was so much else he needed to know. 
 How had the real Norman been in the habit of 
 treating this man? How would he probably have 
 acted in such a situation as they were pretending? 
 The only thing he could do was to say as little as 
 possible. Now that it was necessary to make some 
 response, what he said was : 
 
 " We'll see about that." 
 
 Thompson was rather encouraged than otherwise 
 by this remark. He had not, of course, expected 
 any immediate acquiescence. 
 
 " You'll see all right if you keep on," he retorted 
 with elephantine irony. " But for God's sake, Sen- 
 ator, try to see things in time. It's not too late 
 yet. Turn the Mayor down. You aren't com- 
 mitted openly. He is, but you aren't. Let him go 
 smash alone. He was always a fool! You can 
 swear to Crockett that you told Black to veto. It 
 don't matter whether he believes you or not. He'll 
 take you back. This Ordinance business don't 
 matter. They'll fix that some way. There are 
 bigger things than that coming, and they know 
 how useful you can be. You can't keep on with this 
 other." 
 
 " Can't I? " asked Merriam, not unskillfully fish- 
 ing for further revelations. 
 
 " Listen to me, Senator. Didn't you accept fifty 
 thousand dollars of common stock in the United 
 Traction Companies? Are you going to give that 
 back? Will Crockett let you give it back? Not he.!
 
 136 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 Have you forgotten how we cornered the vote in 
 Kankakee County 'when you ran six years ago? 
 Crockett knows about that. The whole crowd know 
 it. And what about that nice little honorarium, 
 you received for your vote in the Senate on the last 
 amendment to the Interstate Commerce Act? If 
 you've forgotten it, the men who put it up haven't ! 
 Do you think they'll let you go off like this? As 
 long as you play the game and keep your good looks 
 and can make your popular speeches they'll keep 
 you in the Senate, and the good things will come 
 your way. They'll get you a Cabinet job if you 
 want it. Just say the word. But if you throw 
 them over, they'll turn on you. These little things 
 I've been reminding you of will leak out. Man 
 alive, you're liable to end in the pen ! " 
 
 "Perhaps," said Merriam, "but I shouldn't go 
 alone. A man named Thompson would go with 
 me, eh? And maybe even Mr. Crockett. And 
 others I might name." (Merriam wished he could 
 name them.) 
 
 " That for your threats ! " he finished grandly 
 and snapped his fingers, thanking heaven for the 
 role of villain he had enacted in a certain college 
 melodrama, in connection with which he had, by 
 diligent practice, acquired the not common art of 
 snapping one's fingers effectively. 
 
 Thompson, who had unwontedly removed his 
 cigar from his mouth at Merriam's speech, now 
 backed away from the huddled figure. 
 
 " You think you'd do that ! " he said, in a voice in
 
 A CHANGE OF MANAGEMENT 137 
 
 which cynical scorn contended with something a 
 little like fright. 
 
 " Not unless I am forced to," said Merriam. 
 " But I have chosen a new course, and I mean to 
 follow it." 
 
 But Thompson, standing solidly in the spot to 
 which he had retreated, as if he had " dug in " there, 
 restored his cigar to the accustomed corner of his 
 face and narrowed his little eyes till they were 
 hideously smaller than usual. 
 
 " It's unfortunate, Senator," he said, with a kind 
 of exaggerated suavity, " that this reform in your 
 public morals last night was not accompanied by a 
 corresponding change in your private morals." 
 
 " What do you mean? " asked Merriam quickly, 
 and his voice faltered ever so little, a fact which 
 the other did not miss. 
 
 " Oh, you were known, you know, at Keiberg's 
 Place. You told everybody who you were, I under- 
 stand. You must have been pretty gay. Celebrat- 
 ing your new virtue, I suppose! But handing 
 fifty-dollar bills to dance-hall girls isn't quite the 
 line for a Reform League hero, Senator ! And we 
 know where you went afterwards. She's a pretty 
 little thing, but she's not in the Reform League pic- 
 ture! Suppose we say nothing about the United 
 Traction stock or the Kankakee County vote or the 
 Interstate Commerce business or any other little in- 
 cidents of the past like that, but just start with this 
 little affair of last night. How will that mix with 
 pure politics, Senator? "
 
 138 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 It was Thompson's turn to enjoy himself. He 
 could not refrain from following up this new vein. 
 
 " Your old friends are liberal-minded, Senator. 
 But your new friends, the great American people, 
 are a little inclined to be narrow in matters of 
 private morality." 
 
 Thompson's follow-up attack was a mistake. It 
 gave Merriam time to think and decide upon his 
 course. 
 
 " I was not at Keiberg's last night," he said, 
 recovering his loftiness and adding coldness 
 thereto. " Nor anywhere else. I spent the night 
 in this hotel." 
 
 Thompson stared. For a moment it almost 
 seemed that his jaw would fall and his precious 
 cigar drop out. But he recovered himself with a 
 sneer. 
 
 " You did, did you? In the company of your 
 wife, I suppose ! And that thing about your head 
 is really to keep you from catching cold and not to 
 keep your head from splitting open with the head- 
 ache? You're pretty fresh this morning, consider- 
 ing. I hand it to you there. But " his rising 
 anger got the better of his unnatural affectation of 
 suavity, which he had maintained up to the limit of 
 his endurance " but that lie won't go ! You don't 
 know what you did last night. You were stewed 
 right. You told every Tom, Dick, and Harry, and 
 Mary and Jane at the dance hall that you were 
 Senator Norman. You fool ! " 
 
 "After that," said Merriam, playing his part
 
 A CHANGE OF MANAGEMENT 139 
 
 regally, or, let us say, senatorially, " I can only 
 suggest to you that behind you is a door which I 
 wish you would make use of as soon as possible." 
 
 Thompson seemed decidedly nonplused at this. 
 The real Norman had always been amenable to 
 threats and on the whole patient under abuse. 
 
 " Do you mean," he burst out, " that I'm not to 
 be your manager? You turn me down cold? " 
 
 At this juncture there came a quick, light knock 
 at the door to which Merriam had just referred so 
 grandly. 
 
 Simpson looked quickly at Aunt Mary and then 
 at Merriam. 
 
 " Let me know who it is," said the latter, realis- 
 ing that he must seem to be in command. 
 
 When Simpson opened the door it was Kockwell 
 who pushed past him. He stopped short before 
 Thompson (with his cigar) in hostile confronta- 
 tion. 
 
 Cautiously Merriam peered around the off side 
 of his high backed chair. 
 
 " Mr. Thompson," he said, " you know Mr. Rock- 
 well, I believe. My new manager ! " 
 
 For a moment Thompson stood. Once his mouth 
 opened, almost certainly to frame an oath. It is 
 strange evidence of the survival of chivalry in 
 American life that Aunt Mary's presence re- 
 strained that outburst. Instead, we must suppose, 
 he took the stub of his cigar from his mouth and 
 dashed it on the carpet. 
 
 " I'm through ! " he said. Then to Merriam :
 
 140 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " I'll use your door all right for the last time till 
 you send for me ! " 
 
 He caught up his hat and walked past Rockwell, 
 within an inch of brushing against him but not 
 looking at him. 
 
 At the door he turned. 
 
 " You've read your morning papers, I suppose ! 
 Have you read Tidbits f Take a look at it ! " 
 
 The door slammed behind him.
 
 CHAPTEE XIV 
 
 HOLDING THE FORT 
 
 reverberation of Thompson's slamming 
 J. still echoed in the room when the bedroom 
 door opened and Alicia sailed in, followed more 
 demurely by Mollie June. 
 
 " Good morning, Philip," said Alicia to her 
 fiance". 
 
 Then she turned to Merriam. 
 
 " Oh, you did splendidly ! " she cried. 
 
 " Did I? " said Merriam, awkwardly trying to get 
 the woolen scarf off his head. 
 
 "Indeed you did. We listened to every word. 
 I through the keyhole. And Mollie June lay down 
 on the floor and listened under the door. It was 
 mean of me to take the keyhole, but I'm too old and 
 fat for the other position." 
 
 Possibly Mollie June's recent prostration ac- 
 counted for the color in her cheeks. 
 
 "Help him off with that thing, dear," Alicia 
 added, and herself advanced to Rockwell and took 
 his hands, offering to be kissed an offer of which 
 Rockwell took advantage with some fervour. 
 
 "Yes, I'll help you," said Mollie June, moving 
 somewhat timidly in Merriam's direction. 
 
 He met her more than half way. 
 141
 
 142 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " Please," lie said. " I'm all bound round with 
 a woolen string." 
 
 Mollie June drew the ends of the scarf down off 
 his shoulders and untied the loose knot under his 
 chin. 
 
 " There ! " she said, looking up at him. 
 
 Merriam snatched the thing off his head, ruffling 
 his hair. 
 
 "Thank you!" 
 
 Rockwell's voice reached them across the room. 
 Aunt Mary had been hurriedly narrating the hap- 
 penings with Thompson. He now looked approv- 
 ingly at Merriam. 
 
 " That's all right," he said, reflectively. " Very 
 good. Yes. Just as well to defy him at once. 
 Could hardly have been better. Ah, there's Hobart 
 now, I suppose," for a discreet knock had sounded 
 at the hall door. 
 
 Rockwell himself admitted the house physician, 
 a bald, youngish man, with nose glasses over 
 slightly shifty eyes and a quite unprofessional man- 
 ner the manner of a "smart" young business 
 man. 
 
 Merriam and Mollie June joined the others for 
 the introductions. These formalities over, Dr. 
 Hobart confirmed the report of Norman's condition 
 which Rockwell had given them over the telephone. 
 He " was getting along all right " with a sidelong 
 glance at Mollie June "except for a touch of 
 bronchitis." 
 
 Mollie June betrayed an embarrassed uneasiness.
 
 HOLDING THE FORT 143 
 
 Merriam wondered just how much, she knew of her 
 husband's whereabouts of his escapades in gen- 
 eral. 
 
 " Very well," said Aunt Mary briskly, " you must 
 go right to bed, Mr. Merriam, before some one else 
 comes. You're ill with bronchitis, of course. That 
 scarf was a splendid idea, Alicia, but it was a close 
 shave. We mustn't run any more risks. You will 
 attend him, Dr. Hobart? " 
 
 " Of course," said the young physician, evidently 
 much amused. "Mr. Rockwell has told me the 
 story. It's as good as a play. Mr. Merriam I 
 mean, Senator, I order you to bed at once." 
 
 " Very well," said Merriam and turned towards 
 Senator Norman's bedroom. 
 
 " I'll show you where things are," said Rockwell, 
 accompanying him. " I explored a bit last night." 
 
 In the bedroom with the door closed behind them, 
 Merriam hesitated. 
 
 " Better get your things off at once," said Rock- 
 well, going to the bureau and stooping to open the 
 bottom drawer. " It's nearly ten o'clock," he con- 
 tinued, rummaging. " The reporters will be here 
 any minute. I'm surprised some enterprising chap 
 hasn't arrived already. We'll try to keep them off, 
 of course. But some of those fellows are mighty 
 clever. Here we are pajamas," he added, pulling 
 out the garments for which he had been searching. 
 
 Then he crossed to a closet, from which in a 
 moment he emerged with a bath robe and a pair of 
 bedroom slippers.
 
 144 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " I'll put these by the bed so that if there's any 
 reason for you to get up you can do so easily. But 
 unless something happens to change our plans, 
 you're much too sick to get up to-day." 
 
 A knock sounded at the door into the sitting 
 room. Rockwell answered it and returned grin- 
 ning. 
 
 "Aunt Mary says that Simpson shall bring you 
 some ham and a cup of coffee as soon as you're in 
 bed. Why didn't you tell me you have had nothing 
 to eat but grapefruit? " 
 
 " I had forgotten," said Merriam, realising never- 
 theless that he was very hungry. 
 
 Rockwell dropped into a comfortable chair. "It's 
 rather good fun," he said. " This conspiracy busi- 
 ness. I do hope we can pull it through." 
 
 By this time Merriam was inside the senatorial 
 pajamas. He approached the bed, turned down 
 the covers, and awkwardly climbed in, feeling for 
 all the world like a little boy who has been sent to 
 bed in the daytime for being naughty. 
 
 " Now about lights," said Rockwell rising. The 
 window shades had not been raised ; they were using 
 the chandelier. " Not these center lights, nor the 
 night lamp. Both are too bright on your face in 
 case Let's try this side light." 
 
 He turned on a light on the wall on the other 
 side of Merriam's bed, switched off the ceiling 
 lights, and surveyed the effect. 
 
 " That's good," he said. " If we have to bring 
 any one in, you can lie looking this way and still
 
 HOLDING THE FORT 145 
 
 your face will be in shadow. Lie well down in with 
 the covers up to your chin. Now I'll bring you 
 some breakfast." 
 
 Merriam, left alone for a minute, wished he had 
 been permitted to finish his breakfast in the sitting 
 room before being sent to bed. He had counted on 
 that breakfast, and the first course had been fully 
 as delightful as he had pictured it. 
 
 Rockwell soon returned, carrying a tray on which 
 was a plate of really fine ham, with rolls and butter 
 and a cup of coffee. 
 
 " I guess I'm not too sick to sit up to eat, so long 
 as only you're here," said Merriam, suiting his 
 posture to the word and falling to with appe- 
 tite. 
 
 Rockwell drew up a chair and for several minutes 
 sat smoking in silence. Then he said : 
 
 " Did you catch Thompson's parting shot about 
 Tidbits? " 
 
 "Yes," Merriam replied, without interrupting 
 operations. " What did he mean? " 
 
 Rockwell drew a clipping from his pocket. 
 " Listen," he said, and read the following : 
 
 The Senator's Night Off 
 
 There was a dance last night at Reiberg's 
 Place on the West Side. Most of our readers 
 do not know Reiberg's. It comprises a danc- 
 ing floor over a saloon, with a bar attached for 
 the convenience of patrons who may not be 
 willing or, as the evening advances, able to 
 go downstairs to the saloon ; also certain small
 
 146 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 rooms where one may drink or otherwise enjoy 
 oneself quite privately. Its patrons, male and 
 female, are chiefly employees in the neighbour- 
 ing factories. 
 
 But last night Reiberg's was honoured, we 
 are credibly informed, by a guest from quite a 
 different sphere no less than a Senator of the 
 United States. We are not able at present to 
 give his name with certainty, and of course we 
 are not willing to give names in such a case 
 until we have verified our information with 
 scrupulous care. But he certainly announced 
 
 himself as Senator , and he looked the 
 
 part, and distributed money, presumably from 
 the salary paid to him out of public funds, 
 with lavish abandon. 
 
 Having tried to kiss one of the prettier girls 
 and been knocked down by her escort who 
 evidently knew naught of " senatorial cour- 
 tesies," he emphasised the sincerity of his 
 tipsy apologies by handing the lucky insulted 
 one a fifty-dollar bill. 
 
 Later, it is said, he attached himself to an- 
 other young woman, unaccompanied, it would 
 seem, by any pugnacious swain, with whom he 
 spent several hours, partly on the dancing floor 
 and partly elsewhere. 
 
 Finally, with we fear little of his money left 
 about him, he was charitably carried off by the 
 chauffeur of his waiting taxi. 
 
 Well, well, after the arduous strain of leg- 
 islative labours, one doubtless feels the need of 
 a little relaxation. We hope the Senator en- 
 joyed himself. 
 
 Rockwell folded up his clipping. "A tolerably
 
 HOLDING THE FORT 147 
 
 close paraphrase of Simpson's story," lie remarked. 
 " They have the facts pretty straight." 
 
 "What is this Tidbits?" asked Merriam, sitting 
 on his pillow with the tray in his lap. He had 
 stopped eating. 
 
 " Oh, a dirty little sheet of scandal. Twice a 
 week. But it's pretty widely read. And they 
 know his name, of course. In fact any one can 
 guess it, because Senator Norman is known to be 
 in the city, and there is no other United States 
 Senator stopping here now, so far as any one 
 knows. It will be a bit nasty if they push this sort 
 of thing. They'll put it in the regular newspapers 
 next a straight news item with his name in 
 it." 
 
 " That article doesn't say where he went after- 
 wards," said Merriam. " But Thompson knew." 
 
 " They're keeping that in reserve. Listen ! " 
 
 Male voices were audible from the sitting 
 room. 
 
 "The reporters!" exclaimed Rockwell. "I'll 
 take that tray. Lie down and cover up. I must 
 go and help Aunt Mary hold the fort ! " 
 
 Merriam finished his coffee in a gulp, and Rock- 
 well set the tray on the seat of a chair and hastily 
 entered the sitting room. 
 
 There followed a long period more than an 
 hour, in fact during which Merriam lay in bed 
 and listened to varied voices from the other room, 
 and speculated as to what was going on, and won- 
 dered what he should do if the door should open
 
 148 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 and some irresistibly aggressive reporter or irre- 
 sistibly important political friend of Norman's be 
 ushered in. 
 
 But Rockwell and Aunt Mary, with the occa- 
 sional support of Dr. Hobart, successfully with- 
 stood the army of reporters and a few minor poli- 
 ticians who called, and at length the loud masculine 
 voices from the other room ceased, and Merriam 
 lay still, somewhat fatigued by his prolonged strain 
 of apprehension, and waited. 
 
 Presently the door opened, and Aunt Mary and 
 Kockwell entered. Merriam had closed his eyes, 
 but Rockwell speedily opened them. 
 
 " Oh, you can wake up," he said. " It's all right. 
 The coast is clear." 
 
 Merriam rolled over so as to lie on his back. 
 " Well, what next? " he said. 
 
 Aunt Mary and Rockwell looked at each other. 
 Rockwell spoke: 
 
 " Miss Norman and I are going out. We shall 
 drop in at the Mayor's for a few minutes and then 
 go on to a Reform League luncheon at the Urban 
 Club. I am due to act as toastmaster or chairman 
 for the speeches afterwards, and it will be just as 
 well to have Miss Norman present. She will sym- 
 bolise the prospective new alliance. We are going 
 to leave you under the care of Alicia and Mrs. Nor- 
 man. No one else is likely to come for several 
 hours now. We shall be back at about half past 
 two or three. Meanwhile luncheon. You didn't 
 get a very big breakfast after all. Simpson shall
 
 HOLDING THE PORT 149 
 
 serve it here by your bed, and Alicia and Mollie 
 June can eat with, you." 
 
 This disposition suited Merriam excellently well, 
 but he made no comment. He tried to decide 
 whether Aunt Mary was really eyeing him sharply 
 or whether he only imagined it. 
 
 In any case she almost immediately added a 
 rather formal " Good morning," and returned to 
 the sitting room. 
 
 Rockwell lingered a moment. 
 
 " We're going to try to bring Norman back here 
 this evening, you know. If it's at all possible. If 
 it shouldn't be if he's too sick or something, I sup- 
 pose you could stay over another day still? " 
 
 Merriam thought with a panic of his school. 
 
 " Not unless it's absolutely necessary," he replied 
 with a good deal of emphasis. 
 
 " It probably won't be," said Rockwell reassur- 
 ingly. " We're quite as anxious to get rid of you, 
 you know," he added smiling, " as you can be to get 
 away from us. A double's a horribly dangerous 
 thing to have around. Well, so long." 
 
 In less than five minutes after Rockwell's de- 
 parture there came a knock at that door upon 
 which Merriam's attention was concentrated a 
 distinctly feminine knock. 
 
 Merriam disposed himself as discreetly as pos- 
 sible under the bedclothes and answered it. 
 
 Alicia opened the door and peeped. " May I 
 come in? " She opened it wider and came through. 
 " I'm the chaperon, you know."
 
 "Are you? " asked Merriam smiling. 
 
 Alicia was pleased by his smile and said so. 
 
 " I always like it when people laugh at the idea 
 of my being a chaperon." 
 
 " Why? " said Merriam. 
 
 " Oh, so long as it seems funny for a woman to be 
 a chaperon she's young." 
 
 " It seems funny for you," said Merriam. 
 
 "That's very nicely said," returned Alicia. 
 " Come in, Mollie June." 
 
 As Mollie June did not appear, Alicia looked 
 into the sitting room. 
 
 " Why," she said, " she must have gone into her 
 bedroom. I do believe she's doing her hair over." 
 And Alicia raised her eyebrows. 
 
 In spite of hope deferred Merriam was made 
 happy. He recalled the supreme necessity of shav- 
 ing earlier that morning. 
 
 Alicia dropped into the chair by the bed in which 
 Eockwell had sat and pretended to scan the inva- 
 lid's face solicitously. 
 
 " I should say, Senator," she remarked, " that 
 you do not look like a very sick man. Your condi- 
 tion must be improving. We can hope you will be 
 able to take a little nourishment." 
 
 " You can hope that all right," grinned the in- 
 valid. 
 
 " I've ordered " Alicia, making talk, 
 
 plunged into the details of a quite elaborate refec- 
 tion. 
 
 By the time she had finished and had replied to
 
 HOLDING THE FORT 151 
 
 one or two humorous comments from Merriam, 
 whose spirits were certainly rising, Simpson pre- 
 sented himself with the substantial fulfillment of 
 her prospectus. And not until then did Mollie 
 June join them. Her coiffure, though simple, was 
 certainly faultless and so far as a masculine eye 
 could judge newly arranged. 
 
 Alicia caught Merriam's glance and read his 
 thoughts and smiled. 
 
 " What is it? " asked Mollie June suspiciously. 
 
 " What is what? " said Merriam, lamely. 
 
 " The Senator has been very humorous over the 
 meal I have ordered," explained Alicia more 
 deftly. 
 
 " Don't call him the Senator ! " cried Mollie June. 
 " His name is " her eyes met Merriam's for an 
 instant " Mr. John." 
 
 " I see," said Alicia. In the dim light Merriam 
 was not sure whether she raised her eyebrows again 
 or not, but he was afraid she did. 
 
 Simpson, intent only on the proper illumination 
 of his carefully laid cloth, but unwittingly conspir- 
 ing with the elder gods (Fate and Destiny and the 
 like), had turned on the night lamp and set it on 
 the corner of the table next to Mollie June, and its 
 radiance fell full on her slender, erect figure, now 
 arrayed in Merriam had not the slightest idea 
 what kind of fabric it was, but it was creamy white, 
 and at her waist was one of the red roses he had 
 helped to freshen. The circle of bright light ex- 
 tended up to her white throat. Occasionally when
 
 152 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 she leaned forward her face dipped into it, but for 
 the most part showed only dimly in the fainter 
 glow that came through the shade of the lamp. He 
 could see her eyes, however, and not infrequently 
 they rested on him. His, it is to be feared, were 
 on her most of the time. 
 
 When at length the luncheon was finished and 
 Merriam had expressed himself as disinclined for 
 cigarettes and Simpson had removed his dishes and 
 his table and finally himself, Alicia, who was really 
 a most good-natured person a pearl among chap- 
 erons, yawned and announced that she had a 
 novel which she desired to finish, and that, if they 
 didn't mind, she proposed to retire to the sitting 
 room to prosecute that literary occupation. 
 
 " You can amuse him for a while, Mrs. Norman," 
 she said, with a humorous smile ; Merriam did not 
 venture to question what more subtle thoughts that 
 smile might veil. "He's your guest more than 
 mine, seeing it's your husband he's impersonating. 
 If he gets too boring, you can come for me and I'll 
 spell you." 
 
 Neither Mollie June nor Merriam replied, but 
 Alicia, still with that amused smile, rose and calmly 
 departed. She left the door open, of course, be- 
 tween the two rooms. 
 
 Upon the two young people, thus abruptly left 
 alone together, there descended an embarrassed 
 silence. For a minute or so they heard Alicia 
 moving about in the sitting room and then the 
 small sounds which one makes in adjusting one's
 
 HOLDING THE FORT 153 
 
 self comfortably in an armchair with, a footstool 
 and a book, ending in a pleasurable sigh. 
 
 Merriam was overwhelmed by the necessity of 
 finding talk. He could not lie there in bed and 
 stare at Mollie June, however beatitudinous it 
 might have been to do so. Several seconds of pro- 
 digious intellectual labour brought forth this polite 
 question : 
 
 " Do you hear often from the girls in Biceville? " 
 
 " Not very often," said Mollie June. 
 
 We can hardly describe this reply as helpful. 
 
 Again he struggled mightily, with the banal kind 
 of result that usually follows such paroxysms of 
 conversational topic-hunting : 
 
 " You must find your life here and in Washing- 
 ton wonderful." 
 
 " It seemed so, at first," said Mollie June. 
 
 " But it didn't last? " 
 
 Merriam was conscious of danger on this tack, 
 but he must have a moment's rest before he could 
 wrestle with the void again. 
 
 " No," said Mollie June. 
 
 Merriam waited, not shirking his responsibilities 
 but conscious that she meant to continue. She 
 was always deliberate of speech a fact which gave 
 a piquant significance to her simplest words. 
 
 " You see," she said, " I didn't really care very 
 much for George. I thought I did at first, but I 
 didn't. Papa really made me marry him. And 
 you know he is untrue to me." 
 
 Merriam could have gasped. He felt himself
 
 154 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 falling through the thin ice of mere "conversa- 
 tion," on which he had tried so hard to skate, into 
 the depths of real talk. But it was good to be in 
 the depths. And after his first breathlessness he 
 was filled with love and pity. How much the brief, 
 girlish sentences portrayed of disillusionment and 
 tragedy ! 
 
 " You know about that then? " he asked gently. 
 , " Of course," said Mollie June, almost scornfully. 
 " Before company Aunt Mary and Alicia and Mr. 
 Kockwell keep up the pretence that I can know 
 nothing about such things. I keep it up too ! But 
 Aunt Mary knows all about them. George never 
 can conceal anything from her. And I make her 
 tell me everything. Everything ! " 
 
 Merriam, I suspect, hardly sensed the amount of 
 intellect and character which Mollie June's last 
 statement betrayed I use the word advisedly, for, 
 of course, intellect and character detract from a 
 young girl's charm, and if she desires to be pretty 
 and alluring she should, and usually does, carefully 
 conceal whatever of such attributes she may be 
 handicapped with. But to " make " Aunt Mary 
 disclose things she wished not to disclose was no 
 small achievement. 
 
 "You know about this Jennie Higgins?" Mer- 
 riam asked. 
 
 " Yes. I've seen her and talked with her." 
 
 " How? " was Merriam's startled question. 
 
 " She's a manicurist, you know.' She's employed 
 at " Mollie June mentioned a well-known
 
 HOLDING THE FORT 155 
 
 establishment on Michigan Avenue, the name of 
 which for obvious reasons I suppress. "When I 
 found that out, I went there to have my nails 
 done. I just asked for Madame Couteau, and 
 waited till she was free. She didn't know me, of 
 course. She's pretty," said Mollie June, with judi- 
 cial coldness. 
 
 After a moment she added, "And sweet and 
 warm." 
 
 "But how any man can leave you " cried 
 
 Merriam, treading recklessly on several kinds of 
 dynamite. 
 
 " You haven't seen her," said Mollie June. 
 
 Merriam was silenced. It was true he had not 
 seen her. And he remembered with confusion that 
 he had talked with her over a wire and, as Rockwell 
 put it, had not " needed much prompting." 
 
 He stole a glance at Mollie June. The purity of 
 her white-clad figure, its brave erectness, and the 
 impassive sadness so out of place on her young face 
 caught at his heart. 
 
 " How can you stand it? " he cried, and would 
 have put out his hand to her had he not remem- 
 bered that he was in bed and that his arm was clad 
 only in the sleeve of a suit of pajamas. 
 
 Mollie June looked at him. 
 
 " I don't know," she said. " What else can I 
 do?" 
 
 Merriam lay still, now openly staring at her. Of 
 all intolerable things of which he had ever heard it 
 seemed to him the worst that Mollie June "the
 
 156 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAKD 
 
 prettiest girl," with all her loveliness and sweet- 
 ness and courage and youthful joy in life, should 
 be so slighted and wronged and saddened and de- 
 graded. It was like seeing a rose trampled under 
 foot. (Merriam's mental simile was not very orig- 
 inal perhaps, but to him it was intensely poignant. ) 
 
 For a moment she met his gaze, then looked 
 away. In the subdued light Merriam could not be 
 sure, but he thought there was a new brightness of 
 tears in her eyes, released perhaps by his very ap- 
 parent though inexpressive sympathy. 
 
 Presently the thought which had inevitably come 
 to him forced itself almost against his will to ex- 
 pression : 
 
 " You could divorce him." 
 
 " I've thought of that." ( Somehow this shocked 
 Merriam. ) " But it would be too horrible. Have 
 you read the divorce trials in the papers? With a 
 Senator they would make the most of it. And 
 Aunt Mary won't let me do that. It would ruin 
 him politically, she says." 
 
 " Well, what if it did? How about you? " 
 
 " Oh, she loves him, you know. She thinks ke 
 can be brought to change his ways. She believes 
 in him still." 
 
 " Do you? " 
 
 "No," said Mollie June, with the clear-eyed, 
 cruel simplicity of youth. 
 
 "He may die," was the thought in Merriam's 
 mind, but this could not be said. 
 
 Full of pity, he gazed at her again, and some-
 
 HOLDING THE FORT 157 
 
 thing in the profile of her averted face overcame 
 him. He started up on his elbow all this time he 
 had lain with his head on his arm on the pillow. 
 
 " Mollie June ! " he cried, his voice softly raised. 
 
 She did not look at him. 
 
 " Dear Mollie June ! You must know I love you. 
 I loved you three years ago in Riceville. There's 
 nothing wrong about that. When you're in such 
 trouble I must tell you. It can't do you any good. 
 There's nothing we can do. But I do love you ! " 
 
 She turned her eyes upon him. 
 
 " Why didn't you tell me that in Riceville? " 
 
 "Oh! "he cried. 
 
 Mollie June rose and came to the bedside. 
 
 " I know," she said with womanly gentleness. 
 " You couldn't, of course. Because you were so 
 poor. I ought to have waited John ! " 
 
 For a moment her hand hovered above his head 
 as if she would have stroked his ruffled hair. But 
 it descended to her side again. 
 
 " We mustn't talk like this. I must go. I'll tell 
 Alicia we are bored ! " 
 
 There were tears not only in her eyes but on her 
 cheeks now. Undisguisedly she wiped them away 
 and carefully dried her eyes with a small handker- 
 chief. 
 
 " I shall see you at dinner," she said with a brave 
 smile, and, turning, walked quickly out of the 
 room.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 COUNCIL OF WAR 
 
 IT was some time before Alicia, with something 
 more, if possible, than her usual aplomb, cover- 
 ing, let us hope, a guilty conscience, entered the 
 bedroom, presumably to " spell " Mollie June in 
 amusing the supposed invalid. 
 
 Alicia made some remark which hardly pene- 
 trated the invalid's consciousness, but scarcely had 
 she sat down in Mollie June's chair before a quick 
 knock sounded at the hall door of the sitting room, 
 almost immediately followed by the sound of the 
 opening of that door, and Alicia sprang up again 
 and hurried away, to be before Mollie June in re- 
 ceiving the newcomers. It began to irritate Mer- 
 riam to perceive how they all treated her as a little 
 girl, when as he now thrillingly realised she was 
 very much a woman in spite of the youthfulness of 
 her face and figure. 
 
 The arrivals in the other room proved to be Rock- 
 well and Aunt Mary returned. Recognising their 
 voices, Merriam glanced at his watch under his pil- 
 low and was amazed to find that it was nearly four 
 o'clock. 
 
 Rockwell appeared in the doorway. 
 158
 
 COUNCIL OF WAR 159 
 
 "Come into this other room," lie said. "We 
 must hold a council of war." 
 
 " Shall I dress? " asked Merriam, gladly getting 
 out of bed. 
 
 "No, no," said Rockwell impatiently. "Just 
 put on your bath robe and slippers." 
 
 Having followed this instruction, Merriam 
 stepped to the glass and with a few quick strokes 
 of the brush smoothed his hair, Rockwell watching 
 him without comment. Then they went into the 
 sitting room. 
 
 Merriam blankly perceived that the sitting room 
 was empty of Mollie June. 
 
 " She has a slight headache," said Alicia kindly 
 suffering still, we may hope, from pangs of con- 
 science. 
 
 Aunt Mary was sitting in the senatorial arm- 
 chair, which had been turned about to face the rest 
 of the room. She looked long and hard at Merriam 
 an intensification of that close scrutiny with 
 which, it seemed to him, she had always distin- 
 guished him. Merriam, in his bath robe, sustained 
 it awkwardly but manfully. Alicia and Rockwell 
 were standing. The silence was rather portentous. 
 
 " Sit down, all of you," said Aunt Mary suddenly. 
 
 The three younger persons present even Rock- 
 well seemed youthful beside Aunt Mary in her 
 dominant mood rather hurriedly found seats. 
 
 " Is the door locked, Philip? " 
 
 Rockwell rose, went to the hall door, turned the 
 key, and returned to his chair.
 
 160 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " Tell Mm," said Aunt Mary. 
 
 Rockwell's budget of news was certainly consid- 
 erable and important. 
 
 In the first place, George Norman was " better." 
 Rockwell and Aunt Mary had gone to see him at 
 Jennie's after the Reform League luncheon. That 
 was why they were so late. He undoubtedly had a 
 touch of bronchitis, with some fever and a cough, 
 but seemed to be improving. He could be brought 
 back to the hotel that evening. Aunt Mary had 
 sat down by his bed and told him briefly but plainly 
 of the happenings at the hotel the previous evening, 
 and had extorted a feeble, amazed acquiescence in 
 the astonishing turn which had been given to his 
 career an acquiescence which she had immedi- 
 ately communicated by telephone from Jennie's to 
 Mayor Black. 
 
 In the second place, the story of Norman's even- 
 ing at Reiberg's was all over the city not among 
 the populace, of course, but among the politicians 
 and business men and clubmen the men who 
 know things. Not only the story in Tidbits, which 
 everybody seemed to have read and to have as- 
 signed unhesitatingly to Norman, but the further 
 fact that from Reiberg's he had gone in the taxi to 
 " a certain little flat " that seemed to be the ap- 
 proved phrase, and had spent the night there, and 
 was still there. The simple truth, in short, was 
 known. Rockwell had taken his cue perforce from 
 Merriam's impulsive denial to Thompson and had 
 flatly contradicted the whole story. Senator Nor-
 
 COUNCIL OF WAR 161 
 
 man had spent the evening, after his interviews 
 with Mr. Crockett and with Mayor Black, at the 
 hotel with his wife, and was there now, slightly in- 
 disposed with a severe cold which had threatened 
 to turn into bronchitis. His downright assertions 
 had, Rockwell believed, shaken the confident ru- 
 mours and would probably delay any further pub- 
 lication of them for at least a day. But it was 
 necessary to produce evidence. 
 
 "We shall have to use you again to-night," he 
 said to Merriam. " I have invited the Mayor and 
 Mr. Wayward to dine with you here at the hotel 
 downstairs in the Peacock Cabaret." 
 
 " Shall I have to play the Senator there? " 
 gasped Merriam " in public ! " 
 
 " Semi-public," said Rockwell. " I have reserved 
 a table in an alcove. We shall put you in the cor- 
 ner. All the rest of us will be between you and 
 the general gaze. Oh, we shall get away with it. 
 It's much less dangerous than trying to impose at 
 close range in a private interview on some one who 
 really knows the Senator as you did on Thompson 
 this morning." 
 
 " Does Mr. Wayward know? " asked Merriam. 
 
 "Of the impersonation? Not yet. But Alicia 
 shall prepare him in advance." 
 
 Alicia nodded. " That's all right," she said. 
 "Daddy will enjoy it. He'll think it's a huge 
 joke." 
 
 "Moreover," continued Rockwell, with rather 
 apprehensive eyes on Merriam, " I have accepted an
 
 162 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 invitation for Senator Norman to speak at the Ee- 
 form League luncheon to-morrow." 
 
 " Do they have luncheons and speeches every 
 day? " asked Merriam, sparring for time, for of 
 course he saw what was coming. 
 
 " Not usually, but they've been having a series. 
 To-morrow is the last one. It's the perfect opportu- 
 nity for Norman to come out openly for the League. 
 When the invitation came, I simply had to ac- 
 cept it." 
 
 " But if George Norman isn't able to speak? " 
 queried Alicia, fearlessly coming to the point. 
 
 " Then you'll have to make the speech ! " said 
 Rockwell bluntly to Merriam. 
 
 " But how can I? " 
 
 " You were a debater in college." 
 
 " Yes, but the speech itself " 
 
 " Oh, Aunt Mary will fix you up with a speech." 
 
 Merriam turned to that silent mistress of the 
 situation, sitting calmly in the senatorial arm- 
 chair. 
 
 " George is so very busy that I often write his 
 speeches for him," she said, as if it were the most 
 natural arrangement in the world. " I have sev- 
 eral sketched out now. We can make a choice 
 among them. I will write it out in full and you 
 can learn it, or I will turn over the outline to you 
 and you can work it up in your own words if you 
 have to make it." 
 
 " You probably won't," Eockwell hastened to 
 say. " Norman is really much better. After a
 
 COUNCIL OF WAR 163 
 
 comfortable night here at the hotel he will be all 
 right. If he's a little hoarse, we can't help it. But 
 you must stay over, you see," he added deter- 
 minedly, "to make sure. That speech must be 
 made." 
 
 " But my school ! " cried Merriam. 
 
 "You'll have to send another telegram," said 
 Aunt Mary. 
 
 "What's a day or two of school?" asked Bock- 
 well impatiently, with a layman's insensibility to 
 the pedagogical dogmas of absolute regularity and 
 punctuality. "Besides, if you really were sick," 
 he added more tactfully, " they would have to get 
 along without you, wouldn't they? " 
 
 " So much is at stake," said Aunt Mary. 
 " George's future, and all that that may mean to 
 the State and Nation. If we can bring him to 
 throw the weight of his popularity and leadership 
 on the right side ! " 
 
 " You can't desert us now, Mr. Merriam," cried 
 Alicia. " When it means so much to Aunt Mary 
 and Philip and Mollie June ! " 
 
 Crafty Alicia ! Her guile was, of course, clearly 
 apparent to Merriam. But it is perfectly possible 
 to perceive that an influence is being deliberately 
 brought to bear on one without being able to resist 
 that influence. 
 
 " Very well. I'll telegraph again," he said. 
 
 "Better do it now," said Bockwell, promptly 
 clinching this decision. He rose, went to the writ- 
 ing table, got out a telegraph form, and sat down.
 
 164 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 "What shall I write?" 
 
 Merriam collected himself as best he could Tinder 
 Alicia's admiring, expectant eyes and Aunt Mary's 
 steady regard. 
 
 " Better," he dictated, " but doctor won't let me 
 leave to-night. Expect to be down to-morrow 
 night." 
 
 " That's good," said Aunt Mary, in a tone of 
 quiet approval which gratified Merriam more prob- 
 ably than he realised. 
 
 Eockwell finished writing and turned in his 
 chair. 
 
 " I'll be going down in a few minutes. I'll send 
 it then. Now you'll need to dress for dinner 
 Senator ! Pack up your things too. After dinner 
 you and I will leave the hotel together in a taxi. 
 We shall drive over to the University Club. There 
 we shall simply go up to the Library for a few min- 
 utes and then come down again, walk up Michigan 
 Avenue for a block or two and catch another taxi, 
 and drive to the Nestor House. There you can 
 register under your own name. Simpson will send 
 your things over. I shall go on and get Norman 
 and bring him back here. You see? Senator Nor- 
 man leaves the hotel about nine o'clock with his 
 new manager me. Within an hour or so he re- 
 turns, still in my company, and goes to his room. 
 If he's all right, you can go down to Kiceville on 
 the morning train if you like. I'll come to see you 
 before you go." 
 
 " We'll all go over to see you," said Alicia, with
 
 COUNCIL OF WAR 165 
 
 an unmistakable emphasis on the "all." "We 
 shall have so much to thank you for ! " 
 
 Merriam did not reply to this cordial remark. 
 
 " Why do we go to the University Club? " he 
 asked. 
 
 "And not directly to the other hotel? " said Rock- 
 well. " Well, I'm afraid we may be rather closely 
 watched. To tell the truth, I suspect that the 
 driver of the taxi we take here may be questioned 
 afterwards as to where he set us down. The Uni- 
 versity Club will tell them nothing." 
 
 To Merriam's excited mood this explanation, 
 with its hint of powerful hidden enemies in- 
 tently watching every move which he and his 
 friends could make, added a touch of piquancy 
 to the situation that was nothing short of delight- 
 ful. 
 
 He could not well express this, however, and 
 Rockwell, who was all business with no such ro- 
 mantic nonsense in his head, immediately sent 
 them about their several parts. He himself was 
 first to take Alicia to her waiting limousine. 
 
 When Alicia and Rockwell had departed Mer- 
 riam sought to return to his the Senator's bed- 
 room. But Aunt Mary detained him. 
 
 " Sit down, Mr. Merriam," she said, kindly 
 enough but in a manner that demanded unquestion- 
 ing obedience. 
 
 Then she rose and entered Mollie June's bedroom 
 but immediately returned. 
 
 " Mollie June is dressing for dinner," she said.
 
 166 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 An instant's pause. Then, looking hard at Mer- 
 riam, " She's a lovely child." 
 
 Both the look and the final word provoked Mer- 
 riam to a sort of resentment. 
 
 " I don't believe she's as much of a child as you 
 think," he said boldly. 
 
 " It depends on the point of view, no doubt," said 
 Aunt Mary drily. 
 
 Then she began to ask him about himself, his 
 family, his own life, on the farm of his boyhood, at 
 college, and at Riceville all those facts which 
 Alicia had so much more tactfully elicited in the 
 private dining room off the Peacock Cabaret the 
 night before and some others in which Alicia had 
 not been interested. Merriam had nothing to be 
 ashamed of and spoke up promptly and manfully 
 in his replies, wondering in the back of his mind 
 the while what inscrutable thought or purpose 
 prompted Aunt Mary in her catechising. He little 
 dreamt that the whole course and happiness of his 
 life turned on the showing he was able to make in 
 this odd examination. 
 
 There is no doubt that Aunt Mary whatever her 
 idea may have been was satisfied. When at length 
 she had no more questions to ask the expression of 
 her eyes, though they still rested on him, was al- 
 most one of absence. She drew a deeper breath 
 than was her wont suggestive, at least, of a 
 sigh. 
 
 " You give a good account of yourself," she said. 
 " You are worthy of the Norman blood."
 
 COUNCIL OF WAR 167 
 
 Greater praise than that no man could have from 
 Aunt Mary, as Merriam dimly realised. 
 
 " I wish George were more like you." 
 
 Immediately she added, with a conscious return 
 to dominating briskness : 
 
 " You must dress. So must I." 
 
 And she rose and without looking again at Mer- 
 riam went into Mollie June's bedroom.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE SENATORIAL DINNER 
 
 AT last, at twenty-five minutes after six, Mer- 
 riam sank, exhausted but immaculate, into 
 an easy chair and lit a cigarette, in an effort to 
 compose his nerves and regain the sang froid he 
 needed for his imminent role of a particularly deb- 
 onair senator of the United States acting as host 
 to a brilliant dinner party. 
 
 At half past six precisely, Aunt Mary knocked 
 on his door and he opened that door and announced 
 himself ready. 
 
 Aunt Mary wore another black evening gown, 
 very similar, in masculine eyes, to the one in which 
 she had appeared the night before, except that it 
 was less conspicuously burdened with jet. Tall and 
 erect, with her gray hair plainly but carefully 
 dressed, she looked every inch a senator's sister and 
 this would have pleased her a Norman. 
 
 Advancing into the sitting room, Merriam en- 
 countered Mollie June, standing again beside the 
 bowl of roses. She was in pink tulle over satin, 
 though Merriam could not have described it so. 
 But the vivid colour and the dainty softness of the 
 fabric he could appreciate quite well enough, at 
 
 168
 
 THE SENATORIAL DINNER 169 
 
 least in their contiguity to the slender figure, white 
 throat and shoulders, and charming complexion of 
 Mollie June. There is no doubt that he looked a 
 moment longer than he should. The debonair sen- 
 atorial outside of him was moved to say, " How 
 lovely you are ! " But the Ricevillian pedagogue 
 underneath blocked the utterance. Perhaps his 
 eyes said it plainly enough to satisfy Mollie June, 
 for she evinced no disappointment. 
 
 " We must go right down, mustn't we? " she said, 
 raising her eyes from the roses. 
 
 " Yes," said Aunt Mary, in a tone of jarring 
 briskness. 
 
 A male figure which Merriam had not perceived 
 stepped out of the background, moved to the hall 
 door, and opened it. Merriam saw that it was Dr. 
 Hobart, quite as point-device as himself and rather 
 more at ease but not nearly so handsome (though 
 of this, I assure you, Merriam never thought at 
 all). 
 
 Aunt Mary and Mollie June passed through the 
 door. 
 
 " Come along, Senator," said Dr. Hobart, in ex- 
 cellent spirits, and Merriam mechanically followed 
 and mechanically paused and waited while the 
 physician closed and locked the door. 
 
 " This must be great fun for you," said Dr. Ho- 
 bart as they went down the hall towards the 
 elevators. 
 
 "Yes," returned Merriam without conviction, 
 his eyes on a girlish figure in pink that moved
 
 170 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 ahead of him. " Fun " did not strike him as ex- 
 actly the word. 
 
 Fortunately at this point a small incident oc- 
 curred which served to bring Merriam out of the 
 brown study or perhaps we may say the roseate 
 study into which he had fallen. 
 
 As they approached the elevator lobby he became 
 aware of the pretty floor clerk who on the previous 
 evening had been wearing Senator Norman's vio- 
 lets. He was, of course, entirely unmindful of the 
 fact that on his way to Norman's rooms that morn- 
 ing he had passed her rudely by without a glance, 
 but he did notice that this evening she wore no 
 flowers and that she studiously avoided seeing him 
 and smiled her best smile upon Dr. Hobart instead. 
 That gentleman, with a shade too much alacrity, 
 stepped aside so as to pass close to her desk and, 
 leaning down, spoke to her. The pretty floor clerk, 
 from the toss of her head and the pleased smile on 
 Hobart's face, had said something saucy in reply 
 
 <{ Good enough," thought Merriam, as they all 
 stepped into the elevator. " I'm glad she has more 
 interests than one," and thought no more of the 
 incident at the time. 
 
 In a moment or two more they had reached the 
 basement floor, which was their destination. 
 
 Opposite the elevators on this floor was a small 
 reception room or parlour, and here Senator Nor- 
 man's other guests were awaiting him Kockwell, 
 Murray, Mayor Black, Alicia, and Alicia's father. 
 
 To the last-named gentleman Merriam was imme-
 
 THE SENATORIAL DINNER 171 
 
 diately presented. He was a stoutish, jovial man of 
 fifty or so, bald of pate and humorous of eye, and 
 the amused particularity with, which he surveyed 
 Merriam and the gusto with which he addressed 
 him as " Senator " showed both that Alicia had per- 
 formed her task of enlightening him and that she 
 had been right as to the attitude he would take. 
 
 " Splendid ! " he whispered to Merriam. " You 
 would have fooled me all right," and he beamed de- 
 lightedly. 
 
 Alicia gave him only a minute. "They are 
 ready," she said. "We are to go right in. You 
 are to walk with me." (This last to Merriam.) 
 
 In a moment, therefore, Merriam found himself 
 escorting Alicia down a sort of central aisle among 
 the tables of the Peacock Cabaret, behind an excess- 
 ively urbane head waiter, conscious that the rest 
 of his guests were making a more or less imposing 
 procession after them, and intensely conscious of 
 suspended conversation throughout the great res- 
 taurant and of countless curious eyes staring 
 across rosebuds and water bottles at himself. 
 
 " Say something to me," whispered Alicia. " You 
 mustn't look self-conscious." 
 
 Merriam glanced at her and realised for the first 
 time that evening her vivid, vigorous, peony-like 
 beauty. 
 
 "What can I say," he asked smiling, "except 
 ' How lovely you are '? " and he wondered why it 
 was so easy to say this to Alicia when he had been 
 unable to say it to Mollie June.
 
 172 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " Bravo, Boy Senator ! " applauded Alicia, and 
 then they reached the haven of that alcove which 
 Eockwell had promised. 
 
 It was really a small square room quite separate 
 from the main part of the Peacock Cabaret except 
 that there was no wall between. The head waiter 
 guided Merriam to the seat at the far end of the 
 table. Thus when he sat down he would be facing 
 the main dining room, visible to all its occupants, 
 yet screened from them by the table and his own 
 guests about that table. It was really an excellent 
 device for displaying him in public and still pro- 
 tecting him from close inspection. 
 
 In a moment the whole party had arrived and 
 been seated. 
 
 A canape" was being served, and Alicia at his end 
 of the table and her father at the other end were 
 starting conversation. Merriam glanced across 
 the board at Mollie June. For some reason a 
 charming girl never looks more lovely than at 
 table. She looked up and caught his gaze. Her 
 face was grave. He thought she looked wistful. 
 For a moment only he met her eyes, then turned 
 to reply to a remark of Alicia's. Somehow his 
 spirits soared. He plunged into the conversation 
 with a zest which he had hardly known since his 
 fraternity days. Mollie June said little, but she 
 laughed at the stories and seemed to become excited 
 and happy. She was content, perhaps, to enact the 
 r61e of the gallery to which Merriam was playing 
 with such excellent effect. As for Rockwell and
 
 THE SENATORIAL DINNER 173 
 
 Aunt Mary, they sat by in serene content : the affair 
 was going well; as long as that was the case they 
 need not exert themselves. 
 
 The mildly uproarious party undoubtedly at- 
 tracted the desired amount of attention from the 
 main dining room. Eyes were turned and necks 
 craned, and couples and groups that passed the 
 alcove almost invariably slowed their steps to 
 stare. Some dozens of men who had heard the 
 stories of the real Norman's whereabouts were con- 
 vinced that these were false, at least in part; by 
 the witness of their own eyes they knew that the 
 Senator was that evening at any rate in the bosom 
 of his family at the hotel. They could be relied 
 upon to assert as much in all parts of the city on 
 the following day. 
 
 Only one outsider ventured to intrude upon the 
 party and submit Merriam to the ordeal of closer 
 inspection, and he got no nearer than the length of 
 the table. This was the Colonel Abbott whom Mer- 
 riam had so perilously encountered at the very be- 
 ginning of his play-acting the night before. Mer- 
 riam remembered him vividly, called him by name, 
 and replied cordially to his expressions of pleasure 
 at finding him recovered from his threatened indis- 
 position. So that danger passed, and the table, 
 after a brief exchanging of relieved glances, recov- 
 ered its gayety, perhaps with some accentuation. 
 
 A little later came a reporter. Merriam pro- 
 fessed that he had " nothing to say." Asked if it 
 was true that he was to speak at the Reform League
 
 174 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 luncheon on the morrow, he replied, with an inner 
 quailing but with outward composure, that he 
 was. 
 
 The reporter turned to Mr. Wayward. Was it 
 true that he intended to make a contribution to the 
 campaign fund of the Reform League? Mr. Way- 
 ward's joviality suffered an eclipse. His eyes fell. 
 But on raising them he encountered a glance from 
 his daughter that can only be described as stern, 
 and promptly admitted that it was true. 
 
 The reporter tried Rockwell, but the latter shook 
 his head so indomitably that the interviewer at 
 once abandoned him and passed to Mayor Black. 
 That gentleman promptly and as it were auto- 
 matically gave utterance to several eloquent 
 phrases, too meaningless to be recorded. Even the 
 reporter neglected to make notes of them, and 
 looked about the table for other prey. Finding 
 none, he excused himself with the remark, " I am 
 making note of the names, of course," and disap- 
 peared. 
 
 Once more the conspiratorial table drew a long 
 breath and endeavoured to recover its festive mood, 
 but before much progress had been made in that 
 direction a bell boy came with a note addressed to 
 Senator Norman and asking that he and Mr. Rock- 
 well come to Room D, one of the private dining 
 rooms. 
 
 Merriam passed the note to Rockwell and then to 
 Aunt Mary, and the three prime conspirators 
 stared at one another. None of them knew the
 
 THE SENATORIAL DLNTNER 175 
 
 handwriting, which was poor and hurried and in 
 pencil. 
 
 " I'll go," said Rockwell. " You stay here." 
 
 The rest of the party did not know what had hap- 
 pened, but in their situation the most trivial inci- 
 dent was, of course, sufficient to cause uneasiness. 
 The conversation during Rockwell's absence was 
 forced and fragmentary. In fact, it was almost a 
 solo performance on Alicia's part. Merriam caught 
 Mollie June's eyes upon him, and was grateful for 
 their expression of self -unconscious solicitude. 
 
 Presently the boy returned again with the same 
 note, at the bottom of which was scribbled : " Come 
 Room D. Rockwell." 
 
 Merriam showed it to Aunt Mary. 
 
 " Is that his handwriting? " 
 
 " Yes, it is." 
 
 " Then I suppose I must go." 
 
 He rose, murmured an " excuse me " to the table 
 at large, and made his way towards the open end of 
 the alcove. As he did so he glanced at Mollie June. 
 Alarm stood in her eyes. Coming opposite her 
 chair, he bent down and said gently : 
 
 " It's all right. I probably shan't be long." 
 
 It was perhaps a little too much in the tone and 
 manner that Mollie June's real husband might 
 properly have used. Mollie June herself did not 
 seem to notice this; she appeared duly comforted. 
 But Mr. Wayward, at her left, undoubtedly stared 
 after Merriam with an odd expression in his genial 
 eyes.
 
 176 MOLLEE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 Following the bell boy, Merriam tried hard to 
 think what might be in store for him. " Thomp- 
 son " and " Crockett " were the only ideas his blank 
 mind could muster. Had they discovered the trick 
 and come to threaten him with exposure? Well, 
 Rockwell would be present. He leaned heavily on 
 Rockwell. 
 
 The boy stopped before a curtained door. 
 
 " This is it, sir," he said and waited expectantly. 
 
 Merriam fumblingly produced a dime, and the 
 boy departed. Drawing a deep breath, he pushed 
 aside the curtain and entered Room D. 
 
 To his great relief the only persons present were 
 Rockwell and Simpson. They were both standing, 
 beside a bare table. Merriam vaguely remembered 
 that Simpson had not appeared in connection with 
 the serving of the last two or three courses. 
 
 " Now tell it again," said Rockwell promptly. 
 
 The waiter looked steadily at Merriam. 
 
 " It's this way, sir," he said. " Mr. Thompson, 
 as was the Senator's manager until this morning, 
 
 has found out where the Senator really is, at " 
 
 the man looked away. "Jennie's," he finished, 
 without expression in his tone. "There's a girl 
 she lives with, Margery Milton, who's a milliner's 
 assistant at one of the department stores. He got 
 it from her. Straight from her he came here to 
 have dinner with Mr. Crockett, out in the Cabaret. 
 When I saw them come in, I turned your party over 
 to another man and. served them myself. I man- 
 aged to hear a lot of what they said. Mr. Crockett
 
 THE SENATORIAL DINNER 177 
 
 had learned of your dinner party, of course. Put- 
 ting that together with what Mr. Thompson had 
 got from Margery, they saw the game, Mr. Crock- 
 ett would hardly believe it at first. But Mr. 
 Thompson means to make sure. He's going to 
 Jennie's himself about ten o'clock to-night they 
 have some kind of a committee first, and force his 
 way in, if necessary, and see the Senator himself. 
 Then they'll have proof, you see. I thought I'd 
 better let you and Mr. Rockwell know." 
 
 "You did just right," said Rockwell warmly, 
 " and we'll make it worth your while." 
 
 He turned abruptly to the younger man. 
 
 "Merriam! You're the only one who can save 
 us in this fix." 
 
 " How? " said Merriam, to whom it seemed that 
 all was lost. 
 
 " Listen, man. You go back to our table and ex- 
 cuse yourself and me. ' Important business.' 
 Don't tell them anything more. Not even Aunt 
 Mary. We haven't time. Better bring Murray. 
 We may need an extra man, and we can trust him 
 best. We three will take a taxi at once. We shall 
 have to circle about a bit, to throw off possible 
 trailers. But in less than an hour we'll be at 
 Jennie's. You shall take Norman's place there, 
 and we'll take Norman and bring him back to the 
 hotel, to his room. Just as we planned, only a bit 
 sooner. When Thompson arrives, Jennie shall let 
 him in. He'll insist on seeing you. Let him. 
 You're not Senator Norman. Tell him so. Jennie
 
 178 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 shall tell Mm so, too. He'll see it himself, of 
 course, as soon as he looks close with his eyes open. 
 You and Jennie must make him think you played 
 off the resemblance on this Margery Milton for a 
 joke. We'll fix her, too, of course. You'd better 
 tell him your real name, so he can look you up if 
 he wants to. He won't expose you in Eiceville. 
 He'll have no motive to. And he won't think any- 
 thing of your little escapade in itself. You came 
 to Chicago on school business went out to see the 
 sights got a little more liquor than you were used 
 to. Your taxi driver took you to some dance hall. 
 He'll interpret ' Reiberg's.' You stayed there a 
 while don't know what you did met Jennie there 
 and she brought you home. You were pretty 
 sick in the morning and stayed over all day. You 
 see? It all hangs together, and relieves Norman 
 entirely of the Reiberg incident and Jennie, and 
 cinches his blameless presence at the hotel all last 
 night and all to-day. It'll save everything! Bet- 
 ter than we planned. Couldn't be better ! " 
 
 Eockwell had worked himself up to exultant en- 
 thusiasm. 
 
 Merriam's emotions while this new plot was un- 
 folded were sufficiently complex. There was an 
 opaque background of sheer bewilderment. There 
 was also a sharp sense of alarm at the thought of 
 having his own name appear in this business. But 
 other sentiments, less acute individually, but of 
 some potency none the less, joined their voices with 
 Rockwell's to silence that alarm. There was the
 
 THE SENATORIAL DINNER 179 
 
 mere love of adventure, of playing a dangerous 
 game, which is strong in any healthy young man. 
 Then there was the thought of Mollie June: he 
 would be doing it for her making a real sacrifice, 
 of his reputation, possibly of his position, his peda- 
 gogical career, for her sake. And, oddly enough, 
 quite simultaneously with this thought of Mollie 
 June, there was a recollection of " Jennie's " voice 
 over the telephone. He was not conscious that he 
 was curious to see " Jennie," but I am afraid he 
 was. 
 
 Scarcely half a minute had passed when Rock- 
 well, eagerly scanning his face, cried, " You'll go ! " 
 
 "Yes," said Merriam, looking at Simpson's im- 
 passive countenance and surprised at his own 
 words, " I suppose I will."
 
 CHAPTER XVH 
 
 A DEVIOUS JOURNEY 
 
 ROCKWELL, as usual, gave Merriam no time 
 for reconsideration. 
 
 " Go and make your excuses at the table tken." 
 
 But Merriam was still looking at Simpson. He 
 had perceived that the impassivity of the waiter's 
 countenance covered a blank misery. 
 
 " Simpson," he said, " we'll try to see that this 
 works out to your advantage at Jennie's. Shake 
 on that." And, in violation of all codes on which 
 the social system rests, he held out his hand as one 
 man to another. 
 
 Simpson, much more rigorously trained in 
 those codes than Merriam had been, hesitated, 
 glanced at Rockwell. But a light came into his 
 eyes. He seized the hand, gripped it, gave one 
 spasmodic shake. 
 
 " Thank you, sir ! " he said. 
 
 He dropped the hand and as quickly as possible 
 regained his servitorial manner. 
 
 Merriam smiled at him and then spoke to Rock- 
 well: 
 
 " Where shall I join you Murray and I? " 
 
 "At the Ladies' Entrance," Rockwell replied. 
 " It's less likely to be watched than the other." 
 
 180
 
 A DEVIOUS JOURNEY 181 
 
 Merriam turned and passed through, the cur- 
 tained doorway, down the hall, and along one side 
 of the Peacock Cabaret. The curtain being up on 
 the small stage and the moderately comely demoi- 
 selles of the chorus executing a dance which in- 
 volved a liberal display of white tights, he reached 
 his alcove comparatively unnoticed. 
 
 He stopped beside Mollie June's chair, which was 
 nearest the open side of the alcove. All the mem- 
 bers of the dinner party regarded him anxiously; 
 Aunt Mary's face was more than usually grim. 
 Carefully pitching his voice so that it should be 
 audible to all at the table yet should not carry to 
 the main dining room without, he said : 
 
 " I am tremendously sorry to have to desert this 
 pleasant company, but Mr. Rockwell and I are 
 called away on important business. We should be 
 very glad if you will come too, Father Murray. 
 Can you come at once? " he added as the priest 
 stared. 
 
 Aunt Mary's lips opened. 
 
 " I'll explain later," said Merriam hurriedly. 
 
 As he spoke, however, he realised that no oppor- 
 tunity to " explain later " would probably be af- 
 forded him. Alicia had said they " all " would go 
 to see him in the morning at the Nestor House. 
 They could not " all " come to Jennie's. 
 
 He looked down at Mollie June. She was look- 
 ing up at him. His view of her from above the 
 contour of her face and tkroat, the recalcitrant 
 wave of her soft hair, the brigktnet* of ker lifted
 
 182 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 eyes might have moved older and colder blood 
 than Merriam's. He was close enough to catch a 
 faint, warm sense of her in the air. He desired to 
 envelop her in love. What he might do he could 
 not resist. He laid his hand gently over one of 
 hers that rested on the edge of the table and bent 
 to her ear. 
 
 " Mr. Eockwell will tell you to-morrow what I 
 have done," he whispered. " It is for your sake, 
 Mollie June." 
 
 He straightened up. He was not flushed out- 
 wardly. He looked almost cold. Father Murray 
 was making his way down the side of the table. 
 
 " Good night, all," said Merriam. " This way, 
 Father Murray." 
 
 He glanced once more at Mollie June his last 
 sight of her, he thought. Her face was rosy and 
 her eyes glistened. It was a picture for which a 
 man a very young man, at least might do any- 
 thing, even sacrifice his love. He smiled at her 
 almost gaily, turned, and passed out of the alcove, 
 Father Murray following. 
 
 They skirted the sides of the Peacock Cabaret in 
 an effort to reach the exit as little observed as pos- 
 sible. Unfortunately, before they attained that 
 goal, the curtain of the small stage descended, the 
 white legs of the chorus, kicking at it as it fell, 
 were hidden from the attentive eyes of the male 
 diners, and not a few of these observed the famous 
 senator's escape. This probably mattered little, 
 however, because of Father Murray. The well-
 
 A DEVIOUS JOURNEY 183 
 
 known High Churchman was enough to shield the 
 name of Norman. He could hardly be bound for 
 Reiberg's, or even, it would be argued, for " a cer- 
 tain little flat," in Father Murray's company. 
 
 They got their coats from the checkroom, went 
 up the stairs to the first floor, and made a detour 
 through passages to the Ladies' Entrance. 
 
 Rockwell was already there with a taxicab. He 
 motioned to them to enter it. 
 
 Merriam was a little surprised, and Father Mur- 
 ray probably more so, to find Simpson already 
 within. Father Murray greeted him with clerical 
 suavity. Merriam said nothing. He was listening 
 to Rockwell's colloquy with the chauffeur : 
 
 " This cab will probably be followed. Your first 
 job is to shake off pursuit. Circle around through 
 the Loop twist and turn until you're absolutely 
 sure you've lost anybody who is after us. Then 
 make for the Eighteenth Street Station of the 
 Alley L. If there's no one behind us when you get 
 there, it will be worth twenty-five dollars to you 
 above the fare." 
 
 " Right, sir," said the man. " Jump in, sir." 
 
 Rockwell stepped in and slammed the door, seat- 
 ing himself with Simpson, his back to the driver. 
 In a moment he was staring intently through the 
 peephole window in the back of the taxi. 
 
 "See! "he said. 
 
 Merriam, turning to look over his shoulder, per- 
 ceived a yellow cab about sixty feet behind them,, 
 also starting, at about the same pace as their own.
 
 184 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 They went west to Fifth Avenue and turned 
 north along the car tracks under the Elevated. A 
 moment later the yellow cab also turned north on 
 the car tracks. 
 
 They swerved east on Randolph Street. For a 
 minute or two the yellow cab did not appear. It 
 must have been caught behind some car or truck. 
 But presently it rounded the corner and sprinted 
 till it was again within about thirty yards of them, 
 when it slowed down to their own pace. 
 
 Rockwell spoke through the tube to the chauf- 
 feur: 
 
 " That yellow cab ! " 
 
 " I'll lose 'em ! " the man replied, with reassuring 
 confidence. 
 
 At the second corner he turned north again and 
 sped across the Clark Street Bridge. The yellow 
 cab also had business north of the river. 
 
 Their subsequent maneuvers were at first de- 
 cidedly puzzling to Merriam and his fellow pas- 
 sengers, with the possible exception of Simpson. 
 They sped around and around a rectangle of streets 
 enclosing half a dozen squares, with one of its sides 
 only one block from the River. On the shorter 
 sides they sometimes lost the yellow cab, but on the 
 longer stretches it always appeared in full and 
 open chase behind them. 
 
 " What the devil ! " cried Rockwell as their driver 
 turned west for the fourth time on the southern 
 side of the rectangle the street nearest the 
 Uiver.
 
 A DEVIOUS JOURNEY 185 
 
 Simpson spoke : " He's all right. It's tlie bridge 
 trick." 
 
 No further explanation was necessary. Their 
 chauffeur suddenly swerved south on Dearborn 
 Street, making in a burst of speed for the^Biver. 
 The bridge bell was jangling its waroitTg that 
 traffic must stop for the opening of the bridge 
 to let a steamer pass. Theirs was tue* last vehicle 
 on the bridge. The bars dropped behind them. 
 Looking back through the peephole window, our 
 passengers had the satisfaction of seeing the yellow 
 cab caught behind the bars, unable to follow them, 
 unable even, because of other vehicles crowding be- 
 hind, to turn out and make a de"tour to another 
 bridge. 
 
 Rockwell excitedly seized the tube. " Good 
 work ! " he called. " I'll give you another ten for 
 that." 
 
 " Thank you, sir," came the complacent reply. 
 
 With a sigh of relaxing tension Merriam sank 
 back in his corner, abandoning the peephole. 
 
 "Who do you suppose it was?" he asked. 
 " Thompson? " 
 
 "Oh, no, not Thompson himself. One of his 
 henchmen. He and Norman have all kinds of 
 assistants ! " 
 
 "Where are we going?" asked Father Mur- 
 ray. 
 
 Rockwell laughed. "I'd almost forgotten that 
 you don't know yet. I'll tell you," and he entered 
 upon an explanation of Thompson's discovery and
 
 186 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 proposed method of verification and their own 
 counterplot. 
 
 Father Murray was feebly protesting against the 
 difficulties and dangers of the counterplot, but these 
 complaints were interrupted by the stopping of the 
 taxi. They had reached the Eighteenth Street 
 Station of the Elevated. 
 
 Rockwell looked quickly through the peephole 
 window and then opened the door and jumped out. 
 The others followed. They scanned the street in 
 both directions. There was no other taxicab in 
 sight. 
 
 Rockwell stepped up to the smiling chauffeur, 
 asked the amount of the fare, and paid it with the 
 thirty-five dollars bonus. 
 
 " You did the trick very neatly," he said. " Now, 
 scoot ! " 
 
 " Thank you, sir. Yes, sir." 
 
 There was still no trace of curiosity in the man's 
 tone or glance. 
 
 " Come ! " said Rockwell, and he led them to the 
 entrance of the Elevated Station. 
 
 At Forty-Seventh Street they left the Elevated 
 and, walking to the corner, waited for a cross-town 
 surface car. 
 
 "What's the idea?" Merriam asked, his mind 
 becoming active again. 
 
 " Well," said Rockwell, " the first thing our late 
 chauffeur will do after getting back to town will be 
 to gather in another twenty-five dollars or maybe 
 more for telling some one of Thompson's men where
 
 A DEVIOUS JOURNEY 187 
 
 he left us. So it's best to muss up our trail a bit 
 more before we strike Jennie's." 
 
 He was hailing an east-bound car. 
 
 As they sat silent again inside, Merriam's 
 mind took its cue from Rockwell's last word. 
 " Jennie's ! " Phrases from hir one brief telephone 
 dialogue with Jennie sounder in his ear, oddly 
 clear and melodious: 
 
 " Georgie, boy ! Don't you know me? You 
 ought to ! " with a thrilling little laugh. " You 
 must be careful, Georgie," in a lowered tone. 
 " Can you come anyway? You'll telephone again? 
 Georgie, boy ! " and the sound of a kiss ! 
 
 These phrases surely nothing in themselves 
 echoed in his mind with the same unaccountable 
 piquancy and warmth with which they had first 
 come to him over the telephone. He flushed a lit- 
 tle, sitting there in the stuffy, bumping, jangling 
 car, as he recalled the way he had involuntarily 
 " played up " to them. He had promised to go to 
 her if he could get away, to telephone her again if 
 he could. That was mere trickery and deceit, a 
 part of the game he was playing ; that was all right. 
 But his final whispered " Dearie, good night ! " 
 Had that been necessary? He remembered Bock- 
 well's dry comment: "You don't need much 
 prompting!" But Ms thoughts ran away with 
 him again. Now he was going to see her to spend 
 a night in her apartment. What would she be like 
 tall or short, slender like Mollie June or plump 
 like Alicia, fair or dark, with blue eyes or brown or
 
 188 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 black, curly hair or straight? He could not frame 
 an image that satisfied him as the instrument of 
 that voice. 
 
 " Well, what is it to me? " he demanded roughly 
 of himself, suddenly realising the tenor of his medi- 
 tations. " See here, my boy, you must be careful. 
 She's probably a regular chorus girl or worse." 
 (But he did not really believe that of her. ) " She's 
 nothing whatever to me," he asserted sternly to his 
 truant fancy. " She belongs to Simpson. And 
 I belong to Mollie June." 
 
 The car stopped at last, and Kockwell was get- 
 ting up. 
 
 When they had descended into the street Mer- 
 riam found that they were at the end of the line 
 by the Lake. 
 
 " Illinois Central next," said Rockwell, grinning, 
 and marched them to the Forty- Seventh Street 
 Station of that railway. None of the others spoke. 
 
 Their guide bought tickets to the City. " Are 
 we going back to the Loop, then? " thought Mer- 
 riam. 
 
 In a moment they were on the platform. Mer- 
 riam walked back and forth apart from the others, 
 drawing deep breaths of the Lake air and looking 
 up at the stars, dimly bright in the April night. 
 " I belong to Mollie June," he said firmly to him- 
 self. 
 
 Presently one of the odd little suburban trains 
 Srew up, and they entered. 
 
 But they had scarcely sat down and yielded up
 
 A DEVIOUS JOURNEY 189 
 
 their tickets when Rockwell routed them out at 
 Forty-Third Street. Evidently his buying tickets 
 clear to the City had been a part of his elaborate 
 ruse. 
 
 Rockwell went at once to a telephone to call up 
 a neighbouring garage. 
 
 Merriam took a cigarette and lighted it and again 
 walked up and down. His thoughts now ran un- 
 bidden upon Mollie June. Images of her crowded 
 his mind: Mollie June rosy and bright-eyed as he 
 had seen her last at the dinner table in the alcove 
 of the Peacock Cabaret ; Mollie June by his " sick " 
 bed, standing over him after he had impulsively 
 declared his love, her hand hovering above his hair, 
 tears upon her face, turning bravely away from 
 him; Mollie June above the roses, as he had first 
 seen her that morning was it only that morning? 
 lifting the wet stems from the bowl ; Mollie June 
 confronting Mayor Black, refusing in angered in- 
 nocence to leave the room ; Mollie June in the Pea- 
 cock Cabaret the night before; Mollie June in the 
 front row in " Senior Algebra " back in Riceville. 
 Ah, he did belong to Mollie June, heart and soul. 
 There was no doubt of that, and all the Jennies in 
 the world were of no account whatever. 
 
 So it was a young man in a very laudable frame 
 of mind indeed waiving the fact that Mollie June 
 was a married woman ! whom Rockwell presently 
 bundled into the taxi he ^iad summoned. Father 
 Murray was already inside. Rockwell followed, 
 leaving Simpson to speak to the chauffeur.
 
 190 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 It puzzled Merriam to find Simpson thus placed 
 in command, as it were, and his thoughts came back 
 to the present adventure. He listened closely. 
 
 " Stop first at Eankin's Hardware Store," Simp- 
 son said to the chauffeur, " on Forty-Third Street." 
 
 In a couple of minutes, it seemed, they stopped 
 before Eankin's emporium. Simpson alone de- 
 scended. The other three remained in the taxicab, 
 Eockwell openly smiling at the puzzled inquiry on 
 Merriam's face but vouchsafing no enlightenment. 
 Merriam would not ask questions. 
 
 The hardware shop was closed, but there was a 
 light within and a man. Simpson pounded at the 
 door till he gained admittance, and in a few min- 
 utes returned bearing a small stepladder ! 
 
 " What on earth ? " The words were almost 
 
 starting from Merriam's lips, but he managed to 
 swallow them, and listened again for Simpson's 
 direction to the driver. 
 
 It was an address : " 612 Dalton Place." That 
 meant nothing to Merriam. 
 
 Again a brief drive, Merriam laboriously 
 cogitating, with bewildered eyes on the small lad- 
 der an affair of some six steps, which Simpson 
 had brought into the cab and was holding upright 
 between them. 
 
 Father Murray asked the question which Mer- 
 riam had so manfully (and youthfully) repressed: 
 
 " What's that for? " 
 
 " You'll see," said Eockwell, grinning, enjoying 
 the mystery.
 
 A DEVIOUS JOURNEY 191 
 
 Simpson remained as silent and grave as an 
 undertaker. 
 
 The taxicab had turned several corners and cov- 
 x ered perhaps a couple of miles of streets. Now it 
 slowed down, stopped. 
 
 " There ain't no 612," said the driver through the 
 tube. 
 
 Rockwell took command again. 
 
 " Isn't there? " he said. " Let's see." 
 
 He got out. Peering through the open door of 
 the taxicab, Merriam could see that the house 
 before which they had stopped was numbered 
 608. 
 
 "612's a vacant lot," he heard the chauffeur 
 say. 
 
 " So it seems," Rockwell replied. " Well, we'll 
 get out here anyway." 
 
 Merriam eagerly took this cue, and the other two 
 followed, Simpson bringing his ladder. Rock- 
 well was handing a couple of green bills to the 
 driver. 
 
 "Drive on opposite where 612 ought to be," he 
 said, " and wait. We'll be back by and by." 
 
 " This way," he added, and started with Merriam 
 and Father Murray down the street past the vacant 
 lot. Simpson, carrying his small stepladder as un- 
 obtrusively as possible at his side, followed lag- 
 gingly behind. 
 
 The square beyond the next avenue seemed to be 
 occupied entirely by a huge block of apartments. 
 They did not cross the avenue but turned the cor-
 
 192 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 ner and walked on down one side of the great flat 
 building but on the opposite side of the street. 
 Their side held a miscellany of small detached 
 houses. 
 
 Merriam glanced at Rockwell. He was slowing 
 his steps and seemed to be watching a couple of men 
 who were moving in the same direction as their 
 own on the other side of the street immediately 
 under the apartments. 
 
 A moment later these two men turned in at one 
 of the entrances of the flat building. After perhaps 
 twenty feet more Kockwell glanced over his 
 shoulder. Merriam involuntarily did likewise. 
 Half a block behind them was Simpson with his 
 ladder. There was no one else in sight. 
 
 Kockwell stopped for a second, then said, 
 " Come ! " and quickly crossed the street and en- 
 tered another door of the flat building. 
 
 Within the vestibule he stopped again. 
 
 " We must wait for Simpson," he said. 
 
 He began reading the names below the battery 
 of bells. Merriam and Father Murray stared at 
 each other. 
 
 In a moment Simpson joined them with his lad- 
 der. Kockwell promptly opened the inner door of 
 the vestibule and proceeded to ascend the stairs. 
 Simpson trudged after him, and Merriam and the 
 priest followed perforce. 
 
 They reached the second floor and the third and 
 continued on up to the fourth, which was the top 
 floor.
 
 A DEVIOUS JOURNEY 193 
 
 Arriving there, Merriam found Rockwell point- 
 ing to a sort of trapdoor in the ceiling above the 
 landing at the head of the stairs. 
 
 " Right ! " he whispered. 
 
 Simpson calmly set his ladder down, separated 
 its legs, and planted it firmly beneath the trap. 
 He and Rockwell paid no attention to the doors of 
 the two , apartments which opened off the landing 
 within a few feet of them. Simpson ascended the 
 ladder and, exerting his strength, pushed the trap- 
 door up. It moved with a grating sound, start- 
 lingly loud in their quasi-burglarious situation. 
 The night air rushed in. The trap gave upon the 
 roof of the building. 
 
 Simpson did not hesitate but pulled himself up 
 on to the roof. 
 
 Rockwell followed. 
 
 " You're to come too," he said as he looked down 
 at Merriam gleefully and winked. He was evi- 
 dently pleased with himself. "You wait here, 
 Father Murray. Remember, if any one comes 
 you're a roof inspector. That's next door to a sky 
 pilot anyway ! " 
 
 The priest groaned but made no protest, well 
 knowing, doubtless, that rebellion now would avail 
 him naught, and Merriam quickly followed Rock- 
 well on to the roof. 
 
 It was a flat tar-and-gravel roof not an unpleas- 
 ant place to be in the starry April night. They 
 circled about chimneys and miscellaneous pipe 
 heads and stepped across brick ledges, which
 
 194 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 seemed to separate different sections of the build- 
 ing from one another. 
 
 Presently they were approaching the opposite 
 side of the building, having circled the interior 
 court and light wells. They came to another trap- 
 door, a twin of the one by which they had ascended. 
 
 Simpson was about to open this second trap when 
 Rockwell spoke: 
 
 " Wait a minute ! " 
 
 Stooping lower and lower till at last he seemed 
 to be almost sitting on his heels as he walked, he 
 made his way to the edge of the roof on the new 
 street and peeped over the parapet a dozen feet 
 perhaps beyond the trapdoor. For a moment only 
 he looked, then returned in the same cautious and 
 laborious manner. 
 
 " We were right," he said to Simpson. 
 
 "Watchers?" Simpson asked. 
 
 " Two of them. And half way down the block 
 a taxi." 
 
 But now Simpson was carefully raising the trap- 
 door. After listening for a minute he put his head 
 down and looked. 
 
 " Coast is clear," he reported. 
 
 " Go ahead, then," said Rockwell. 
 
 So Simpson put his legs down inside, hung, and 
 dropped into the vestibule. Rockwell and Merriam 
 followed. 
 
 Straightening himself up inside, Merriam found 
 Rockwell facing the door of the right-hand apart- 
 ment. 
 
 " This is Jennie's ! " he whispered.
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 JENNIE 
 
 ROCKWELL knocked twice. A girl with a 
 thin, dark face peeped out. 
 
 " Hello, Margery," said Rockwell. 
 
 " Oh, how d'you do? " said the girl, recognizing 
 the speaker. Relief was mingled in her tone with 
 continuing caution. " Who's with you? " 
 
 "Friends," said Rockwell. "Mr. Merriam, the 
 Senator's double. And Simpson." 
 
 " Simpson can't come here ! " said Margery 
 sharply. 
 
 Merriam glanced at Simpson and was amazed to 
 see how moved he was. He had a sense that the 
 man could hardly keep himself from trembling. 
 
 " He's come to help take Norman away," said 
 Rockwell. " He need go no farther than the hall. 
 Come, Margery, let us in. We can't stand here all 
 night. I'll explain to both of you inside. I'm 
 George's friend, you know." 
 
 " Well ! " Still unwillingly Margery released 
 the chain and moved back, opening the door for 
 them. 
 
 As they stepped inside she stared at Merriam. 
 
 " The devil ! " she exclaimed. 
 
 " No," said the young man, " my name's Mer- 
 riam. How do you do, Miss Milton? " 
 
 195
 
 196 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 He looked at Margery almost as curiously as she 
 was looking at him. He was really as innocent as 
 Mollie June more so, in fact, not being married, 
 and Margery was the first member of the demi- 
 monde or the near demimonde with whom he had 
 ever had personal contact. He found her disap- 
 pointing. She was thin to the point of angularity, 
 in a trying yellow negligee, with straight black 
 hair, black eyes that were unpleasantly direct, and 
 a lean dark face that was undeniably hard. 
 
 For a moment only she stared. Then she shut 
 the door and spoke to Simpson: 
 
 " You stay here ! " 
 
 " Yes," said Simpson, with more than servitorial 
 humility. 
 
 Kockwell was advancing into the sitting room, 
 which opened immediately off the tiny hall, and 
 Merriam, feeling himself dismissed by Miss Milton, 
 followed. 
 
 Merriam's sole first impression of the sitting 
 room was of a soft, rather agreeable harmony in 
 yellow. The wall paper, the hangings, the up- 
 holstery of chairs and davenport, the shades of 
 lights were all in mild tints of that pleasant colour. 
 Probably Margery's yellow negligee was intended 
 to fit into this ensemble. 
 
 But he had no time for detailed observation. 
 For as they stepped forward the yellow por- 
 tieres at one side of the room parted, and another 
 girl appeared between them undoubtedly Jen- 
 nie,
 
 JENNIE 197 
 
 This time lie was surprised but hardly disap- 
 pointed. The figure between the portieres was that 
 of a stage parlour maid just the right height for 
 a soubrette and just pleasantly, youthfully slender, 
 yet rounded, in a trim-fitting dress of some black 
 material, cut rather low at the throat and edged 
 with white, with a ridiculously small, purely orna- 
 mental, white apron with pockets. Black-silk- 
 stockinged ankles and black, high-heeled satin 
 pumps completed a picture that was both chic and 
 demure. Merriam remembered that it was as a 
 parlour maid that Norman had first known Jennie 
 and guessed that this costume had been assumed 
 for his benefit. 
 
 In a moment the portieres closed behind her. 
 She was looking at the older man, having barely 
 glanced at Merriam. 
 
 " How do, Mr. Bockwell," she said. 
 
 Merriam, almost with alarm, recognised the 
 tones that had so piqued him over the telephone. 
 
 Then she turned to him. 
 
 "This is Gee, but you're like him! I 
 
 wouldn't have believed it." 
 
 "Miss Higgins, Mr. Merriam," said Eockwell 
 tardily. 
 
 Merriam responded awkwardly: 
 
 " How do you do, Miss " 
 
 " f Miss Jennie ' will do," interrupted Jennie. 
 
 (Merriam remembered uncomfortably how Mollie 
 June had hit upon a similar "compromise.") 
 
 " I ain't partial to ' Higgins/ " Jennie added.
 
 198 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " I'm thinking of changing it to ' Montmorency.' 
 Wouldn't ' Jennie Montmorency ' be nice, Mr. Bock- 
 well?" 
 
 " I don't think it fits very well," said Rockwell. 
 " You'd better change it to Simpson." 
 
 Jennie coloured. She coloured easily, as Mer- 
 riam was to learn. Now that she had turned again 
 to Rockwell he had a chance to look at her face. 
 She was an exceedingly pretty blonde. Her throat 
 was attractively rounded, her shoulders also. 
 Those shoulders might be unpleasant when she was 
 older and stouter, but at present they were charm- 
 ing. Her chin and cheeks were also daintily full 
 quite the opposite of Margery Milton's. The cheeks 
 were pink, slightly heightened with rouge perhaps 
 but not with paint. The eyes were softly, brightly 
 blue. The hair fair and smoothly wavy, if one may 
 attempt to express a nuance by combining contra- 
 dictory terms. In short, she was, as some of her 
 admirers undoubtedly expressed it, " not a bit hard 
 to look at." 
 
 For a moment Jennie's colour flooded. Then 
 came her retort to Rockwell : 
 
 " Mind your own business," she said. 
 
 The words were sharp, but somehow the tone was 
 not. The voice was still soft and warm. It is 
 the only word. It was the voice one might attribute 
 to a kitten, if a kitten were gifted with articulate 
 speech. 
 
 Rockwell only laughed. At the same moment 
 Margery Milton entered from the hall, where she
 
 JENNIE 199 
 
 had presumably been impressing upon Simpson the 
 necessity of remaining in strict hiding. 
 
 Jennie glanced at her friend. 
 
 " Well," she said, " may as well sit down." 
 
 She dropped into a chair and crossed one leg 
 over the other. 
 
 " You've come to take Georgie away," she con- 
 tinued as the others sat down. 
 
 "Yes," said Rockwell. "Listen, Jennie. You 
 too, Margery," and he began to explain the new 
 situation which had resulted primarily from Mar- 
 gery's confidences to Thompson. He did not soften 
 this point in his relation. 
 
 " See what your gabbling's done," said Jennie, 
 without anger, to her friend when he had finished. 
 " You always talk too much." 
 
 " I can talk if I please," said Margery sullenly. 
 
 " It will pay you better to keep still this time," 
 said Rockwell. 
 
 " Pay me? How much? " demanded Margery 
 promptly. 
 
 " Say a hundred dollars." 
 
 "A hundred ! I'm mum as a stone image. 
 
 When do I get it, though? " 
 
 "Here's twenty now on account." Rockwell 
 held out a yellow-backed bill, which Margery 
 quickly accepted. " You get the rest when this is 
 all over." 
 
 " How do I know I get the rest? " 
 
 " Shut up, Marge," said Jennie. " You know 
 Mr. Rockwell."
 
 200 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 "We've no time to lose," Kockwell continued, 
 looking at his watch. " It's twenty-five minutes to 
 ten now. Thompson said ten, but he might come 
 a bit sooner. We must get Norman away at once. 
 You understand that you're to let Mr. Merriam go 
 to bed in his stead. When Thompson comes you 
 must admit him. You can pretend to be unwill- 
 ing to do so, but you must let him in without too 
 much fuss. You're to tell him that Norman's not 
 here and has not been here that there's a man 
 here who looks tremendously like Norman and that 
 at first you fooled Margery into thinking it was 
 Norman." 
 
 While Kockwell was issuing these instructions 
 Jennie's cheeks had grown hot. 
 
 " I'm not that kind," she cried. " I've never 
 had any one but George." Margery also glowered. 
 
 " I know that, my dear," said Kockwell, menda- 
 ciously perhaps but promptly. " But you've got 
 to do what I tell you to-night. You don't care 
 what a fellow like Thompson thinks. He always 
 thinks the worst anyhow. It's to save George. 
 He'll be ruined unless we can fool Thompson com- 
 pletely to-night. It's for George," he repeated. 
 " You'd do a lot for George." 
 
 Jennie's colour was subsiding. She had un- 
 crossed her legs and was sitting erect. She looked 
 fixedly at Kockwell. 
 
 " I have done a lot for him," she said. 
 
 " I know," said Rockwell. "And you'll do this 
 to-night." He was using his most persuasive tones.
 
 JENNIE 201 
 
 Jennie stole an almost timid glance at Merriam. 
 
 The latter's youthful chivalry was aroused. He 
 was filled with pity for her, mingled with some- 
 thing like admiration on account of her prettiness. 
 He saw her, more or less correctly, as a pathetic 
 victim of real love and a false social system. He 
 smiled at her reassuringly. 
 
 " It'll be all right," he said. " I shan't trouble 
 you at all." 
 
 Jennie's glance lingered on his face the face 
 that was so much like Norman's. She saw him for 
 the clean, innocent, naive boy that he was. He 
 was what George Norman might once have been, 
 long years ago. I am afraid that something akin 
 to interest crept into her look. She dropped her 
 eyes. 
 
 "All right," she said curtly to Kockwell. "I 
 suppose I will." 
 
 " Jennie, you're a fool ! " cried Margery. 
 
 " Shut up, Marge," said Jennie, with whom this 
 seemed to be a frequent locution. 
 
 Kockwell had already risen. 
 
 " Is George dressed? " he asked. 
 
 " No," said Jennie. " He's too sick." 
 
 " Come, then," said Rockwell to Merriam. " We 
 must help him into his things." 
 
 He crossed the small room and passed through 
 the yellow portieres. Having been at the apart- 
 ment earlier in the day with Aunt Mary, he was 
 acquainted with its geography. 
 
 Merriam rose to follow, but he felt that some-
 
 202 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 thing more ought to be said to relieve the half- 
 hostile awkwardness of the situation. Jennie's 
 eyes were still cast down. 
 
 " Is he pretty sick? " he asked as he moved 
 across the room. He was not much concerned 
 about Senator Norman, but he could think of no 
 other remark. 
 
 Jennie raised her eyes and looked at him an un- 
 readable glance. 
 
 " Pretty sick," she said, almost indifferently. 
 
 Merriam paused a moment before the portieres, 
 looking back, still meeting her eyes. 
 
 Then he turned his own away and pushed the 
 portieres aside. He found himself in a dining 
 room, done entirely in blue, as the sitting room was 
 in yellow. Rockwell was already opening a door 
 on the further side. Merriam quickened his steps 
 and was close behind the older man in entering a 
 small white bedroom. 
 
 On a single bed therein lay Senator George Nor- 
 man. Evidently he had heard their voices in the 
 sitting room, for he had raised himself on his elbow. 
 
 He and Merriam stared at each other in the 
 amazement that is inevitable to two men who find 
 themselves really bearing a striking physical re- 
 semblance to each other, however much they may 
 have been forewarned. We are so accustomed to 
 the idea that each of us has a sort of exclusive 
 copyright on his own particular exterior that we 
 cannot seriously believe in anything approaching 
 a replica unless actually confronted with it.
 
 JENNIE 203 
 
 The Senator did not look especially " boyish " as 
 he lay there. His ruffled hair was indeed prac- 
 tically untouched with gray, but his cheeks were 
 haggard and feverish, and there were many little 
 wrinkles about his mouth and eyes. For all that 
 Merriam could hardly believe he was not looking 
 into a mirror. The experience was hardly pleasant 
 for either man. " This is what I shall be like some 
 time when I am old and ill," Merriam thought ; and 
 the Senator can hardly have escaped the bitter re- 
 flection of the man who has left many years behind 
 him : " That is what I was once." Looking closer, 
 Merriam could detect slight differences. The lips 
 and nostrils of his distinguished relative were un- 
 doubtedly a little fuller than his own, and yes, he 
 surely was not flattering himself in thinking that 
 the chin was rounder and weaker. But above all 
 such trivial points the likeness rose overwhelm- 
 ingly, incredibly complete. Merriam even recog- 
 nised a similarity of movement as the sick man 
 impatiently twisted himself on the bed. 
 
 Rockwell was standing silent, also no doubt in- 
 specting the resemblance of which he had made 
 such remarkable use. 
 
 The Senator was tie first to find his tongue. 
 
 " So you're my virtuous double," he said, with a 
 sort of petulant scorn. 
 
 "The voice, too!" Eockwell thought. He al- 
 most dreaded to hear Merriam's reply, which would 
 echo the very quality and timbre of the other's 
 speech, as if he were mocking him. But Merriam
 
 204 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 did not seem to notice. The fact is one cannot 
 judge the sound of one's own voice nor appreciate 
 the similarity in another's tones or in an imitation. 
 
 " I'm the double," Merriam was saying. 
 
 For a moment longer the Senator stared. Then 
 lie laughed. He evidently laughed more easily than. 
 Merriam, and somewhat differently. Merriam 
 made a mental note that if he should be involved in 
 any further impersonation he must be careful of 
 his laugh. 
 
 " Well, it's rather convenient just this minute," 
 said Norman, none too courteously, " though it may 
 be damned inconvenient in the end." 
 
 " We'll help you dress," said Rockwell. " We've 
 come to take you to the hotel, you know." 
 
 " Yes, I know that all right," said Norman. " If 
 I'm to be a damned reformer, I must get out of 
 this." He laughed again. " Hand me those trou- 
 sers, will you? " 
 
 He put his legs out of the bed. He had already 
 dressed himself as far as his shirt. Then he had 
 apparently given the job up and got back into 
 bed. 
 
 " I'm weak as a kitten," he continued, " and I've 
 the deuce of a fever, but I guess I can make it. 
 You've a taxi, of course? " 
 
 " Yes," said Rockwell. 
 
 He did not tell Norman that the road to the taxi 
 lay through two trapdoors and across a roof. 
 Neither did he mention the fact that Merriam was 
 to stay at Jennie's or allude to Thompson's com-
 
 JENNIE 205 
 
 ing. Perhaps lie feared that if Norman knew of 
 Thompson's approach he would prefer to stay where 
 he was and join forces with him again. 
 
 In a very few minutes Norman was fully 
 dressed in the evening clothes in which he had 
 left the hotel the night before, on his way, as he sup- 
 posed, to Mayor Black's. Rockwell tied his white 
 bow for him. 
 
 During the process of dressing he and Merriam 
 were continually glancing at each other. Neither 
 could resist the attraction. Several times they 
 caught each other at it. 
 
 At about their third mutual detection, which 
 happened during the tying of the bow, Norman 
 laughed again. 
 
 "We're certainly a pair," he said. "Whether 
 aces or deuces remains to be seen, eh? 
 
 " Gad, but I'm weak," he added, sinking on to the 
 bed as Rockwell finished his job. " You may have 
 to carry me downstairs." 
 
 "We'll carry you all right," said Rockwell. 
 " We're all ready, aren't we? " 
 
 " I suppose so," said Norman. 
 
 Rockwell stooped and picked him up in his arms, 
 exerting himself only moderately, apparently, in so 
 doing. The Senator was light on account of his 
 carefully preserved slenderness, and Rockwell was 
 really very strong. 
 
 " Bring his hat, Merriam," said the latter. 
 
 Rockwell carried him through the blue dining 
 room into the sitting room, Merriam following with
 
 206 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 the silk hat. Both Jennie and Margery were 
 standing. 
 
 Norman waved his hand limply to Jennie over 
 Rockwell's shoulder. 
 
 "Bye-bye, pet," he said. "I'm all in, you see. 
 Sorry to have bothered you like this when I wasn't 
 fit." 
 
 " Georgie boy ! " cried Jennie. 
 
 With a little run she came up behind Rockwell, 
 caught Norman's hand, and kissed it. 
 
 " You'll let me know how you are? You'll come 
 back? " 
 
 " Course I will," said Norman, though he had 
 promised Aunt Mary that afternoon that he would 
 " cut out " Jennie and the whole of that part of 
 his life to which she belonged. 
 
 It may be that Jennie suspected something of 
 the sort. There were tears in her bright, soft eyes, 
 and her cheeks were pale enough to make her slight 
 rouging obvious. 
 
 " You will, won't you? " she said. " Come soon, 
 Georgie boy ! " 
 
 Norman only smiled at her and feebly waved 
 again. Rockwell meanwhile was moving towards 
 the hallway. Jennie followed closely, though Mar- 
 gery tried to prevent her. 
 
 " Let them go, Jen ! " whispered Margery. 
 
 " Shut up, Marge ! " said Jennie almost fiercely. 
 
 And then the catastrophe which Margery had 
 been trying to forestall, and which Rockwell had 
 not sufficiently foreseen or else had not cared to
 
 JENNIE 207 
 
 prevent, occurred: Jennie came face to face with 
 Simpson in the little hallway. She stopped short. 
 
 " You ! " she said. 
 
 "Yes, Miss Jennie," said Simpson, looking at 
 her steadily. " I didn't mean you should see me. 
 I came to help take Mr. Norman away. It was me 
 that discovered the plan to catch him here." 
 
 Jennie knew from Bockwell's earlier explanation 
 that this was true. She tried to give Simpson what 
 she herself would probably have called the " once- 
 over " a scornful survey from head to foot. But 
 her histrionic purpose failed her. Her eyes fell 
 too quickly. 
 
 " Well, be quick about it," she said. For the 
 first time her voice was harsh. 
 
 Rockwell meanwhile had carried Norman on 
 into the outer hall for Simpson had already 
 opened the door and set him down leaning against 
 the banister. 
 
 " Margery ! " he called sharply. 
 
 Margery, glad of any diversion, advanced 
 quickly : 
 
 " What do you want? " 
 
 "A stepladder. Got one? " 
 
 why yes ! " 
 
 " Go with her, Simpson, and get it," Rockwell 
 commanded. 
 
 " Yes, Mr. Rockwell." 
 
 " This way," said Margery, and she and Simpson 
 passed by Jennie and Merriam, who stood a little 
 behind Jennie, and disappeared into the flat.
 
 208 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 Jennie gave one quick look at Norman, who was 
 leaning weakly against the railing staring in front 
 of him, turned away with eyes that were very bright 
 and a little hard, brushed past Merriam, and went 
 back into the sitting room and sat down. 
 
 Almost at the same moment Simpson returned, 
 carrying a rather tall stepladder and followed by 
 Margery. 
 
 Norman came out of his apathy and stared. 
 Simpson set the ladder up in the center of the hall, 
 mounted it, and climbed through the trap, which, 
 they had left open when they descended. 
 
 " Here. Catch ! " said Eockwell. He tossed 
 Norman's silk hat up through the trap, and Simp- 
 son caught it. 
 
 Then he stooped, picked Norman up again, and 
 began to mount the ladder with him. 
 
 " What in hell ! " said the sick man. 
 
 Rockwell did not reply but continued to mount 
 and then hoisted the Senator up so that Simpson 
 could catch him under the arms and draw him 
 through the trap. 
 
 Finally he spoke to Merriam : 
 
 " Take this ladder inside. Then you must go 
 straight to bed. He'll be here any time now. I'll 
 'phone from the hotel when we get there." 
 
 He swung himself up on to the roof. The trap 
 closed. 
 
 " Well, I'll be damned ! " said Margery Milton. 
 
 Merriam did not like profanity in women, even 
 in Margeries.
 
 JEXNIE 209 
 
 i 
 
 " Very likely you will," lie said. 
 Margery looked at him sharply: 
 " You think you're smart, don't you? Are you 
 going to bring that ladder in? "
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 A NEW ANTAGONIST 
 
 MEEBIAM shut the stepladder together, lifted 
 it into an oblique position, and carried it 
 through the inner hallway into the sitting room, 
 where he stopped, not knowing where to go with it. 
 
 Jennie was still sitting. She looked up at him. 
 The same expression of interest which had showed 
 in her eyes once before returned to them. She 
 smiled and shifted her position, crossing her knees. 
 But she volunteered no information as to what he 
 should do with the stepladder which he was awk- 
 wardly holding. 
 
 Meanwhile Margery had followed him into the 
 inner hall, closed the door, and put up the chain. 
 She now came past him and pushed aside the por- 
 tieres into the dining room. 
 
 "Bring it this way, please," she said, quite 
 politely. 
 
 He carried the ladder through the blue dining 
 room into a kitchenette, and thence through a door 
 which Margery held open on to a narrow back 
 porch, from which he had a glimpse of a sort of 
 orderly labyrinth of steep wooden stairs and narrow 
 back porches around the four sides of an inner 
 court. 
 
 210
 
 A NEW ANTAGONIST 211 
 
 He returned into the kitchenette, which was al- 
 most entirely filled up with a gas stove. Margery 
 shut the door. 
 
 " Go into the sitting room and talk to Jen," she 
 said. " I want her to forget about Simpson. I'll 
 change the bed for you." 
 
 " Thank you," said Merriam, who began to per- 
 ceive that Miss Milton, in spite of her profanity, 
 had certain admirable qualities. 
 
 He went through the dining room, hesitated for 
 a moment before the portieres he could not have 
 said why, and then pushed them open. 
 
 Jennie had risen and was standing beside a table 
 between the windows. The table held a parch- 
 ment-shaded lamp, a newspaper, a small camera, 
 and a bowl of violets. Merriam had not noticed 
 the flowers before. He remembered the violets 
 worn by the floor clerk at the hotel, and wondered 
 whether George Norman had saved himself trouble 
 at the florist's by ordering two bunches from the 
 same lot, to be sent to different addresses. 
 
 Jennie was looking down at the flowers. She 
 must have been aware of his presence. If so, she 
 was apparently content that he should have the 
 benefit of a good look at her trim figure and at her 
 face in profile, which was its best view. She had 
 a pretty nose ; the artificially heightened colour of 
 her cheeks was charming in this light; and the 
 bright knob of her fair hair over her ear was a most 
 alluring ornament. 
 
 In a moment she bent gracefully down to smell
 
 212 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 the violets. As she straightened up she turned to 
 look at him a serious, appraising look that was 
 somehow intimate. Then she smiled brightly. 
 
 " Come in, Mr. " (she seemed to forget his 
 
 name and let it go) " and sit down." 
 
 She tripped across the room to the davenport 
 and sat, indicating that he was to sit beside her. 
 
 Merriam wanted both to take that seat and not 
 to take it. He took it. 
 
 She crossed one leg over the other and looked at 
 him, smiling. One small, squarish, plump hand 
 lay on her knee, ready, Merriam half divined, to be 
 taken if any one should desire to take it. He won- 
 dered if it were true that she had " never had any 
 one but George." 
 
 " I forget your name," she said confidentially. 
 
 "Merriam." It was not said stiffly. He was 
 too much attracted to be stiff. He realised that he 
 was answering her smile. 
 
 " What's your first name? " 
 
 " John." 
 
 " Then I shall call you * John/ I don't like last 
 names and ' Mister ' and l Miss.' " 
 
 " They're stiff," he said, " playing up " alarm- 
 ingly as on a former occasion. 
 
 She scrutinised his face, growing grave. 
 
 "You're awfully like George," she said, "ex- 
 cept here." 
 
 She raised her hand, and with the tip of her fore- 
 finger touched his chin. 
 
 " You're sterner," she added.
 
 A NEW ANTAGONIST 213 
 
 It was the very point Merriam himself had noted. 
 He admired her acuteness of observation. And of 
 course he was nattered. But he realised that he 
 was not being particularly stern at that moment. 
 
 " I expect I am," he said, trying to look, if not to 
 be, more so. 
 
 Jennie moved an inch or two farther away from 
 him, as if a little frightened by the iron qualities 
 of this male. 
 
 "Where's Margery? " she asked. 
 
 " Here," said Margery's voice, with disconcerting 
 patness. 
 
 She came through the portieres and surveyed the 
 two of them with an ironical look that was by no 
 means lost on Merriam. He felt ashamed of him- 
 self. 
 
 But Jennie gave him a quick glance with a little 
 pout in it, as if to say, " What a nuisance ! When 
 we were just beginning to get acquainted ! " 
 
 And straightway his shame fled and he smiled at 
 her. 
 
 Margery, however, was speaking in her most 
 businesslike tones: 
 
 " I've changed your bed, and you'd better get into 
 it as quick as you can. It's late now." 
 
 " Yes," said Merriam, rising. "What time is it ? " 
 
 Before he could get out his own timepiece Jennie 
 raised her arm and glanced at a small gold wrist 
 watch. 
 
 " Oh! Five minutes after ten! " she cried. She 
 rose too. " You must hurry."
 
 214 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE 
 
 " Yes," said Merriam. 
 
 He moved to the portieres hesitated. He did 
 not know how to take leave under these novel cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 " Good night, ladies," he ventured in rather cere- 
 monious tones. 
 
 To his chagrin both girls burst out laughing. 
 
 " Good night, gentleman ! " Jennie called merrily 
 after him, and their renewed giggling pursued him 
 as, in painful confusion, he crossed to the door of 
 the bedroom. 
 
 He shut that door behind him and rapidly un- 
 dressed, stimulated to speed in his operations by a 
 vigorous mental kicking of himself as an ass and a 
 " boob." A suit of pajamas, apparently quite new, 
 was laid out on a chair. He got into these and 
 slipped into bed. 
 
 The moment he was recumbent he realised that 
 he had forgotten to turn out his light. No matter. 
 He had no idea of sleeping. Besides Thompson 
 would be there any minute. 
 
 Ah, Thompson! With relief his mind seized 
 upon this topic. It was sufficiently absorbing. 
 Any minute now Thompson would burst in, de- 
 manding Senator Norman. He, Merriam, would 
 pretend he had never seen Thompson before, never 
 even heard of him. " My name is not Norman," he 
 would say. "My name is Merriam. Who are 
 you? And what do you want? " Thompson would 
 stare, falter, begin to apologise and explain. It 
 was pleasingly dramatic. He pursued the inter-
 
 A NEW ANTAGONIST 215 
 
 view. His own conduct therein displayed the 
 quintessence of composure and savoir faire. Jennie 
 and Margery yes, both of them were present 
 would be impressed; they would laugh at him no 
 longer. Thompson was sacrificed mercilessly. 
 
 But the minutes passed and nothing happened. 
 There was no sign of the real Thompson. What 
 was wrong? The silence of the small, lighted bed- 
 room began to get on Merriam's excited nerves. 
 Had Thompson somehow, in spite of Rockwell's 
 elaborate precautions, got wind of the real situa- 
 tion, discovered their trick before it was played? 
 Had he remained at the hotel, seen the real Norman 
 return, and perceived the whole imposition? 
 
 A light knock sounded on his door. Merriam 
 jumped and then lay still. 
 
 " Can I come in? " 
 
 It was Jennie's voice. 
 
 "Yes," he said, embarrassed; but what other 
 reply could be made? 
 
 Jennie opened the door and came to his bedside. 
 She had changed her attire completely. She now 
 wore the costume of a ballerina a tight pink 
 corsage, very low and sleeveless, with the slightest 
 of pink loops over her shoulders, a short, fluffy 
 pink skirt barely to her knees, pink tights, and pink 
 dancing slippers. Over one of the bright knobs 
 of her hair was a pink rose. She was much more 
 brilliantly rouged than before, and he was con- 
 scious of a warm scent of powder and perfume. 
 
 Merriam lay staring at her without speaking,
 
 216 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 subconsciously shocked perhaps, but openly be- 
 wildered and fascinated. 
 
 She smiled at him and seemed to be inspecting 
 him in return. Her left hand hung at her side, 
 holding something heavy, but she put out her right 
 and touched his hair with a single little move- 
 ment ruffled it. 
 
 " You look very nice lying there," she said in the 
 most natural tones in the world. "How do I 
 look? 
 
 She stepped back and pirouetted, turning com- 
 pletely around on her toes. The fluffy pink skirts 
 swung out and circled with her in a most entranc- 
 ing manner. Merriam was quite dazzled. The 
 white gleam of her back as she turned, the slender 
 white arms, held gracefully away from her sides, 
 in spite of that heavy something in one hand, the 
 tight slimness of the waist, the glimpse of pink legs 
 beneath the circling skirt he had seen the like 
 only on the stage. It was rather overpowering so 
 close at hand. 
 
 But in a single rosy moment her revolution was 
 completed. She was facing him again and relax- 
 ing down off her toes. 
 
 " How do I look? " she repeated, smiling, with 
 the slightest natural augmentation of her artificial 
 flush. 
 
 Merriam swallowed. " Stunning ! " he ejacu- 
 lated. 
 
 She beamed. " Of course I do," she said. 
 
 Then her face seemed to harden. She stepped
 
 A NEW ANTAGONIST 217 
 
 closer to the bed so that she was almost bending 
 over him. 
 
 " I've got a part to play," she said. " Well, I'm 
 going to play it." There was a touch of something 
 like defiance in her voice now. " I've cooked up a 
 plot for Mister Thompson. Marge don't like it, 
 but she'll help. I'll show him ! You've got to help 
 too." 
 
 She raised her left hand, displaying the heavy ob- 
 ject held therein, which he had not yet identified. 
 He was somewhat startled to see that it was a small 
 revolver. 
 
 " Take it," she said. 
 
 As he did not instantly put out his arm she tossed 
 it across so that it fell on the bed on the other side 
 of him. 
 
 " It's loaded," she said, " with blanks. Mister 
 Thompson shall see you first. But afterwards 
 Marge and I will see what we can do with him. 
 We'll get him to stay for a little supper, and I'm 
 going to play up to him. I'll do a dance on the 
 table. But when he tries to catch me I'll scream. 
 That's where you come in. You rush out with 
 your revolve? and drive him out of the house. 
 Won't it be fun? " she demanded, glowing with ex- 
 citement. "We'll have the goods on him. He'll 
 keep his face shut after that. Whatever he knows 
 or thinks about George! We'll have a fine story 
 for Mrs. Thompson, if he don't. Oh ! " 
 
 A doorbell had rung loudly in the kitchenette. 
 
 "There he is now. Kemember! When I scream!"
 
 218 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 She was gone from the bedroom, closing the door 
 behind her. 
 
 Merriam lay as if dazed. This " high life " was 
 proving almost too fast for his bucolic and peda- 
 gogical wits. He jumped when the bell rang again 
 more violently. Then he heard the sound of the 
 hall door being opened and a loud masculine voice. 
 Was it Thompson's? A moment or two later the 
 voice became more distinct, and he could hear the 
 girls' voices too. He could not be sure it was 
 Thompson. Was it some one of his " henchmen " 
 instead? Whoever he was, he was in the sitting 
 room. In a moment or two he would almost cer- 
 tainly be coming out to the bedroom. 
 
 Merriam suddenly remembered the revolver and 
 reached for it and slipped it under the bedclothes. 
 
 He had several minutes more to wait. The voices 
 became lower. Then they were raised again. Sud- 
 denly he heard the rings of the portieres clash 
 the curtains had been sharply flung aside. Mar- 
 gery's thin voice came to him. 
 
 " See for yourself, then ! " it said. 
 
 " That's better," said the masculine voice in tones 
 half amused, half irritated. Was it Thompson? 
 
 Light footsteps and heavy footsteps crossed the 
 dining room together. The bedroom door was 
 opened. 
 
 " Sir," said Margery to Merriam, in tones a little 
 shrill with excitement, "this is a Mr. Crockett. 
 He has some crazy notion about your being Senator 
 Norman. See for yourself, Mr. Crockett ! " She
 
 A NEW ANTAGONIST 219 
 
 spoke his name as though it were an insult. " Re- 
 member, he's sick," she added warningly. Mar- 
 gery was not a bad actress. 
 
 Crockett ! Crockett himself ! So much the bet- 
 ter! With an effort Merriam steadied his nerves. 
 Mr. Crockett advanced to the bedside a tall, im- 
 posing gentleman in evening clothes with keen blue 
 eyes and a thin remnant of lightish hair. 
 
 "Well, George," he said blandly, "glad to see 
 you. Your little friends are very loyal. But they 
 couldn't keep me away from you." 
 
 Merriam instantly disliked Mr. Crockett. He 
 plunged with zest into his part. 
 
 " George? " he inquired coldly. " My name's not 
 George ! " 
 
 " Oh, come, come, Norman ! You're caught. 
 Fess up." 
 
 But he looked closer. At the same moment 
 Margery lifted a silk shade off the electric bulb 
 by the bureau, and the cold hard light fell full on 
 the younger man's face. 
 
 " Who do you think I am?" said Merriam. "And 
 who are you? " he added in an insolent tone. 
 
 The impressive financier stared. He bent down 
 and stared harder. 
 
 " Well?" Merriam demanded with all the hauteur 
 he could muster. And then : " Got an eye-ful? " 
 
 He had preconceived this colloquy in much more 
 dignified phrases, but the insulting tag of boyish 
 slang popped out of him unawares. However, he 
 could not have done better. Probably he could
 
 220 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 never, by taking thought, have done as well. Sen- 
 ator Norman would assuredly not have used that 
 expression ; it had been coined long since his day in 
 Boyville. 
 
 Mr. Crockett was convinced. But he was a gen- 
 tleman of considerable imperturbability. He 
 merely straightened up and asked: 
 
 "Who are you? " 
 
 The younger man suddenly decided not to give 
 his name. There was that in Mr. Crockett's blue 
 eyes that suggested an uncomfortable pertinacity 
 and ruthlessness in following up any clue he might 
 get hold of. 
 
 " What business is that of yours? " said Merriam. 
 
 Mr. Crockett blinked. He was doubtless unac- 
 customed to such replies. But he merely asked an- 
 other question : 
 
 " Where are you from? " 
 
 " Down State," said Merriam. That was both 
 insolent and safe : Illinois is tolerably sizable. 
 
 " How old are you? " 
 
 Merriam saw an advantage in answering this 
 query truthfully. 
 
 " Twenty-eight," he said. " What of it? " 
 
 " You don't happen to be a young nephew or 
 cousin of Senator Norman's, do you? " asked Mr. 
 Crockett, hitting the bull's-eye with his first arrow. 
 
 Merriam, somewhat startled, countered with a 
 flat denial: 
 
 " No, I'm not. I've been told I look like him," 
 he added. " Somebody took me for him last night.
 
 A NEW ANTAGONIST 221 
 
 But I'm only related to him through Adam and 
 Eve so far as I know." 
 
 Mr. Crockett scanned him narrowly : 
 " Somebody took you for Norman last night? " 
 " They sure did." Having struck the slangy note 
 by accident, Merriam was enough of an actor to 
 keep it up. 
 
 " I should be much obliged if you will tell me 
 about that." 
 
 Merriam's self-confidence returned. He had 
 been realising how little this dialogue was develop- 
 ing in accordance with his pleasing anticipations. 
 Instead of the role of a polished man of the world, 
 delivering brilliant thrusts of irony and reducing 
 his interlocutor to apologetic confusion, he had 
 stumbled inadvertently on that of a slangy youth, 
 submitting to be catechised by an individual who 
 remained singularly composed and had proved dan- 
 gerously shrewd. But at last he had led up ad- 
 roitly enough to the story which Rockwell had 
 charged him to tell. He set himself to tell it in 
 character : 
 
 "Well, if you want to know, I came up to the 
 City on business yesterday. When I got my work 
 done I thought I'd have a little fun see the sights, 
 you know. I don't know this town much, but I got 
 hold of a taxi man who took me around. I looked 
 in at several places. I guess I had a pretty good 
 time. I don't remember much. I had more high- 
 balls than I'm used to. We ended up at a dance 
 hall somewhere. There were some pretty girls
 
 222 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 there. Somebody said, ' You're Senator Norman, 
 aren't you? ' That struck me as funny. ' Sure, I 
 am,' I said, and I kept it up. Soon everybody in 
 the place was calling me l Senator.' I treated the 
 gang. Then I got into a fight. I don't remember 
 how. Somebody knocked me down, I think. But 
 I wasn't hurt any. After that I picked up this 
 little girl that lives here the one in pink, and 
 she brought me home with her. I had a bad head 
 on this morning and a bad cold besides. The little 
 girl is a good sport. She let me stay here all day. 
 I'm going down home in the morning." 
 
 " I see," said Mr. Crockett slowly. 
 
 Merriam had need of all his self-command to 
 conceal his elation as he perceived that his for- 
 midable antagonist had swallowed bait, hook, and 
 sinker, as the idiom goes. He was obviously piec- 
 ing Merriam's narrative together in his mind with 
 the Tidbits story about Norman. Margery, who 
 had remained standing unobtrusive and silent by 
 the bureau, flashed Merriam a commendatory 
 glance. 
 
 Stimulated thereby, he pertly followed up his ad- 
 vantage : 
 
 " Care for any more of my personal memoirs? " 
 
 " No, thank you," said Mr. Crockett with a 
 rather sour smile. " Good night, Mr. Mr. " 
 
 He was angling for the name again, but with a 
 feebleness unworthy of a great financier. 
 
 "Mr. Blank," said Merriam. "I've a bit of a 
 reputation to keep up in my own home town."
 
 A NEW ANTAGONIST 223 
 
 (< I see," said Mr. Crockett again. "Well, I'm 
 sorry to kave intruded. Take care of your reputa- 
 tion!" 
 
 He turned away towards the door. 
 
 In that open door Jennie had stood listening. 
 Now her cue had come. She took it promptly. 
 She advanced into the bedroom, stepping lightly on 
 her toes, her pink skirt waving prettily. She smiled 
 her brightest smile at Mr. Crockett. 
 
 "He isn't Senator Norman, is he?" she cried 
 gaily. 
 
 " He certainly isn't," said Mr. Crockett, looking 
 at her. No man could have helped looking at her. 
 
 " You were awfully rude about it," said Jennie, 
 pouting. She had stopped about two feet in front 
 of him. 
 
 " Was I? " 
 
 " I should say you were. Awfully ! You ought 
 to do something to make up for it." 
 
 " What ought I to do? " asked Mr. Crockett. 
 
 " You might stay for a little supper with Mar- 
 gery and me." 
 
 " Might I? " 
 
 Unexpectedly Mr. Crockett looked away from 
 Jennie. He looked at Merriam, thoughtfully a 
 disconcerting thoughtf ulness. Then he turned back 
 to Jennie. 
 
 " Perhaps I might," he said, with a faint smile. 
 
 Merriam read his mind. He was sure he did. 
 The man might or might not be slightly attracted by 
 Jennie's prettiness, but what he was thinking was
 
 224 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 that lie would be able to get more out of her than 
 he had been able to get from Merriam. The latter 
 at once perceived that Jennie's melodramatic 
 scheme was dangerous and silly. It might have 
 been all right with Thompson, but not with this 
 man. She hadn't sense enough to see the differ- 
 ence. But he could do nothing to stop her. 
 
 Already she had cried, " Oh, goody ! " like a 
 little girl. 
 
 She stepped past Mr. Crockett, brushing him 
 with her skirts, put her hands on his shoulders, and 
 began playfully to push him towards the dining 
 room. 
 
 " It's all ready," she was saying. " We got it 
 for the man inside, but he says he isn't hungry. 
 We have sandwiches and olives and cheese and 
 beer and there's whiskey, if you like." 
 
 " I'll take beer," said Mr. Crockett, mustering a 
 certain lightness and allowing himself to be pushed. 
 
 Merriam looked at Margery, still standing by the 
 bureau. She too had changed her costume. She 
 now wore an evening dress of black and gold, in 
 which she looked very well, rather brilliant, in fact. 
 But what Merriam noticed was the understanding 
 look in her eyes. She had read Mr. Crockett's 
 purpose as clearly as he had. 
 
 "We'll be careful," she said. "You did fine. 
 Shall I turn out the light? " 
 
 " No," said Merriam. " Leave it, please." 
 
 She walked out of the room and closed the door.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 AN EVENTFUL SUPPER PARTY 
 
 THOUGH Margery had closed the door Mer- 
 riam could hear practically everything that 
 went on in the adjoining room as one commonly 
 can in an apartment. 
 
 "Get the food from the ice chest, will you, 
 Marge? " cried Jennie, in tones whose gaiety 
 sounded genuine. " I'll set out the drinks. Let's 
 have a cocktail to start with, Mr. " 
 
 She interrupted herself : 
 
 " What's your first name? " 
 
 " Well," said Crockett, " one of my first names 
 is Henry." 
 
 " Then I'll call you * Harry.' I hate last names 
 and i Mister ' and ' Miss ' ! " 
 
 Merriam in his recumbent solitude made a cyn- 
 ically humorous grimace. She had used those 
 very words with him had begun the same way. 
 Her regular formula doubtless. 
 
 " I'm < Jennie,' you know," she continued. 
 " Now, what kind of cocktail? " 
 
 " I'll stick to beer, please." 
 
 " But I want to start with a cocktail ! Have one 
 with me ! Please ! " 
 
 The tone was that of a teasing child. In his 
 225
 
 226 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 mind's eye Merriam could see vividly the trim pink 
 figure (as it had pirouetted before him) and the 
 pretty pouting face. But Crockett was apparently 
 unmoved. 
 
 " Bye and bye," he said suavely. " Go ahead 
 with your cocktail. We don't all have to drink the 
 same things, do we? I'll start with beer and work 
 up to cocktails." 
 
 " Well, then," said Jennie, with a swift return to 
 unpetulant gaiety, " Marge is bringing your old 
 beer. Oh, goody! See! Cheese sandwiches and 
 chicken sandwiches and lettuce-and-mayonnaise 
 sandwiches ! " 
 
 Evidently Margery had returned well laden from 
 the ice chest. 
 
 " Which kind will you have, Harry? " 
 
 " Cheese, thank you," said " Harry." 
 
 " There ! With my own fingers ! " 
 
 Jennie spoke with some confidence that the touch 
 of her fingers would render bread and cheese am- 
 brosial. 
 
 "Thank you," said "Harry" again, with the 
 barest nuance of dryness in his tone. " I'll open 
 the beer. What will you drink, Miss Milton? " 
 
 Undoubtedly he was snubbing Jennie! Those 
 blue eyes of his might perhaps be attentive enough 
 to white arms and tight waists and pink legs when 
 he himself had sought them out, but they were not 
 to be distracted by any such frivolous phenomena 
 when serious business was afoot. Jennie would 
 fail ! Merriam was sure of it.
 
 A1ST EVENTFUL SUPPER PARTY 227 
 
 But at any rate she was not easily snubbed. 
 
 " Her name's Margery," ske cried, consistent in 
 her antipathy to surnames. 
 
 " Well, Margery? " said Crockett, complaisantly. 
 
 " Beer," said Margery. 
 
 It was the first word Merriam had heard her 
 speak. Her taciturnity comforted him. Jennie 
 was a little fool, but Margery would keep her head. 
 They would waste their time and their sandwiches 
 and beer on Crockett, but perhaps she would foil 
 any inquiries he might presently attempt. 
 
 "Don't set things in the middle of the table, 
 Marge," cried Jennie. " Set 'em around the edge. 
 I'm going to do a dance for you, Harry. Wouldn't 
 you like to see me dancing on the table? " 
 
 " It would be very charming," said " Harry." 
 But the tone was merely gallant; it betokened no 
 quickening of pulse. 
 
 " I must have a sandwich first, though," said 
 Jennie quickly. Even she perceived that she was 
 not making progress. 
 
 There followed eating and drinking, accompanied 
 by a patter of gay, disconnected sallies from Jen- 
 nie, relating chiefly to the eatables and drinkables. 
 "Harry," continually appealed to by that name, 
 remained calmly polite. Margery, when addressed, 
 responded in monosyllables. Ripe olives and cold 
 tongue and mustard were produced. Jennie had 
 her cocktail, and then another. She needed stimu- 
 lant, poor girl, to keep up the gay vivacity which 
 was meeting with so little encouragement. A sec-
 
 228 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 ond bottle of beer was opened for "Harry" and 
 Margery. 
 
 Meanwhile Merriam, still listening, was engaged 
 also in active cogitation. He saw well enough, into 
 Crockett's thought. The latter had been momen- 
 tarily convinced by his, Merriam's, well-told tale. 
 (Margery had said he had " done fine.") But the 
 keen, realistic mind behind those blue eyes had al- 
 most immediately rebounded and seized upon the 
 overwhelming inherent improbability of that yarn. 
 That there should be a man without close relation- 
 ship to Norman who resembled him so strongly was 
 in itself decidedly remarkable. That this man 
 should encounter Norman's mistress, by pure 
 chance, at a public dance and go home with her 
 was even more curious. And that all this should 
 happen, merely fortuitously, on the very night on 
 which Senator Norman had unaccountably broken, 
 before nine o'clock, solemn promises given with 
 every appearance of sincerity and willingness 
 shortly before eight, and suddenly gone over to a 
 party for which throughout a score of years he had 
 expressed nothing but dislike and contempt the 
 mathematical chances against such a series of coin- 
 cidences were simply incalculable. 
 
 It was a quick, clear perception of this abstract, 
 apriori incredibility that Merriam had read in 
 Crockett's final glance before Jennie playfully 
 pushed him out of the bedroom. Doubtless he was 
 still revolving it in his mind as he sat at Jennie's 
 table, responding with merely mechanical polite-
 
 AN EVENTFUL SUPPER PAETY 229 
 
 ness to her rather pitiful attempts to pique his in- 
 terest and desire. Well, let him revolve it. The 
 story all hung together. What could he make of 
 it? Little enough, probably, with the data he had 
 now. But that was why he was lingering here at 
 Jennie's in the hope of getting more data. After 
 another cocktail or two Jennie would not know 
 what she was saying. Then he would begin to hint, 
 to ask questions. Could Margery keep her quiet? 
 A single word might give him a clue. 
 
 Merriam became conscious of a wish that Rock- 
 well were at hand to help. But that wish instantly 
 gave birth to further fears. Rockwell had said he 
 would telephone from the hotel as soon as they 
 arrived. That message might come any minute 
 now with Crockett there! Whereabouts in the 
 flat was the telephone? He had not noticed it any- 
 where. He looked about the bedroom. But it was 
 not there, of course. 
 
 Ought not that message to have come already? 
 Surely they should be at the hotel by now unless 
 something had gone wrong. He suddenly envis- 
 aged all the perils of discovery, which he had hith- 
 erto been too much occupied to realise, involved in 
 the transportation of the sick Senator across the 
 roof down through the other trapdoor into the 
 other hall down three flights of stairs along 
 two blocks of city street to the taxi. They 
 might so easily have been noted by some of 
 Thompson's, or Crockett's, watchers, and followed 
 to the hotel. Then they would be caught in-
 
 230 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 deed in the very fact. Verily, the paths of the 
 impostor are perilous ! 
 
 Then Merriam's mind was brought sharply back 
 from these alarming excursions to his own scarcely 
 less dangerous situation. Crockett had for the 
 first time volunteered a remark. It was just such 
 a remark as Merriam had anticipated. 
 
 " Mce boy you have in there." 
 
 His voice was slightly lowered but only slightly. 
 Perhaps he did not realise the perfection of the 
 acoustic properties of flats. 
 
 " Very nice boy ! " agreed Jennie cordially. 
 
 Merriam noticed with alarm just the faintest 
 touch of the effect of cocktails in her accent. How 
 many had the girl had by now? 
 
 " So you met him at Reiberg's, did you? " Crock- 
 ett pursued. 
 
 "Reiberg's?" said Jennie doubtfully, "Rei- 
 berg's? " 
 
 " Yes," Margery cut in. " Picked him up there 
 and brought him home. I call it a shame. Jen's 
 never done that sort of thing before." 
 
 " I expect you took to him because he looks so 
 much like Senator Norman," suggested Crockett, 
 rather skillfully persistent. 
 
 " Yes," said Jennie, " looks very like George. 
 But he's not George. He's John ! " 
 
 " John what? " asked Crockett mildly. 
 
 " John Blank ! " said Margery sharply. " He 
 told you he didn't want to give his name. Jen, 
 keep your face shut ! "
 
 EVENTFUL SUPPER PARTY 231 
 
 " I beg your pardon, I'm sure," said Crockett. 
 
 " Have a cocktail now ! " said Jennie, quite un- 
 abashed. 
 
 Crockett at last agreed to a cocktail, and it was 
 fixed for him, and the conversation, if such it could 
 be called, again concerned itself with incidents to 
 the consumption of food and drink. 
 
 Thank God for Margery ! She had won the first 
 trick. But Crockett would try again. And Jennie 
 would grow more and more difficult to handle. 
 Aside from the danger, Merriam hated to think of 
 Jennie's getting really drunk. Could not Margery 
 get rid of the man? The trouble was he had 
 stayed at Jennie's invitation. Could not he, Mer- 
 riam, do something? 
 
 He felt under the bedclothes until he found the 
 revolver. He drew it out and looked at it. But 
 of what use was it, really? Would Crockett blench 
 at the mere pointing of a pistol? He doubted it. 
 It was loaded only with blanks, Jennie had said. 
 And he dared not fire it anyway. The occupants 
 of a dozen adjoining flats would hear the report. 
 People would come bursting in. The police would 
 be called. Well, was not that the solution? To 
 have Crockett caught in that flat by the police in 
 connection with a shooting? Perhaps, but not a 
 nice one for himself. Not to be tried except as the 
 very last resort. Besides, would it serve their pur- 
 pose? A public exposure of Crockett would do no 
 good. What they needed was a threat of possible 
 exposure to hold over him not the exposure itself*
 
 232 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 If only Jennie could succeed in her purpose of 
 enticing him into some display of amorousness, of 
 which he and Margery might be witnesses. It 
 would be pleasant to " have the goods on him," to 
 use Jennie's phrase. Why did she not dance for 
 him? But Crockett would not be enticed. He 
 might, however, pretend to be. He might decide to 
 " play up " in that way if through Margery's watch- 
 fulness he could get nothing out of Jennie without 
 doing so. 
 
 But now there flashed into Merriam's mind a 
 doubt of the efficacy of Jennie's scheme even if they 
 should succeed in carrying it out. Suppose Crock- 
 ett should catch hold of her after her dance and try 
 to kiss her, and she should scream, and he should 
 rush out with his revolver, and Crockett should be 
 intimidated thereby into ignominious exit? That 
 would be very good fun, but would it give them any 
 hold over him in case of need? He could deny it. 
 Against his word the only witnesses would be Jen- 
 nie and Margery, whose testimony would not be 
 taken very seriously, and himself a nobody and 
 an impostor. No wonder Margery, the clear- 
 headed, had disapproved. They ought to get more 
 tangible evidence something in writing, or a pho- 
 tograph. 
 
 He suddenly remembered the camera on the table 
 in the living room, and recalled also a certain col- 
 lege episode, a rather lurid incident of his frater- 
 nity days, in which a camera and a girl and a prig- 
 gish freshman had figured. It suggested to him a
 
 AN EVENTFUL SUPPER PARTY 233 
 
 decidedly picturesque and venturesome procedure 
 against Crockett. But he shook his head. It was 
 too violent, too rough. All very well for a parcel 
 of boys with a freshman. But with Mr. Crockett, 
 the mighty capitalist! No! Hardly! 
 
 Just then he heard Jennie say : 
 
 " Get your mandolin, Marge. I'm going to dance 
 now." 
 
 " Fine ! " said Crockett. But he was still cool, 
 amused. 
 
 Margery made no reply, but she evidently com- 
 plied. In a moment there came a preliminary 
 strumming on the mandolin. 
 
 " Help me up, Harry," said Jennie. 
 
 "With pleasure," said "Harry." 
 
 He was helping her to mount on to the table. 
 
 " Move that siphon off," Jennie said. " I might 
 kick it over." 
 
 There was gay excitement in her voice. Cock- 
 tails had made her indifferent to appreciation. As 
 for Merriam, the conscience of a realist compels me 
 to report a sense of disappointment : he wanted to 
 see the dance. 
 
 " Now sit down again," cried Jennie. " You can 
 see better." 
 
 At this frankness Crockett laughed. There was 
 the sound of his dropping into a chair. 
 
 " Now, Marge ! " Jennie commanded. 
 
 But Margery did not strike into her tune and the 
 dance did not begin, for at that instant the tele- 
 phone rang.
 
 234 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 It was in the dining room, then ! 
 
 There was a quick movement of chairs and feet. 
 Then Crockett's voice said, " Hello ! " 
 
 He was answering it ! 
 
 " That's not fair ! " cried Margery. " It's not for 
 you ! " 
 
 " Keep off ! " said Crockett in a quick, stern 
 whisper, and then, evidently into the telephone, 
 "Yes! Yes!" 
 
 Merriam leapt out of bed, revolver in hand, in his 
 pajamas and flung open the door. 
 
 Crockett was standing by the wall at the tele- 
 phone. Jennie, in her ballet costume, stood trans- 
 fixed in the center of the table. Margery was rush- 
 ing at Crockett. 
 
 " You you spy ! " she screamed. 
 
 Merriam, in the door, pointed his revolver. 
 
 " Drop it ! " he cried, meaning the telephone re- 
 ceiver. " Hands up ! " 
 
 But Crockett, catching Margery by the shoulder 
 with his free hand, held her powerfully at arm's 
 length and only smiled at Merriam's revolver. 
 
 " Why? " he asked into the telephone, and added 
 quickly, " Nothing ! These girls are romping so ! " 
 
 But his words could hardly be heard for Mar- 
 gery's screaming. He dropped the receiver and 
 put the hand thus freed over the mouthpiece. 
 
 " Shut up ! " he said fiercely to Margery, and 
 gave her shoulder a violent wrench. 
 
 " O oh ! " she groaned. 
 
 Something had to be done instantly, for Crockett
 
 AN EVENTFUL SUPPER PARTY 235 
 
 was turning back to the telephone. With a sort of 
 impulsive desperation Merriani threw the revolver 
 at Crockett's head. The man dodged, and the re- 
 volver struck the opposite wall and fell to the floor. 
 But the movement took him away from the tele- 
 phone, and Merriam, rushing forward, added the 
 impetus of a straight-arm thrust, which sent him 
 staggering against the table. 
 
 Then Merriam caught up the receiver. 
 
 " Hello ! Hello ! " he cried into the mouthpiece. 
 
 For an instant no reply. Then Central's voice 
 said sweetly : 
 
 "Your party's hung up." And added, in tones 
 of unwonted interest: "What's the row there? 
 Shall I send the police? " 
 
 " No, no ! " said Merriani. " There's nothing 
 wrong here." 
 
 He hung up and turned to face the room. 
 
 Crockett was still leaning against the table. 
 Margery was clutching the arm which a moment 
 before had gripped her, and Jennie had jumped 
 down from the table and caught hold of his other 
 arm. But the financier appeared very little ruf- 
 fled. He even smiled at Merriam, not unpleas- 
 antly. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Merriam," he said, " suppose we sit 
 down and talk it over if these ladies will release 
 me, that is." 
 
 " Mr. Merriam ! " Then the message had been 
 from Rockwell, and Crockett had got the name 
 after all. How much more had he learned? Mer-
 
 23G MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 riam was quite willing to talk in the hope of finding 
 that out. 
 
 " Very well," he said. " Let him go, Margery, 
 Jennie." 
 
 " I'll dance for both of you ! " cried Jennie, whose 
 cheeks were decidedly flushed. 
 
 " No ! " said Merriam. " Sit down, please." 
 
 " Sit down, Jen ! " seconded Margery, viciously. 
 
 " Oh, well ! " Jennie plopped petulantly into a 
 chair. 
 
 The others sat, Merriam and Crockett across 
 from each other. The financier looked steadily at 
 the younger man. 
 
 " Miss Milton was right," he began quietly. 
 " The message was not for me. It was for you, Mr. 
 Merriam. I think I ought to give it to you." 
 
 " If you please," said Merriam. 
 
 " It was that you should l come at once to the 
 hotel.' " 
 
 Merriam managed not to blink. 
 
 "What hotel?" he asked. 
 
 For an instant Crockett weighed his answer. 
 Then: 
 
 " The De Soto," he said. 
 
 But Merriam had read the meaning of the mo- 
 mentary pause : Rockwell had not named the hotel 
 he wouldn't, of course Crockett was guessing. 
 
 " De Soto? " he asked, looking as puzzled as he 
 could. "I thought it might be from the Nestor 
 House." (He was using the first name that popped 
 into his head.)
 
 AN EVENTFUL SUPPER PARTY 237 
 
 "Oh," said Crockett lightly, "Mr. Rockwell 
 would be much more likely to telephone from the 
 De Soto." 
 
 Merriam was startled, but he could only go on as 
 he had begun. 
 
 " Rockwell? " he echoed, as if still further mysti- 
 fied. 
 
 " Come, come," said Crockett, " I recognised his 
 voice. I know it perfectly." 
 
 " No friend of mine," Merriam persisted. There 
 might be no advantage in continued denial, but cer- 
 tainly there could be none in admission. 
 
 " Really, Mr. Merriam, hadn't you better tell me 
 the whole story? You'll not find me ungenerous. 
 I'll let you down easy." 
 
 " The whole story? " said Merriam. " Thought 
 I told you my whole story in the bedroom a while 
 back. What more do you want? " 
 
 Crockett shrugged his shoulders. He smiled 
 blandly : 
 
 "What I want is another cocktail, I guess. 
 You'll join me, Mr. Merriam? You've had nothing 
 all evening. It must have been dull for you, lying 
 in there, while these pretty ladies have been enter- 
 taining me so charmingly. I understood you were 
 sick, you know," he added slyly, " or I should have 
 insisted on your coming out long ago." Then, 
 quickly, so as to give Merriam no chance to reply : 
 "Jennie, my dear, let's have your pretty dance 
 now. We were interrupted." 
 
 " No," said Jennie, rather sleepily, " I'm tired."
 
 238 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 "Have a cocktail," said Crockett promptly. 
 " Then you'll be all right again." 
 
 Jennie looked up with interest. "Well," she 
 said. 
 
 Crockett rose to mix the drinks. 
 
 " You'll have one, too, Mr. Merriam? " 
 
 But during the brief interchange between Crock- 
 ett and Jennie, Merriam had been doing some quick 
 thinking wild thinking, perhaps. The plan sug- 
 gested by his college memory, which before he had 
 rejected as too violent, his mind now seized upon 
 and was eagerly shaping to the present situation. 
 
 When Crockett addressed him, he rose. 
 
 " No," he said. " I'm tired too. I am sick." 
 He simulated a slight dizziness. " I'll go lie down 
 again. If you'll excuse me." 
 
 He moved to the bedroom door, affecting uncer- 
 tainty in his steps. As he passed into the bedroom 
 he called : " Margery ! "
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 FLASH LIGHTS 
 
 IN a moment Margery had followed Mm. 
 " Shut the door." He barely formed the 
 words with his lips. 
 
 She obeyed. 
 
 " That camera in the sitting room," he whis- 
 pered. " Can you take a flash light with it? " 
 
 " Sure," came the whispered answer. " That's 
 what we use it for." 
 
 " Have you any rope? " 
 
 " Rope? " echoed Margery's whisper. " There's 
 a clothesline on the back porch." 
 
 " Bring it to me ! " 
 
 Margery looked at him. But a high degree of 
 mutual confidence had been established between 
 these two. She nodded. 
 
 " Right away? " 
 
 " Yes. He mustn't see it." 
 
 "No." 
 
 She opened the door and closed it behind her. 
 Merriam sat on the edge of the bed, thinking hard. 
 
 " He wants a drink of water," he heard her say to 
 the others in the dining room. 
 
 With one ear, so to speak that is to say, with 
 so much of his mind as could attend to one ear, 
 
 239
 
 240 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 he listened to Crockett and Jennie, engaged still in 
 the business of mixing drinks. With the rest of 
 his mind he was making plans, with a rapidity and 
 confident daring that astonished himself. 
 
 In a moment Margery had returned. In her 
 right hand she carried a glass of water. Her left 
 hand, hanging at her side, seemed to hold carelessly 
 only a newspaper, folded in two. But as soon as 
 she had closed the door she produced from between 
 the folds a fairly stout clothesline, loosely coiled. 
 
 Merriam tried its toughness and surveyed its 
 length. 
 
 "All right," he whispered. "Now go back. 
 Drink with them. Jennie must dance. And have 
 Crockett sit where he was before." 
 
 This was at the end of the table nearest the tele- 
 phone and nearest also to Merriam's door. 
 
 Again Margery looked at him. She glanced at 
 the rope. But she asked no questions. Without a 
 word she went out and closed the door behind her. 
 Admirable girl ! 
 
 Merriam's next actions were rather remarkable. 
 He felt hastily in the pockets of his trousers, which 
 lay over a chair, and produced a penknife. With 
 this instrument he cut off four pieces of rope, each 
 about four feet long. This left about ten feet in 
 the main piece. With this main piece he proceeded 
 to manufacture a slip noose, carefully testing both 
 the strength of the slipknot and the readiness of its 
 slipping. Then he gathered the noose and the four 
 other pieces of rope into his left hand and rose and
 
 FLASH LIGHTS 241 
 
 stood before the door, drawing a deep breath and 
 listening. 
 
 He had, of course, kept track more or less of the 
 happenings in the other room. Margery, on re- 
 turning, had demanded another glass of beer and 
 had yielded to insistence that she have a cocktail 
 instead. Then she had suggested that Jennie 
 dance. Jennie had already been assisted on to the 
 table again, and Margery was picking tentatively 
 at her mandolin. 
 
 " B-ready ! " cried Jennie, a little unsteadily. 
 
 Merriam stepped back and turned the button of 
 his electric bulb, so as to have no light behind him. 
 
 Then, as Margery struck into a bright quick 
 tune, he softly opened the door with his right hand, 
 holding his left hand with the ropes behind him, 
 and stood looking at Jennie, whose pink toes had 
 begun to patter merrily on the polished table. 
 
 Jennie saw him and laughed to him, her eyes and 
 her cheeks bright. 
 
 " Come in, Johnny," she cried, and for a second 
 one pink leg pointed straight at him as she turned. 
 
 " Couldn't resist, eh? " chuckled Crockett, who 
 was leaning back in the heavy chair Merriam had 
 wished him to occupy. He was apparently really 
 pleased for the first time. " Don't blame you," he 
 added. " Come on in." 
 
 His eyes, quite unsuspicious, returned to the cir- 
 cling skirts and the flushed face bobbing above 
 them. 
 
 This was Merriam's moment.
 
 242 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 He stepped quickly behind Crockett's chair, 
 dropped the short pieces of rope on the floor, raised 
 the noose with both hands, slipped it over the man's 
 head, and pulled it suddenly tight about his neck. 
 
 Crockett emitted a strangled oath and started to 
 rise, but Merriam with one hand on his shoulder 
 thrust him down again, and with the other tight- 
 ened the noose about his throat. 
 
 " Sit still," he threatened, " or I'll choke you! " 
 
 Margery's tune had stopped abruptly, and Jennie 
 stood still on the table, staring down in frightened 
 bewilderment. 
 
 " Margery ! " Merriam commanded, " take one of 
 these pieces of rope and tie his arm to the arm of 
 the chair." 
 
 The arm referred to was immediately raised 
 away from the chair, but the noose tightened with 
 a further jerk, and the arm fell limply back. In 
 fact Crockett was gasping and choking so desper- 
 ately that Merriam was compelled to loosen the 
 rope a little. 
 
 " Take it quietly," he cautioned, with perhaps a 
 trifle more of youthful ferocity and exultation than 
 the romantic hero should exhibit, " or I'll hang you 
 sitting down ! " 
 
 Margery, obedient as usual, had stepped quickly 
 forward, picked up a piece of rope, and begun to 
 bind the arm nearest her to the chair. 
 
 Crockett, somewhat eased, though still gasping a 
 little, turned his head to look at Merriam. His 
 first involuntary startled alarm was passing. The
 
 FLASH LIGHTS 243 
 
 blue eyes looked steadily at the young man. A 
 trace of their earlier cool amusement returned. He 
 looked away again and sat perfectly still, acquies- 
 cent. 
 
 Merriam, however, remained warily at his post 
 in charge of the slip noose while Margery tied both 
 arms. 
 
 " Now tie his feet to the legs of the chair," said 
 Merriam. " Jennie, you can help. Jump down 
 and tie his right foot while Margery ties the 
 left." 
 
 But Jennie, still on the table, shook her pretty 
 head. 
 
 " I'd rather dance," she said, and regardless of 
 the lack of music she folded her arms and began to 
 do the steps of the Highland Fling. 
 
 "Let her alone," said Margery, who had gone 
 down on her knees and was at work on the left foot. 
 
 Jennie tossed her head and quickened the tempo 
 of her dance, keeping her eyes on Crockett, who, 
 though still swallowing with difficulty, affected to 
 regard her with interest. 
 
 Margery crossed to Crockett's other side and 
 knelt again. In a moment she completed her la- 
 bours and rose, her cheeks a little reddened by her 
 posture and vigorous work. 
 
 " There ! " she said, looking straight at Merriam, 
 as if she were a soldier reporting to his officer. 
 
 " Thank you very much," said the young man. 
 
 He loosened the noose, leaving it still in place, 
 however, about Crockett's neck. Then he stepped
 
 244 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 to the side of the table and held out his arms to 
 Jennie. 
 
 " Come ! " he said, " I'll lift you down." 
 
 She stood still. " You don't like my dancing," 
 she pouted. " He likes it ! " She pointed at Crock- 
 ett, who, twisting his eased neck about, smiled. 
 
 " I'll like lifting you down," said Merriam. 
 
 Jennie smiled and approached the edge of the 
 table. For a moment he held a rosy, fragrant bur- 
 den in his arms, and in that moment Jennie raised 
 her face to his as if to be kissed. She was really 
 rather incorrigible. 
 
 On a different occasion the young man might 
 have been irresistibly tempted (he had not thought 
 of Mollie June for a long time), but just now he 
 was no more in a mood to be enticed than Crockett 
 had been an hour before. 
 
 He set her lightly and quickly on her feet. 
 
 " There ! " he said. 
 
 She made a face at him and dropped petulantly 
 into a chair. 
 
 Merriam turned to face his well-trussed victim. 
 
 The said victim was now sufficiently at ease to 
 open the conversation. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Merriam," he said, " you've managed 
 it rather cleverly. Very neat, in fact. You have 
 me a prisoner all right. But what's the big idea? 
 It seems to me you've only given yourself away. 
 Before I only knew your name and that you were 
 in connection with Rockwell and that your pres- 
 ence was desired at some hotel the Nestor House,
 
 FLASH LIGHTS 245 
 
 we'll say, to avoid argument. Now it's very clear 
 that you are deeply implicated in the extraordinary 
 events that have been happening. Otherwise you 
 would have had no sufficient motive for this rather 
 violent, not to say melodramatic, line of conduct." 
 He glanced, with a smile, at his pinioned arms. 
 
 This point of view, however, had already oc- 
 curred to Merriam ; and the answer was that Crock- 
 ett, knowing already of a direct, confidential con- 
 nection between Senator Norman's double and Sen- 
 ator Norman's new manager, would in a few hours 
 at most be able to work out the whole truth of the 
 situation. 
 
 So he only answered his victim's smile with an- 
 other smile equally good-humoured. 
 
 " I don't think I've given away anything much," 
 he said. " And I felt it was time to take out a bit 
 of insurance." 
 
 " Insurance? " repeated Crockett. 
 
 " Yes. Insurance that you will treat me with 
 that generosity which you half promised a while 
 ago." 
 
 " I promised nothing ! " said Crockett, the smile 
 fading out of his eyes. " I refuse to give any prom- 
 ise whatever." 
 
 " That's all right," said Merriam, still good- 
 humouredly. " In fact, I shouldn't count much on 
 promises anyway. 
 
 "You're married, I believe?" he continued to 
 Crockett. 
 
 Crockett did not reply.
 
 246 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 "And a church member, I presume? And a 
 member of a number of highly respectable clubs? " 
 
 He paused and waited, smiling. 
 
 The smile was too much for Crockett. After a 
 moment of holding in, he said sharply: 
 
 " Well? " 
 
 " Well, a gentleman who is all those things ought 
 to be careful how he accepts entertainment from 
 unattached young ladies, like our pretty Jennie 
 here in their flats at midnight." And then to 
 Margery, " Go and get your camera ready. 
 
 "When I was in college," Merriam continued, 
 " the fraternity I belonged to initiated a freshman 
 who turned out to be goody-goody. He wouldn't 
 play cards, wouldn't dance, wouldn't go to the the- 
 ater, wouldn't smoke. Even refused coffee and tea. 
 Above all he simply wouldn't look at a girl. All 
 he would do was study and go to class and to 
 church and Sunday School. To make it worse he 
 was a handsome cuss with loads of money and his 
 own motor car. He got on the fellows' nerves. 
 Then a show came to town with a girl in the chorus 
 that two of the fellows knew. So a bunch of us 
 went to the show, and afterwards the two fellows 
 who knew the girl brought her back to the chapter 
 house in a taxi, with an opera cloak over the black 
 tights which she wore in the last act. We gave her 
 a little supper, and then four of us went upstairs 
 to get the good little boy. He hadn't gone to the 
 show. He was studying his trigonometry. We 
 didn't have to lasso him, of course, because there
 
 FLASH LIGHTS 247 
 
 were four of us. When we brought him into the 
 dining room, the girl stood up and dropped off her 
 cloak. It was worth something to see his face. 
 Then we tied him into a chair, just the same way 
 you're tied now. We set a beer bottle and half- 
 emptied glass handy, and the girl sat on his knees 
 and cocked one black leg over the arm of the chair 
 and put one hand under his chin and put her lips to 
 his cheek. And then we took the flash.", 
 
 " Oh, goody ! " cried Jennie, ecstatically pleased 
 by this climax. But Crockett by this time was 
 staring at the story-teller with really venomous 
 eyes. 
 
 Merriam avoided those eyes and addressed him- 
 self to Jennie, the appreciative. 
 
 " That was all," he said. " We gave the girl a 
 twenty-dollar bill and the roses and sent her back 
 to the hotel in the taxi. We could only show the 
 picture to a few chaps, of course. One of the fel- 
 lows did finally tell the story to one girl whom a 
 lot of us knew and showed her the picture. It 
 worked fine. The good little boy's reputation was 
 made, and he had to live up to it, to the extent at 
 least of becoming human. He became one of the 
 finest fellows we ever had. The year after he grad- 
 uated," Merriam finished reflectively, " he married 
 the one girl who had seen the picture, and the chap- 
 ter gave it to her with their wedding present." 
 
 During this sequel Marge<y had returned with: 
 the camera and with some flash-light powder, 
 which she had had to search, in a dust pan.
 
 248 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " Damn you ! " cried the great financier viru- 
 lently, straining helplessly at the ropes which con- 
 fined his arms and legs. " If you think it will do 
 you any good to take an indecent picture of 
 me " 
 
 " Cut that ! " said Merriam sharply. " Do you 
 want me to tighten that noose again? " 
 
 Crockett subsided with a snort that might have 
 made whole boards of directors tremble. 
 
 " Indecent ! " said Merriam, enjoying himself 
 hugely, as if he were still in college. " Certainly 
 not! Only pretty. Very pretty. Come, Jennie! 
 How about the pose? " 
 
 " I'll show you ! " cried Jennie. Half dancing 
 on her toes, with skirts fluttering, and eyes spark- 
 ling the more, it seemed, because of Crockett's bit- 
 terly hostile regard, she tripped around the table 
 and stood by his side, facing the same way he faced. 
 She plucked the rose from her hair and stuck it be- 
 hind Crockett's ear. It drooped grotesquely over 
 his thin hair. Then, laughing at the rose, she put 
 one bare arm about his neck, her hand extending 
 beyond his face on the other side. 
 
 " Give me a cocktail glass in that hand ! " she 
 cried. " Never mind what's in it. Anything ! " 
 
 Merriam filled a glass from the siphon and put it 
 into the hand referred to. 
 
 Then Jennie raised a pink leg and put it on the 
 table, stretching straight in front of herself and 
 Crockett towards the center of the board, amid the 
 plates and glasses and crumpled napkins. She put
 
 FLASH LIGHTS 249 
 
 her other hand under Crockett's chin as if about to 
 tickle him, dropped her face close to his, and looked 
 at Merriam with eyes of laughing inquiry. 
 
 " Fine ! " said Merriam. "Are you ready, Mar- 
 gery? " 
 
 Margery was already pointing the camera. 
 
 " Not yet," she said. 
 
 He addressed himself to the victim : 
 
 " Mr. Crockett, you can, of course, wink or twist 
 your face to spoil the picture. If you do, 111 sim- 
 ply have to choke you a little before we try again. 
 So you'd better look pleasant ! " 
 
 " Ready ! " said Margery. 
 
 Merriam set the dust pan, with the little heap of 
 powder in the center of it, on a plate on the side- 
 board beside Margery, lit a match, and, with a last 
 glance at Jennie's extraordinary pose and laughing 
 face, switched off the lights and touched the 
 powder.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 VIRTUE TRIUMPHANT 
 
 IMMEDIATELY after the flash Men-lam 
 switched on the lights, and his eyes sought 
 Crockett. Apparently the man had faced the cam- 
 era stolidly a grotesque figure surmounted by the 
 dangling flower and enveloped as it were in Jen- 
 nie's acrobatic pose. 
 
 "All right ! " said Merriam, coughing in the 
 smoke which filled the small room. " But we'll 
 take one more. You never can be sure of a single 
 film. Got some more powder, Margery? " 
 
 " Yes," said Margery, who had set the camera 
 down and stepped aside to open a window. She 
 passed into the sitting room. 
 
 Jennie gingerly removed her leg from the table 
 and her arm from about Crockett's neck. In the 
 latter process she spilled a little of the water from 
 the cocktail glass unintentionally, let us hope 
 on Crockett's head. 
 
 "Damn!" 
 
 Jennie, quite regardless, eased herself on her two 
 legs again. 
 
 " Gee ! " she said. " I couldn't have held that 
 pose much longer. In another second I'd have 
 split at the waist!" 
 
 250
 
 VIRTUE TRIUMPHANT 251 
 
 Merriam laughed. " Look what you've done," 
 he said. 
 
 Jennie caught up a napkin and mopped the face 
 and head. 
 
 " Sorry ! " she cried sympathetically. " I didn't 
 mean to wet him ! There ! " and she dropped a 
 light kiss on the cleansed cheek and smiled her 
 rosiest smile at the trussed victim. 
 
 Crockett answered Jennie's smile with a glare 
 that might have caused a panic on the Stock Ex- 
 change. 
 
 It had no very serious effect, however, on Jennie. 
 She shrugged her pretty shoulders and daintily 
 chucked him under the chin. 
 
 " That isn't a nice look ! " she said. 
 
 At this point Margery returned with a package 
 of flash-light powder and began to pour a second 
 little pile on the dust pan. 
 
 " Take your pose ! " said Merriam to Jennie. 
 
 "Not that one," said Jennie. "It's too hard. 
 Look!" 
 
 She picked the rose from above Crockett's ear 
 and stepped behind his chair. Then she stooped 
 till her chin rested on the top of his head and let 
 her two bare arms drop past his cheeks till her 
 hands came together on his shirt front. In her 
 hands she held the rose pointing upward so that the 
 blossom was just below his chin. 
 
 The effect was distinctly comical Crockett's 
 dour countenance, with its angry eyes, framed 
 above by Jennie's pretty laughing face, resting on
 
 252 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 the very top of his head, at the sides by her round 
 white arms, and below by the rose under his chin. 
 
 " Fine ! " Merriam laughed. " It's better than 
 the other. Ready, Margery? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 A second time he switched off the lights and 
 touched a match to the powder. 
 
 Again Crockett had not even blinked so far as 
 Merriam could judge. Well satisfied, the latter 
 spoke to Margery: 
 
 " Put that camera away, will you, please, where 
 it could not be easily found except by yourself." 
 
 Margery picked up the camera and departed into 
 the kitchenette. 
 
 Then, "Let him alone, Jennie," he said. For 
 Jennie had left the back of Crockett's chair and 
 perched herself on the edge of the table beside him 
 and was flicking him under the chin with the rose. 
 
 "All right," she said. " He's no fun. He's very 
 cross ! " 
 
 She slid off the table and dropped into a chair, 
 transferring her attention to Merriam, as though 
 in the hope that he might be less obdurately dis- 
 posed. 
 
 But Merriam addressed himself to the other man. 
 
 " Now, Mr. Crockett," he said, " this little supper 
 party and entertainment are over, I believe. If 
 you wish to leave, I shall be glad to release you and 
 permit you to do so." 
 
 Crockett's reply was a sound between a grunt 
 and a growl.
 
 VIRTUE TRIUMPHANT 253 
 
 Merriam walked around the table and picked up 
 the revolver where it had fallen by the wall. 
 
 " I don't believe," he continued, " that it will do 
 you any good to start any rough-house when I have 
 freed you. If you do, Jennie and Margery will 
 scream, and I shall fire this revolver. That will 
 bring in neighbours and probably the police, whose 
 testimony would thus be added to that of the pic- 
 tures we have taken as to your manner of spending 
 your evening. You will understand that while I 
 shall have those pictures developed the first thing 
 in the morning I shall not show them to any one 
 except Mr. Rockwell unless you compel me to 
 do so." 
 
 By this time Crockett had become articulate. 
 
 " Compel you to do so? " he repeated stiffly. 
 " May I ask what you mean by that? " 
 
 " Well," said Merriam, " you see I am an enthusi- 
 astic supporter of the Reform League as led by Mr. 
 Rockwell and Senator Norman and Mayor Black. 
 You, I understand, are opposed to the League and 
 its policies. So long as your opposition relates it- 
 self only to those policies and involves only open 
 public discussion of their merits, I shall, of course, 
 have no reason to interfere. But if your opposition 
 should take the form of any personal attack, on 
 Senator Norman, let us say, I should feel compelled 
 to retaliate by a personal attack upon you, making 
 use of these pictures we have taken to-night and the 
 story that will readily weave itself about them. 
 Do you see? "
 
 254 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " See ! " Crockett cried. " Of course I see. 
 Blackmail! How much, do you want for that 
 camera? Name your price." 
 
 "It has no cash price," returned Merriam 
 steadily. "Now if I release you, will you leave 
 quietly? " 
 
 For a long moment the financier stared at the 
 younger man who had worsted him. Then : 
 
 "At this moment," he said acridly, " I certainly 
 have no other desire than to get away from this 
 place and to be rid of my present companionship." 
 
 Merriam was tempted to laugh at the stilted dig- 
 nity of this phraseology, but he managed to keep a 
 straight face. 
 
 " Very well," he said. " Margery," for Mar- 
 gery had just returned from the kitchenette minus 
 the camera, " help me untie him, will you? Feet 
 first." 
 
 Margery and Merriam knelt fcr a moment at the 
 two sides of Crockett's chair and released his two 
 legs. Then Merriam again put the table between 
 himself and Crockett and stood waiting, revolver 
 in hand, leaving to Margery the work of unbinding 
 the arms. He was afraid that his own near pres- 
 ence to Crockett when the latter found himself free 
 might tempt him irresistibly to personal assault. 
 
 In the moment during which he stood waiting he 
 became conscious that Jennie, half reclining in the 
 chair into which she had dropped, was smiling at 
 him a pretty, confidential smile which he did not 
 understand.
 
 VIKTUE TRIUMPHANT 255 
 
 But he had no time to consider Jennie just then, 
 for Margery had completed her work. The last 
 piece of rope fell on the floor, and she lifted the 
 slip noose from about Crockett's neck. He had been 
 rather tightly bound and did not instantly have 
 the full use of his limbs. Margery took his arm 
 to assist him. 
 
 " My coat and hat ! " he said, not looking at 
 Merriam. 
 
 " In the sitting room," said Margery. 
 
 He turned himself in that direction and in a 
 jerky walk, with some support from Margery, 
 moved towards and through the portieres. He had 
 disdained to cast so much as a glance at either 
 Merriam or Jennie. 
 
 Jennie resented this. " Old crosspatch ! " she 
 cried. 
 
 Merriam stepped hastily to the portieres and 
 peeped through. Crockett had caught up his light 
 overcoat and silk hat from a chair. He refused 
 Margery's offer to help him on with his coat and 
 made, already moving more naturally, for the hall 
 door. Margery followed him. The door opened 
 closed again. Margery returned from the hallway. 
 
 Merriam advanced through the portieres into the 
 sitting room. 
 
 " Well ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 " Well ! " returned Margery, with a dry laugh 
 the first laugh Merriam had heard from her during 
 the whole evening. 
 
 " See what he does in the street," she added.
 
 256 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " Raise the shade about a foot. I'll turn off the 
 light." 
 
 Merriam acted promptly on this excellent hint. 
 In a moment the room was in darkness, and he was 
 kneeling by the window watching the street below, 
 which was fairly well illuminated from arc lights 
 at either corner. Part way down the block on the 
 other side of the roadway a car, presumably a taxi, 
 stood by the curb, with a man walking up and down 
 beside it. Jennie's flat was too high up for Mer- 
 riam to be able to see the sidewalk immediately 
 below. If, therefore, Crockett on emerging from 
 the building merely walked away, he would see 
 nothing. But this was hardly likely. 
 
 Presently, sure enough, the taxi showed sudden 
 signs of life. The man hastily got in, and the 
 car rolled forward, crossing the street diagonally, 
 and stopped directly below Merriam's window. 
 Crockett had come out and signalled it. A moment 
 later it shot away down the block and turned the 
 corner. 
 
 Merriam still knelt by the window, peering into 
 the street. He was looking for signs of any re- 
 maining watchers, for he had his own exit to think 
 of : Rockwell had wanted him to " come at once to 
 the hotel." 
 
 As he knelt there in the dark he suddenly sensed 
 a warm fragrant body close beside his own. A pair 
 of soft bare arms slipped about his neck. 
 
 " It was fine ! " Jennie's voice whispered in his 
 ear. " You're a nice boy ! "
 
 VIKTUE TRIUMPHANT 257 
 
 She had crept up behind him in the dark. Mar- 
 gery must have left the room. 
 
 For a moment Merriam knelt in fascinated silent 
 rigidity. When he moved it was only to turn his 
 head. And the turning of his head brought his 
 face close to Jennie's, which, with the dim light 
 from the street upon it, smiled at him with a kind 
 of saucy tenderness. It was the face of a pretty 
 child, with the lure of womanhood added, but with 
 nothing else of maturity in it. 
 
 Her lips puckered. " Kiss me ! " she whispered. 
 
 As he still only stared she quickly leaned forward 
 a couple of inches more her lips rested on his. 
 
 I am very much afraid that for an instant Mer- 
 riam's lips responded. He half turned on one knee. 
 His arms involuntarily closed about the seductive 
 little body. He felt the short silk skirts crush de- 
 liciously against his legs. 
 
 And then a grotesque sort of composite picture 
 of all the things he ought to remember, including 
 Rockwell, Norman, Mollie June, and the members 
 of the Riceville School Board, rushed across his 
 mind. He struggled to his feet, pushing Jennie 
 not roughly away. 
 
 " Margery ! " he called. 
 
 " Yes? " came Margery's voice from the dining 
 room. 
 
 " Turn on the lights ! " 
 
 By the time Margery had stepped through the 
 portieres and pushed the switch Jennie had thrown 
 herself face downward on the davenport, crying.
 
 258 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " Nobody loves me ! " she sobbed. 
 
 Margery, standing by the switch, looked from 
 Merriam at the window to Jennie on the couch and 
 back again. Her expression indicated no bewilder- 
 ment rather a humorously cynical comprehen- 
 sion. She knew her Jennie. 
 
 At any rate, that glance steadied the young man. 
 After meeting it for a moment he turned to Jennie. 
 Poor little girl! He felt that he understood her 
 perfectly. There was a side of himself that was 
 like that. Only he had other sides powerfully de- 
 veloped, and Jennie had no other sides. All his 
 young chivalry rose up, in alliance with the mis- 
 sionary spirit of the teacher. He desired greatly 
 to help her. 
 
 After an instant's hesitation he crossed the room 
 and drew up a chair beside the davenport. 
 
 " Jennie," he said, " listen ! " 
 
 " Go away ! " said Jennie. 
 
 " I am going away in a minute. But I want to 
 tell you something first." 
 
 Her sobbing ceased, but he waited till she asked : 
 
 " Well, what? " 
 
 " There is somebody who loves you." 
 
 Hopefully Jennie raised her head and turned 
 her face to him still oddly pretty in spite of the 
 tear-streaked rouge. But after a moment's look 
 she said resentfully : 
 
 "It isn't you!" 
 
 " No," said Merriam, " it isn't I." 
 
 Even at this rate the discussion was apparently
 
 VIRTUE TRIUMPHANT 259 
 
 interesting enough, to rouse her. With a sudden 
 movement she curled herself up, half sitting, half 
 reclining, in a corner of the davenport, and 
 smoothed the crumpled skirts over her knees. 
 
 " Do you mean George? " she asked. 
 
 " No," said Merriam, " I mean Mr. Simpson." 
 
 " Mister Simpson ! " She laughed derisively, 
 not prettily at all. "A waiter ! " 
 
 " Listen, Jennie. Simpson is a fine fellow, with 
 lots of brains and lots of courage. He has shown 
 both within the last twenty-four hours. He's ren- 
 dered a very important service to Mr. Rockwell and 
 Senator Norman, and they're going to give him a 
 lot of money for a reward. I don't know how 
 much maybe five thousand dollars. And he's 
 crazy about you. He'll marry you in a minute if 
 you'll let him, in spite of George. He'll take you 
 away on a fine trip anywhere you want to go. 
 And afterwards he'll set up in a business of his 
 own a cafe" or whatever he likes. You'll have a 
 real home and a husband and money enough and 
 friends. It'll be a lot better than this stuff like 
 to-night. It really would. Think it over, Jennie ! " 
 
 On the last words he rose. 
 
 " He's right ! " cried Margery, who had drawn 
 near. 
 
 " Shut up, Marge ! " said Jennie. 
 
 But Merriam, looking closely at her with the 
 sharp eye of a teacher to see whether or not his 
 point had gone home, was satisfied. He was sure 
 that she would think it over in spite of herself.
 
 260 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 He looked at his watch. It was ten minutes 
 after one. 
 
 " I must telephone at once to Mr. Eockwell in 
 Senator Norman's rooms at the Hotel De Soto," he 
 said to Margery. 
 
 " Yes," said Margery. " The hotel number is 
 Madison 1-6-8-1." 
 
 " Thank you." 
 
 Without looking again at Jennie, he went to the 
 telephone in the dining room. In a moment he had 
 the hotel and had asked to be connected with Sen- 
 ator Norman's rooms. It was Rockwell's voice 
 that answered, " Hello ! " 
 
 " This is Merriam." 
 
 " Thank God ! Where are you? " 
 
 "At Jennie's." 
 
 " Still? What the devil was the ruction there 
 when I called up? " 
 
 " I'll tell you about that later. Do you still 
 want me to come to the hotel? " 
 
 " Certainly. As fast as you can." 
 
 " You got the Senator back all right? " 
 
 " Yes. But he's pretty sick. Caught more cold, 
 I guess. Hobart's worried about him. You'll 
 have to stay over another day all right. And make 
 that speech." 
 
 Merriam groaned. 
 
 "Listen!" said Eockwell. "You'll have to be 
 mighty careful about getting into the hotel. You 
 aren't Senator Norman just now, you know. The 
 Senator has already returned to the hotel, openly,
 
 VIRTUE TRIUMPHANT 261 
 
 with me, three hours ago, and is sick in his rooms. 
 We'll have to smuggle you in without any one's 
 seeing you. But I have a plan or rather Simp- 
 son has. You'd better come down on the Elevated. 
 That'll be better than a taxi this time. No chauf- 
 feur to tell on you. Be sure you get away from 
 there without being followed. Margery'll show 
 you a way. Get off at Madison and Wabash. 
 Simpson will meet you there and smuggle you in 
 the back way. You can come right away? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Then for Heaven's sake come ! We'll talk after 
 you get here." He hung up. 
 
 Merriam stared at the instrument as he slowly 
 replaced his own receiver. Another day. "And 
 make that speech ! " Would this kaleidoscopic, 
 unreal phantasm of adventures never end? When 
 would he wake up? He perceived suddenly that 
 he was very tired. But he must brace up suffi- 
 ciently to get back to the hotel. There doubtless 
 he would be permitted to go to bed and snatch at 
 least a few hours' sleep before the speech ! 
 
 He turned and found Margery standing between 
 the portieres, watching him. 
 
 " Well ! " she said sharply. 
 
 " I must must get dressed," he finished, real- 
 ising for the first time since he had leapt out of 
 bed with his revolver to divert Crockett from the 
 telephone that he was attired only in pajamas. 
 " Rockwell says you can tell me a way to get away 
 from here without being seen by any watchers."
 
 262 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " Yes," said Margery. " Go and dress. Til at- 
 tend to that." 
 
 He went into the bedroom and began to get into 
 his clothes, working mechanically. 
 
 Presently he was ready though with such a 
 loose and rakish bow as he had never before dis- 
 ported and emerged into the dining room. 
 
 There he encountered a cheering spectacle. Mar- 
 gery was seated at the table between a coffee 
 percolator, efficiently bubbling, and an electric 
 toaster. She was buttering hot toast. Jennie sat 
 at one side of the table. A pale blue kimono now 
 covered her dancing costume, and she looked quite 
 demure. She raised her eyes almost shyly as Mer- 
 riam entered. 
 
 " Well ! " he exclaimed. " This is grand. Mar- 
 gery, you certainly are a trump ! " 
 
 Margery's rather sallow cheeks flushed slightly. 
 " You'll need it," was all she said, and proceeded 
 to fill a cup for him from the percolator. 
 
 " How do I get away? " Merriam asked as he 
 sipped. 
 
 " Back stairs," said Margery succinctly. " I'll 
 show you." 
 
 Munching toast, he enquired the whereabouts of 
 the nearest Elevated station and was duly in- 
 structed. 
 
 He had a second cup of the black coffee. Mar- 
 gery did not take any and would not give Jennie 
 any. 
 
 " We go straight to bed," she said decidedly.
 
 VIRTUE TRIUMPHANT 263 
 
 From time to time Merriam cast an unwilling 
 glance at Jennie, sitting downcast and out of it on 
 Margery's other side. About the third time Jennie 
 intercepted his glance and answered it with a small 
 wistful smile. After that he would not look again. 
 
 In a few minutes, of course, this very early 
 breakfast it was somewhere around two o'clock 
 was over, and Merriam rose. 
 
 " I must be off," he said, and hesitated. " I am 
 very much indebted to both of you for all the help 
 you have given me this evening!" (Inwardly he 
 abused himself for his stiltedness; it was like his 
 telling Mollie June he was glad to have helped her 
 in algebra.) 
 
 Jennie rose too and came around the table to- 
 wards him. She had suddenly summoned back a 
 smile, and she moved daintily inside the blue 
 kimono. Above the stalk of that straight, demure, 
 Japanesy blue, her head nodded like a bright blos- 
 som with its fair, wavy hair, blue eyes, and child- 
 ishly rounded cheeks, still gaudy with the remains 
 of rouge. 
 
 She tripped forward till she was almost touching 
 Merriam, stopped, and suddenly raised her eyes to 
 him. 
 
 " Kiss me good-bye ! " she said. 
 
 We may suspect that it was a sort of point of 
 honour with Jennie to retrieve the rebuff she had 
 received in the sitting room. As for Merriam, in 
 spite of the obvious deliberateness of this assault, 
 I am not perfectly sure I could answer for him if
 
 264 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 it had not been for Margery. But Margery's pres- 
 ence saved him from serious temptation. 
 
 Instead of stooping to kiss the lifted lips he 
 caught Jennie's hand that hung at her side, and, 
 stepping back half a step, raised the hand and 
 kissed it. 
 
 Sometimes the inspirations of youth are singu- 
 larly happy. It seems to me that this one was of 
 that kind: it involved neither yielding nor dis- 
 courtesy. 
 
 Jennie was somewhat taken aback, yet she could 
 not be hurt by a gesture so gallant. 
 
 " Good-bye, Jennie," he said. " I hope to be the 
 best man at your wedding before long." 
 
 " Oh ! " she said, and withdrew her hand. Then : 
 "Good-bye!" 
 
 After a moment's hesitation and a last quite shy 
 glance at Merriam she suddenly gathered up the 
 skirts of the kimono and ran into the sitting room. 
 
 "Are you ready? " said Margery dryly. 
 
 " My coat. I haven't a hat," he added, remem- 
 bering that under Rockwell's instructions he had 
 left this article in the taxi in which they had come 
 to the flat. 
 
 "Your coat's in the hall," said Margery. "I 
 can get you a hat too." 
 
 The dining room was connected directly with 
 the hallway, and in a , moment Margery had re- 
 turned with Merriam's light overcoat and with a 
 man's derby probably Norman's property. 
 
 " Thank you," said Merriam, taking them.
 
 VIRTUE TRIUMPHANT 265 
 
 "This way," she replied, moving towards the 
 kitchenette. 
 
 In the kitchenette he was momentarily surprised 
 to see Margery opening a tin box labeled " Bread." 
 Was she going to equip him with a lunch? But she 
 drew out, not a loaf, but the camera. 
 
 " You'll want to take this along," she said. 
 
 "Indeed, yes." 
 
 Then he followed her out on to the back porch, 
 where earlier ages ago, it seemed he had de- 
 posited the stepladder. 
 
 " Now," said Margery, " you go down these stairs 
 and diagonally across the court to that archway. 
 See?" She pointed. "That brings you out on 
 the other side of the block. Nobody will be looking 
 for you there. And the Elevated station is three 
 and one-half blocks west. Put on your hat and 
 coat. I'll hold it." 
 
 " Thank you so much," said Merriam, as the coat 
 slipped on. 
 
 Then he turned, took off his hat again, and held 
 out his hand. 
 
 " Good-bye, Margery," he said, shaking hands 
 heartily. " Thank you for everything." 
 
 For a moment they looked at each other with 
 mutual respect. 
 
 Then Merriam said: 
 
 " I'm going to send Simpson around to see 
 Jennie. Shan't I? " 
 
 "You can try it," said Margery. "Good-bye." 
 
 She went back into the kitchenette and closed 
 the door.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 RETURN 
 
 "TV /TADISON and Wabash! " shouted tlie guard. 
 IV JL Merriam started, picked up his camera, 
 and made for the door. He had scarcely heard the 
 other stations called and thanked his stars that he 
 had waked up for this one. 
 
 He descended the stairs from the Elevated plat- 
 form and found Simpson waiting. 
 
 " Good morning, Simpson." 
 
 " Good morning." 
 
 " Mr. Kockwell says you can get me into the hotel 
 unnoticed." 
 
 Simpson looked at him sideways, hesitated, then 
 turned and started slowly west. 
 
 Merriam fell into step beside him and for a mo- 
 ment wondered obtusely what ailed the man. Then 
 he understood. Of course! He wanted news of 
 Jennie. Perhaps he was suspicious as to how 
 Merriam might have spent his time in that apart- 
 ment. Perhaps he, like Margery, knew his Jennie 
 only too well. 
 
 To set his mind at rest, Merriam plunged at once 
 into a sketchy summary of the events at the flat 
 Crockett's arrival "almost as soon as you had 
 left," he placed it his own telling of his story - 
 
 266
 
 RETURN 267 
 
 Crockett's being half convinced Jennie's plan 
 the supper party (without reference to Jennie's 
 change of costume or the dancing on the table) 
 Rockwell's telephone call the tying up and the 
 flash lights. 
 
 " I have the films here," he added, exhibiting the 
 camera as tangible evidence that he was not yarn- 
 ing. " Can you get them developed for me in the 
 morning? " 
 
 " Yes," said Simpson, in a much less frigid tone 
 than before. He took the camera. 
 
 "After Crockett had gone," Merriam continued 
 smoothly, " I talked to Jennie about you. I told 
 her she ought to marry you, and how well you've 
 shown up in this affair, and that Senator Norman 
 and Rockwell are going to pay you a bit of money 
 for it, which you've certainly earned, and that you 
 would take her away on a little trip anywhere she 
 wanted to go, and then set up in a business of your 
 own somewhere, and that she would be a lot hap- 
 pier that way than now." 
 
 An older man, more sensitive to the dynamite jn 
 the situation, would probably have spoken less 
 freely and less successfully. Whatever else Simp- 
 son may have felt, he could not question his com- 
 panion's youthful candour and good will. After 
 perhaps a dozen steps he spoke in a carefully con- 
 trolled voice: 
 
 " What did she say? " 
 
 " She didn't answer me," lied Merriam. " I told 
 her to think it over. She was impressed all right.
 
 2G8 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 And when I left I told Margery I was going to send 
 you around." 
 
 11 What did Margery say? " asked Simpson 
 quickly. 
 
 u She said yes, you should come." 
 
 Simpson drew a deep breath and stopped short at 
 a corner. 
 
 " I'm very much obliged to you, sir," he said, 
 looking quickly at Merriam and quickly away 
 again. 
 
 Merriam held out his hand. 
 
 " Good luck ! " he said. 
 
 Simpson grasped the hand and shook it intensely. 
 Then, resuming his really admirable self-control, 
 he said: 
 
 " We turn down here. I'm going to take you up 
 a fire escape. It's the only way. You can't go 
 into a hotel in the regular way even at this time of 
 night T.'ithout being seen." 
 
 They turned into an alley which ran behind the 
 Hotel De Soto, and presently came to a door a 
 servants' entrance in the ugly blank wall of yel- 
 low brick. 
 
 Simpson opened the door, and they passed into 
 a bare hallway, pine-floored, plaster-walled, lighted 
 at intervals by unshaded, low-powered incandes- 
 cents. 
 
 Many doors of yellow pine opened on both sides 
 of this hall, but Simpson, walking rapidly and 
 quietly, passed them all, turned into a further 
 stretch of hallway, narrower and still more dimly
 
 KETUEN 269 
 
 lighted, and stopped before a door of iron evi- 
 dently a fire door. He got out a key and unlocked 
 this door, and they emerged into the air again in 
 the inner court of the hotel, a great dismal well, 
 the depository of drifts of soot, accentuated here 
 and there by scraps of paper and other rubbish, and 
 the haunt, for reasons difficult to understand, of 
 the indomitable, grimy wild pigeons of the 
 Loop. 
 
 Simpson closed the iron door behind them and 
 began a searching scrutiny of the rows of windows. 
 All but half a dozen or so were dark. It looked 
 safe. 
 
 Satisfied, Simpson walked twenty feet or more 
 along the side of the court and stopped below a 
 fire escape. The platform at the lower end of the 
 iron stairway was placed too high for a man to 
 reach it from the ground unaided. 
 
 " Give me a boost," said Simpson. He stooped 
 and placed the camera on the ground. 
 
 In a moment Merriam had hoisted him up, so 
 that he could catch hold of the end of the platform 
 and pull himself on to it. Then Simpson lay down 
 on his stomach and dropped his arms over the edge 
 of the platform. Merriam first handed up the 
 camera and then with a little jump caught his 
 hands and was drawn up until he in his turn could 
 get hold of the edge of the landing and scramble 
 on to it. 
 
 A moment later they were erect and had begun 
 stealthily to mount the narrow stairs.
 
 270 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 It seemed to Merriam that they went up inter- 
 minably a short flight a turn another short 
 flight along a platform past sleeping windows 
 another flight. He got out of breath, and began to 
 feel very tired. The effect of Margery's coffee was 
 wearing off. 
 
 But at last Simpson stopped on one of the plat- 
 forms and peered through a window. It was one 
 of which the shades were not drawn at all and was 
 open about two inches at the bottom. 
 
 " This is it," said Simpson, and he stooped, 
 opened the window, and climbed in. 
 
 As soon as Merriam had followed, Simpson 
 closed the window and drew the shade. Then he 
 crossed the dark room and pushed a switch. 
 
 " Where are we? " asked Merriam. 
 
 " This room is next to Senator Norman's bed- 
 room," said Simpson, " on the other side from the 
 sitting room. The couple who had it left this 
 evening, and Mr. Rockwell has taken it for you un- 
 der the name of Wilson. Mr. Rockwell will be ex- 
 pecting us." 
 
 He moved to a door at the side and knocked 
 softly four times once, twice, and once again. 
 
 Almost immediately a key was turned on the 
 other side, the door was opened, and Rockwell stood 
 surveying them. 
 
 There was only a dim light in the room behind 
 him. With a glance over his shoulder at the bed 
 where the sick Senator lay the same bed in which 
 Merriam had played at being sick on the previous
 
 RETURN 271 
 
 afternoon, he entered the new room and closed 
 the door. 
 
 " You've made it ! " he said. " Thank Heaven ! 
 You weren't seen, Simpson? " 
 
 " I think not, sir." 
 
 He looked closely at Merriam. " You're tired," 
 he said. 
 
 ;; I sure am." 
 
 " Well, so am I. What a day ! And to-morrow 
 will be as bad. Maybe worse. Never again will 
 I father an impostor. But we've got to see it 
 through this time. Sit down. Have a cigarette, 
 and tell me what happened at the flat. Then I'll 
 let you go to bed and snatch a few hours' sleep. 
 You must be in fighting trim to-morrow, you 
 know for the speech ! " 
 
 Merriam took the proffered cigarette and dropped 
 gratefully into a chair. Rockwell and Simpson 
 also sat down. 
 
 "How's Senator Norman?" Merriam asked. 
 
 " Sick. Hobart looks serious, but he says he'll 
 pull around in a day or two. He's dosing him 
 heavily. You've simply got to stay by us and play 
 the game until he's on his feet again." 
 
 " I suppose so. Well " 
 
 He was about to repeat the summary of the 
 events of his evening which he had already given 
 Simpson, so as to get it over and get to bed. 
 But before he could begin a knock sounded at 
 the side door through which Rockwell had en- 
 tered.
 
 272 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 Simpson went to the door and opened it. It was 
 Dr. Hobart. 
 
 " Miss Norman and Mrs. Norman want to come 
 in," he said. 
 
 Rockwell hesitated. No doubt he would have 
 preferred to hear Merriam's story himself first, 
 without even Aunt Mary present. 
 
 Merriam meanwhile sat up, suddenly forgetting 
 his fatigue: he was to see Mollie June still that 
 night. He had not hoped for that. 
 
 " I supposed they would have gone to bed," 
 he said, to cover his involuntary show of in- 
 terest. 
 
 "No," said Rockwell. "After the dinner party 
 they waited for me to come back with Norman, of 
 course. Then he was so ill that Hobart kept us all 
 busy for a couple of hours doing things. We didn't 
 want to get in a nurse on account of you, you 
 know. And then they wanted to wait till you came. 
 We expected you a long time ago. Well," he 
 added, turning to the physician, " tell them to come 
 along." 
 
 It was at least a minute before they arrived. 
 Merriam was oddly nervous. He had been through 
 strange scenes since he had left Mollie June in the 
 Peacock Cabaret, and she must have divined as 
 much. 
 
 They entered, Aunt Mary first with Mollie June 
 behind her, and Merriam and Rockwell rose. The 
 two women were dressed just as they had been at 
 the dinner party Aunt Mary in the black evening
 
 RETURN 273 
 
 gown and Mollie June in the filmy rose. Mollie 
 June looked just a little pale and tired, but Aunt 
 Mary had not turned a hair. 
 
 " Well, young man," began the older woman 
 briskly, "you've kept us up till a pretty time of 
 night. What was happening there where you were 
 when Mr. Rockwell telephoned? Sit down and 
 tell us." 
 
 Evidently Aunt Mary, conscious of the ungodly 
 hour, did not think it necessary to allow Merriam 
 time for even a formal greeting of her young sister- 
 in-law, who had stopped uncertainly in the door- 
 way. 
 
 But Merriam was not to be hurried to quite that 
 degree, whatever the time of night or morning 
 might be. He turned to Mollie June. 
 
 " You're coming in, aren't you? Take this 
 chair." 
 
 He pushed a rocker towards her, concerned at 
 her evident fatigue. 
 
 She came forward and sat down, then raised her 
 eyes to him with a grave " Thank you." 
 
 For a moment Merriam did not understand that 
 steady, unsmiling look. Then he thought he did 
 understand. It had a questioning quality. Mollie 
 June's mind was at ease now about her husband, 
 since he was back and not supposed to be seriously 
 ill, and she, like Simpson earlier, was wondering 
 not that it concerned her, of course -how Merriam 
 had spent the night so large a part of it at 
 Jennie's flat. She, too, knew Jennie, to the extent
 
 274 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 at least of having seen and in a measure compre- 
 hended her. Perhaps even in a Mollie June there 
 is that which enables her to understand a Jennie 
 and her lure for a youthful male. He remembered 
 Mollie June's description of her and the cool de- 
 tachment with which it had been uttered : " She's 
 pretty and sweet, and warm." 
 
 For just an instant Merriam was slightly con- 
 fused. He had verified that description all of it. 
 
 It is to be feared that his embarrassment, slight 
 and merely instantaneous though it was, did not 
 escape Mollie June. She dropped her eyes, still 
 unsmiling. 
 
 Merriam's second sketch of his evening's ad- 
 ventures differed from the one he had given Simp- 
 son in being fuller and in two particular points: 
 first, of course, in omitting reference to his mis- 
 sionary efforts in Simpson's behalf, which, how- 
 ever laudable, were hardly for the ears of Mollie 
 June ; and, second, in including mention of Jennie's 
 change into her ballet costume -because he real- 
 ised as he talked that the pictures, to be developed 
 in the morning, would exhibit that detail most 
 unmistakably and that he would do well to prepare 
 Mollie June's mind and Simpson's, for that 
 matter in advance. But he laid his emphasis on 
 the more dramatic episodes the hurled revolver, 
 the tying up, the flash lights, and Crockett's angry 
 exit. He told it humorously and well, and was 
 rewarded by Mollie June's interest. Her question- 
 ing gravity disappeared, and she followed him with
 
 RETURN 275 
 
 eager attention and with, a return of pretty colour 
 to her cheeks. 
 
 Aunt Mary and Rockwell not to mention Simp- 
 son also listened attentively. When Merriam had 
 finished they looked at each other. 
 
 " Well," said Kockwell, " I'm not sure but that 
 it would have been better to let him go as soon as 
 you had told him your yarn, but on the whole I 
 think you did mighty well. Those pictures may 
 come in handy." 
 
 Aunt Mary rose. " You certainly are an enter- 
 prising young man, Mr. Merriam," she said dryly. 
 "Now go to bed and get some sleep. You make 
 your d4but as an orator at noon, you know ! Come, 
 Mollie June." 
 
 " Good night, Miss Norman," said Merriam, and 
 he advanced to Mollie June, who had also risen. 
 
 " Good night, Mrs. Mollie June." He dropped 
 his voice for the last three words and held out his 
 hand. 
 
 She took it with an unconscious happy smile. 
 
 " Good night Mr. John," she said. 
 
 Whatever she may have feared or suspected his 
 story had established an alibi for him.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 THE RErOKM LEAGUE 
 
 UARTER to ten," said Rockwell cheerily. 
 " I've let you sleep to the last possible mo- 
 ment. Here's your breakfast on the stand. Better 
 eat it and drink your coffee first. Then a shave 
 and get at this." He indicated a small pile of 
 manuscript on the writing table. "Your speech, 
 Senator ! " he grinned. 
 
 " Good Lord ! " groaned Merriam, remembering 
 everything. He perceived also that he was to 
 breakfast alone no Mollie June. But the sight 
 of the manuscript fascinated and aroused him. 
 He realised, as he had not done before, that within 
 a few hours he was to make a public address in a 
 great Chicago club before many of the city's most 
 prominent men and women on what subject, even, 
 he had no idea ! 
 
 " Good Lord ! " he said again and put his feet 
 out. " How's Senator Norman? " he asked. 
 
 " Sleeping now," said Rockwell. " Hobart thinks 
 he can get him on his feet by night. He's due to 
 start for Cairo this evening, you know, on a stump- 
 ing trip." Then quickly : " You'll find these sliced 
 oranges refreshing. Have your bath first if you 
 want to." 
 
 276
 
 THE REFORM LEAGUE 277 
 
 Merriam was in the midst of his breakfast when 
 Rockwell returned. " By the way," he said, " here 
 are your pictures," and he took some unmounted 
 prints from an envelope. 
 
 Merriam reached for them with curiosity and 
 something like trepidation. They were not good 
 flash lights a little blurred, but the faces and 
 attitudes were unmistakable. Jennie's foot and 
 leg extending forward across the table were very 
 much in evidence in the first of them. 
 
 "Rather striking poses," commented Rockwell. 
 
 "Jennie's invention," said Merriam defensively. 
 
 " No doubt. Well, they could hardly be better 
 for their purpose. I think Crockett will go slow 
 all right." 
 
 " Have has Miss Norman seen them? " 
 
 " Yes. And Simpson, of course." For a mo- 
 ment Rockwell quizzically regarded Merriam's 
 face, in which a further unspoken question was 
 anxiously plain. Then he answered it: "No one 
 else. Mrs. Norman is still sleeping. I'm not sure 
 Aunt Mary will consider them proper pictures for 
 her to see anyway. Come," he added briskly, 
 " you've eaten only one piece of toast. You must 
 get outside of at least one more piece. And then 
 shave. I'll strop your razor for you. I'm your 
 valet this morning, Senator." 
 
 With a sigh Merriam glanced at the waiting 
 speech and tackled a second piece of toast, with 
 the feeling that its mastication was a task of al- 
 most impossible difficulty. He achieved it, how-
 
 278 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 ever, to the rhythmic accompaniment of Rockwell's 
 stropping, consumed another cup of coffee his 
 third, I regret to say, and proceeded to shave. 
 
 At last Merriam was collared and tied and was 
 slipping into his coat. Eockwell rose and laid 
 down the manuscript. 
 
 " Eeady? " he said. " Very good. You can get 
 to work. It's a quarter past ten. The luncheon 
 is at twelve-thirty. But we shan't appear at the 
 luncheon itself. Too dangerous. You'd have to 
 meet a lot of men who know the Senator meet 
 them face to face in cold daylight and talk to them. 
 We'd never get away with it. So I'll telephone 
 that you've been detained by important business 
 but will be in for the speeches. That way we'll 
 come in by ourselves, with everybody else set and 
 no opportunity for personal confabulations. You'll 
 have to run the gauntlet of their eyes, of course. 
 But you can do that." 
 
 Earnestly for a moment he scrutinised Merriam's 
 face and figure, as if to reassure himself that the 
 astounding imposture had been and was still really 
 possible. 
 
 "Yes," he continued confidently, "that'll be all 
 right. The speeches are scheduled to begin at one- 
 fifteen. We'll leave here at five or ten minutes 
 after one. That gives you nearly three hours to 
 salt down the speech. You can learn it verbatim 
 or only master the outline and substance and give 
 it in your own words. Perhaps you'd better learn 
 a good deal of it just as it is. Aunt Mary has it
 
 THE REFORM LEAGUE 279 
 
 chock-full of the Senator's pet words and phrases. 
 Your own style might be too different. Do you 
 commit easily? " 
 
 " Fairly so," said Merriam. As a matter of fact 
 the speech itself presented few terrors to him. He 
 had done a good deal of debating and declaiming 
 in college, and of course in his capacity as principal 
 of the high school he was called upon for " a few 
 words " on every conceivable occasion in Riceville. 
 
 " Good. Go to it, then. I'll make myself scarce. 
 Here are cigarettes. You won't be disturbed. Au 
 revoir, Senator ! If you want anything, knock on 
 this door Either Hobart or I will answer." 
 
 Grinning, Kockwell departed into the real, the 
 sick Senator's, bedroom, leaving Merriam with the 
 typewritten manuscript. 
 
 He worked away for a couple of hours, sometimes 
 sitting down, more often walking back and forth, 
 occasionally refreshing himself with a cigarette, 
 and faithfully learning by heart Aunt Mary's Sen- 
 ator Norman's speech on " Municipal Reform." 
 
 By half past twelve he had mastered it to his 
 satisfaction. He decided to go through with it 
 once more by the clock. It was designed, as he 
 knew from a pencil note at the top of the first page, 
 to take thirty minutes. He did so, and came out 
 at the end by five minutes to one. 
 
 Evidently his delivery was a little more rapid 
 than Senator Norman's. He must remember to 
 speak slowly. 
 
 He had just reached this conclusion when a
 
 280 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 knock sounded at the side door and Rockwell 
 entered. 
 
 " I've got it by heart," said Merriam. 
 
 "Good! Come into the sitting room, then. 
 You're to have a cup of coffee and a sandwich be- 
 fore you start." 
 
 " Fine. I am a bit hollow. How's the Senator? " 
 
 Kockwell looked worried, but answered, " Sleep- 
 ing again now. Gome along if you're ready." 
 
 " In a minute." 
 
 Merriam bathed his face and hands, folded the 
 speech and put it in his pocket, and followed Rock- 
 well across the Senator's bedroom, with just a 
 glance at the sick man in the bed and a nod to Dr. 
 Hobart, who sat by the window with a newspaper, 
 into the sitting room. 
 
 After his morning of intense, solitary labour he 
 was somewhat nonplused for a moment by the size 
 of the company he found assembled there Aunt 
 Mary and Mollie June, of course, Alicia, Mr. Way- 
 ward, and Father Murray. He said good morning 
 to each of them. 
 
 Alicia reminded him that it was really afternoon 
 now. 
 
 "We shall meet Black in the car," said Rock- 
 well. "Then the roll of the conspirators will be 
 complete ! " 
 
 Mollie June, who had had no speech to learn, had 
 slept late and was now as blooming as ever. 
 
 "We're all going to hear you," she said as she 
 gave Merriam her hand.
 
 THE KEFOKM LEAGUE 281 
 
 " Good Heavens ! " lie said, with a twinge of 
 the stage fright which he had thus far had no 
 time to feeL "I shouldn't mind the others, but 
 you " 
 
 He left that dangerous remark unfinished. 
 
 To Aunt Mary he said : " I've learned the speech 
 by heart. I admire it very much," and was pleased 
 to note that even Aunt Mary had an author's sus- 
 ceptibility to praise. 
 
 Meanwhile Simpson, who was in attendance, had 
 poured out a cup of coffee, and Mollie June brought 
 it to him with a sandwich on a plate. 
 
 " Won't you sit down to eat it? " she asked, re- 
 garding him with a look of awe which flattered him 
 enormously and served to quiet his rising nervous- 
 ness. 
 
 (Mollie June had taken oratory of all degrees 
 and on all possible occasions on the part of Norman 
 as a matter of course, but the thought that John 
 Merriam, who was only a little older than herself 
 and had taken her to " sociables " and had wanted 
 to make love to her but had not dared, was about 
 to address the distinguished Urban Club of Chicago 
 at one of its formidable luncheons filled her with 
 admiration. ) 
 
 " Thank you," he said, taking the coffee and the 
 sandwich. " No, I think I'll eat it standing." But 
 he smiled at her with the confidence which her ad- 
 miration had given him, thereby increasing the 
 admiration a pleasing psychological circle. 
 
 But now Eockwell was at his side and barely
 
 282 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 gave him time to finish his sandwich and gulp down 
 the coffee. 
 
 " Miss Norman and the Senator and I go with 
 Mayor Black in the Senator's car," said that master 
 of ceremonies and conspiracies. " The other four 
 of you are to follow in the Mayor's machine. Here's 
 your coat and hat." 
 
 Along the hall down in the elevator through 
 the lobby to the pavement Merriam had only a 
 dazed sense of being part of an irresistible, con- 
 spicuous procession which was carrying him 
 whither he had no strong desire to go. 
 
 A limousine was already drawn up at the curb, 
 and the hotel starter was deferentially holding the 
 door. 
 
 Mayor Black was already within the car. 
 
 " Ah, Senator," the Mayor ejaculated, " I'm glad 
 to see you up again, and to have you really you 
 coming to the Kef orm League ! " 
 
 For an instant Merriam did not understand. 
 Then he realised that the Mayor thought he was 
 addressing the real Senator Norman. It was a 
 good omen for the continued success of his imper- 
 sonation. 
 
 He sank into the seat opposite the Mayor, who 
 was facing forward with Aunt Mary beside him. 
 Eockwell climbed in and sat next to Merriam. The 
 door slammed, and the machine started. 
 
 Then, as the Mayor still beamed at him and 
 as neither of the others spoke, Merriam said 
 gently :
 
 THE REFORM LEAGUE 283 
 
 " I'm still the impostor, I'm afraid, Mr. Mayor." 
 
 " Eh ! " 
 
 The Mayor leaned forward to scrutinise his face 
 and then turned as if bewildered and still uncon- 
 vinced to Kockwell. 
 
 " Yes," said Kockwell. "I tried to get you on 
 the 'phone this morning, but your line was busy, 
 and I didn't have a chance to try again. The Sen- 
 ator is still sick. Worse, in fact. Mr. Merriam is 
 going to keep the Senator's engagement at the 
 Urban Club for him." 
 
 " My God ! " cried the Mayor. " Speak before all 
 those people ! You never can do it ! " 
 
 " Yes, we can," said Rockwell, with smiling 
 serenity. "You were fooled again yourself just 
 now," he pointed out. 
 
 The Mayor groaned. " Then we still don't know 
 where Senator Norman himself will stand when 
 he's up," he said. 
 
 " I telephoned you yesterday that he had agreed 
 to everything," said Aunt Mary coldly. " That 
 was true." 
 
 " While he was sick," said Black. " Will he stick 
 to it when he's well again? " 
 
 "He'll have to stick," said Rockwell. "Ten 
 times more so after this speech. He can't possibly 
 go back on that." 
 
 "If this Mr. Mr. Merriam," said the Mayor, 
 eyeing him with profound dislike, " is unmasked at 
 the Urban Club, it would be the utter ruin of us 
 all."
 
 284 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " It undoubtedly would/' replied Rockwell cheer- 
 fully. "All the more reason why we should all 
 keep a stiff upper lip and play up for him." 
 
 " No ! " cried the Mayor. " It's insane ! Stop 
 the car! I'll step into the nearest store and tele- 
 phone that the Senator has fainted in the cab and 
 can't appear. Anything is better than this awful 
 risk." 
 
 He put out his hand for the cord to signal to the 
 chauffeur. But Rockwell roughly struck his arm 
 down. 
 
 " Sit still ! " he commanded savagely. " Do you 
 want us to choke you again? This car goes on to 
 the Urban Club. Senator Norman has a fine 
 speech, and he'll make it well. No one will sus- 
 pect. The thing has the one essential characteris- 
 tic of successful imposture boldness to the point 
 of impossibility. If any one notices any slight 
 change in his appearance or voice or manner, it will 
 be put down to his illness. It will cinch the whole 
 thing as nothing else could. You've got to go 
 through with it, Mayor." 
 
 Mr. Black groaned again and relapsed into a dis- 
 mal silence. 
 
 Fortunately he did not have long to brood, nor 
 Merriam long to work up the nervousness which 
 this dialogue had naturally renewed in him. In a 
 couple of minutes after the Mayor's second and 
 more lamentable groan the limousine stopped 
 before the imposing entrance of the Urban 
 Club.
 
 THE REFORM LEAGUE 285 
 
 " Sit tight, Mayor ! " Rockwell warned. 
 
 Then the doorman of the Club opened the car, 
 and Rockwell descended and helped Aunt Mary 
 out, and Merriam and the Mayor followed. 
 
 Inside their coats and the men's hats were 
 quickly taken from them by efficient checkroom 
 boys, and they were guided immediately to the ele- 
 vator. The speeches had already begun upstairs, 
 some one said. 
 
 They stepped out into the hallway outside the 
 Club's big dining room. From inside came the 
 noise of clapping. Some one had just finished 
 speaking. 
 
 "This is our chance," said Rockwell, meaning 
 doubtless that they could best enter during the in- 
 terlude between speeches. "Go ahead, Senator. 
 Take the Mayor's arm ! " 
 
 In a moment they were passing through a group 
 of tuxedoed servants at the door. Merriam was 
 conscious of a large room in pleasant tones of 
 brown with a low raftered ceiling and many win- 
 dows of small leaded panes. The tables were ar- 
 ranged in the form of a great horseshoe, with the 
 closed end the speakers' table opposite the door. 
 The horseshoe was lined inside and out with guests, 
 perhaps two hundred in all men who looked 
 either distinguished or intelligent, occasionally 
 both, and women who were either distinguished or 
 intelligent or beautiful from some points of view 
 the great city's best. 
 
 Then came the turning of many eyes to look at
 
 286 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 himself and Mayor Black, and the toastmaster at 
 the center of the speakers' table rose and called to 
 them: 
 
 " Senator ! Mayor ! This way." 
 
 He pointed to two empty chairs on either side of 
 his own. 
 
 Merriam nodded, and, still propelling the semi- 
 comatose Black, circled one side of the horseshoe, 
 giving the line of guests as wide a berth as he could, 
 to avoid possible contretemps from personal greet- 
 ings to which he might be unable to make suitable 
 response. 
 
 Arrived at the speakers' table, he shook hands 
 warmly with the toastmaster a bald, benevolent- 
 looking man of much aplomb, whose name he never 
 learned and with two or three other men from 
 nearby chairs evidently personal acquaintances 
 of Senator Norman's who rose to welcome him, 
 making talk the while of apologies for being late. 
 Presently he found himself seated at the toastmas- 
 ter's right, facing the distinguished company. No 
 one had betrayed any suspicion. The imposture 
 was, in fact, as Kockwell had said, so bold as to be 
 unthinkable. 
 
 Mayor Black had meanwhile been seated at the 
 toastmaster's left, and Eockwell and Aunt Mary 
 had been guided to two vacant seats at the left end 
 of the speakers' table. The necessity of greeting 
 friends had somewhat roused the Mayor, who had 
 found his tongue and managed to respond, though 
 for him haltingly.
 
 THE KEPOKM LEAGUE 287 
 
 The toastmaster leaned towards Merriam and 
 whispered : 
 
 " You're to speak last, Senator. Colonel Ed- 
 wards is next, then Mayor Black, then you." 
 
 With that he rose and felicitated the company on 
 the arrival of the two distinguished servants of the 
 City and the Nation between whom he now had the 
 honour to sit. 
 
 He then introduced Colonel Edwards, a stout, 
 quite unmilitary-looking gentleman, who was ear- 
 nestly interested and mildly interesting on the sub- 
 ject of good roads for the space of fifteen minutes. 
 
 Merriam's attention was distracted almost at the 
 beginning of Colonel Edwards' speech by the ar- 
 rival at the entrance of the dining room, now di- 
 rectly opposite him, of the second taxi-load from 
 the hotel. Alicia caught Merriam's eye and smiled 
 at him mischievously. Evidently she was enjoying 
 the situation to the full. Mollie June, on the other 
 hand, though deliciously crowned with a small 
 blossomy hat of obvious expensiveness, was en- 
 tirely grave, her eyes fixed almost too steadily and 
 too anxiously on our youthful hero, where he sat in 
 the seats of the mighty, outwardly at least as much 
 at ease as if he had been accustomed for thirty 
 years to find himself at the speakers' table of his- 
 toric clubs. 
 
 Colonel Edwards suddenly sat down. He was 
 one of those rare public speakers who occasionally 
 disconcert their audiences by stopping when they 
 are through.
 
 288 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 The toastmaster gasped, but rose to Ms feet and 
 the occasion and called upon Mayor Black. 
 
 As the Mayor slowly rose Merriam was most un- 
 comfortably anxious uncertain whether the city's 
 chief executive was even yet sufficiently master of 
 himself to face an audience successfully. But Mr. 
 Black was one of those gentlemen, not uncommon 
 in public life, who are apparently more at ease be- 
 fore an audience than in any other situation. His 
 great mellow voice boomed forth, and Merriam re- 
 laxed. That speech was hardly, perhaps, one of 
 the Mayor's masterpieces. But that mattered lit- 
 tle, of course. He produced an admirably even 
 flow of head tones. It sounded like a perfectly 
 good speech. 
 
 Merriam, at any rate, was quite oblivious of any 
 lack of strict logical coherence in the Mayor's re- 
 marks. He was suddenly smitten by the realisa- 
 tion that his own turn came next. For a moment 
 he fought a panic of blankness, then mentally 
 grabbed at the opening sentences of what he had so 
 carefully committed during the morning. Out- 
 wardly serene and attentive to the speaker, in- 
 wardly he hastily rehearsed his first half dozen 
 paragraphs, and, winking his eyes somewhat rap- 
 idly perhaps, fixed the outline of the rest of it in 
 his mind. 
 
 The Mayor rose to a climax of thunderous tone 
 and eloquent gesture and sat. Loud applause fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 Across the clapping hands Merriam glanced at
 
 THE EEFOKM LEAGUE 289 
 
 Mr. Wayward and Alicia and Mollie June where 
 they sat at one side of the horseshoe. The other 
 two were clapping, but Mollie June was not. He 
 thought she looked pale, but of course he was too 
 far away to be sure. " She is afraid for me," he 
 thought, and gratitude for her interest mingled 
 with a fine resolve to show her that she had no 
 cause for fear that he would give a good account 
 of himself anywhere for her. 
 
 The glow of that resolution carried him through 
 the ordeal of the toastmaster's introduction and 
 brought him to his feet with smiling alacrity at the 
 proper moment. 
 
 The applause was hearty. There is magic still, 
 strange as it may seem, in the word " senator." He 
 was forced to bow again and again. 
 
 Then he struck into his speech Aunt Mary's 
 speech. He found himself letter-perfect. He had 
 at least half his mind free to attend to his delivery. 
 He gave it slowly, impressively, grandly facing first 
 one part of his audience and tken another. George 
 Norman himself before packed galleries in the Sen- 
 ate Chamber at Washington had never done better. 
 And it was a good speech, deftly conceived, clearly 
 reasoned, aptly worded. Merriam himself in all 
 his morning's study of it had not realised how per- 
 fectly it was adapted to the occasion and the audi- 
 ence. Down at the far end of the speakers' table, 
 the female author of it sat unnoticed, watching 
 with tight-pressed lips its effect; her only right 
 to be there, if any one had asked you, the ac-
 
 290 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 cident of her relationship to the wonderful Sen- 
 ator. 
 
 He reached the end. As he rounded out the last 
 sentence his eyes rested triumphantly for a second 
 on Mollie June. Whether or not her cheeks had 
 been pale before, they were flushed now. He sat 
 down. 
 
 The room rocked. The applause this time was 
 no mechanical reaction. It was an ovation. The 
 toastmaster leaped to his feet with ponderous agil- 
 ity and grabbed for Merriam's hand. The latter 
 found himself standing, the center of a group of 
 excited men, all of whom he must pretend to know, 
 overwhelming him with congratulations. 
 
 Behind him he caught a remark that was doubt- 
 less not intended for his ears : " How the devil does 
 he keep his youthful looks and fire? He might be 
 twenty-five ! " 
 
 Then Rockwell charged into the group, excited 
 himself, but persistent with the formula, " Press- 
 ing engagement," and got him put of the room, and 
 into the elevator, and through the hallway on the 
 first floor, with his hat and coat restored, and into 
 the limousine, which darted away for the hotel.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 SECOND COUNCIL OF WAR 
 
 MERRIAM and Rockwell were alone in the 
 Senator's car. 
 
 Merriam leaned back against the cushions and 
 closed his eyes. He was at once fatigued and ex- 
 cited. It almost seemed to him that he was still 
 addressing the Urban Club. Then he seemed to be 
 talking still but to a single auditor a girl with 
 flushed cheeks and eyes that shone with excited 
 pride. 
 
 He opened his eyes. Rockwell was regarding 
 him steadily. " I don't wonder you feel done up," 
 he said. " It was splendid, my boy. You spoke 
 like a veteran. You ought to go into public life on 
 your own. Perhaps you will." He seemed to 
 meditate. Then : " You saw Crockett, I suppose? " 
 
 " No ! " exclaimed Merriam. 
 
 " Didn't you? He was seated six places to your 
 right at the speakers' table. Right in line with 
 you, of course. Not strange you missed him. Just 
 as well, perhaps. It might have shaken even your 
 nerve." 
 
 The phrase "even your nerve" was pleasant 
 praise to Merriam. He had never thought of him- 
 
 291
 
 292 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 self as possessed of any exceptional sang froid. 
 But perhaps he had behaved with rather creditable 
 composure in a trying situation. 
 
 " He was shaken, I can tell you," Rockwell was 
 saying. " Lord, I was on pins ! I didn't know but 
 what when you rose to speak he would jump up and 
 denounce you. But not he. He simply lay back 
 and stared and kept moistening his Tips. I sup- 
 pose he couldn't make up his mind for sure whether 
 you were the Senator or the double or whether he 
 himself had gone crazy or not. We'll hear from 
 him, though," he added reflectively. 
 
 " I suppose so," said Merriam wearily. " I wish 
 to Heaven we were clean through the thing ! " 
 That feeling had come suddenly, and for the mo- 
 ment he meant it, though he was having the time 
 of his life. 
 
 " So do I," said Rockwell heartily. " But we're 
 not. Not by a long shot. So you must buck up. 
 Here's the hotel. You shall have a real meal now. 
 That'll put heart into you again." 
 
 The machine stopped, and the door was opened. 
 
 " Quick time, now ! " Rockwell whispered. 
 
 Senator Norman and his new political manager, 
 Mr. Rockwell of the Reform League, rushed almost 
 precipitately into the lobby of the Hotel De Soto 
 and made a bee line for the nearest elevator. It 
 was obvious that important business urgently 
 called them, for they merely nodded hurriedly in 
 response to several cordial salutations. 
 
 As the elevator shot up Rockwell leaned heavily
 
 SECOND COUNCIL OF WAR 293 
 
 against the side of the car, took off his hat, though 
 there was no one with them, drew a deep breath, 
 and comically winked both eyes at Merriam. 
 
 " What a life ! " he ejaculated. 
 
 Stepping out at Floor Three, they were greeted 
 by the spectacle of Dr. Hobart bending over the 
 floor clerk's desk and evidently having a delightful 
 tete-a-tete with the handsome young mistress of 
 that sanctum, whose eyes were coquettishly raised 
 to his, though her head was slightly bent for she 
 was smelling an American Beauty rose. A large 
 vase of the same expensive flowers adorned one cor- 
 ner of her desk. 
 
 Only a momentary glimpse did Merriam and 
 Rockwell have of this pretty tableau, for Dr. Ho- 
 bart at once straightened up as if in some embar- 
 rassment and came towards them. 
 
 " I was just thinking it was about time for you 
 to be back," he said, though he surely did not expect 
 them to believe that he had just been thinking any- 
 thing of the sort. 
 
 The pretty floor clerk, no whit nonplused, bowed 
 and smiled at Rockwell. But she studiously failed 
 to observe Senator Norman's presence. 
 
 Dr. Hobart walked down the hall with them. 
 
 " How's Norman? " Rockwell asked. 
 
 " No better, I'm afraid," said the physician apol- 
 ogetically. " He has a high fever, and a while ago 
 he was slightly delirious. I had to give him more 
 of the drug. He's sleeping again now. Simpson 
 is with him, of course."
 
 294 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " Damn ! " said Rockwell, with a sort of deliber- 
 ate earnestness. 
 
 They reached the sitting room and entered it. 
 There was no one there. Simpson was apparently 
 in the Senator's bedroom. Merriam dropped into 
 a chair and closed his eyes again. Eockwell 
 walked across to a window and stood staring out. 
 Dr. Hobart stopped uncertainly in the middle of 
 the room and fiddled with a cigarette without being 
 able to make up his mind to light it. For several 
 moments none of them spoke. 
 
 But Rockwell was not the man to remain long in 
 any apathy of inaction. He turned suddenly, and 
 Merriam, whom the prolonged unnatural silence 
 had caused to open his eyes, saw that he had made 
 up his mind to something. 
 
 "Hobart," he said, "I suppose Simpson isn't 
 practically necessary in there." He indicated the 
 sick room. 
 
 " N-no," said Dr. Hobart, " I suppose not. He's 
 just watching. Norman will sleep soundly for 
 some time." 
 
 " Then ask him to come here, will you? " 
 
 The physician disappeared into the bedroom and 
 in a moment returned with Simpson. 
 
 " Simpson," said Kockwell, " we're going to have 
 a meal here, for nine people. A luncheon, if 
 you like. But make it hearty. Choose the stuff 
 yourself, and serve it as quickly as you can, 
 please." 
 
 For a moment Simpson stared. Then, as if re-
 
 SECOND COUNCIL OF WAR 295 
 
 membering a nearly forgotten cue, he replied sub- 
 missively, " Yes, sir," and turned to the door. 
 
 As that door closed behind Simpson, Merriam 
 suddenly stood up. 
 
 " I must send a telegram to Riceville," he said, 
 starting for the writing table for a blank. 
 
 " Wait a bit," said Rockwell. " You can send it 
 just as well an hour from now." 
 
 Merriam was disposed to argue, but just then the 
 rest of their party trooped in, having returned to 
 the hotel in Mayor Black's car. 
 
 Alicia walked straight up to Merriam, gay 
 with enthusiasm, caught his hand, and squeezed 
 it. 
 
 "My dear boy," she cried, "it was perfectly 
 splendid ! I've half a mind to kiss you ! " 
 
 " Please do," said Merriam. 
 
 "I will," said Alicia promptly, and before the 
 young man could realise what was happening she 
 had put her gloved hands on his shoulders and 
 kissed him on one cheek. 
 
 Merriam was vastly astonished. In the circles 
 in which he had moved in Riceville or even at col- 
 lege, his remark could have been taken only as a 
 daring pleasantry. But he undoubtedly had sang 
 froid, for he concealed his confusion, or most of it, 
 and said : 
 
 " Let me turn the other cheek." 
 
 "Oh, I mustn't be a pig," said Alicia. "Til 
 leave the other cheek for Mollie June." 
 
 At this Merriam's confusion became, I fear, per-
 
 296 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 fectly apparent, for the remainder of the party had 
 followed Alicia into the room and were grouped 
 about him. 
 
 "Kiss him quick, Mollie dear," said the incor- 
 rigible Alicia, thereby causing confusion in a sec- 
 ond person present. 
 
 But Mayor Black, no longer to be restrained, 
 saved the situation. He seized Merriam's hand 
 and pumped it. 
 
 " One of the best speeches I ever heard the Sen- 
 ator make ! " he asserted, in tones which Merriam 
 feared might rouse the real Senator in the adjoin- 
 ing room. 
 
 Mr. Wayward meanwhile was patting him on 
 the back and murmuring, " Fine ! Excellent ! " 
 
 Merriam turned to Aunt Mary : 
 
 " I tried to do it justice," he said. 
 
 " You gave it exceedingly well," said Aunt Mary, 
 with less reserve than he had ever seen her exhibit 
 before. 
 
 " Indeed you did ! " cried Mollie June earnestly, 
 her eyes shining with sincerity. 
 
 And that tribute, from the least qualified judge 
 of them all, was, I regret to state, the one which 
 young Merriam treasured the most. 
 
 Simpson, who had worked with amazing alacrity, 
 and even inspired his assistants to celerity, had 
 completed Ms preparations and announced that he 
 was ready to serve the luncheon. 
 
 Rockwell delayed the meal for several minutes 
 for the sake of an apparently important conference
 
 SECOND COUNCIL OF WAR 297 
 
 into which, he had drawn Mr. Wayward and the 
 Mayor over by the window. 
 
 Presently, however, they all sat down, with Mer- 
 riam beside Mollie June. The luncheon passed, as 
 luncheons do, in small talk and anecdote. 
 
 At last Rockwell, having finished the last morsel 
 of a piece of French pastry, laid down his fork and 
 fixed his eyes significantly on Mr. Wayward, who 
 was in mid-career with something like his fifteenth 
 anecdote. Mr. Wayward faltered but rallied and 
 finished his story. It was the best one he had told, 
 but there was only perfunctory laughter. Every 
 one about the table was looking at Rockwell, realis- 
 ing that at last the great question that was in all 
 their minds, " What are we to do next? " was to be 
 discussed and decided. Simpson, it should be 
 added, had dismissed his assistants as soon as the 
 dessert course was served, so that only the initiated 
 were present. 
 
 Three times during the meal Dr. Hobart had left 
 the table to enter the sick room. On the second 
 occasion he had remained away some minutes. 
 Rockwell now turned to him. 
 
 " Give us your report, Doctor," he said abruptly. 
 
 "Well," replied the physician, "he is better. 
 Half an hour ago he was awake for perhaps five 
 minutes. His temperature is lower, though he 
 still has some fever. He is sleeping again now, 
 more quietly than at any time since he returned 
 to the hotel. In short, he is doing as well as could 
 be expected. But it is out of the question for him
 
 298 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 to start on that speech-making tour this even- 
 ing." 
 
 " Undoubtedly," said Aunt Mary, with much de- 
 cision. 
 
 "Just so," said Rockwell. "That being the 
 case, two alternatives present themselves: to. an- 
 nounce his illness and call off the trip, or to go on 
 playing the game as we have begun, with Mr. Mer- 
 riam's help." 
 
 Merriam gasped and opened his mouth to pro- 
 test, but Rockwell waved him down. 
 
 " The Mayor and Mr. Wayward and I have been 
 discussing the matter. At first blush, there may 
 seem to be little question as to which of these two 
 courses we should pursue. Having come safely 
 so far as we know at least through all the perils 
 of discovery thus far, it may seem that we should 
 tempt fortune no further, but let Mr. Merriam re- 
 turn to his school, publish the fact of the Senator's 
 illness, and cancel the speaking engagements." 
 
 " Surely yes," interjected Merriam, and Aunt 
 Mary and Father Murray and Mollie June and 
 even Alicia seemed to assent. 
 
 " On further consideration," Eockwell continued 
 imperturbably, " I think you will all see that the 
 thing is not so clear. The course I have just sug- 
 gested may be doubtless is the more prudent 
 one, if prudence were all, but it is decidedly unfair 
 to George Norman." 
 
 At this Aunt Mary almost visibly pricked up her 
 ears.
 
 SECOND COUNCIL OP WAR 299 
 
 Rockwell went on, "we have 
 thrown over the conservative wing of the party, 
 with whom he has always stood and who have sup- 
 ported him have 'betrayed' them, as they will 
 put it, in this traction matter and in aligning him 
 with the Reform League. We did so on the theory 
 that he was to appeal to the people and to come 
 back stronger than ever as the leader of the new 
 and growing progressive element, which is sure to 
 be dominant in the next election if only they can 
 find such a leader as Norman could be. But if we 
 cancel this trip and let him drop out of the cam- 
 paign, if we stop now, where will he be? He will 
 have lost his old backers and will not have made 
 new ones. He will be politically dead. We shall 
 have played absolutely into the hands of Crockett 
 and Thompson and the rest of the gang, and shall 
 have accomplished nothing but the political ruin of 
 George Norman." 
 
 All the persons about the table except Mayor 
 Black and Mr. Wayward stared hard at Rockwell 
 as this new view of their predicament sank into 
 their minds. The Mayor and Mr. Wayward smiled 
 and nodded and watched the effect on the others. 
 Particularly they watched Merriam, who sat dum- 
 founded and vaguely alarmed. What new entan- 
 glements was Rockwell devising for him? He 
 must get back to Riceville. Involuntarily he 
 could not have said why he cast a quick glance at 
 Mollie June, and encountered a similar glance from 
 her. They both looked away in confusion.
 
 300 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 Aunt Mary spoke : 
 
 " Tell us your plan." 
 
 It was like her that masterful acceptance, with- 
 out comment, of the situation. 
 
 " My plan, as you call it," said Rockwell, fixing 
 his eyes not on Aunt Mary but on Merriam, " is 
 simply that we should go on for another day or two 
 as we have begun play the game for George until 
 he can take the cards in his own hands. This is 
 Thursday. He is scheduled to leave this evening 
 for Cairo, to speak there at nine o'clock to-morrow 
 morning, to go on to East St. Louis for a talk be- 
 fore the Eotary Club at noon, and then up to 
 Springfield for an address in the evening. Is that 
 correct? " 
 
 " Yes," said Aunt Mary. " And he was to speak 
 in Bloomington and Peoria on Saturday and in 
 Moline and Preeport on Sunday." 
 
 " The speeches are all ready, I believe? " 
 
 "Yes. George and I outlined them together 
 some time ago, and I have them written and typed." 
 
 " Exactly. Turn the manuscripts over to Mr. 
 Merriam as you did this morning. He will have 
 time on the train on the way to each place to mas- 
 ter the speech to be given at that point. We shall 
 take a special car. Mr. Wayward and I will go 
 with him. You" he was addressing Aunt Mary 
 "and the Mayor ancf Dr. Hobart and Simp- 
 son," he added, glancing up at the waiter, who 
 stood listening in the background, " and the rest 
 of you will stay here to guard George. That will
 
 SECOND COUNCIL OF WAR 301 
 
 be easy when the newspapers are full of his speeches 
 out in the State." 
 
 " Mr. Crockett will know," said Father Murray 
 timidly. 
 
 "He may suspect," said Rockwell with a grin. 
 " But if you keep every one away from George 
 conceal his presence here, he can't be sure 
 whether it's George himself or his double who is 
 speech-making over the State. And if he were 
 sure, he wouldn't dare denounce him. Thanks to 
 Mr. Merriam's clever trick last night, he has a par- 
 ticularly strong reason for keeping his mouth shut. 
 If on the other hand we give up and lie down can- 
 cel the trip, he can easily start all manner of 
 nasty stories about his escapades. I'm sorry to say 
 it, but George has a pretty widespread sporting 
 reputation." Rockwell glanced apologetically at 
 Mollie June, but continued. "When a man with 
 such a character is laid up, people are ready to be- 
 lieve anything except that he is really legitimately 
 sick. Things will be safer here than they would be 
 if we abandoned our trick. And our part out in 
 the State will be ' nuts,' compared to what it was 
 at the Urban Club this noon, for instance. Very 
 few people out there know Norman well. There is 
 no question at all that Mr. Merriam will get by. 
 And we know from this noon that he will make the 
 speeches in fine shape." 
 
 " The speeches will need to be altered a bit," said 
 Aunt Mary, " if they are to appeal to the progress- 
 ives."
 
 302 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " Mr. Merriam can attend to that on the train." 
 said Rockwell. " Soften the standpattism and 
 throw in some progressive dope. Can't you? " He 
 appealed to Merriam. 
 
 " I suppose I could," said Merriam, " but my 
 school." 
 
 " I know," said Eockwell, " but it will be only a 
 day or two longer. We'll telegraph again, of 
 course. If you were really sick, as we've been tell- 
 ing them, they'd have to get along, wouldn't they? 
 You've got to see us through. We must keep the 
 ball rolling. It will probably be only one more 
 day. George will be able to travel to-morrow, I 
 presume? " he asked of Dr. Hobart. " By noon, 
 anyway? " 
 
 " By noon, I hope," said the physician with cheer- 
 ful optimism. 
 
 " You see? " said Eockwell. " George can catch 
 the noon train for Springfield and get there in time 
 to take on the evening speech. Mr. Merriam will 
 have made the two at Cairo and East St. Louis. 
 He can go back to Riceville from Springfield." 
 
 Just then the telephone rang, and I believe every 
 person in the room jumped. 
 
 Rockwell rose to answer it. 
 
 " Senator Norman? Yes, he is here. But he is 
 engaged. This is Mr. Rockwell, his manager. You 
 can give the message to me." 
 
 A moment later he put his hand over the receiver 
 and turned to Merriam. 
 
 " He insists on speaking to the Senator. You'll
 
 have to answer. I think it's Crockett. For 
 Heaven's sake, be careful ! " 
 
 Merriam took the receiver : 
 
 "Hello!" 
 
 A voice which he remembered only too well from 
 the night before at Jennie's replied : 
 
 " This is Mr. Crockett. I have the honour, I be- 
 lieve, of speaking to Mr. Merriam." 
 
 " You have the wrong number ! " said Merriam 
 and hung up. 
 
 But before he had had time to explain to the 
 others or even to wonder whether he had done 
 wisely, the bell jangled again. He turned back to 
 the instrument. Rockwell came quickly to his side, 
 and Merriam, taking down the receiver, held it so 
 that his " manager " too should be able to hear 
 what came over the wire. 
 
 "Hello!" 
 
 " Ah ! Senator Norman, by your voice," said 
 Crockett in tones of elaborate irony. "I wish to 
 congratulate you, Senator, on your speech this 
 noon. It was a magnificent effort. So full of pro- 
 gressive ideas and youthful virility ! " 
 
 " Thank you," said Merriam. 
 
 "And, Senator, I really must see you right 
 away. I am calling from the lobby. I will come 
 up to your rooms at once, if I may. Or meet you 
 anywhere else you say. It is of the utmost impor- 
 tance to you, Mr. Mer " (he pretended to cor- 
 rect himself) "to you, Senator, as well as to 
 me."
 
 304 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 "Wait a minute," said Merriam. He put his 
 hand over the mouthpiece and looked at Rockwell. 
 
 " Tell him you will see him at eight o'clock this 
 evening, here." 
 
 Merriam repeated this message. 
 
 "At eight?" said Crockett, with significant em- 
 phasis on the hour. " Very good, Senator. Thank 
 you." He hung up. 
 
 Kockwell and Merriam turned to the others. 
 Aunt Mary and the rest had risen. They were 
 standing by their places about the table, looking 
 rather scared. 
 
 "Eight o'clock?" questioned Aunt Mary, with 
 an emphasis similar to Crockett's. 
 
 " Yes," said Kockwell doggedly. " Because " 
 he addressed Merriam " your train goes at seven. 
 At seven-thirty Miss Norman shall telephone Crock- 
 ett, expressing your regret that you overlooked the 
 fact that you would have to be gone by that time. 
 Man alive ! " he cried. " Don't you see? The Sen- 
 ator can't be sick now after your public appear- 
 ance this noon. Half the people who count in Chi- 
 cago saw you him, there right as a trivet obvi- 
 ously perfectly well. And we can't keep you here, 
 with Crockett and Thompson continually nosing 
 'round. There's nothing for it but for you to start 
 on that trip. The trip's a godsend. Write your 
 telegram to Eiceville ! " 
 
 Merriam glanced around the circle of faces. 
 Mad as the thing was, they all seemed to agree with. 
 Rockwell. Mayor Black and Mr. Wayward and
 
 SECOND COUNCIL OF WAR 305 
 
 even Simpson seemed to be asking him, as man to 
 man, to stand by them. Father Murray was tim- 
 idly expectant. Dr. Hobart, he noticed, was star- 
 ing down at the table as if in thought. Aunt Mary, 
 looking him full in the eyes, gave an affirmative 
 nod. Alicia's eyes and shoulders registered appeal 
 as conspicuously as if she had been a movie actress. 
 And Mollie June seemed to be begging him not to 
 desert her. 
 
 With a gesture of resignation he went over to the 
 writing table and sat down to compose his third 
 mendacious telegram to Riceville.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 THE BUSINESS OF BEING AN IMPOSTOR 
 
 THE writing of that telegram! occupied Merriam 
 for several minutes. He was distracted by 
 scruples. He did not like lying, and lie felt, truly 
 enough, that he was cheating his employers, the 
 Board of Education of Riceville, and the patrons 
 of the school, and his boys and girls, by staying 
 away from the work he was paid to do. 
 
 When, after a last momentary hesitation, he 
 wrote his name and looked up, he found Simpson 
 standing by him, ready to take the message. He 
 noticed the man's new air of cheerfulness. 
 
 But he had no time to reflect on this phenomenon, 
 for the party was breaking up. 
 
 There were four of them left Merriam and 
 Rockwell, Aunt Mary and Mollie June. 
 
 "Well," said Rockwell, with a sigh, "we're off 
 again. You'd better go to your own room Mr. 
 Wilson's room. I promised the reporters to see 
 them at half past four, and it's nearly that now. 
 You'll need to pack. Take these speeches with, 
 you. I'll let you know when the taxi comes." 
 
 In a moment Merriam was crossing the Senator's 
 room. Involuntarily he cast a glance at the sick 
 man in the bed. In a small chair by the head of 
 
 306
 
 the bed Mollie June was sitting, her eyes on her 
 husband. She looked up as Merriam traversed the 
 room, met his gaze soberly for an instant, and then 
 looked back at Norman. 
 
 Merriam passed through the door on the other 
 side into his own room. He closed the door softly 
 behind him, set the portfolio on a chair, and put his 
 hand to his forehead. The tiny connubial tableau 
 of which he had just had a glimpse had brought 
 home to him, as nothing before had done, the fact 
 that Mollie June really was another man's wife. 
 The acute realisation left him blank. He crossed 
 over, sank into a chair by the window, and stared 
 out across the fire escape. Another man's wife! 
 And he loved her. Of course he loved her, just as 
 he had always done. And she loved him, a little at 
 least. That such a thing should happen to him 
 and her! Because he had been a coward three 
 years ago in Eiceville ! 
 
 How long he sat dully revolving such thoughts 
 as these he had no idea. He was startled by the 
 opening of the door from the Senator's bedroom. 
 He sprang to his feet with the involuntary thought 
 that it might be Mollie June though of course she 
 would have knocked. It was Simpson. 
 
 " Shall I pack your things, sir? " 
 
 " Why yes," said Merriam. 
 
 He knew from novels that the valet of the hero 
 always packs his bag. Evidently Simpson had 
 come in this capacity. To Merriam's American 
 self-sufficiency it seemed an absurd practice. Why
 
 308 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 shouldn't any man put his own things into a grip 
 for himself? But he was glad of company. 
 
 " You can help," he added, and took a couple of 
 steps in the direction of the bureau, with the idea 
 of taking things out of drawers. 
 
 " Oh, don't bother, sir ! " said Simpson quickly. 
 In his tone there was something subtly patronising. 
 For he who has been a butler and a waiter and a 
 valet among the real elite feels even himself to be 
 socially superior to the unbutlered and unvaleted. 
 
 " Simpson," said Merriam suddenly, " you've 
 seen Jennie ! " 
 
 Simpson stopped absolutely still for a moment 
 with a couple, of folded shirts in his hands. Then 
 he placed the shirts in the suit case, straightened 
 up, and looked at Merriam. 
 
 " Yes, Mr." he hesitated and decided to use the 
 real name "yes, Mr. Merriam, I have. I went 
 out there $iis morning, as you suggested." 
 
 " She let you in? " 
 
 " Yes, she did. She let me sit down on the sofa 
 with her, and we had a long talk. I ended by ask- 
 ing her again to marry me and she said she 
 would." 
 
 " And she kissed you ! " Merriam cried gaily. 
 He had for the moment forgotten his own troubles 
 in Simpson's happiness, for which he rightly felt 
 he might claim some credit, and in an appreciative 
 recollection of Jennie's temperament. Within a 
 dozen hours she had also kissed Crockett and him- 
 self. But Jennie was born to kiss.
 
 BUSINESS OF BEING AN IMPOSTOR 309 
 
 Simpson looked quickly at the younger man and 
 returned to his packing. "Yes," he said, "she 
 did." 
 
 Merriam regretted his exclamation, which had, 
 in fact, told too much. For several minutes he 
 watched in silence the deft, efficient work of his 
 companion. Then he asked: 
 
 " When is it to be? " 
 
 " The wedding, sir? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " As soon as you and Mr. Rockwell can spare me, 
 sir." 
 
 Simpson closed the hand bag, closed the suit case 
 and strapped it. 
 
 " Is there anything else I can do, sir? " 
 
 " I believe not." 
 
 The waiter hesitated. Then he decided to speak 
 what was in his heart : 
 
 " I am very greatly indebted to you, sir," he said, 
 with an admirable combination of dignity and feel- 
 ing. " You have made a happy man of a very 
 wretched one and have saved a young girl who 
 was on a very wrong track. If ever I can render 
 you any service, you can always command me, sir." 
 
 Merriam sprang up and advanced, holding out 
 his hand. 
 
 " I'm tremendously glad," he said. " I have ac- 
 complished one thing anyway with all this miser- 
 able imposture." 
 
 Simpson shook his hand heartily. Then: 
 
 " Shall I leave you now, sir? "
 
 31p MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAKD 
 
 " Why, yes, please," said Merriam. He was loath 
 to be left alone, but there was clearly nothing more 
 to be said between him and Simpson. 
 
 In a moment the waiter had withdrawn through 
 the door into the Senator's bedroom. Merriam's 
 thoughts followed him into that room, where Mollie 
 June doubtless still sat by her husband's bed. 
 
 But just then a knock sounded at the hall door. 
 He looked up startled. He was not expecting any 
 one to approach from that direction. Who could 
 have any business with "Mr. Wilson"? 
 
 Another knock. Merriam hesitated. Should he 
 go to the door, or simply sit tight till the knocker 
 became convinced that there was no one within and 
 went away? He decided upon the latter course. 
 Any one whom he ought to see Kockwell would 
 bring to him. 
 
 A third time the knock sounded, discreet but per- 
 sistent. Then suddenly a key was inserted in the 
 lock and turned, the door opened, and in stepped 
 Crockett ! 
 
 Merriam sprang to his feet but did not speak. 
 
 " Thank you," said Crockett over his shoulder 
 to whom Merriam could not see. 
 
 He closed the door and advanced : 
 
 "Is it Mr. Wilson?" he asked ironically, "or 
 Mr. Merriam or Senator Norman? " 
 
 "Is it Mr. Crockett, the financier, or a house- 
 breaker? " Merriam retorted. 
 
 Mr. Crockett laughed, but it was an unpleasant, 
 forced laugh.
 
 " Since you do not answer my question," he said, 
 " I don't see that I need answer yours. See here," 
 he continued, with a change of tone, " how much is 
 it worth to you to turn over to me those pictures 
 you took last night films and all, of course and 
 get out of this? " 
 
 "You won't accomplish anything by insulting 
 me!" cried Merriam, a flare of youthful anger 
 somewhat impairing his dignity. 
 
 " Insulting you ! " echoed Crockett sneeringly. 
 "My dear sir, as a complete impostor you can 
 hardly expect to get away with that pose. I'll ad- 
 mit you're good at it. That impersonation of the 
 Senator before the Urban Club this noon was a 
 masterpiece. But what's the game? Does Rock- 
 well really suppose he can swing Senator Norman 
 over permanently to the so-called Reformers? Let 
 me tell you that as soon as the real Norman is on 
 his feet again Thompson and I and the rest of us 
 will get hold of him and bring him around in no 
 time. We know too many things about your hand- 
 some Boy Senator. He can't shake us now. So 
 what's the use? Unless," he added suddenly, "the 
 plan is to kill him off and substitute you perma- 
 nently!" 
 
 "Hardly so desperate as that," said Merriam, 
 smiling. The other man's long speech had given 
 Rim time to recover himself. 
 
 " Well, then, why not make a good thing out of it 
 for yourself and get away while you can? It isn't 
 as if no one had suspected you. / not only suspect
 
 312 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 but know. I haven't told any one else yet, but you 
 can hardly expect me to keep your secret indefi- 
 nitely." 
 
 "You forget the pictures," said Merriam, as 
 sweetly as he could. 
 
 Crockett obviously mastered a " damn " and 
 chased the expression that rose to accompany it 
 from his face. 
 
 " Let's keep to business," he said. " How much 
 is Rockwell paying you for this job? " 
 
 " No monetary consideration has been mentioned 
 between us," said Merriam. It was the truth, of 
 course, but perhaps he need not have been so stilted 
 about it. 
 
 "You surely don't expect me to believe that. 
 Come! Whatever the amount is, I'll double it. 
 All I ask of you is, first, to hand over to me the 
 pictures, and, second, to pick up your bags, which 
 I see are already packed, and walk out of that door 
 with me. We'll step across the street to my bank, 
 I'll pay you the sum in cash, and you can skidoo. 
 No exposure is involved, you see of you or your 
 friends. I'm not revengeful. I don't need to be. 
 All I have to do is to wait until I can get hold of 
 Norman. In the meantime you get clear of a situa- 
 tion that otherwise is likely to prove very nasty for 
 you personally and very nasty likewise for your 
 Reformer associates. You will note that I trust to 
 your honour to give me all the copies of the pictures 
 and not to sting me on the amount I am to pay 
 you."
 
 BUSINESS OP BEING AN IMPOSTOR 313 
 
 " Honour among thieves? " queried Merriam. 
 
 " Who's insulting now? " Crockett demanded. 
 
 "I am," said Merriam. "At least, I'm trying 
 my best to be. Mr. Crockett, you spoke of walking 
 out of that door. I'll thank you to do that very 
 thing at once ! If you don't, I'll call in Mr. Rock- 
 well, and we'll put you out. I'm tempted to try it 
 by myself, but I don't care to risk any noisy scuf- 
 fling." 
 
 " Prudent young man ! " sneered Crockett, re- 
 treating nevertheless in the direction of the hall 
 door. " I understand that you reject my offer? " 
 
 " I certainly do." 
 
 " Very good. I hereby serve notice on you that 
 I shall immediately expose the whole of your at- 
 rocious masquerade! It will be the ruin of you 
 and Rockwell and Norman and Mayor Black and 
 every other person who has been mixed up in it. 
 Oh, you'll be a nine days' wonder in the city, but 
 no one of you will ever have a scrap of public credit 
 again ! " 
 
 " And on the following day," retorted Merriam, 
 " those pretty pictures we know of will be published 
 in Tidbits. They'll be running sketches called 
 'A Financier in a Flat' in every music hall in 
 town." 
 
 " You blackmailer ! " 
 
 " On the contrary you've tried to get me to take 
 blackmail and I've refused it." 
 
 With a sound remarkably like the snarling 
 " bah " which regularly accompanies the retreat of
 
 314 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 the foiled villain of melodrama, Crockett turned 
 towards the door through which he had been in- 
 vited to depart. But in the course of the three or 
 four steps which he had to take to reach that exit 
 he recovered something of his dignity and finesse. 
 
 Having opened the door, he turned and bowed 
 ironically. 
 
 " Good evening, Senator," he said. " I'm afraid 
 I shall be prevented from keeping my appointment 
 with you at eight. If you should change your 
 mind within the next half hour, you can reach me 
 by 'phone at the Union League. Otherwise, look 
 out!" 
 
 On this warning note he closed the door behind 
 him. 
 
 Merriam found himself with a whirling brain. 
 As a quiet pedagogue he was not accustomed to 
 scenes of battle such as he had just passed through. 
 He walked up and down and mechanically lit a 
 cigarette. 
 
 As he did so, his mind seized upon one question. 
 Who had unlocked the door for Crockett? Some 
 chambermaid or bell boy? Or the floor clerk? At 
 any rate it must have been done with her conniv- 
 ance and by her authority, for she was the com- 
 manding general of Floor Three. Why had she 
 done or permitted this outrageous thing? Sud- 
 denly Merriam recalled her studied ignoring of 
 him on the last two occasions of his passing 
 her desk, and compared it with her whispered 
 " The violets are lovely " when he first asked for
 
 BUSINESS OF BEING AN IMPOSTOR 315 
 
 Senator Norman's key. There had been something 
 between her and Norman. He, Merriam, in taking 
 on the Senator's role had dropped out that part of 
 it, and she was offended. How seriously he could 
 not tell. 
 
 He concluded that he must attempt to reinstate 
 himself Norman in the pretty floor clerk's good 
 graces, and rather hastily decided upon a plan. He 
 went to the telephone and asked for the hotel 
 florist. How much were violets? Well, they had 
 some lovely large bunches for five dollars. This 
 figure rather staggered the rural pedagogue, but 
 he promptly asked to have one of those bunches 
 sent up at once to " Mr. Wilson," giving his room 
 number, 325. He would present his peace offering 
 in person. "I am sure these flowers will look 
 lovely on your desk or if you will wear them at 
 your waist? " he would say, or something of the 
 sort. This was probably not the way Senator Nor- 
 man would have done he would have run no such 
 open risk, but we must make allowances for Mer- 
 riam's inexperience. 
 
 But he never carried out his ill-conceived plan. 
 For he had barely left the telephone when he was 
 arrested by a light knock on the door leading into 
 the Senator's bedroom. This time he was sure it 
 was Mollie June, and he was right. 
 
 When he opened the door she stood there with 
 a finger at her lips. 
 
 " Aunt Mary has taken my place with George," 
 she said in a low tone. " She says I may give you
 
 316 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 some tea. It will be late before you can get your 
 dinner on the train. Would you like it? " 
 
 " Tremendously," said Merriam sincerely. 
 
 " Come into the sitting room, then." 
 
 She crossed the sick room to the door at the other 
 side which led to the sitting room, and he followed, 
 with a nod to Aunt Mary, who now sat by the 
 sleeping Senator's bed. 
 
 Arrived in the sitting room, he was further de- 
 lighted to find that neither Kockwell nor Simpson 
 was present. It was to be a genuine tete-a-tete. 
 By one of the windows stood a small table with the 
 tea things upon it, the kettle already singing over 
 an alcohol flame. Beside the table stood a large 
 armchair and a small rocker. 
 
 " The big chair is for you," said Mollie June, 
 seating herself in the rocker and adjusting the 
 flame. 
 
 " Thank you," he said and sat. Then a mingling 
 of pleasure and embarrassment held him awk- 
 wardly silent. 
 
 Mollie June was apparently quite composed. 
 
 " George is ever so much better," ^he said. " He 
 was awake a few minutes ago, and he seemed almost 
 well. He ha^ only a very little f^ver left." 
 
 She smiled brightly at Merriam, who dimly real- 
 ised that ft was to the fact that her mind was now 
 at ease about her husband that he owed this 
 treat. 
 
 Mollie June set a brightly flowered cup on a 
 saucer to match and placed a small spoon beside it.
 
 BUSINESS OF BEING AN IMPOSTOR 317 
 
 Then she took up the sugar tongs, and her hand 
 hovered over the bowl. 
 
 " One lump or two? " 
 
 " Two, please," said Merriam, noting the slender- 
 ness and whiteness of the fingers that held the 
 tongs and the pinkness of the small nails. (Why 
 else except to display charming fingers and nails 
 were sugar tongs invented?) 
 
 " Lemon or cream? " 
 
 Merriam was sophisticated enough to know that 
 the right answer was "Lemon," but he preferred 
 cream, and an admirable instinct of honesty led 
 him to say so. 
 
 Through the open window came the pleasant air 
 of the spring afternoon. The canyon-like street 
 without, being an east-and-west street, was flooded 
 with sunlight. With the breeze there entered also 
 the stimulating roar of the city's lively traffic. The 
 breeze stirred Mollie June's soft wavy hair. It 
 also caused the alcohol flame under the brass kettle 
 to flutter and sputter, and Mollie June leaned for- 
 ward to regulate it. The youthful firmness of her 
 cheeks and chin showed like a lovely cameo in the 
 bright light, which would have been unkind to an 
 older face. Having adjusted the flame, she sud- 
 denly looked up at Merriam and smiled. 
 
 " Mollie June," he cried, " there is nothing love- 
 lier in the world than your eyes when you look up 
 and smile like that ! " 
 
 He had not meant to say anything of that sort, 
 but it was forced out of him.
 
 318 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 Mollie June's smile lingered, and the cameo be- 
 came faintly, charmingly tinted. But she evi- 
 dently felt that some rebuke was needed. 
 
 "Mrs. Mollie June, you must remember," she 
 said gently. 
 
 Then, taking up her cup and leaning back in her 
 small rocker, she asked: 
 
 " How did you get along with the speeches? " 
 
 "Not very well," said Merriam. He hesitated 
 in his mind whether to tell her of Crockett's inter- 
 ruption but decided not to. It would take too long 
 he could not waste the precious minutes so. 
 "I'll have the dickens of a time with them," he 
 added. 
 
 " Oh, no, you won't ! " she cried, as if shocked at 
 the idea. " You were wonderful this noon. I was 
 so proud of you." 
 
 " You had a right to be," said Merriam. " It was 
 because you were there that I could do well." 
 Which was perhaps partially true. 
 
 "Why don't you go into it yourself?" asked 
 Mollie June. 
 
 " Public life? Perhaps I will. I may go back 
 to the University for a law course and then try to 
 get into politics." 
 
 This plan had just occurred to Merriam, but he 
 did not disclose that fact. In uttering one's in- 
 spirations to a pretty woman one usually presents 
 them as though they were the fruit of mature con- 
 sideration. 
 
 " That would be fine," said Mollie June without
 
 BUSINESS OF BEING AN IMPOSTOR 319 
 
 muck enthusiasm. "But you'll be at Riceville 
 next year? " 
 
 " I suppose so. I'll have to save up a bit more." 
 
 " I may be at home for Christmas," she said. 
 " I'll see you then." 
 
 Merriam considered this painfully. 
 
 " No," he said at last slowly. " I shan't be there. 
 I shall be away for the holidays." 
 
 " You could stay over," said Mollie June, won- 
 deringly reproachful. 
 
 " I suppose I could. But I -mustn't. Just to see 
 you publicly, is too hard on me. And if I see 
 you alone like this, I say things I oughtn't to 
 make love to you." 
 
 Mollie June sat drooping, with downcast eyes, 
 her cup in her lap. 
 
 Suddenly he was on his knees beside her. He 
 put his arms about her, to the great peril of flow- 
 ered china. 
 
 " Mollie June ! " he whispered. He softly kissed 
 her cheek. 
 
 She raised her eyes and looked deep into his. 
 
 " John ! " she whispered back, though she seemed 
 to struggle not to do so. 
 
 After a moment he smiled sadly and got to his 
 feet. 
 
 " I mustn't have any more tea," he said, as if that 
 beverage was too intoxicating, as indeed under the 
 circumstances it was. 
 
 Fortunately since of all things what they 
 needed was a diversion, Merriam at that moment
 
 became conscious of a portentous knocking on a 
 distant door. He realised that it was on the door 
 to " Mr. Wilson's " room and remembered. The 
 flowers for the floor clerk ! 
 
 He hurried to the hall and called the boy from 
 the second door down the corridor, where he was 
 about to pound again. 
 
 In a moment he reentered the room, bearing a 
 lovely great bunch of fragrant English violets 
 and thinking hard. But he was equal to the 
 emergency. 
 
 He advanced to Mollie June, who stood now with 
 her back to the window, her slender form outlined 
 against the light, her face in shadow. 
 
 " I've never given you anything, Mollie June," he 
 said. "These are for you and the sick room." 
 He held them for her to smell. 
 
 She took them from him, barely touching his 
 hand as she did so, and buried her face in them for 
 a long minute. Then she raised her eyes to him 
 over them. 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. John," she said with, a sad 
 smile. 
 
 And just then Aunt Mary entered from the 
 Senator's bedroom. 
 
 " See what Mr. Merriam has ordered for 
 George ! " said Mollie June. " Isn't he thought- 
 ful?" 
 
 " Very," said Aunt Mary, in her customary dry 
 tone.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 THE CODE TELEGRAM 
 
 ROCKWELL had returned with Alicia. He 
 briskly declared that it was time to start for 
 the train. Mayor Black, it appeared, was below in 
 his car and was going to the station with them. 
 
 " I've told Simpson to take your bags down. Ex- 
 cept the portfolio. You'd better keep that in your 
 own hands. What progress with the speeches? " 
 
 " Not much," said Merriam. " But I shall have 
 the whole evening on the train. I'll get them." 
 
 He crossed the sick room, where Dr. Hobart was 
 now bending over the Senator, apparently making 
 an examination. He thrust the pile of manuscripts 
 back into the port >lio. Then, after a glance about 
 the room, remini jent of his burglarious entry the 
 night before, he caught up his coat and hat and 
 returned to the sitting re- m again. 
 
 "Are we ready? " he ; ked of Rockwell. 
 
 " Waiting for Hobart -for a final report on the 
 Senator's condition." 
 
 "Aren't you coming to the station with us, Mollie 
 June? " Alicia was saying. 
 
 "No," said Mollie June, her eyes on a large 
 bunch of violets which she was arranging in a bowl. 
 " I must stay with my husband." 
 
 321
 
 322 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " But Aunt Mary will be here. I think she owes 
 it to you to come with us, don't you, Mr. Mer- 
 riam?" 
 
 "No," said Merriam, "I think she is right in 
 staying." 
 
 Alicia looked from him to Mollie June, then 
 shrugged her shoulders and turned to Rockwell, 
 who was cautioning Aunt Mary as if Aunt Mary 
 ever needed cautioning! about maintaining the 
 closest possible guard on the Senator's rooms in 
 their absence. 
 
 Merriam moved to Mollie June's side. 
 
 " I shan't see you again," he said. 
 
 " No," said Mollie June. 
 
 For a single moment she looked up from the 
 flowers into his face. Her eyes held tears, and she 
 blushed slightly. In her look he read unwilling 
 love and shame. 
 
 He would have moved away, impotently miser- 
 able^, but her hand, which had dropped to her side 
 between them, suddenly touched his, closed in his 
 for an instant, and was withdrawn, leaving some- 
 thingsomething very small, cool, and fragile a 
 single violet. 
 
 He understood, of course, that it was to be his 
 souvenir of her, all he could have of her, through 
 the long years to come while she played out her 
 loathsome role as the wife of the dissipated Boy 
 Senator and he taught school at Eiceville or what 
 did it matter what he did? 
 
 His hand closed quickly on the violet, and he
 
 THE CODE TELEGRAM 323 
 
 turned to face Dr. Hobart, who was just entering 
 from the sick room. 
 
 The physician was highly reassuring. The Sen- 
 ator was doing very well indeed. 
 
 " He'll be able to meet us in Springfield, then, to- 
 morrow night? " demanded Kockwell. 
 
 "I think he'll be well enough to do that," re- 
 turned Hobart, with a slight evasiveness which 
 Rockwell and Merriam had occasion a few hours 
 later to recall with some vividness. But at the 
 moment they scarcely noticed it. 
 
 "Good!" cried Eockwell. "We're oft. No! 
 Wait." 
 
 He drew a folded paper from his pocket and 
 handed it to Aunt Mary. 
 
 " This paper describes a simple form of code tele- 
 gram. Use it in your messages to us in regard to 
 the Senator's progress and when and where he is 
 to join us. You'll wire at least once a day, of 
 course." 
 
 " Yes," said Aunt Mary, accepting the paper. 
 
 Merriam shook hands with Aunt Mary. 
 
 " I hope," she said, " that some day, after all this 
 is over, we may be able to have you visit us, when 
 George can thank you for the inestimable service 
 you have rendered him." 
 
 "I should be delighted," Merriam murmured, 
 though he had no great mind to be thanked by 
 George Norman. 
 
 Then he shook hands with Mollie June and met 
 her eyes for a moment, but, under the gaze of Aunt
 
 324 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 Mary and Eockwell and Alicia, " Good-bye," was 
 all he could say. 
 
 "Good-bye. Thank you for everything," she 
 replied, and her eyes followed his figure as Eock- 
 well swept him from the room. 
 
 The closing of the door of the Senator's sitting 
 room upon Merriam marked the beginning of a 
 period of a dozen hours or more that was utterly 
 phantasmal and unreal to him both at the time and 
 in his recollection afterwards. He seemed to move 
 and speak and act without volition and without 
 any clear realisation of what he was doing or why 
 he was doing it. 
 
 After dinner with Eockwell and Mr. Wayward 
 an excellent meal served in the private car by an 
 amiable gentleman of colour, Merriam read the 
 speech which he was to deliver at Cairo in the 
 morning, and then had to pull himself together and 
 commit that speech, but he did even this mechanic- 
 ally. And finally to bed in his compartment, at 
 first to a long, uneasy dream, in which he appeared 
 to be making an interminable speech to an audience 
 consisting of Mollie June, Jennie, an inattentive 
 floor clerk, Aunt Mary, and Simpson, and then to a 
 heavy slumber, from which he was roused with dif- 
 ficulty the next morning. 
 
 In the morning it was the same way with him 
 everything dully unreal. Breakfast. Going over 
 the speech again. Then it was nine o'clock, and 
 the train was running into Cairo. A crowd at the 
 station. A cheer or two. He was being assisted
 
 THE CODE TELEGRAM 325 
 
 into an automobile. A sort of procession with a 
 band through, several blocks of streets to a small 
 park. 
 
 Merriain found himself sitting with Rockwell 
 und 3Ir. Wayward and several local notables in a 
 band stand, with a considerable concourse of peo- 
 ple sitting and standing about on the grass below. 
 Some native orator made a short speech. A num- 
 ber by the band. Then the Mayor of Cairo was 
 effusively introducing Senator Norman. The 
 Mayor sat down amid applause. 
 
 Merriam rose, advanced to the rail, and began 
 on his speech. He felt himself to be a sort of ani- 
 mated phonograph. The words which he had 
 learned the night before and reviewed that morning 
 ran trippingly off his tongue. His collegiate train- 
 ing and subsequent experience in public speaking 
 came to the aid of his subconscious self, which 
 seemed to be functioning with practically no direc- 
 tion from his higher centers. He turned pleas- 
 antly as he spoke to face now one part of his 
 circle of auditors and now another. He suited 
 his tone to the words in different parts of the 
 speech. He even achieved an occasional appropri- 
 ate gesture. 
 
 At last he came to the end of what he had learned 
 and stopped as the phonograph stops when the end 
 of a record is reached. And for a moment he stood 
 there by the rail, blank, at a loss as a phonograph 
 would have stood. He had to rouse himself with a 
 jerk of conscious attention before he perceived that
 
 326 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 what lie had to do next was to step back and sit 
 down. 
 
 The applause was fairly satisfactory. The 
 Mayor of Cairo leaned across Rockwell to shake 
 hands and congratulate him, and Mr. Wayward, on 
 the other side, patted his shoulder and said, " Good 
 enough ! " And the band struck into a patriotic 
 air. 
 
 Merriam awoke. It was as if lights had been 
 turned on and doors opened. He realised that it 
 was a bright, sunny morning, that a band was play- 
 ing, that he, John Merriam, was alive and young, 
 and that he was having a whimsically glorious 
 adventure which he could not afford to miss the joy 
 of even if Mollie June was Senator Norman's wife. 
 
 In this rejuvenated mood he joyously descended 
 with the others from the band stand and climbed 
 into the automobile and lay back happily, between 
 Rockwell and the Cairo Mayor, to relish the slow 
 processional drive still preceded by the band 
 back to the station. 
 
 " Feeling better? " asked Rockwell, who had not 
 failed to note his previous lethargy. 
 
 " Feeling fine ! " he replied, and gave his atten- 
 tion to the scenery of Cairo's Main Street and the 
 crowds therein, waiting eagerly for a glimpse of 
 the remarkable Boy Senator. 
 
 As the automobile passed close to the curb on 
 turning a corner, Merriam caught one remark : 
 
 " He does look just like a young man ! " 
 
 The speaker was a decidedly pretty girl in a bold-
 
 THE CODE TELEGRAM 327 
 
 ish sort of way. Merriam sensed and seized upon 
 the privileges of age. He leaned forward : 
 
 " Thank you, my dear," he said. " At least I'm 
 young enough to know a pretty girl when I see 
 one." 
 
 Which incident will serve to show that Merriam 
 was really awake again. Also, it probably won 
 more votes for Senator Norman's party at the next 
 election than the whole of Aunt Mary's able speech 
 as delivered by the human phonograph a few min- 
 utes earlier. 
 
 They reached the station and regained the pri- 
 vate car. Merriam sank into a wonderful armchair 
 in the sitting room compartment, glanced about 
 him at the luxurious appointments, and lit a ciga- 
 rette with gusto. 
 
 " I shouldn't mind this riches-and-fame business 
 for quite a while," he thought. (Mollie June was 
 for the time forgotten; thus it is with the fickle 
 male. ) 
 
 Eockwell had sat down in the next chair. Mer- 
 riam made an effort of memory. 
 
 " East St. Louis next? " he asked. 
 
 "Yes," said Eockwell. "We'll have to get at 
 the speech as soon as the train starts." 
 
 Just then a small but vociferous urchin appeared 
 in the door of the car. His cap proclaimed him a 
 telegraph messenger. 
 
 " Telegram for Mr. Eockwell ! " he shouted, as 
 though Mr. Eockwell were probably in the next 
 county.
 
 Rockwell signed the book, and the lad slowly 
 withdrew himself, taking generous eyefuls of Rock- 
 well, " Senator Norman," and the private car. As 
 he lingered with a last backward stare in the door- 
 way, Merriam winked at him, and the boy grinned 
 and generously, democratically winked back. 
 
 Turning from that wink to Rockwell, Merriam 
 was startled. The man sat limp with the telegram 
 on his knee and a pencil in his hand. I will not say 
 he was pale, but certainly he was haggard. 
 
 He handed the telegram to Merriam. 
 
 Merriam tried to read it, but could make no 
 sense at all. It was very long but apparently a 
 mere string of words with little intelligible mean- 
 ing. 
 
 " What ? " he began. 
 
 " It's code," said Rockwell. " I've underlined 
 the words that count." 
 
 Picking out the significant words by means of 
 Rockwell's underlining, Merriam read: 
 
 George kidnapped from rooms whereabouts un- 
 known doctor disappeared cancel trip return Mary.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 A MOMENT later Mr. Wayward, who had 
 stopped at the station cigar stand to replen- 
 ish his stock of nicotine, rejoined them and was 
 shown the telegram. 
 
 His first comment was profane. 
 
 " We've got to go back," said Rockwell. " Now 
 that they have Norman in their power for Crock- 
 ett is behind this, of course, they may denounce 
 us may make Norman himself denounce us any 
 minute. They have no end of a grip on him, and he 
 has no great love for the role of Reformer him- 
 self nor for me. Our only hope is to get back to 
 Chicago and find him and get hold of him again." 
 He jumped to his feet. "I must see the station 
 master at once." 
 
 " Yes," said Mr. Wayward, " there's nothing else 
 for it." 
 
 Rockwell hastily departed to announce their 
 changed plans to the station master, and Merriam 
 and Mr. Wayward looked at each other. The lat- 
 ter's face had assumed the humorous smile which 
 had been his expression towards the whole affair 
 from the beginning. 
 
 " It's been a damn fool business all along," he 
 said. 
 
 329
 
 330 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " I suppose it has," said Merriam. 
 
 " Good fun for you, though." Mr. Wayward lit 
 a cigar. 
 
 " Yes," Merriam assented. But he was thinking 
 of something else. Back to Chicago ! The young 
 rascal was realising that that meant he should see 
 Mollie June again. 
 
 Mr. Wayward puffed meditatively. 
 
 " ' Doctor disappeared,' " he quoted from the 
 telegram. " That means Hobart was in it. Prob- 
 ably he was the chief agent. Crockett's bribed 
 him." 
 
 Merriam suddenly remembered the tableau 
 which Kockwell and he had surprised as they 
 stepped out of the elevator at the Hotel De Soto 
 on the previous afternoon : Dr. Hobart in confiden- 
 tial conference with the floor clerk. 
 
 " Probably they bribed the floor clerk, too," he 
 said. " Hobart seemed to be sweet on her." 
 
 " So? " said Mr. Wayward. And after a min- 
 ute's consideration: "Very likely. They could 
 hardly have managed without the floor clerk, in 
 fact." 
 
 Presently he added : 
 
 "We've got to go back all right. But I don't 
 see what we can do except to surrender." 
 
 "We still have my pictures of Crockett at 
 Jennie's." 
 
 "Well, I hope so. Unless they've bribed Simp- 
 son, too. Those pictures are one of the things that 
 may make them give us a chance to surrender."
 
 SIMPSON AS DETECTIVE 331 
 
 The two men smoked in silence for several min- 
 utes until Rockwell returned. 
 
 " Well, that's fixed," he announced. " There's a 
 north-bound express due in half an hour and re- 
 ported on time that will take us into Chicago by 
 nine o'clock to-night. You're sick, of course, Sen- 
 ator," he added to Merriam. " Bronchitis again ! " 
 
 They continued to talk until the north-bound 
 train arrived and picked up their car, and they 
 were started on their return trip. 
 
 At Carbondale Rockwell sent off telegrams to the 
 several cities which Merriam was to have visited, 
 cancelling Senator Norman's speaking tour on ac- 
 count of a renewed attack of bronchitis. He also 
 sent a message in code to Aunt Mary, giving the 
 hour when they were due to arrive. 
 
 The three men talked, of course, but they had so 
 few facts to go on that they could only formulate 
 gloomy speculations, with nothing really in the way 
 of definite conclusion beyond what Mr. Wayward 
 and Merriam had reached in their first few minutes 
 of chat immediately after the arrival of Aunt 
 Mary's message. How the kidnapping had been 
 managed or where Norman might be, they simply 
 could not tell. 
 
 They had one practical point to decide, namely, 
 their first procedure on reaching the city. It was 
 obviously not safe for " Senator Norman " to go 
 directly to the Hotel De Soto. They could not tell 
 what the situation there might be since the kidnap- 
 ping. It was finally agreed that Rockwell and
 
 332 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 Merriam should leave the train at Fifty-Third 
 Street and take a taxicab to Rockwell's bachelor 
 apartment on Drexel Boulevard, while Mr. Way- 
 ward should go on to the Twelfth Street Station 
 and thence to the hotel to see Aunt Mary. Their 
 next step was to depend on what he learned there. 
 Rockwell was afraid even to telephone from his 
 apartment, for fear the wire to the Senator's suite 
 might be tapped. Merriam was not keen on this 
 arrangement because it evidently postponed his see- 
 ing Mollie June and might even prevent his doing 
 so altogether. But this was' not an objection which 
 he could raise in the discussion. 
 
 At last they were running into the City. Fifty- 
 Third Street was reached, and Rockwell and Mer- 
 riam shook hands with Mr. Wayward and de- 
 scended from the private car. 
 
 Rockwell's first act in the station was to buy an 
 evening paper. He scanned the sheet anxiously, 
 with Merriam looking over his shoulder. The first 
 page carried a paragraph reporting the abandon- 
 ment of Senator Norman's down-State speaking 
 tour "on account of a return of his bronchitis." 
 Rockwell had sent no word to this effect to any one 
 in Chicago, but evidently the news had come in 
 from some one or more of the towns to which he 
 had wired cancellations. There were, however, no 
 headlines in regard to the kidnapping of a United 
 States Senator from one of the city's leading hotels 
 and 110 expose of their imposture. 
 
 "They're still keeping it dark," said Rockwell,
 
 SIMPSON AS DETECTIVE 333 
 
 with a flash of renewed hope on his haggard face. 
 " We're going to have a chance to make terms." 
 
 A moment later they were in a taxicab bound for 
 his apartment. They rode in silence. Merriam 
 wondered if he should see Mollie June again 
 though just what good that would do him. or what 
 he should say to her he could not have told. 
 
 " I shall see her once alone," he said to himself, 
 " whatever happens. I've done enough for them to 
 have a right to demand that." 
 
 And on that scene of unhappy farewell for 
 what else could it be? his thoughts halted. His 
 mind would go no farther. 
 
 The taxicab stopped, and they got out, and Mer- 
 riam found himself in front of a decidedly imposing 
 apartment building. Kockwell hurried him 
 through a sumptuous entry and into an elevator. 
 They shot up three flights. Then in a hallway 
 Eockwell unlocked a door, and they entered the 
 sitting room of his apartment a large room in 
 quiet tones, furnished somewhat in the taste of a 
 good men's club. 
 
 Merriam sank into a chair. 
 
 " Played out? " asked Rockwell, standing over 
 him and speaking in his old manner of matter-of- 
 fact good humour, which had deserted him during 
 that trying day. 
 
 " Yes," said Merriam. He felt, in fact, quite ex- 
 hausted, although he had done nothing since ten 
 o'clock that morning except smoke and eat two 
 meals and wait.
 
 334 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " So am I," said Rockwell, " and we must get fit 
 again. We may have a busy night ahead. Sup- 
 pose we have a shower and then coffee? That'll 
 brace us up." 
 
 Three quarters of an hour later, the two men, 
 much refreshed by the shock of cold water and the 
 odd stimulation which always follows re-dressing 
 in fresh clothes, were sitting on opposite sides of 
 BockwelPs writing table, waiting for an electric 
 percolator to " perk," when the doorbell rang. 
 
 They looked at each other. 
 
 " Curtain up for the last act," said Rockwell as 
 he went to answer it. 
 
 It was Mr. Wayward with Aunt Mary and Father 
 Murray and Mayor Black. Mollie June, Merriam 
 saw, was not with them. 
 
 " Come in," said Rockwell, oddly formal. 
 
 Merriam, as he rose, noticed the change in Aunt 
 Mary. Always before she had seemed a creature 
 of no age at all; now she was obviously a quite 
 elderly woman. The Mayor's plump face was gray 
 and drawn with anxiety. Even Mr. Wayward 
 looked more worried than he had seemed all 
 day. 
 
 For a moment the four of them stood together 
 just inside the room, staring at Merriam, accus- 
 ingly as it were, as if he had been the cause of their 
 trouble. 
 
 But Rockwell, having closed the door, turned and 
 after one glance at the group spoke loudly, with 
 exaggerated briskness :
 
 SIMPSON AS DETECTIVE 335 
 
 " Sit down, all of you and tell me. You'll find 
 tliis a comfortable chair, Aunt Mary. Over there, 
 Mayor. You're at home here, Wayward." 
 
 Father Murray took Aunt Mary's arm and led 
 her to the chair Eockwell had indicated. Solemnly 
 they all sat down. 
 
 Rockwell was both daunted and impatient. After 
 another look at Aunt Mary, he turned to the Mayor : 
 
 " When did it happen? " 
 
 But before the Mayor could reply, Aunt Mary 
 spoke up. She was not so far gone as she looked. 
 
 " Between five minutes after eight and half past 
 nine this morning," she said. " Mollie June and I 
 had gone downstairs for breakfast in the Wedge- 
 wood Room and then for a short walk over to 
 Michigan Avenue and back. Dr. Hobart suggested 
 both. He said we ought to get out that much be- 
 fore we settled down for the day in the rooms, and 
 that he would stay with George till we returned. 
 He said that George was much better, and he looked 
 better. When we got back it was exactly half 
 past nine, both he and George were gone." 
 
 Aunt Mary paused for an instant on this dis- 
 astrous climax. 
 
 " We were terribly upset," she continued. " We 
 could hardly believe our senses. Mollie June cried, 
 and at first I could not think what I ought to do. 
 But presently I had mind enough to telephone for 
 Mayor Black and Father Murray, and by the time 
 they came I was calm enough to think quietly and 
 join them in making plans."
 
 336 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " You were wonderful," said Father Murray. 
 
 "We could make no kind of announcement or 
 complaint. George was not supposed to be there. 
 You " she looked at Merriam " were probably 
 at that very moment making a speech in his name at 
 Cairo. We could say nothing to anybody. We 
 figured out that you were either still at Cairo or 
 on your way to East St. Louis, and we sent mes- 
 sages to Mr. Kockwell at both places. We had to 
 stop that insane speaking tour and get you both 
 back here as soon as possible. We telephoned to 
 the hotel office for Dr. Hobart, but they said he 
 had resigned as house physician the night before. 
 Then we sent for Simpson. He didn't seem greatly 
 surprised. In fact, he said that Dr. Hobart had 
 offered him money early that morning ' to help in 
 restoring Senator Norman to his real friends.' That 
 seems to have been the way Hobart put it. Simp- 
 son refused the money, he said, and didn't learn 
 what the plan was. He said that he had meant to 
 tell me of the offer but hadn't been able to get away 
 from his work. It was still only a couple of hours 
 since Dr. Hobart had talked with him. He said 
 he would try to find Hobart and learn where George 
 was, and then he went away, and we haven't heard 
 from him since. Finally, I went out to see the 
 floor clerk, thinking she must have seen when 
 George was taken out, but there was a new girl. 
 The former one had quit, she said, at nine o'clock 
 simply telephoned the office that she was leaving 
 and hung up and slipped away."
 
 SIMPSON AS DETECTIVE 337 
 
 "Have you tried to see Crockett?" Rockwell 
 asked. 
 
 " I have," s?id the Mayor. " Been trying all day. 
 But both at his office and at his house they say he 
 isn't in and they don't know where he is or when he 
 will be back. And he wasn't at any of his clubs." 
 
 " It's a pretty clean get-away," said Rockwell. 
 
 Merriam spoke up. " I have some hopes of 
 Simpson," he said. " His continued absence may 
 mean that he is following some sort of trail." 
 
 " Maybe," said Rockwell. " Meanwhile this 
 coffee " he drew attention to the percolator " is 
 getting pretty black, and black coffee is what we 
 all need. After that we'll see." 
 
 " Where is Mrs. Norman? " Merriam asked tim- 
 idly while Rockwell was pouring and passing the 
 coffee. 
 
 " We left her at the hotel with Alicia," said Mr. 
 Wayward. " We had to leave some one there, in 
 case some message should come from Simpson or 
 from Crockett or from George himself." 
 
 The coffee was drunk in a dismal silence. Mr. 
 Wayward attempted one or two semi-cheerful re- 
 marks, but they fell flat. 
 
 " The first question," said Rockwell when the 
 cups had been emptied, " is : where is George Nor- 
 man? Crockett may have taken him to his own 
 house. But that is unlikely. Or to some other 
 hotel. Or to one of his clubs. Or, if he is still 
 really sick, to a hospital. I think myself a hotel 
 is the most probable. That could have been man-
 
 338 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 aged with a minimum of explanations. In any 
 case we have got to find him. But this is no case 
 for amateurs. I propose to engage a professional 
 private detective and commission him to find 
 George. Also Hobart. It oughtn't to take him 
 more than twenty-four hours. Then we can make 
 further plans. If Norman is still sick, we may 
 have to re-kidnap him. If he is up and himself 
 again, it will be a matter of parleying with him and 
 Crockett and making such terms as we can. Has 
 any one a better suggestion? " 
 
 It appeared that no one had, and Kockwell was 
 looking up the detective agency, when the doorbell 
 rang again. 
 
 Father Murray sprang to his feet. 
 
 " Yes, you answer it," said Rockwell. 
 
 Before the priest could reach the door an im- 
 patient rat-a-tat-tat sounded on the panel. 
 
 He opened to Alicia and Simpson. 
 
 " Good heavens, you're slow ! " cried Alicia. 
 "And glum as the grave," she added, glancing about 
 the circle of faces. " Simpson has found George." 
 
 There were exclamations. 
 
 Eockwell put down the telephone book and went 
 to Alicia. 
 
 " Dear ! " he said. 
 
 And Alicia, turning, put her arms about his neck 
 and kissed him. " You poor fellow ! " she cried. 
 
 Then Eockwell turned to Simpson. 
 
 " Sit down here, Simpson," he said. " Have 
 some coffee? You look fagged."
 
 SIMPSON AS DETECTIVE 339 
 
 " Thank you, sir. I am pretty much all in." 
 
 Kockwell drew a cup of coffee and took it to him, 
 and the waiter gulped it down. 
 
 "Thank you, sir," he said again. "Now I can 
 tell you. I owe a good deal to that young gentle- 
 man " he indicated Merriam, " and when I saw 
 the trouble you were all in I decided to do what I 
 could. Of course we knew Mr. Crockett was at 
 the bottom of the thing, and I decided he was the 
 most findable person in it. I figured that he 
 wouldn't appear at his office and wouldn't go home, 
 but that sooner or later he would show up at one 
 of his clubs. You remember I asked you this morn- 
 ing what clubs he belonged to." This to Mayor 
 Black. 
 
 The Mayor assented. 
 
 " You mentioned five. That was a pretty large 
 order, but I got some of my pals who are taxicab 
 drivers to help me, and between us we kept a pretty 
 close watch on all of them. He didn't come near 
 the one I was watching myself, and I didn't hear 
 anything from the others till five o'clock. Then 
 one of the boys sent word to me that he had entered 
 the Grill Club on Monroe Street. I went right 
 over and hung around there for nearly three hours. 
 It was a quarter to eight when he came out. He 
 took a taxi, and I followed in another. He drove 
 to St. John's Hospital over on the West Side. I 
 was right after him and followed him into the 
 building. He doesn't know me, of course, and paid 
 no attention to me. He spoke to the nurse at the
 
 340 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 desk and then stepped into a waiting room. The 
 nurse looked hard at me, but I said, * I'm with 
 him,' and stepped back towards the door. She 
 thought I was his man and took no further notice 
 of me. Pretty soon Dr. Hobart came down. He 
 didn't see me, but I saw him plainly. He looked 
 pretty much worried scared, I thought. He and 
 Mr. Crockett talked for a while in the waiting room, 
 but I couldn't hear anything they said. Then Mr. 
 Crockett left, and Dr. Hobart went back upstairs. 
 I could have spoken to him after Mr. Crockett had 
 gone out, but I thought I had better not let them 
 know that any one was on their trail for fear they 
 would move him again. Then I had an idea. I 
 went up to the desk again. I said to the nurse: 
 ' How is Mr. Merriam? ' She looked at me. ' He's 
 pretty sick,' she said, and turned away. I didn't 
 see what more I could do, so I took my taxi back 
 to the De Soto and went up to the Senator's suite 
 and found Miss Wayward and Mrs. Norman, and 
 Miss Wayward brought me here." 
 
 For a moment Rockwell seemed sunk in thought. 
 Then he roused himself, glanced around the circle 
 of faces, and spoke : 
 
 " First of all, Mr. Simpson, I want to say that 
 you have done a very clever bit of work. We were 
 about to engage a private detective to undertake 
 what you have already accomplished. I think I 
 can safely say that we will see that you are suitably 
 rewarded." 
 
 "You can," said Mr. Wayward emphatically
 
 SIMPSON AS DETECTIVE 341 
 
 which was satisfactory since he was the person 
 present from whom any substantial monetary re- 
 ward must come. 
 
 " Thank you, sir," said Simpson. 
 
 The Mayor broke in : 
 
 " It's pretty clear what has happened. They got 
 Norman downstairs while Miss Norman and Mrs. 
 Norman were at breakfast, put him in a taxi, drove 
 to the hospital, and entered him under the name of 
 Merriam. And Dr. Hobart has stayed in attend- 
 ance." 
 
 "And he's still sick perhaps worse," said Aunt 
 Mary anxiously. 
 
 " Why did they enter him as Merriam? " asked 
 Rockwell, thinking aloud. "It must mean that 
 Crockett doesn't dare denounce us or doesn't wish 
 to do so, that he means to make terms with us and 
 preserve the secrecy of the whole affair. As I see 
 it, there will have to be one more substitution " 
 he addressed the real owner of the name of Mer- 
 riam, " of you for Norman at the hospital. 
 You have reported yourself to your Biceville people 
 as sick. Very well, you have gone to a hospital. 
 From the hospital you return to your work. It 
 will strengthen your alibi. And Norman will be 
 restored to us on Crockett's conditions, of course. 
 But we shall escape the worst. We shall come 
 off safe yet. But it must happen at once," he con- 
 tinued, with a note of new anxiety. " The whole 
 State knows that Norman's speaking tour has been 
 abandoned, that he came back to Chicago to-day,
 
 342 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 that lie is in the City now. We must get hold of 
 Crockett some way to-night. The final substitution 
 must be made before morning." 
 
 Mr. Wayward was looking at his watch. " It's 
 eleven o'clock now," he said. " But you'd better 
 try telephoning. His clubs, I think." 
 
 " Yes," said Eockwell. " The Grill Club ! That's 
 where you found him, Simpson? He may have 
 gone back there for the night. I'll try that first." 
 
 He went quickly to the telephone. 
 
 While Eockwell was looking up the number and 
 the rest waiting in painful expectancy, the door- 
 bell for the third time startled them. 
 
 " I'll go, sir," said Simpson. 
 
 In a moment he had opened the door. 
 
 On the threshold stood Crockett a pale, hesi- 
 tant, almost seedy Crockett, very different from the 
 serene, confident, well-groomed financier whom 
 Merriam had first encountered forty-eight hours 
 before at Jennie's. 
 
 Kockwell dropped the book: 
 
 " Come in, Mr. Crockett. I was just going to 
 'phone to you." 
 
 Crockett advanced a couple of steps into the 
 room. Then he stopped. There was something 
 portentous in his air of mournful gravity. His 
 eyes travelled from face to face. For a moment they 
 rested on Merriam. Then they came to a full stop 
 on Aunt Mary. 
 
 The whole roomful remained silent, fascinated 
 by his look, which seemed to speak, not of threat,
 
 SIMPSON AS DETECTIVE 343 
 
 which they might have expected, but of some dis- 
 aster beyond threat. 
 
 At last with an effort he turned his eyes from 
 Aunt Mary to Rockwell. 
 
 " I have to tell you," he said, " that George Nor- 
 man is dead."
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 THE FINAL DILEMMA 
 
 I DO not suppose Mr. Crockett desired to be un- 
 necessarily cruel. Doubtless he would have 
 preferred to break his devastating news more 
 gently. But he was himself in a state of nervous 
 exhaustion from fatigue, worry, and perhaps re- 
 morse, and the circle of anxious faces had proved 
 too much for his self-control. 
 
 Eealising too late the brutal bluntness of his 
 announcement, he broke into a hurried flow of 
 words : 
 
 "We took him from the hotel this morning to 
 St. John's Hospital. We thought he would be just 
 as well off there even better off. Dr. Hobart 
 thought he was nearly well anyway. But the ride 
 and the effort of listening to Hobart's explanations 
 apparently fatigued him. By the time they got to 
 the hospital he was very sick again. His bron- 
 chitis if it ever was bronchitis turned into pneu- 
 monia double acute pneumonia. He got worse 
 and worse all day. Dr. Hobart and the physicians 
 and nurses at the hospital did everything possible 
 for him. But it was no use. He died at nine 
 o'clock." 
 
 344 -
 
 THE FINAL DILEMMA 345 
 
 All eyes turned suddenly to Aunt Mary, who had 
 risen, holding on to the back of her chair. 
 
 Father Murray was at her side in an instant, and 
 Alicia hurried to her. 
 
 " No," said Aunt Mary, brokenly, " I'm not go- 
 i:tg to faint or anything. But I want to be 
 alone." 
 
 Eockwell sprang to his feet. "My bedroom," 
 he said, and led the way to the door of his chamber, 
 which opened off the sitting room. 
 
 In a moment Aunt Mary, walking between 
 Father Murray and Alicia, had passed into the bed- 
 room. 
 
 Mr. Wayward's voice broke the stillness. 
 
 " Poor fellow ! " he said. 
 
 For a minute or two they all paid the tribute of 
 silence to the dead. But it was impossible to be 
 really very sorry for George Norman. He had 
 had an easy, pleasure-filled life wealth, luxury, 
 fame, and a good time, according to his own con- 
 ception of a good time, up to the very beginning of 
 his brief illness. That his last few, largely un- 
 conscious hours had been passed in a hospital away 
 from his friends had certainly been almost no grief 
 to him. The only sorrow genuinely possible was 
 over the common folly, and the universal final 
 tragedy, of humankind. In a few moments the 
 thoughts of the entire group that remained in 
 KockwelPs sitting room were irresistibly drawn 
 back to the strange and somewhat dangerous situa- 
 tion in which the unexpected death had left them.
 
 346 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 Presently Bockwell spoke: 
 
 " Technically, Mr. Crockett, I suppose it is not 
 Senator Norman but Mr. Merriam who died at St. 
 John's Hospital." 
 
 (Merriam was somewhat startled at this turn 
 of thought; this phase of the matter had not yet 
 occurred to him. ) 
 
 " You have made no announcement? " Kockwell 
 asked. 
 
 " No," said Crockett. " I have done nothing. 
 When Hobart telephoned me that what had hap- 
 pened, I rushed out to the hospital again I don't 
 know why. I couldn't believe it. Then I tele- 
 phoned from the hospital to the De Soto and got 
 Mrs. Norman, and she told me you were all here, 
 so I came here. I have done nothing." 
 
 While he was speaking Alicia and Father Murray 
 returned from the bedroom. 
 
 " She is all right," said Alicia. " She asked us 
 to leave her alone for a few minutes. Did you 
 tell Mrs. Norman? " she added, addressing Crock- 
 ett. 
 
 " What had happened? Yes," said Crockett. 
 
 Merriam's thoughts flew to Mollie June, alone in 
 the vast, heartless hotel with the news of her hus- 
 band's death. 
 
 " Ought not some one to go to her? " he asked. 
 
 "Presently," said Kockwell. "We must first 
 consider the situation a little hers as well as 
 ours." 
 
 Mayor Black spoke up:
 
 THE FINAL DILEMMA 347 
 
 " It will be pretty awkward for her aside from, 
 natural grief and all that that her husband should 
 have died in a hospital under another name without 
 her being present, while the man to whom the other 
 name belongs was impersonating him in public. 
 And awkward for Miss Norman. For the rest of 
 us, too. Damned awkward ! " 
 
 " It is a hard thing to have to close the career 
 of George Norman with such a story," said Mr. 
 Wayward. 
 
 " It must never happen ! " said a voice behind 
 them. 
 
 They all turned. Aunt Mary was standing in 
 the door of the bedroom. She already looked more 
 like herself. She was one of those souls who 
 may sink under passive anxiety and suspense but 
 find themselves again immediately when a call for 
 action comes. She had scarcely been left alone, ap- 
 parently, when the same thought which the Mayor 
 and Mr. Wayward had expressed had occurred to 
 her the peril to the name of Norman, which was 
 perhaps even more dear to her than her brother 
 himself had been. And instantly, by some power- 
 ful effort of will, she had put grief behind her and 
 turned to face this new danger. 
 
 " It must never happen," she repeated, advanc- 
 ing into the room, where Alicia, and the men too, 
 unmindful of the etiquette which should have 
 brought them to their feet, sat staring at her. 
 " The secret must be kept. It is more important 
 now than ever. With George alive, it would not
 
 348 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 have mattered so much. He would h ave lived it 
 down triumphantly. Only the rest of us would 
 have suffered not he, nor the Name. But now 
 it must l)e kept! " 
 
 " But how can it be kept? " said Crockett, in a 
 tone of desperation. 
 
 For a moment no one spoke. 
 
 Then Kockwell, looking from face to face, drew 
 a deep breath. 
 
 " There is just one way," he said. " It was John 
 Merriam who died. Senator Norman is alive." 
 He waved his hand at Merriam. " He must go on 
 living ! " 
 
 " But that is impossible," said Mayor Black and 
 Merriam together. 
 
 "Face the alternative first," said Kockwell. 
 " George the real George was admitted to the 
 hospital about nine o'clock this morning. At that 
 same hour Senator Norman was making a speech 
 at Cairo before an audience representing the entire 
 county. That is known all over the State. He 
 took the next train back to Chicago. But that 
 train did not reach Chicago until after after the 
 death." 
 
 " We could have the hour of the death changed 
 on the records," proposed Mr. Wayward. " It is 
 already announced all over the State that Senator 
 Norman is ill again. He could be rushed from the 
 train to the hospital and die there during the 
 night." 
 
 " Then we should have two deaths on our hands,"
 
 THE FINAL DILEMMA 349 
 
 said Rockwell, "and only one body. Unless we 
 bring Merriam to life again. How are we to do 
 that? It is pretty hard to get hospital authorities 
 to falsify their records. And dozens of people 
 must know the supposed facts nurses, doctors, 
 clerks at the hospital. We could never keep them 
 all from talking. The reporters would get hold 
 of it within twenty-four hours. No, Senator Nor- 
 man cannot have died at the hospital. He is alive. 
 He must go on living ! " 
 
 " Can't he die at the hotel to-night or to-mor- 
 row? " said Merriam. 
 
 " Then what becomes of you? " asked Rockwell. 
 
 " Why, I should go back to Riceville." 
 
 " You can't. You're dead ! And how can Sen- 
 ator Norman die at the hotel when we should not 
 be able to produce his body there? " 
 
 "We could get the body," said Mr. Wayward, 
 speaking in a lowered tone. "As Mr. Merriam ? s 
 friends we would take his body away from the hos- 
 pital to be buried and bring it to the hotel." 
 
 " We shall have to send for the real Merriam's 
 friends." said Rockwell. " From Riceville and 
 wherever your people live." He looked at Mer- 
 riam. "We should have no body to show them. 
 We could bury a loaded casket. But why should 
 we, who must be strangers to him from their point 
 of view, have been in such a hurry when they could 
 get here in a few hours? Probably they would 
 want to take his body elsewhere for burial. Very 
 likely they would have the coffin we had buried
 
 850 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 raised and opened. And how could we get a dead 
 body into the Hotel De Soto? Up a fire escape? " 
 
 In the earnestness of his argument Kockwell evi- 
 dently did not realise the gruesouieness of his 
 language. 
 
 Aunt Mary shuddered. 
 
 " No ! " she said. " I will not have George's 
 body smuggled about the city." 
 
 She paused, looking strangely at Merriam. 
 None of the others, not even Kockwell, ventured 
 to speak. 
 
 "Alicia told me, I believe, that you have no near 
 relatives?" she said presently. 
 
 " None nearer than cousins," Merriam replied. 
 
 For a long minute more Aunt Mary stared at 
 him. She closed her eyes, opened them, and looked 
 again. Then her lips shut tight for a moment in 
 an expression of momentous decision. She leaned 
 forward. 
 
 " You have the Norman blood in you," she said 
 to Merriam, " on your mother's side. You are fine 
 stuff. We have all seen that. We will make a 
 Norman of you, if you will. You shall take 
 George's place to save his name ! " 
 
 " But " Merriam began. 
 
 But Eockwell cut in : 
 
 " It's absolutely the only way," he cried. " The 
 only other alternative is to let the whole story 
 come out." 
 
 " Then that's what we have to do," said Mr. Way- 
 ward. " Make a clean breast of it."
 
 THE FIXAL DILEMMA 351 
 
 " No ! " said Aunt Mary. 
 
 "Xo!" echoed Rockwell. "Think what that 
 means to George's memory, first of all. That in 
 his last hours his relatives and friends were con- 
 spiring against him, with the help of a stranger 
 double, to force him to abandon the kind of life he 
 was leading and the disreputable interests with 
 which he was associated. I beg your pardon, Mr. 
 Crockett ! " 
 
 Crockett waved a feeble hand to indicate for- 
 giveness or indifference. 
 
 "And then to Mollie June," Rockwell continued. 
 " That she had connived at the impersonation of 
 her husband during his last illness by another man. 
 How far did that other man take her husband's 
 place, will be the question every man and woman 
 in the State will ask. And all the rest of us. Aunt 
 Mary. And Mr. Merriam, who will lose his job and 
 his professional standing. And the Mayor and my- 
 self, who will be ruined politically and every other 
 way. Even you, Mr. Wayward, would find your- 
 self in an exceedingly unpleasant situation. And 
 Mr. Crockett, on the other side, would be no better 
 off. For the story of the kidnapping must come 
 out," 
 
 The wilted financier uttered a sort of groan. 
 
 " But can the other thing be done? " asked the 
 Mayor, the perspiration of mental anguish showing 
 on his forehead. 
 
 " Certainly it can," said Rockwell eagerly. 
 " Senator Xorman has come back to Chicago.
 
 352 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 Here he is. Presently he will arrive at the hotel. 
 He will be pretty sick. You and I " he looked at 
 Mr. Wayward " will support him to the elevator 
 and to his rooms. He will be ill for several days. 
 We must get hold of Hobart again to attend him. 
 Then we will announce that he is threatened with 
 tuberculosis and is to retire from public life. He 
 must resign his seat in the Senate. We daren't go 
 ahead with that. It would be too dangerous and 
 too serious a fraud besides." (Evidently there 
 was some limit to a Reformer's unscrupulousness. ) 
 " He will go to his ranch in Colorado to recuperate. 
 You will actually go." He was addressing Mer- 
 riain now. " You must live there for a year or so. 
 During that time only a few of Norman's private 
 friends will visit you. We will coach you up on 
 these a few at a time. If any of them notice any 
 slight changes in you, they will lay it to your ill- 
 ness. You will easily take your place in the whole 
 circle of his private life." 
 
 " But the property," said Mr. Wayward. " The 
 Norman fortune." 
 
 " Reverts to me and Mollie June," said Aunt 
 Mary, who was evidently heart and soul with Rock- 
 well. " If we are satisfied " 
 
 She stopped. The mention of Mollie June had 
 recalled a phase of the situation which Rockwell 
 and the Mayor and even Mr. Wayward had ap- 
 parently forgotten so little are men accustomed 
 to consider their women folk when the real game 
 of business or politics is on. Merriam and Alicia
 
 THE FIXAL DILEMMA 353 
 
 had not forgotten it, but had not been able so far 
 to get a word in. As for Aunt Mary I cannot say 
 she was so near to being a man herself. 
 
 " Mollie June ! " repeated Kockwell aghast, 
 
 "Exactly," said Merriam, somewhat bitterly. 
 Him, too, Kockwell had been treating pretty much 
 as a lifeless pawn in the game. 
 
 But Aunt Mary, when roused, was equal to any- 
 thing. 
 
 " We shall manage that," she said. " I will go 
 to Colorado with Mr. Merriam. Mollie June can 
 return to her father for a time. We can arrange 
 a separation or " 
 
 Even Aunt Mary hesitated. But Alicia took the 
 cue. 
 
 " Or they can be married or remarried," she 
 said, fixing her bright eyes, with a gleam of mis- 
 chievous understanding in them, on Merriam. 
 
 The argument had come to a full stop. The 
 whole roomful sat looking at Merriam, who tried 
 to think and found he could not, except that he 
 realised that all the rest had tacitly accepted Rock- 
 well's plan. 
 
 " Come ! " said Alicia vivaciously. " It isn't so 
 bad, is it? The Norman fortune and Mollie 
 June!" 
 
 Bad ! The prospect was so dazzling to Merriam 
 that he could not take his mind off it in order to 
 think calmly. To die to his old self to his poverty 
 and loneliness, to his teaching with which he had 
 long been bored, and to step as if by magic into a
 
 354 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 new life with wealth, leisure and Mollie June! 
 For surely she loved him, and she had not loved 
 George Norman. She would marry him. after an 
 interval, of course. 
 
 " I must think," he said, weakly, in response to 
 Alicia's exhortation. 
 
 " Of course you must," said Kockwell. " You 
 must accustom your mind to it. But it will all be* 
 perfectly easy. You were brought up on a farm, 
 weren't you? You will take to the ranch life like 
 anything. It's mostly stock-raising. You can go 
 in for scientific farming. After a few months it 
 would probably be a good thing for you to travel, 
 perhaps for a year or two especially if you and 
 Mollie June should marry. Get out of the coun- 
 try, so as to leave Norman's old life entirely behind 
 you for a while. You might take a trip around the 
 world." 
 
 Merriam's youthful heart bounded in spite of 
 himself. A trip around the world with Mollie 
 June! 
 
 "As to your old self," Bockwell continued, 
 " that's quite simple, too. Norman was entered at 
 the hospital under your name. A death certificate 
 must have been given by now." He looked at 
 Crockett. 
 
 "I don't know," said Crockett. "Hobart may 
 have held off on that." 
 
 "At any rate it can be. In fact, it will have to 
 be. Hobart shall telegraph to Biceville and to 
 your cousins, wherever they are. He was the
 
 THE FINAL DILEMMA 355 
 
 house physician at the De Soto where you took 
 sick. That was how he came to be attending you. 
 When you got bad he took you to the hospital. 
 Xothing more natural. The rest of us will not 
 need to appear at all." 
 
 "Aunt Mary will have to appear," said Alicia. 
 " She will want to attend the funeral." 
 
 " She became acquainted with you at the hotel, 
 then," said Rockwell. " Took an interest in a 
 young man who was alone and ill. When your 
 relatives and friends come Hobart will have the 
 body already laid out in a casket. He can advise 
 immediate burial here in the city. Aunt Mary can 
 offer a lot in the !Norman plot at Lakewood. 
 Would your cousins probably consent to that? " 
 
 "Very likely," said Merriam, rather in a daze. 
 It was confusing to be discussing the details of 
 one's own interment. 
 
 " Then everything will follow in regular course," 
 said Rockwell, speaking as if all difficulties were 
 solved. "George will be buried with his family, 
 and you can start for Colorado." 
 
 For a second time the talk came to a full stop. 
 The new plan was outlined in full. It remained 
 only to decide upon it or to reject it and face the 
 alternative of a public confession. All of them 
 except Merriam had already accepted the scheme, 
 apparently, gruesome and bizarre as it was. It 
 was for all the rest so much the easiest way and 
 the most advantageous. But it did not require any 
 of them to die to die to his own self, his friends,
 
 356 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 his very name. On the other hand it did not offer 
 them any such positive rewards as were proffered 
 to Merriam a fortune and love. We can hardly 
 wonder that he was somewhat stupefied by the 
 alternatives that beat upon his mind. The loss of 
 all that up to this point in his life had been his 
 identity versus Mollie June that was the essence 
 of the struggle within him. 
 
 He sat beside Rockwell's table, staring at the 
 now silent percolator, trying to think but able only 
 to feel. The others were looking uneasily at him 
 and at one another. Aunt Mary's eyes and Alicia's 
 demanded of Rockwell, who had always managed 
 everything, that he should manage this too. Once 
 he started to speak, but gave it up and looked ap- 
 pealingly at Alicia instead. Indeed he might justi- 
 fiably feel that this was Alicia's job. She ad nowl- 
 edged as much in her own mind and was trying to 
 decide what to do or say, when the one person 
 present who had not spoken throughout the entire 
 scene came to the rescue. 
 
 Through all their long discussion Simpson had 
 stood unobtrusive and unnoticed in the background, 
 but he had followed e"very word. For his fortunes 
 too, humble, indeed, but sufficiently important to 
 him, were bound up in this decision. If the decep- 
 tion was to be continued, his assistance, in the 
 matter of silence at least, would be necessary, and 
 he could expect a large honorarium ; if it came to 
 a public confession, he could still expect some- 
 thing, but probably a good deal less; and to win
 
 THE FINAL DITEMMA 357 
 
 and hold Jennie he needed a ct nsiderable sum of 
 money. 
 
 So now he advanced a step and spoke : 
 
 " Shall I call a taxi for you, Mr. Merriam, to 
 take you to the hotel? " 
 
 " Of course ! " cried Alicia, jumping up. " You 
 must go and see Mollie June. It all depends now 
 upon her." 
 
 The others too stirred and expressed more or less 
 audible acquiescence, and Simpson had his reward 
 in the shape of approving glances from Eockwell 
 and Mr. Wayward. 
 
 Merriam got to his feet with the other men be- 
 cause Alicia had risen. He was not so obtuse nor 
 so much dazed that he did not see what they were 
 doing. They were trying to rush him. They 
 calculated that though Mollie June in the abstract 
 might contend indecisively with other abstract con- 
 siderations, Mollie June in the flesh would decide 
 him in tli3 twinkling of an eye. He saw that 
 plainly enough. Nevertheless, for his part it did 
 now depend altogether upon Mollie June. If he 
 was to do this thing to abandon his old self and 
 enter upon what must be in some degree a lifelong 
 career of deception, it would be for her sake not 
 only in order to win her sooner, years sooner, than 
 he could otherwise have the slightest hope of doing, 
 but to save her from scandal, and because she loved 
 him and wanted him too at once (comparatively 
 speaking) as he wanted her. 
 
 So his decision was made almost as soon as he
 
 358 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAOT> 
 
 was on his feet. He looked with some dignity from 
 one waiting face to another about the circle. 
 
 " Yes," he said quietly, " it does depend on her. 
 You may call a taxi, Simpson."
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 MOLLIE JUNE 
 
 ALMOST before Merriam's brief sentence was 
 out of his mouth. Simpson had started for the 
 telephone. But Mayor Black spoke up : 
 
 " My car and chauffeur are below. We came up 
 from the hotel in it. You can use it." 
 
 " You go with him, Aunt Mary," said Rockwell, 
 again taking command. " You see her first," he 
 continued. " Mr. Merriam can wait somewhere 
 in l Mr. Wilson's ' room. When you have explained 
 the general situation you can call him in and leave 
 them together and give him his chance." 
 
 Even at this moment it was a slight shock to 
 Merriam to realise that the state of feeling between 
 himself and Mollie June, which they had supposed 
 completely hidden, had been clearly perceived by 
 the others or at least, he thought swiftly, by 
 Rockwell and Aunt Mary and Alicia. He smiled 
 a little cynically to himself as he understood that 
 they had been willing to use this interest of his as 
 a motive in securing his easy acquiescence in their 
 previous schemes. Evidently they were counting 
 on it in Mollie June too. That gave him a thrill of 
 hope which made him forget his cynicism. 
 
 Father Murray had put Aunt Mary's wrap about 
 369
 
 360 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 her, and Rockwell had got Merriam's hat and his 
 own. 
 
 Merriam found Alicia by his side. She held out 
 her hand, and when he took it she squeezed his 
 fingers in the way she had and said significantly, 
 with all of a woman's interest in a romance : 
 
 "Good luck!" 
 
 " Thank you," said Merriam, but his answering 
 smile was again a little cynical. 
 
 Then he opened the door for Aunt Mary and 
 waved his hand to the others, with some amuse- 
 ment at the anxious looks with which they were re- 
 garding him. Even Simpson's countenance was 
 perturbed ! 
 
 Kockwell and the Mayor went down to the street 
 with them and put them in the limousine. The 
 Mayor directed the chauffeur to drive them to the 
 hotel and then to return for himself and the others. 
 Kockwell spoke to Aunt Mary : 
 
 " You put the essential facts before her and then 
 leave them leave Mr. Merriam to do the rest ! " 
 
 And again Merriam smiled with an acid amuse- 
 ment that is commonly supposed to belong to the 
 middle-aged and old but is really most character- 
 istic of those who are under thirty. 
 
 Eockwell glanced at Merriam as if about to give 
 him too a parting exhortation, but hesitated, 
 checked perhaps by the younger man's expression, 
 and spoke to the driver instead : "All right ! " 
 
 They had started, and Merriam tried to think. 
 His whole life turned in a very peculiar sense on
 
 MOLLIE JUNE 361 
 
 the events of the next hour whether he should con- 
 tinue to be himself or take up the life of another 
 man. He got that far. But what he should say 
 to Mollie June even what it was he wanted to say 
 to her he could not get on with it. The mood of 
 youthful cynicism was by no means the right mood 
 for the business in hand. 
 
 And then too soon for him now they were at 
 the hotel. 
 
 So little had he been able to think clearly that it 
 was not until he was helping Aunt Mary out of the 
 machine that he realised that in entering the hotel 
 with her again this way, in the character of the 
 dead Senator, he was already in effect consenting 
 to KockwelPs plan and binding its consequences 
 upon himself and Mollie June. 
 
 He had a wild idea of getting back into the 
 limousine and driving away and later entering the 
 hotel via the fire escape again. But Aunt Mary 
 was already on the pavement. 
 
 As they entered the lobby Merriam glanced about 
 to see whether he was noticed and recognised as 
 the Senator. He was. At least three men whom 
 he did not know bowed and raised their hats, and 
 one of them took a step forward as if to approach 
 them. But Merriam looked away and guided Aunt 
 Mary as rapidly as possible to the elevators. 
 
 When they emerged on Floor Three, Merriam 
 asked for the key, explaining casually that "Mr. 
 Wilson " was a friend. 
 
 In a couple of minutes he had escorted Aunt
 
 362 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 Mary to the door of her sitting room Senator 
 Norman's no longer or was it still to be Senator 
 Norman's? and had himself entered "Mr. Wil- 
 son's " room. 
 
 His first act there was to call up the hotel 
 florist as he had done once before on this same 
 telephone. But this time Merriam's order was for 
 roses, to be sent up at once. 
 
 He hung up the receiver and walked nervously 
 about the room. 
 
 Was it not time for him to go to Mollie June? 
 Aunt Mary was being terribly long about her ex- 
 planation. Had Mollie June broken down under 
 her grief grief for George Norman? or merely 
 from anxiety and conflicting emotions? Was she 
 refusing to see him? Was she ill? 
 
 He jumped up and walked back and forth in his 
 nervousness, watching the door to the other bed- 
 room, at which he might expect to receive Aunt 
 Mary's summons. 
 
 A knock at last ! But it was at the wrong door, 
 the hall door. In a sort of hesitating amazement 
 he went to answer it. It was the boy with the 
 roses. He had forgotten ordering them. 
 
 He signed for the flowers and brought them into 
 the room and took them out of their box and tissue 
 paper. They were lovely the most exquisite 
 colour, between pink and red, that has no name 
 but that of the flower itself pink and red harmon- 
 ised in soft coolness and fragrance Mollie June's 
 flowers without a doubt.
 
 MOLLIE JUNE 363 
 
 But had lie done well in ordering them? Was 
 this a time for lover-like gifts? Should he not have 
 got white roses, such as one sends to a funeral? 
 
 And then, as he stood in this anxiety, came Aunt 
 Mary's knock at the bedroom door. 
 
 He started as if caught in a guilty action and 
 thrust the flowers back into their box before he 
 went to open to her. 
 
 " How is she? " 
 
 But Aunt Mary herself looked so broken that he 
 led her to a chair. 
 
 Then, " How is she? " he repeated. He could not 
 wait. 
 
 " She is very quiet." 
 
 " You told her the the plan? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " She understood it? " 
 
 \" I think so." 
 
 "Am I to go to her? " 
 
 "I suppose so," said Aunt Mary with a sigh'. 
 "Mr. Rockwell said " She stopped. 
 
 Merriam showed her the roses. 
 
 " Should I take these to her? " 
 
 Aunt Mary looked at him and at the flowers. 
 
 " I think perhaps you might," she said, and then 
 sat staring out across the fire escape. 
 
 She looked so very miserable that Merriam im- 
 pulsively patted her shoulder. She glanced up 
 quickly at that, then turned her eyes to the window 
 again. He could not read her look, but he was not 
 sorry he had betrayed his affectionate sympathy.
 
 364 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 If he was to be her brother for the rest of their 
 lives 
 
 After a moment more of hesitation he picked up 
 the flowers and passed through the former sick 
 room to the sitting room. 
 
 Mollie June was sitting in a small straight- 
 backed chair by the window, looking out. But 
 Merriam was sure at the first glance that she saw 
 nothing. She had merely turned automatically to- 
 wards the light, as all but the old or the self-con- 
 scious tend to do. As Aunt Mary had said she 
 was very quiet. Her back was of course towards 
 the room and Merriam. 
 
 He waited for a moment just inside the door, 
 looking at her, forgetting the flowers in his hands. 
 He was sorry for her and very uncertain what he 
 ought to do. Then he became a little frightened, 
 because she sat so still. She gave no sign of hav- 
 ing heard him. 
 
 With conscious effort, because he must do some- 
 thing, he crossed the room till he stood beside 
 her. Still she did not turn her eyes from the win- 
 dow. 
 
 He stood looking down at her. She was a 
 pathetic figure as she sat there the more pathetic, 
 to the eyes of youth at least, because she was so 
 lovely, so young and fresh really, although a little 
 pale and heavy-eyed. He saw dark shadows under 
 her eyes which must have come from tears. 
 
 The sight of these unlocked him, drowned all his 
 hesitations in pitying love. He dropped on his
 
 MOLLIE JUNE 365 
 
 knees beside her chair, laying the long-stemmed 
 roses regardlessly on the floor and putting one 'hand 
 on the back of her chair. 
 
 " Mollie June ! " he said. 
 
 She did not start. Evidently she had known he 
 was there. She looked first at the flowers on the 
 floor and then at his face. 
 
 " I am so sorry," he cried. 
 
 "Are you sorry or glad? " she asked. 
 
 " I am terribly sorry for you," he answered. 
 
 Her hands lay together in her lap, and he at- 
 tempted to take one of them. 
 
 But she moved them slightly. 
 
 " Don't," she said. 
 
 " Don't make me strange to you, Mollie June," 
 he cried. 
 
 " How can I help it? " she answered. " I am 
 strange to myself too. You see, I am glad ! I am 
 sorry for George," she went on quickly. " It is 
 terrible to me that he is dead. But I am so glad I 
 do not have to be his wife any more ! " 
 
 Once more, as on a former occasion, some dim 
 notion came to Merriam of what it must mean to a 
 girl to be connubially in the power of a man she 
 does not love. He pitied and loved her greatly. 
 Also he marvelled. How had she come through it 
 all so fresh and unchanged? The answer, of course, 
 was youth. But youth could not know the answer. 
 
 " I am glad too," he said. 
 
 Her eyes, which as she dropped them had rested 
 on the roses on the floor, came back to his face.
 
 366 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 " You are glad I have to marry you." 
 
 "But you don't!" 
 
 " You know I do." 
 
 Instantly he saw that Aunt Mary had not put 
 the thing fairly before her. In Aunt Mary's mind 
 it was settled. The course of action which prom- 
 ised to save the precious Norman name from scan- 
 dal was the only possible course of action. She 
 had so represented it to Mollie June. 
 
 " No, no ! " Merriam cried. " You shall not be 
 forced into this. You shall never be forced in any- 
 thing again if I can help it. I will not be forced 
 myself even to marry you." 
 
 "What else can we do?" asked Mollie June, 
 searching his face. 
 
 " It's fairly simple," he said, a little bitterly. 
 " Not easy, but simple. I will write a brief, plain 
 account of the whole affair the impersonation 
 from beginning to end, and send for a reporter and 
 give it to him. That will end everything. I will 
 sit down now at that desk and write it and call 
 for a man and give it to him while Aunt Mary 
 thinks we are still talking unless you tell me 
 not to." 
 
 "Would you do that?" 
 
 "Indeed! will!" 
 
 He rose to his feet. He meant it, and she saw 
 that he meant it. To be forced in this thing was, 
 in fact, even less to his liking perhaps than to 
 hers. 
 
 Standing, he saw the roses at his feet. He
 
 MOLLIE JUNE 367 
 
 stooped and picked them up and handed them to 
 her. 
 
 " You'll let me give you these? ?> he said, his 
 manner more determined than lover-like. " I saw 
 them from the elevator as I was coming up here 
 with Aunt Mary. They were so like you that I 
 could not help buying them and bringing them to 
 you." 
 
 She accepted them passively, looking up at him. 
 Perhaps she liked him determined rather than 
 lover-like. 
 
 ' " I am not giving you up," he went on gravely. 
 " But you will go away somewhere with Aunt Mary, 
 and I will go back to Riceville. I have my con- 
 tract for the rest of this year at least. And if you 
 will wait a few years you will want to wait and 
 rest a while, I will come back and win you in my 
 own right." 
 
 She did not answer but looked up at Mm, still 
 searching his face. 
 
 For a moment he stood regarding her. That 
 image of her as she sat there with the flowers in her 
 lap and her uplifted face and questioning eyes, 
 more lovely than ever in their intense gravity in 
 spite of their trace of tears, remained one of the 
 permanent treasures of his memory. 
 
 He turned away and walked over to the writing 
 table and sat down. It was a moment or two be- 
 fore he could think why he was there. Then he 
 remembered and drew towards him several sheets 
 of the hotel stationery and took up a pen. He real-
 
 368 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 ised that he was in a very poor frame of mind 
 for literary composition, but he mastered his at- 
 tention and wrote: 
 
 Statement by John Merriam regarding His 
 Impersonation of Senator Norman 
 
 He underlined those words and resisted an im- 
 pulse to turn and look at Mollie June. He wanted 
 to know whether she was looking at him or looking 
 out at the window again. He wanted, too, merely 
 to see her. But he would not look. With a heroic 
 effort he brought his mind back to the paper be- 
 fore him. How to begin? Where to begin? It 
 was a long story, he realised. He must make it 
 as brief as possible. He could omit much. 
 But he must introduce himself. The public did 
 not know him from Adam. He seized at this 
 straw. 
 
 " My name is John Merriam," he wrote. " I am 
 the principal of the high school at Riceville, Illinois. 
 On my mother's side I am related to " 
 
 He stopped abruptly. It was the fragrance of 
 roses that interrupted him. Mollie June had risen 
 and come over beside him. His effort of concentra- 
 tion had been so great that he had not heard her. 
 She carried the flowers pressed against the bosom 
 of her dress. The action was probably mechanical ; 
 she was too much engrossed to think to put them 
 down. She did not look at him but over his shoul- 
 der at his writing. She read it. 
 
 Apparently his opening statement caught her
 
 MOLLIE JUNE 369 
 
 attention. She looked at Mm and smiled slightly, 
 more with her mouth than her eyes, which were 
 still grave. 
 
 " You wouldn't like to change your name, would 
 you? " she said. 
 
 " Mollie Jiur He was on his feet. 
 
 She backed away from him, pressing her flowers 
 tight, 
 
 " Would you? " she demanded. 
 
 " It's not that," he said, not daring to advance 
 towards her lest she should retreat farther. 
 
 "A woman always has to change her name when 
 she marries. Why shouldn't a man do it for 
 once? " 
 
 He started forward now and caught her arm and 
 led her back to her chair and dropped on his knees 
 again beside her. 
 
 " Dearest Mollie June," he said, " I'll change my 
 name to yours so gladly, if you will let me. So as 
 to have you sooner than I could the other way. 
 But not unless you want me to ! " he added fiercely. 
 " For yourself ! " 
 
 She looked at him, shyly now. 
 
 " I would rather have it the other way myself," 
 she said, tears standing in her eyes at last, " and 
 wait and change my name to yours. But I think 
 we ought to do it this way for George." 
 
 " For George ! " 
 
 " Yes, and Aunt Mary. She has been very good 
 to me. George was good to me too in his way. 
 And he was my husband, and he's dead. If we can
 
 370 MOLLIE'S SUBSTITUTE HUSBAND 
 
 save his name and save her this way, don't you 
 think we ought to? " 
 
 Then of course he put his arms about her. 
 
 " I won't call you George, though ! " she said 
 presently, very emphatically. 
 
 " What will you call me, dearest? " 
 
 She smiled at him through her tears and with 
 a gesture that ravished him lifted his hand and 
 kissed it. 
 
 " Mr. John ! " she whispered. 
 
 He would have kissed her again, but she hur- 
 ried on. 
 
 "We'll pretend to people that it's a nickname 
 left over from some game or play." 
 
 " It is left over from a sort of play," he an- 
 swered, and then she was ready for another kiss. 
 
 THE END
 
 UC SOUTHERN HE6WNW. UBRARY FAOUTY 
 
 A 000045718 4