iiighter of 
 o Worlds 
 
 LEROY SCOTT
 
 . OF fTAT.Tp. T,T^A p Y.
 
 & 
 
 A DAUGHTER^ 
 
 OF 
 
 TWO WORLDS 
 
 A NOVEL of NEW YORK LIFE 
 BY LEROY SCOTT 
 
 INTERNATIONAL FICTION LIBRARY 
 CLEVELAND, O. NEW YORK, N. Y.
 
 Copyright, MCMXVIII 
 
 and 
 MCMXIX by International Magazine Co. 
 
 Copyright, MCMXIX by 
 Leroy Scott 
 
 All Rights Reserved 
 
 Printtd in tit United States of Amtrica 
 
 by 
 
 THE COMMERCIAL BOOKBINDING CO. 
 CLEVELAND, O
 
 A DAUGHTER 
 OF TWO WORLDS
 
 A DAUGHTER 
 OF TWO WORLDS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE GARDEN WHERE JENNIE GREW 
 
 LIFE'S histories do not begin at some definite 
 point, before which there was nothing, and after 
 which there is everything. Their beginnings 
 reach back through years and generations and through 
 the conditions which have helped twist or nourish or 
 gloriously develop them. But since histories must start 
 somewhere, this history of Jennie Malone, and of her 
 strange father Black Jerry, and of the three men who 
 loved her, and of the half-dozen or more other persons 
 who vitally influenced her ambitions and her soul 
 this history may be started, perhaps somewhat arbi- 
 trarily, on a certain night early in October in the Pekin 
 Caf6. For the Pekin had been Jennie's environment 
 since her early childhood ; its habitues, many her friends, 
 had all been familiar figures to her; and upon such scenes 
 as this evening's she had peeped almost nightly. 
 
 On that October evening, in the little office at the rear 
 of the smoke-fogged, orchestra- inspirited cafe, sat two 
 men, a bottle of imported mineral water between them. 
 One was deep of chest and of powerful width of shoul- 
 ders, and had a square, grim face, with that stippled dusk- 
 iness which the closest shaving cannot expunge from 
 dark and heavily bearded skins. It was that swarthy 
 
 2132661'
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 skin, together with his shining ebon hair (forty had now 
 marked it with a few lines of gray), which, long ago, in 
 this quarter where every one who deviated from the 
 average was tagged with his outstanding characteristic, 
 had caused him to be rechristened "Black Jerry." 
 
 The other was as bland and open of manner as Jerry 
 was grim and reticent. He was of indefinite age sixty 
 might be near the middle of one's guesses. Beneath 
 eyes and jaw were deflated pouches, suggesting bulkier 
 days when an unprotesting stomach had permitted a 
 generous eating of all good things of the earth. His few 
 short gray hairs were parted exactly in the middle; of 
 eyebrows he had none at all, of eyelashes almost none. 
 His gray eyes were genial, bland, shrewd infinitely 
 wise and sophisticated and resourceful. Among his 
 friends he was known as "Uncle George," though by 
 blood or law he was uncle to none. At present he was 
 out of his habitat; rarely in these, his more mellow years, 
 did he wander below Fourteenth Street, except as now 
 to visit Black Jerry. Some thirty or forty blocks up- 
 town, in the territory where stood the smartest res- 
 taurants of Broadway, and the seemingly more proper 
 but really very similar hotels along Fifth Avenue 
 that was Uncle George's home country. 
 
 Just now Jerry's face had relaxed somewhat of its 
 grim control, for Jerry was in the company of a proved 
 and trusted friend. But the relaxation was only partial. 
 The habit of reticence and self-containment was so 
 strong upon Jerry that he could not really let himself 
 go even with such a friend as Uncle George. 
 
 "Now, see here, Jerry, what 's worrying you? " insisted 
 the older man. 
 
 "Nothing worth talking about, Uncle George."
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds ,3 
 
 "That's what you said before," returned Uncle 
 George in a dry, drawling voice, but with a keen look 
 at the other from his old eyes. "But, excuse me, Jerry 
 I may be too wise a guy, and like the top side of the 
 earth's crust too well, to call you a liar but words to 
 that effect are what some more reckless party, who had 
 no proper regard for his beauty in the place where it 
 last was, might in a thoughtless moment try to say to 
 you. But, Jerry, I 'd be publicly insulting my own in- 
 telligence if I did n't mildly slip }/ou a hint that that 
 bunk don't go with me. Something's worrying you, 
 and worrying you big or you would n't look like 
 you do." 
 
 Uncle George might at times be cunning, even shifty, 
 but just now all his impulses were kindly. "Come on, 
 Jerry, get it off your chest. Mebbe I can help you out. 
 I saw Casey leave as I came in. Did that plain-clothes 
 copper have anything to do with this smile of yours that 
 won't come on?" 
 
 "Casey did try to throw it into me," admitted Black 
 Jerry. "But I did n't let him get away with anything." 
 
 "Casey's a pretty square guy for a copper." 
 
 "Oh, Casey's square enough." 
 
 "What did he want? if you don't mind telling me." 
 
 "I don't mind telling you about Casey," returned 
 Jerry in his heavy voice that seemed to have its origin 
 in sub-diaphragmal regions. "Casey comes in about a 
 guy named Morrison. Five or six weeks ago this Morri- 
 son blows in here, already carrying a lot of booze, with 
 a party of friends. He orders the best eats and drinks 
 in the house; he's short of dough, and asks me to cash 
 a check for fifty. I feel he's safe and I cash it, and it 
 goes through the bank all right. While he 's here, being
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 already stewed he loses his check-book. But it 's found 
 and give back before he leaves." 
 
 "And that's all you know about it?" 
 
 "That's all I knew till Casey shows up to-night. 
 Casey says this Morrison has made a holler about a 
 forged check not the check he give me, but another 
 check for twenty-five. Morrison did n't discover the 
 forgery until he got his canceled checks from the bank 
 the other day. Casey says he's gone over Morrison's 
 talk and all the evidence. Casey says he 's handing it to 
 me straight, and he says there ain't no doubt that the 
 forged check came out of Morrison's pocket check-book; 
 no doubt that it was torn out by some one while his 
 check-book was lost in my place ; and Casey says there 's 
 no doubt it was forged by copying from the good check 
 which I had in my cash drawer. So Casey tells me 
 straight out that the trick was turned by some one in 
 my place, and he orders me to come across and help him 
 grab the guy that done it." 
 
 "Does he think you wrote the check, Jerry?" 
 
 " Naw! " with a growl of contempt. " I'm no good with 
 the pen, and Casey knows it! Besides, if I did go into 
 a crooked deal, it would n't be for no such piker's stake 
 as twenty-five!" 
 
 " But even if you had nothing to do with it, would n't 
 it be better for you to square the sucker by slipping him 
 back the twenty-five?" 
 
 "That's what I offered to Casey." Black Jerry was 
 meditatively silent for a moment. "What I 'm wonder- 
 ing about is, who wrote that check?" 
 
 "Plenty of clever crooks hang out in your joint, 
 Jerry," suggested Uncle George. 
 
 "But which one of them was clever enough to get
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 hold of that good check to copy from? that good 
 check being in my cash drawer. That 's what 's got me 
 guessing, Uncle George. Casey's coming in to see me 
 about it again in an hour." 
 
 He was grimly composed again. ' ' It 'd be a little thing 
 for anybody else, but it's damned serious for me. With 
 the police watching for a chance to fall on me, I can't 
 afford to have anything crooked happen in my joint." 
 
 "It does have a nasty look, Jerry considering 
 your situation." 
 
 For a moment Jerry's gleaming eyes were fixed on 
 the old face of Uncle George. Then he remarked 
 abruptly : 
 
 "But that phony check that's the least of my 
 worries." 
 
 "Then what is the matter with you?" exclaimed 
 Uncle George, staring. 
 
 But Jerry, as though he had not heard the question, 
 stood up. "Excuse me guess I 'd better have a look 
 at what's doing outside. I '11 be back in a few minutes." 
 
 Uncle George gazed searchingly at the face of the 
 man who, in an earlier day, had been the theme of 
 acres of reporters' romancing romances which had 
 resulted in his being still remembered, though somewhat 
 vaguely, as a grisly name that once upon a time had 
 done something (just what was perhaps forgotten) which 
 was brutally tragic. Uncle George, wise old worldling, 
 thought he understood Jerry; believed he knew what 
 ideas, what impulses, what passions existed behind 
 that dark, taciturn surface which was shown the world. 
 But sometimes Uncle George was not at all certain, and 
 he wondered just as he now sat wondering as Jerry 
 stepped out of the office.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 A pair of screens shut off the little office, and also a 
 side door opening on a hallway, from the dining-room, 
 and behind these screens Jerry paused and glanced 
 through. The Pekin was doing good business that 
 night, as in fact it did almost every night. The dining- 
 room was large and low-ceilinged, with rows of iron- 
 topped tables barren of napery, with sawdust-covered 
 floor, with a cleared central area where at this moment 
 a lithe young man in evening clothes and his showily 
 dressed partner were whirling about in a bewildering 
 dance for this was years ago at about the time the 
 cabaret, and the tango and its coeval dances, were mov- 
 ing uptown to their period of prosperity and popularity. 
 At the tables nearest Black Jerry sat the passengers of 
 a "rubber-neck wagon," captained by a guide who knew 
 everything about the world and who was communicat- 
 ing his information by use of smirking innuendo in order 
 that his charges might likewise know everything and 
 yet not have their refined ears befouled by the direct 
 word. At other iron- topped tables sat men and women 
 but mostly men of a different sort ; theirs was the 
 air of belonging here ; they glanced up casually at these 
 invaders, smiled at each other, and spoke in low voices, 
 and returned to their food and drink. But the cargo of 
 the sight-seeing coach gazed about with all the deli- 
 cious stirring of horror for which they had been pre- 
 pared and for which they had come. 
 
 The guide had just begun his "spiel," and Jerry, at 
 his back, could but overhear it all. "Well, here you are," 
 the shepherd was saying to his flock in that suppressed 
 and guarded whisper which so heightens the effect of 
 recitals that have to do with horror and naughtiness 
 "here vou are in the joint of Black Jerry Malone
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 perhaps the toughest joint of its sort in town. You all 
 know about Black Jerry his big trial ten years ago 
 how he barely beat his case one of the most no- 
 torious men in New York. . . . And these people at the 
 other tables, they 're mostly crooks of one sort or another 
 burglars, cracksmen, pickpockets, confidence men, 
 and I won't offend you by telling you what the women 
 are. . . . And Black Jerry has a daughter, pretty and 
 smart Jennie 's her name. Wish I could show her to 
 you; she and her father have an apartment upstairs. 
 If you could see her and Black Jerry together, you 'd 
 certainly say, Heavens, what a pair!" 
 
 The guide became more serious. Professional experi- 
 ence had taught him that a bit of philosophy, with a 
 touch of sentiment, was always effective with these 
 good people from out of town. 
 
 "I'm not one of these here sociology men," he went 
 on, "but did you ever think what must become of all 
 the children of criminals? children who are born in 
 this sort of surroundings and never know anything 
 else? And there are millions of them! Ever think 
 whether their parents can really care for 'em? and if 
 so, how? Ever think what such children grow up to be? 
 Something big to think about there, you bet! It's sure 
 got me guessing!" 
 
 The sight-seers nodded excitedly ; it was indeed some- 
 thing big to think about, and it had them guessing, 
 too. From behind the screens Black Jerry stared keenly, 
 suspiciously, at the guide. The mouthing of that gentle- 
 man seemed to Jerry to be uncanny. It was as though 
 the guide had stolen into the secret places of his own 
 heart and mind, places which he had not yet even 
 explored.
 
 8 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Presently he became aware that the hall door just 
 behind him was being gently opened. He stepped 
 quickly to one side, keeping behind the door. There 
 slipped in a slender girl of perhaps sixteen. She peeped 
 cautiously through the door of the office Jerry had just 
 left. Then she peered through the space between the 
 screens and rapidly surveyed the interior of the cafe. 
 Excitement was flushing her face, and she was reaching 
 out a hand to part the screens, when Jerry whispered 
 sharply : 
 
 "Jennie!" 
 
 She whirled about. "Dad ! " 
 
 She was even then pretty, more than pretty 
 though not as pretty as she was later to be with 
 dusky skin and dark hair, and eyes of gleaming black- 
 ness. Her grace and lightness of figure she certainly 
 could have had only from her mother; but in her 
 rounded face there were hints of qualities that might be 
 derivations from her father. 
 
 "What are you doing down here?" demanded Black 
 Jerry. 
 
 ' ' Aunt sent me to get two dollars for the washwoman.' ' 
 
 Jerry did not speak his unbelief. He handed her the 
 sum requested, and pointed at the door through which 
 she had entered. 
 
 "Tell your aunt, when she wants any money, to wait 
 till I come upstairs or to come down for it her- 
 self. You better remember what I told you : you 're to 
 keep out of here." 
 
 "All right, dad" and the girl slipped through the 
 door. 
 
 Black Jerry gazed after her with narrowed eyes as 
 she mounted the stairway ; then he closed the door, and
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 resumed his survey through the screens. The lithe young 
 man and his showily dressed partner had finished their 
 exhibition number, and couples from the tables were 
 making for the central open space. The lithe young man 
 crossed to the tables where sat the sight-seeing group, 
 and in a manner which was an effective blend of audacity 
 and deference, was inviting a young woman of the party 
 to dance. She drew back, startled, but then was caught 
 by the spirit of adventure, and rose and gave herself 
 to his arms. Jerry's eyes were fixed upon the pair every 
 instant; and when, the dance ended, the young man 
 was bowing his partner into her chair, Jerry, without 
 appearance of having hurried, was instantly through 
 the screen and was slipping a hand through the young 
 man's arm. 
 
 "Want a word with you, Slim," he said, and led the 
 other into his little office and closed the door. 
 
 "Hello, Uncle George; glad to see you down among 
 us cheap guys," the young man said easily. "I say, 
 Jerry why the hurry in rushing me in here?" 
 
 " I wanted you here before you had a chance to pass it 
 on to some one else," replied Jerry. 
 
 "Pass what on?" 
 
 "The watch you lifted off that young dame you 
 danced with." 
 
 "Why, Jerry, honest to God, I did n't 
 
 "Shut up!" snapped Jerry. " I seen it all. The ticker's 
 in your left pants pocket right now! Take it out!" 
 
 The young fellow's smiling, handsome face became 
 inflamed with sudden passion. "I didn't take any 
 watch and if I did, who are you to be calling me down 
 for it?" he cried. And then his voice became mocking 
 in its rage. " Black Jerry Malone it's enough to make
 
 io A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 a guy laugh, you to try to call me down for merely lift- 
 ing a watch. You! when if you 'd got what was com- 
 ing to you, you'd have gone to the chair! And every- 
 body knows it!" 
 
 Black Jerry moved one step nearer the other and his 
 powerful shoulders lifted menacingly. "What I done 
 has got nothing to do with this proposition," he growled. 
 "Take that watch out, damn you, or I'll smash that 
 face of yours so far through your head you '11 see back- 
 ward when you walk!" 
 
 The young fellow shrunk before the glare of Jerry's 
 eyes, and the passion faded from his face. Slowly he 
 reached into his left trousers pocket and held out a 
 lady's watch. 
 
 "Put it back in your pocket," Black Jerry ordered. 
 
 Wonderingly the young fellow returned the watch to 
 his pocket. 
 
 "You damned cheap crook," Jerry flamed at him 
 " pulling a stunt like that in my joint ! You know there 'd 
 be a holler on account of that watch and you know 
 how much worse I 'd get in with the coppers just be- 
 cause it happened in my place. And yet you try to pull 
 it just the same and me all the time paying you good 
 money to work for me! Damn you!" 
 
 Suddenly Black Jerry's right arm shot out and his 
 open palm detonated upon the other's cheek. Though it 
 was only a slap, the other went staggering. But as he 
 was falling, Jerry's left hand caught him and swung 
 him to his feet. 
 
 "Shut up!" Jerry ordered, before Slim could open his 
 mouth. " If you 've gotta steal, that 's your own business. 
 But you 've gotta do it away from my joint remember 
 that!" Jerry was silent a moment, glaring at the other.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 1 1 
 
 Then he spoke sharply. "And the worst thing about 
 you, you stiff, is that you don't have to steal. You're 
 clever enough to get on without stealing. You're a 
 clever performer I '11 hand it to you for that." 
 
 He shoved the young fellow toward the door. " You 
 go in there now and put that watch back on that dame!" 
 
 "How?" 
 
 "If you knew how to take it off I guess you know how 
 to put it back. Dance with her again." 
 
 Slim started to slip through the door, but Jerry caught 
 him once more. "Another word, Slim," he said men- 
 acingly. " If you want to keep your health, you'd better 
 keep away from my Jennie. Now, go to it!" 
 
 Jerry followed the young man out. Again behind the 
 screen Black Jerry watched Slim, with his pleasing man- 
 ner of audacious politeness, ask the young woman to 
 dance. His keen, practiced eye was on the couple every 
 instant they whirled about the floor; and was on them 
 when Slim bowed her back to her seat. 
 
 He was satisfied. Slim had restored the watch.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 BLACK JERRY MALONE 
 
 FOR a space Jerry stood gazing in at the motley 
 crowd. His mind, for the moment, was occupied 
 with just one thing his character and his past 
 with which the angered Slim had just taunted him, and 
 about which that guide yonder had just whispered to 
 his thrilled audience. Automatically the chief events of 
 that past, and some hint of their present significance, 
 passed through Jerry's mind in swift review. . . . 
 
 Jerry was a son of the old "Cherry Hill" district, 
 where to fight one's way up and to be cleverer than the 
 other guy were the standards on which one modeled 
 one's manhood. Black Jerry had first attained minor 
 fame as a second-rate middle-weight pugilist he had 
 put on many a pound since then. Then his strength 
 and his dominating character had made him the leader 
 of the "Ginger Bucks," most notorious of New York 
 gangs for a decade ; and in that position his wits and 
 his control over his pack had made him extremely useful 
 to a class of politicians that (as far as their actual prac- 
 tice is concerned) is now happily going out of vogue. In 
 this period he was charged with participation in such 
 political activities as colonizing, intimidating voters, 
 overtaxing the capacity of ballot-boxes, though nothing 
 was ever definitely proved against him and in con- 
 sequence he acquired further notoriety through the news- 
 papers, and the name, "Black Jerry" Malone, came to 
 be regarded by the good people who took an interest in 
 political and social conditions in New York as synony-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 1 3 
 
 mous, in a lesser way, with all that the city held which 
 was evil. 
 
 But that had only been the foundation, or the spring- 
 board, of the real notoriety of Black Jerry. Earlier than 
 this he had married a sentimental young school-teacher, 
 who had been fascinated by his personality and the evil 
 tales about him, and who had romanticized herself into 
 believing she could reform him. When Jennie was five 
 years old, the pretty wife was overtaken by romance 
 again. This time the man was one Philip Garrison, 
 handsome and young and of a well-known family and 
 Jennie's mother, not pausing for a second thought, went 
 adventuring in search of love with him. 
 
 Black Jerry, seeking his wife without having spoken 
 his purpose to any one, at length found her in a little 
 Harlem flat, the handsome cavalier with her. When 
 the police arrived, attracted by the uproar, the picture 
 which the sophisticated officers saw explained every- 
 thing: a crumpled man, his skull injured, an arm broken 
 a hysterical woman writhing on the floor, bleeding 
 from a bullet wound, yet still able to see all that was 
 happening and Black Jerry standing between the 
 two holding a revolver that examination showed to 
 contain two empty shells. 
 
 The pretty, light-minded wife in her frenzy, having 
 as her first thought only the protection of her name, and 
 not knowing the nature of her wound, made a statement : 
 Jerry had been brutal to her, life with him had been 
 endurable no longer; and in fear of him she had run away 
 and gone into hiding. It had been her intention to se- 
 cure a divorce, and gain possession of Jennie. This Mr. 
 Garrison, an old friend, was merely calling upon her, 
 to help her with advice, when Jerry had broken in.
 
 14 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Jerry had first shot her with the pistol the police had 
 found him holding, and had then sprung upon Mr. 
 Garrison. That was God's truth, God help her! 
 
 And that was the nearest to God's truth she ever 
 told, for she suddenly died within an hour, without ever 
 realizing how serious was her injury, and never know- 
 ing that Philip Garrison had died before her from a 
 fractured skull. And within the hour Black Jerry 
 was locked up in the Tombs, charged with a double 
 murder. 
 
 And also within the hour the papers were full of the 
 affair, and at irregular intervals they were full of it for 
 months thereafter. It had all the elements of a big pop- 
 ular newspaper story of which the public can never read 
 enough: a pretty woman, refined, of good family, who 
 had suffered unspeakably to try to make an honor- 
 able man of her husband and who at the last, in sheer 
 desperation, had tried to escape back into a better life; 
 and a man, a likable, decent fellow, an old friend, moti- 
 vated by impulses of chivalry, who had tried to aid a 
 harried woman ; and a super- villain, the notorious Black 
 Jerry, who, after shooting down his wife, in his vindic- 
 tive fury and with his gorilla-like strength, had crunch- 
 ingly snapped the arm of his wife's protector and had 
 then hurled him against a steam radiator, breaking his 
 head. By the papers Jerry was tried and found guilty 
 that first day. 
 
 In the beginning the police, the papers, and the pub- 
 lic never doubted this version of the drama, as no fuller 
 investigation was undertaken. Why should it, when the 
 case was so obvious? when Jerry's part in it was so 
 thoroughly in keeping with what was believed to be his 
 character? Police and press made Jerry the super-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 1 5 
 
 beast, and the police crowed loudly over this example 
 of the prompt work of the Department. 
 
 All this time Jerry, in his cell, said nothing in his 
 own behalf. He was reticent by nature, and in his cyni- 
 cal wisdom he knew nothing he might say would be be- 
 lieved and he also knew that by speaking he would 
 add to the hatred with which he was regarded, a loath- 
 ing for trying to clear himself by attacking the good 
 names of the dead. Also the first few months during 
 which he was in the Tombs awaiting trial, he was 
 utterly without support. He had had backers and fol- 
 lowers in the days of his power, but few friends Uncle 
 George did not then know him; and so high was the 
 feeling against him that those with influence whom he 
 had served in the past, dared not endanger their posi- 
 tion by giving him help. 
 
 Presently the police discovered that their original 
 statement, reflecting so gloriously upon the efficiency 
 and watchfulness of the Department, contained cer- 
 tain elements of error; but in those days at least it 
 was not the policy of the Police Department voluntarily 
 to confess a fallibility which might detract from its 
 credit. When Jerry's trial was first called, the District 
 Attorney, prompted by the Police Department, asked 
 for a postponement; the Chief of Police feared Jerry 
 might have a defense, and wished time to learn what 
 that defense was and to prepare against it. But at this 
 period Jerry had no plan of defense. It was his intention 
 to accept grimly the jury's verdict and the judge's sen- 
 tence and he knew well what verdict and sentence 
 would be. 
 
 This reprieve brought Jerry an unexpected chance. 
 The postponement caused a shrewd young criminal
 
 1 6 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 lawyer, looking for an opportunity to build a name, to 
 smell that something was not altogether right. He 
 made a private study of the case; then he saw Jerry, in- 
 formed Jerry he was innocent, and that he was Jerry's 
 lawyer. After a time Jerry told the lawyer a part of the 
 truth he never admitted the infidelity of his wife. 
 The young attorney exulted ; never had he dreamed of 
 such fortune as having for his first big case so sensa- 
 tional an affair as this was going to prove. 
 
 He worked hard and carefully; he believed he had 
 built up a perfect defense and his confident manner 
 showed it. This confidence was reported to the Chief of 
 Police, and the Chief had learned another thing or two; 
 with the result that the day before Jerry's trial was 
 called the second time, the Chief was in the inner office of 
 the District Attorney. They were good friends, and also 
 "good organization" men, and they spoke to the point. 
 
 "Tim," said the Chief, "I'm in a hell of a hole, and 
 so's the Department. You've got to help us out." 
 
 "Shoot," said the District Attorney. "What's wrong 
 now?" 
 
 " It's that case of Black Jerry Malone. If it comes to 
 trial, I 'm due for one awful panning, and so is the De- 
 partment and neither of us can stand it." 
 
 "Go on," said the District Attorney. 
 
 "You know what a noise we made about Black Jerry 
 being guilty, and all the big floral set-pieces we handed 
 ourselves over the footlights because of the good work 
 we'd done? " 
 
 "Yes. But what's up?" 
 
 "Tim, we can't put that conviction across. And if we 
 try to and don't, you know where we get off with the 
 public."
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 1 7 
 
 "Can't convict? Why not?" 
 
 "I don't need to tell you how we'd doped out the 
 prosecution you know that better than I do. All I 
 need say here is that the police have yelled that Jerry 
 is guilty, that he croaked the other guy, shot his wife, 
 and that the gun he used was his own. Now, Jerry's 
 lawyer is going to declare that the gun was the other 
 guy's and he can prove it, for it 's so. His line of 
 defense for Jerry is going to be that Jerry merely went to 
 get his wife. And he's going to claim that the other 
 guy opened fire on Jerry, and that Jerry's wife was ac- 
 cidentally killed by one of the other guy's bullets 
 and he can claim that Jerry jumped on him in self- 
 defense, and that this Garrison having his head cracked 
 over the radiator was an accident which happened while 
 the two men fought for the gun. And as to who did the 
 shooting, the lawyer can prove that, too, if he 's as wise 
 a young bird as I think he is." 
 
 "Prove it? How?" 
 
 "By having the court order us to produce the coat 
 Jerry wore that day. Honest, Tim, we believed it all 
 happened just the way we gave it out. But when we 
 arrested Jerry, we kept everything he had as material 
 evidence, including his clothes. Naturally we did n't 
 examine his clothes at the time ; but when I learned a bit 
 about his defense I had them brought in to me. Well, 
 Tim, the shoulder of his coat is powder-burned, and 
 there's a bullet hole in his sleeve. Jerry did n't even 
 know about the bullet holes, since he was n't touched 
 himself. All that won't listen very good to any jury, 
 Tim." 
 
 "But there's his wife's dying statement," said the 
 District Attorney.
 
 18 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "I don't need to tell you, Tim, what a wife's testi- 
 mony against her husband is worth in court. And that 
 testimony will be worth a darned sight less when the 
 lawyer brings out the fact, as he sure will, that Jerry's 
 wife had run off with this other guy remember, no- 
 body knows that yet and makes it plain that she was 
 lying to protect herself and the other guy as well. No, 
 Tim, the Department has pulled an awful bone ; to go 
 through with that trial will show us up to the public in 
 a way we can't stand. And it'll be bad for the city to 
 think it's got a bum Police Department. I 'm willing to 
 stand for a moderate amount of knocking, but not for 
 what '11 fall on me if that case goes through. It's up to 
 you, Tim, to help me out." 
 
 The District Attorney meditated. "I'll do all I can, 
 Jack/' 
 
 The next morning an eager-souled young lawyer, who 
 believed he was about to explode the sensation of the 
 decade, and who saw glittering just before him the up- 
 ward path to fortune and to fame, arose in the court- 
 room, and went through with the procedure which is a 
 perfunctory preliminary to all such cases that is, he 
 moved that the indictment be dismissed. The District 
 Attorney stood up, and with punitive energy spoke 
 about the majesty of the law and the necessity of its 
 strict enforcement, and then wound up by declaring that 
 he believed Black Jerry to be as guilty as hell, but that 
 a close reexamination of all the evidence in his posses- 
 sion convinced him that the State did not have the proof 
 necessary to secure a conviction, and that therefore, 
 in order to save the court time and the State expense, 
 he wished to support the motion of the counsel for the 
 defense that the indictment be dismissed.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 19 
 
 The young lawyer's glittering world came crashing 
 about his head, and he sat blinking and gasping. The 
 judge who had been privately forewarned, quickly 
 acted in accord with this joint request of the defending 
 and the prosecuting attorneys, and dismissed Jerry with 
 the most stern and outraged speech that he had been 
 able to prepare upon such short notice. 
 
 And thus Black Jerry returned to the world, in the 
 anomalous position of being a discharged prisoner and 
 yet a prisoner who bore the brand of guilt. And all who 
 had followed this tragi-romance and every one had 
 believed in his guilt, and Jerry became an even more 
 sinister figure in the minds of the people. 
 
 At that time Black Jerry was not greatly concerned 
 over the fact that he had not been cleared. He did not 
 care what the great world thought about him; and in his 
 own world there was more prestige attached to "beating 
 a case" than to being honestly proved innocent. Per- 
 haps Jerry was in his heart not much better than the 
 public's estimate of him ; though he had not gone to kill, 
 yet he was glad that Garrison had "got his." Taking it 
 all in all, Black Jerry was inclined to regard it as an even 
 break, and he never discussed the matter. 
 
 All this had happened ten years before. At that time 
 Black Jerry never guessed that this episode might have 
 some bearing upon the lives of himself and Jennie. And 
 even now, as he stood peering through the screens into 
 his cafe, he did not guess how this episode, and the dark 
 reputation it had helped beget for him, was going to 
 reach out of the past, and keep on reaching out of the 
 past, to affect Jennie's future, and hardly less his 
 own. . . . 
 
 Black Jerry stepped back into his office and told Uncle
 
 2O A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 George that Slim Jackson had returned the watch. 
 "It's one hell of a job to keep the crooks from pulling 
 jobs in my joint!" he went on in his exasperated growl. 
 "It's none of my business how much they steal, and I 
 don't care, if only they '11 do their stealing away from the 
 Pekin. But with the name I got, you know what the 
 police would do if just one big holler went out about a 
 job being turned here!" 
 
 Uncle George nodded. He regarded Jerry keenly a 
 moment with his wise old eyes ; then 
 
 "Is this the thing that's been worrying you so, 
 Jerry?" 
 
 "It's worried me sure." Jerry regarded the other 
 steadily; he was wrestling with a strong impulse. " Uncle 
 George, I'll hand it to you straight," he said abruptly. 
 "That stealing here worries me sure. That business 
 of the phony check worries me sure. But they're 
 nothing. What's worrying me is something a damned 
 sight bigger!" 
 
 "Yes?" interrogated Uncle George. 
 
 "Just heard a limber-jawed guy in there spill some of 
 his dope to the bunch of rubber-necks he was steering 
 round. He did n't know or care what he was saying; 
 he was just spilling words; but he said something. He 
 said what becomes of kids that have crooks for their 
 parents and that live among crooks? He said what 
 chance does such a kid have? Uncle George, that's the 
 big thing that has me worrying! " 
 
 "You're thinking about Jennie?" Uncle George in- 
 quired softly. 
 
 "Yes Jennie." It was not often that Black Jerry's 
 deeper feelings gained a little freedom, and when they 
 did he was at a loss how to manage them. He still spoke
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 21 
 
 in his bass growl, but it was a bit unsteady. "Last week 
 Jennie was sixteen. I'd been thinking of her before, 
 sure but it was her being sixteen that really broke the 
 news to me that Jennie was growing up." 
 
 "Yes, she's growing up, Jerry." 
 
 Black Jerry flushed with contemptuous anger. "That 
 limber- jawed fool back there was saying, how does a 
 crook feel towards his children. I Ve been pretty much 
 of a crook in my time, sure 
 
 "So have I, Jerry so have I." 
 
 "But I guess I think as much of my kid as any other 
 guy!" 
 
 "And I guess she thinks as much of you, Jerry, as any 
 kid can think of her dad." Then the wise old man 
 added : ' ' Though, of course, Jerry, you Ve got to remem- 
 ber that all kids of sixteen think mostly of themselves." 
 
 "And I guess I 'd do as much for my kid as any other 
 man," Jerry continued. " I 've kept her in school she's 
 now in high school and I Ve had her take piano les- 
 sons and that sort of junk. I could afford it for I Ve 
 made good money here, in spite of everything and 
 you know I Ve run a place that 's really as straight as 
 any of them swell joints on Broadway or Fifth Avenue. 
 And the money I Ve spent on Jennie ain't been wasted, 
 either. She may not have some of the manners of up- 
 town kids, but when it comes to knowing what 's what, 
 and how to use her bean, I '11 back her against any of 
 that uptown bunch!" 
 
 Uncle George regarded Black Jerry keenly, then 
 slowly nodded his head. "It's just what I guessed all 
 the time, Jerry: you're as proud as hell of Jennie!" 
 
 Jerry flushed defiantly. "I've got a right to be, 
 ain't I? She's my kid, ain't she? And I tell you what"
 
 22 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 doggedly "she's going to be somebody some day! 
 You just watch!" 
 
 Uncle George nodded. The flush of grim, dogged pride 
 faded from Jerry's face. 
 
 "I guess I've always had that idea," he said gruffly; 
 "but it's only been lately that I Ve noticed that Jennie 
 is growing up, and that I Ve been wondering about this 
 being the place for her to grow up in. There, I Ve handed 
 it all to you, Uncle George. That 's my big worry 
 Jennie. I guess you get me." 
 
 "Yes, I get you." 
 
 "Well, what am I going to do about Jennie?" 
 
 Uncle George regarded the other meditatively. He 
 was thinking about Jerry's problem yes; but old 
 worldling that he was, cynical and kindly, and accus- 
 tomed in these his later years to meditate philosophi- 
 cally upon the new revelations life unfolded to him he 
 wondered what the world would think, who remembered 
 Jerry and regarded him as a ruthless man-beast that had 
 escaped justice by a fluke, could the world have glimpsed 
 that part of Jerry which had just been opened to him. 
 
 "Well, what am I going to do about Jennie?" Black 
 Jerry repeated. 
 
 But before Uncle George could reply, the telephone 
 on the desk began to ring. Jerry took up the receiver. 
 
 "Hello . . . Yes, this is Jerry Malone . . . But I 
 thought you were coming back here? . . . Well, since 
 you put it that way, I '11 come over. Yes, I '11 be right 
 over." 
 
 He hung up. " It was Casey, Uncle George about 
 that bum check. He asked me to come over to Police 
 Headquarters; I would n't do it for any dick but Casey, 
 Wish vou'd come along."
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 23 
 
 "All right," agreed Uncle George. 
 
 Together the two men left the little office, and pass- 
 ing behind the screens from the other side of which 
 came the sound of music and laughter, they walked 
 through the narrow hallway and out into the street.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 JENNIE 
 
 WHILE Black Jerry and Uncle George were 
 concluding their talk in Jerry's little office, up 
 in a room of the living apartment above the Pe- 
 kin, Jennie was refreshing a bed that had been rumpled 
 by restless tossing. This done and the night-light ad- 
 justed, she looked down at the worn face on the pillow, 
 then stooped and kissed it. 
 
 "Feel any better, Aunt Mary?" 
 
 "I think I do, dearie." And then, quaveringly: "I'm 
 an awful nuisance, Jennie; but when this rheuma- 
 tism " 
 
 "No, you're not, Aunt Mary. You've done plenty 
 of my share of the work when I've been sick, or" 
 with a mischievous, contrite smile "when I wanted 
 to get out of it." 
 
 The older woman smiled affectionately. " I Ve always 
 been glad to do it, dearie." 
 
 "I don't see how you could, auntie, for I've not al- 
 ways been the sort of person it's easy to be nice to." 
 Just then Jennie was in one of her frankest, most lik- 
 able moods. 
 
 "Yes, you have had your whims and your tempers 
 but for ten years you 've been the same as my own child." 
 Like most sick persons Mary Graham liked to wander 
 through and sentimentalize upon the past. "And that 
 first year while your father was in jail I had you 
 all to myself. After what my sister did, I could n't do 
 less than all I could for you."
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 25 
 
 From the day of the now distant tragedy Mary 
 Graham had known the truth about the brief and ill- 
 fated second romance of her younger sister; and Jennie, 
 since she was ten, had also known the unpublished history 
 of that episode. 
 
 "You've been too good to me, auntie. Is there any- 
 thing else I can do for you?" 
 
 "I suppose you've put the kitchen in order?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And your lessons for to-morrow you've got 
 them?" 
 
 "Yes." Jennie gave a little shrug of contempt. 
 "Those lessons they're nothing!" 
 
 "You 're so clever, Jennie ! " The older woman reached 
 out and took Jennie's hand, and gazed up into her face 
 admiringly, thoughtfully, for a long moment. "You're 
 so clever and independent and ambitious and 
 and" 
 
 "And selfish," supplied Jennie. 
 
 " Not always," protested her aunt "but, you know, 
 so sure of yourself, that I wonder what kind of a 
 woman you are going to be. I 'm always wondering that, 
 Jennie." 
 
 "Whatever I do become," smiled Jennie confidently, 
 "I guess I '11 be able to take care of myself." 
 
 "Yes, I think you will, Jennie. In some ways you're 
 already more grown up than I am. . . . Don't bother 
 about me any more, dearie. I hope I' 11 be able to be 
 up to-morrow. Go back into the sitting-room and sing 
 that song again with Harry. Mebbe it'll help me fall 
 asleep." 
 
 Jennie kissed her again, and went out, leaving the 
 door open. A well-built young man, perhaps twenty-
 
 26 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 two, arose and laid aside a magazine. There was nothing 
 handsome in his face and nothing subtle; but it was 
 frank-eyed and likable, and it instantly gave one the 
 sense that its owner was impulsive and loyal that he 
 might on occasion be swayed either by dogged deter- 
 mination or by utter recklessness. 
 
 "Auntie wants us to sing that duet again, Harry," 
 said Jennie. " Come on." 
 
 She sat down at the piano, and together they sang the 
 Barcarolle from the "Tales of Hoffmann." Jennie had 
 a warm mezzo-soprano which had had some training, 
 and he had a fair baritone, and together they gave a 
 very tuneful rendition of Offenbach's sugary, swinging 
 melody. Toward the middle of the love-sighing of the 
 song, Harry slipped a hand upon her shoulder, which 
 she seemed not to notice. 
 
 "Let's sing it again, Jennie," he urged when they had 
 finished. 
 
 "All right bu.t more softly this time." 
 
 So they sang it again sang it so softly that the old 
 love song was as gentle as a lullaby. At the end the 
 hand which had still remained on her shoulder, slipped 
 to her waist and Harry, bending down, kissed her. 
 She did not try to evade or oppose this endearment. 
 She was fond of Harry, and this was not his first kiss 
 not by many kisses. 
 
 "Jennie I have n't yet had a chance to tell you 
 what I came to tell you," he said in a low voice. 
 
 "Wait a minute." She rose, unloosing his arm, and 
 crossed and peeped through the open door of the bed- 
 room. The eyes on the pillow were closed, and the 
 steady breathing told her that her aunt had at last fallen 
 asleep. She tiptoed in, arranged the bedclothes, and
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 27 
 
 for a moment gazed down at the pale, relaxed face of 
 the woman who had tried to guide her, but whom, as 
 a matter of fact, Jennie had managed almost as she 
 pleased. She bent down and with contrite affection 
 touched her lips to the drawn face ; then she put out the 
 night-light, and noiselessly went out, closing the door 
 behind her. 
 
 She marched across to Harry, but stopped a safe five 
 feet from him a straight, slender figure, hands on her 
 hips, her dark head cocked, a teasing, impudent smile 
 on her face. She was a swiftly transformed person from 
 the Jennie who had sighed through "Oh, Night of 
 Love." 
 
 " Well, my son what's the sad story?" 
 
 "Jennie, you're a regular little devil!" exclaimed the 
 young fellow, exasperated at the change in her. He had 
 wished for the continuance of the tender mood at the 
 piano. 
 
 "Thanks but no time for compliments now," she 
 mocked him. "Other clients waiting " 
 
 "Jennie there are about seven different persons in 
 you!" 
 
 "You should be glad, not grouchy, over that," the 
 mocking voice returned promptly. "When one of the 
 persons wears out, there are still several more left of 
 me. . . . Come on, my son, what is it?" 
 
 He looked at her, provoked but helpless. He had 
 learned that he was no match for her in words or in 
 moods. 
 
 "Jennie, I'd like to be your father just long enough 
 to spank you!" Then he smiled an open, boyish 
 smile and ran a big hand through his tangle of yel- 
 lowish hair. "Yes, you're a devil but I guess I like
 
 28 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 devils. Well, first thing I wanted to tell you is, I got 
 a new job and a better job." 
 
 Again her mood changed; she was frankly delighted. 
 "I'm awf'ly glad, Harry! What is it?" 
 
 "With Harrison and Company the big contracting 
 firm in the engineering department. And good pay, 
 Jennie thirty a week." 
 
 "That is splendid, Harry! How did you get it?" 
 
 "I got it, miss, because they saw I was the best man 
 for the place." 
 
 "Of course. But you must have had an introduction 
 or recommendation. Who helped you with that?" 
 
 "Sam Conway." 
 
 "Sam Conway!" she exclaimed. 
 
 "Yes, Sam Conway. He's some sort of silent partner 
 in the firm." 
 
 She had become suddenly sober. "That's one part 
 of it that I can't be glad about, Harry." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "You know that whenever Sam Conway helps you 
 or gives you anything, he makes you pay for it some- 
 time somehow. And the way he makes you pay when 
 pay- time comes it 's not always the way you 'd rather 
 pay." 
 
 "There's nothing in this, and never will be, for Sam 
 Conway!" exclaimed Harry. "He just did it because 
 he's my friend." 
 
 " You mean you think he's your friend." 
 
 "Now, listen here, Jennie!" The young fellow's face 
 had flushed, there was an emphatic ring to his voice. 
 "These stories about Sam Conway are all bunk. Sam's 
 a politician, yes, but the people who think of Sam Con- 
 way as a scheming political boss have got Sam all
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 29 
 
 wrong ! Sam is a good fellow ! and he 's a good straight 
 friend, who'd do anything for his friends! and he's 
 certainly done a lot for me ! I tell you, Sam 's all right ! " 
 
 "I hope he'll be so in your case, Harry. But be 
 careful!" 
 
 "Sam's all right!" he repeated. 
 
 "I've said all I wanted to say. Let's not talk any 
 more about that part of it." She was smiling again. 
 "Anyhow, Harry, I 'm hoping it's going to prove a big 
 thing for you." 
 
 " It 's going to, you bet ! " he declared, still aggressive. 
 
 But before her smile all the stiff pugnacity which had 
 been roused in behalf of his friend, softened down and 
 again he was the good-natured young fellow of five 
 minutes before. He put his hands in his pockets, spread 
 his feet a trifle, and regarded her with smiling audacity. 
 
 " I guess you can guess the chief reason why I 'm glad 
 about this job." 
 
 "Because you can buy more red neckties." 
 
 " Because I 'm in right I'll be promoted and I '11 
 be making real money in about two years. And in 
 two years you'll be eighteen and through high school. 
 And when you're eighteen, Miss Jennie Malone, you 
 and I are going to get married." 
 
 "Oh, we are, are we just like that," she returned 
 coolly. "Well, if that's your guess of w r hat I'm guess- 
 ing, Mr. Harry Edwards, you'd better guess another 
 guess for me." 
 
 She was sober now and she looked him straight in the 
 eyes, and she spoke with a finality and cool air of worldly 
 maturity that seemed strangely out of keeping in one 
 of her years. "Don't try to kid yourself that way, 
 Harry. I like you a lot you 're a nice boy but that
 
 30 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 little plan is never going to work out. I have some 
 ideas of my own and I 've told you before that you 
 don't fit into them." 
 
 "Oh, I know you have some kind of crazy ideas, you 
 and your father. But listen, Jennie, I 'm going to make 
 good, and make good big for you!" 
 
 "I hope you make good, Harry, but you 're not going 
 to do it for me." 
 
 "For you oh, yes, I am!" he returned, his chin 
 setting. 
 
 "Well, I suppose I can't prevent your keeping on 
 thinking that way and it's not going to bother me a 
 lot since you date it all two years from now. So let's 
 adjourn this discussion." She glanced at a little clock 
 on top of the piano. " I 've got to go downstairs to see 
 dad for a while. You can wait here, if you like." She 
 started, then halted as she caught a look in his face 
 and an instinctive movement of his arms. "Don't try 
 any spooning as I go by you, Harry I don't feel like 
 it," she warned him. "If you do, something may happen 
 that won't make you very happy." 
 
 She passed him, and he made no move. At the door 
 she turned and smiled teasingly. 
 
 "You'll really be a very nice boy, Harry, when you 
 grow up if that ever happens! " 
 
 "I'll be grown up to the exact size to fit you in two 
 years!" he retorted. 
 
 She laughed, mockingly, and shut the door behind 
 her and in so doing, she shut Harry instantly and com- 
 pletely out of her mind. Her attention was all now upon 
 quite another matter one which had been restlessly 
 in the back of her thoughts this hour or so. She stood 
 a moment in the little hall at the top of the stairway,
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 3 1 
 
 gathering her wits; then she crept swiftly but quietly 
 down and slipped ever so cautiously through the side 
 door, opening from the hallway, into the cafe, and sidled 
 warily along behind the screens until she was near the 
 door of her father's office. Inch by inch she leaned for- 
 ward until her vision swept the whole of the interior. 
 As she saw that the office was empty, the tensity of her 
 figure relaxed. 
 
 She crept to the fissure between screens, and gazed 
 into the cafe. At first she did not see the crowd making 
 merry in their various ways; she had eyes for but one 
 thing, her father. Presently she was convinced that he 
 was not there, and she drew a deep breath of relief. 
 
 She now fixed her attention on Slim Jackson, and 
 tried to catch his eye. But to the music of the piano and 
 one violin Slim was again giving an exhibition with his 
 dancing partner. Jennie slipped through the screens 
 and made for the table Slim occupied between numbers. 
 
 Her entrance was hailed by a score of voices coming 
 from those persons that the guide of the sight-seeing 
 car had indicated as being crooks, confidence men, and 
 kindred gentry. Jennie greeted them easily: almost 
 since her memory began she had known these men, or 
 such as these. She had listened to their adventures ; had 
 heard them talk about the police, and suckers, and the 
 public that pretended to be straight ; and she had heard 
 them philosophize about life. But whatever might be 
 their practices elsewhere or with others, they had been 
 careful not to go too far with her. To this extent, Black 
 Jerry's bad name had served her well : it had been a ring 
 of safety about her. Men who loved their own skins 
 were inclined to take no liberties with Jennie that might 
 involve a collision with Jerry's temper and strength.
 
 32 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 In some respects Jennie may have lived her life in what 
 uptown moralists, who had learned the world from sit- 
 ting in their studies, might term hell; in other respects 
 she had been as safe as though bred in a convent. 
 
 While standing at a table and chaffing with a gentle- 
 man who was reputed to do some business in the wire- 
 tapping way, she was caught from behind and swept out 
 into the dancing space. Instinctively she fell into step 
 even before she saw who this capturing partner was. 
 
 "What do you mean, Slim?" she gasped. "You 
 almost scared me to death!" 
 
 "That's all right, Jen. Come on, finish this out with 
 me and let's show this bunch how it really ought to be 
 done!" 
 
 Not till then did Jennie notice that Slim's profes- 
 sional partner had sat down and that they two were 
 dancing alone. She caught the sudden new interest in 
 the faces of the onlookers. It was in her blood to excite 
 admiration, and instantly, forgetful of caution, she 
 was trying to do her best. She was a natural expert at 
 the then new but now passe tango light and graceful 
 and quick to follow into every new figure. 
 
 "Honest, Jen, I'm not kidding," Slim breathed into 
 her ear "but it's some relief dancing with you after 
 carrying Daisy around!" 
 
 That was great praise, coming from Slim. Slim was 
 a truly remarkable dancer, with a lissome steely grace, 
 and a sense of rhythm in his every muscle the kind 
 of a partner women dream about. With a flourish and a 
 sweeping bow they finished amid enthusiastic applause. 
 The audience demanded an encore. 
 
 "Come on, Jen, let's give 'em a repeat," said Slim. 
 
 " I should n't have done that one or stayed here this
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 33 
 
 long, only I forgot," whispered Jennie. "I've got to 
 talk to you, Slim. Meet me out in the hall as soon as 
 you can break away without making people guess you 're 
 following me." 
 
 With that she walked rapidly out, smiling and waving 
 her hand at the applauding tables who were not 
 seeing as much of Black Jerry's daughter as once they 
 did her black eyes shining with excitement, her 
 dark cheeks high with color. She slipped through the 
 screens and stood waiting in the hallway, keeping a 
 sharp watch for the first appearance of her father. 
 
 Presently Slim was beside her. "Gee, it sure seems a 
 long time since I've seen you, Jen!" 
 
 "Listen, Slim," she whispered rapidly. " I came down 
 awhile ago to see you, but dad was here and I did n't 
 dare risk it." 
 
 "And I guess you were a cagy kid not to risk it," he 
 returned, "for Jerry is certainly sore at me." 
 
 "It's not just because dad's sore at you, Slim," she 
 went on rapidly, "but I did n't want him to see us to- 
 gether and I simply had to see you! " 
 
 "What's doing, Jen?" 
 
 "It's that Morrison check." 
 
 He started. "What about that check?" 
 
 "I overheard a part of what a plain-clothes man told 
 dad to-night. They've found out about the check and 
 the coppers are on the job. I wanted to slip you word, so 
 you would n't be taken by surprise if anything breaks." 
 
 "Do you think anything'll break?" 
 
 "No. Dad offered to cover the check with good 
 money." 
 
 Slim laughed softly, with relief. "Then why worry, 
 Jen, if the sucker is to be squared?"
 
 34 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "That's not all I came to see you about. It's not 
 very much money, but I 'm not going to let dad have to 
 pay it. Slim, you've got to come across with your half 
 of that twenty-five." 
 
 "You think an awful lot of your dad!" he evaded. 
 
 "You bet I do!" she declared sharply. "I wish you 
 were half what he is, then you'd be a real guy, Slim 
 Jackson!" 
 
 "Thanks for the wish, Jen." He tried to speak face- 
 tiously. "But if it's all the same to you, I'd rather 
 be who I am than to have his name." 
 
 But she was not to be diverted; she was instantly 
 back to the point. "Come across with your share!" 
 she demanded. 
 
 "Sorry, Jen but I 'm cleaned out." 
 
 "You lie, Slim, and you know that you lie," she re- 
 turned, very steadily, looking him squarely in the eyes. 
 She held out a hand. " The twelve-fifty, Slim and 
 quick!" 
 
 He hesitated, looking meditatively at the command- 
 ing, slender figure which still wore its skirts short of 
 a woman's length. Then he reached into a pocket. 
 
 "There you are; I was only kidding you, Jen," he 
 laughed. "Have you got your share?" 
 
 "No, but I can get it." 
 
 "How '11 you fix the thing?" 
 
 " I'll slip the money in among dad's cash. He '11 square 
 that bad check and think he's out that much only 
 he'll not be, and he'll never know the difference. If he 
 ever notices the money I slip back, he'll just think he's 
 made a mistake." 
 
 "You're a clever kid, Jen." There was the ring of 
 approval in Slim's voice, but he had really spoken me-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 35 
 
 chanically; his keen faculties had already passed on to 
 the consideration of another point. "Of course nothing 
 is going to break in this check business," he said casu- 
 ally "nothing has ever broken in other checks you 
 and I have put through. But I suppose we ought to 
 think out what we're going to do if something does 
 break." 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "I figure it like this, Jennie," he went on plausibly. 
 "If they get anybody, they'll get you first since you 
 wrote the check. Now, if they found out that I'd 
 frisked Morrison for his check-book, tore out a check, 
 had a waiter hand the book back to him, and then gave 
 you the check to fix up why, they 'd soak me good 
 and plenty, me being a man. But if you were just to 
 tell them that you found the check-book on the floor, 
 and then filled the check, copying it from the one your 
 dad had cashed why, the judge would be easy on 
 you, you being a girl, and being able to say you were a 
 first offender. They're always easy on girls, anyhow. 
 Don't you see you come out of it exactly the same either 
 way? you come out easy. I don't want to talk like 
 a cheap guy, Jen and I would n't say a word if it 
 was n't all the same to you. But the first way, they'll 
 soak me hard ; the second way, I 'm not even in it at all. 
 Since it'll work out exactly the same to you, Jen, would 
 you mind, if you have to say anything at all, to tell it 
 the second way?" 
 
 She nodded. "Sure that'll be all right, Slim. 
 Good-night." 
 
 "Wait, Jennie!" He caught her arm. "I say, Jen, 
 there 's something I 've been waiting a chance to tell 
 you something big."
 
 36 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "Then tell it quick. I don't dare hang around down 
 here long." 
 
 "It's like this, Jen. I'm already too good for this 
 joint. I 'm going to be the real thing some day you 
 just watch me!" His voice had the ring of conviction. 
 Slim's belief in himself was honest, and indeed he had a 
 right to it, for he had ability of its own sort though 
 even in his bold dream of that moment he did not foresee 
 the high places he was eventually to reach. "Look at 
 Connie Devoe. He started out singing in a joint down 
 here a joint a damned sight cheaper than this dump 
 and see what Connie Devoe has done writing all 
 the big Broadway musical shows. If he could start 
 from down here, and go up, you bet I can, too! Al- 
 ready I Ve got an opening, and a good one!" 
 
 "Congratulations, Slim." 
 
 "But listen, Jen. I 'm figuring you in this with me." 
 
 "Me! How?" 
 
 "As dancing partner." 
 
 "But you already have Daisy White." 
 
 "Daisy oh, God, that cow! Why, carrying her as 
 a load, I 'm hardly up to the level of holding down even 
 this job. She's canned though she does n't know it 
 yet." 
 
 "Why, I thought you and Daisy were to be married." 
 
 " Nothing to it, Jen. Oh, there may have been a love 
 scene or two but just the usual thing, you know. 
 Nothing to it at all, Jennie! Listen, now get this 
 straight. I Ve got a good idea for an act and such a 
 team as we'd make, we'd soon be headliners!" 
 
 "I suppose it's also your idea that we'd live to- 
 gether?" 
 
 "Sure, Jennie. That follows, don't it? You know
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 37 
 
 I'm off my bean about you, and I'd sure treat you 
 fine." 
 
 Jennie was not in the slightest degree offended; 
 what he had suggested did, in her experience, follow as 
 a matter of course. Though Jennie was but sixteen, she 
 had a sophisticated acquaintance with certain worldly 
 matters that would have made most grandmothers 
 gasp. 
 
 "Nothing doing in that living together line for me, 
 Slim," she replied in a matter-of-fact voice. " I Ve seen 
 too often how it works out for the girl. She thinks it's 
 going fine for a while then the man drops her. Then 
 the next man drops her. Soon she 's on the toboggan 
 and booze or coke has got her. That's the way it'll 
 likely be with Daisy White oh, I know how it's been 
 between you and her no use wasting a lie on me." 
 She shook her head in precocious wisdom. "No, that 
 proposition does n't listen good to me, Slim. If ever I 
 go along with a man, a wedding ring's going along, too, 
 and it's going to be on my hand." 
 
 "That's O.K. with me, Jennie. I'll be tickled to 
 marry you. That's settled. But listen, Jen there's 
 even more to the proposition. Down here the checks 
 we've put over, they've had to be small because we 
 were among small people. But when we get to the top, 
 where there are people with real bank accounts, we'll 
 put across some whales and do it so clever no one will 
 even guess who's doing the job. I tell you, Jennie, you 
 are sure one born wonder with the pen! Now, how 
 about it? Of course I'll marry you and we'll go up 
 way up! What d' you say?" 
 
 She smiled at him superciliously with an immense 
 self-confidence. Her reply came in a drawl.
 
 38 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 " I say that I am going up, too way up. Only, Slim 
 you and I are not going up together!" 
 
 "But I said I 'd marry you!" he exclaimed. 
 
 "And I '11 say now, Slim," she went on in her mocking 
 drawl, "that I would n't marry you if you were twice 
 as big as your biggest dreams." 
 
 For a moment he stood stock-still, gazing at her. 
 He really cared for her, and his great plans had not 
 included the possibility of such a rebuff. Then his lean 
 cheeks flushed. 
 
 "Damn you!" and he sprang forward and threw his 
 arms around her. 
 
 In him was an uprushing desire to avenge her insult 
 by inflicting bodily suffering which would leave no 
 telltale marks as evidence, as blows unfortunately do; 
 he thought of a clever, excruciating twist of the arm 
 with which he was well acquainted. Jennie made no 
 outcry ; she was quick enough of wit to know that a call 
 for help would result in her father getting word of this 
 meeting, and she wanted no such outcome. She was 
 quick and strong, and for a few silent moments she 
 fought him to a standstill. 
 
 Then his dark mood passed, and he laughed softly. 
 " I 'm going to marry you all the same, Jennie. Just now 
 all I want is a kiss." 
 
 A kiss was an ordinary matter; she had let Harry 
 Edwards kiss her without thinking much about it other 
 than that she rather liked it. But Slim she continued 
 to fight with the same determined energy. Presently 
 she wrenched her right hand free it still clutched the 
 money he had given her and drove her fist into his 
 reaching lips. 
 
 He loosened her and fell back at the pain of the un-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 expected blow, and swore in a suppressed voice. She 
 ran up the stairway, and then realizing that she was 
 not being pursued, she turned and called down in a 
 taunting whisper : 
 
 "That's the gentlest kiss you'll ever get from me, 
 Slim Jackson!" 
 
 With his whispered answer there came a soft laugh. 
 41 1 like you all the better for your pep, Jennie! And 
 just remember we 're going to the top together, you 
 and I!" 
 
 He laughed softly again and disappeared into the 
 cafe. She mounted the stairs to the landing, paused a 
 moment to arrange her dress and hair and to regain an 
 even breath; then casually she opened the door and 
 stepped into the sitting-room where Harry still awaited 
 her.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 JENNIE FACES AN ORDEAL 
 
 JENNIE closed the door behind her and crossed the 
 room in a manner that was the perfection of the 
 usual. Harry laid aside the magazine he had been 
 reading and stood up. 
 
 "You were gone a long time to be talking to a mere 
 father," he grumbled good-naturedly. 
 
 "Dad'd gone out, and I waited for him in his office, 
 and even yet he has n't come back." Her next words 
 were spoken as if the idea had just come to her, though 
 she had thought of it while regaining her breath outside 
 the door. "Harry, I need some money, need it now, and 
 I don't like to ask dad for it. I wonder if you could loan 
 it to me?" 
 
 "Sure," was the prompt reply. "How much?" 
 
 "Twelve dollars and a half." 
 
 "Will that be plenty?" 
 
 "I don't need a cent more." 
 
 He counted the amount and handed it to her. She 
 took it in her left hand, the other hand already holding 
 the like amount she had received from Slim Jackson. 
 
 "Thanks, Harry; you're a good boy, and if you don't 
 mind, I wish you would n't say anything about this. I 
 don't want dad to learn I Ve been borrowing." 
 
 " I'll not say a word of course not." 
 
 There was a vase on the piano containing artificial 
 roses. She removed the flowers and into this she slipped 
 the two sums she had collected, then seated herself and 
 once more began playing "Oh, Night of Love."
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 41 
 
 "Come on, Harry, let's sing some more," she sug- 
 gested. "Soft, so as we won't wake auntie." 
 
 They were still singing when half an hour later, the 
 door from the stairway opened, and Black Jerry en- 
 tered followed by Uncle George and a solidly built man 
 who carried a derby hat. Black Jerry walked to the 
 piano and glared at Jennie, his dark face fiercely set, his 
 black eyes blazing. 
 
 Jennie rose. "What 's the matter, dad?" 
 
 "Damn you!" Jerry said huskily, and his right arm 
 swung with spasmodic swiftness, and his open palm 
 cracked against Jennie's cheek. She toppled sidewise, 
 her outflung, saving hands striking a wild discord as 
 they came down among the piano keys. 
 
 "You big brute, you!" cried Harry, and let drive at 
 him. 
 
 But Jerry, seemingly without having looked at him, 
 caught his lunging arm by the wrist, holding him help- 
 less. 
 
 Jennie came to her feet and pushed between the two 
 men. 
 
 "Keep out of this, Harry!" she ordered. "He's got 
 a right to hit me if he wants to. Dad, what 's that for? " 
 
 "For that phony Morrison check that check you 
 forged!" 
 
 "Dad I don't know what you're talking about." 
 
 "Lies don't go between you and me, Jennie get 
 that!" Black Jerry gritted at her. "You tell the truth. 
 You might as well, for Casey here has the goods on you." 
 
 Jennie looked sharply at the man from Headquarters, 
 trying to pierce to the knowledge that might lie behind 
 the professional mask of his heavy, non-committal face. 
 But she said nothing.
 
 42 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "Tell her, Casey," Jerry commanded. 
 
 "Sorry about this, Jerry," Casey said apologetically 
 "but you know I gotta go through with anything 
 that's put up to me." He stepped toward Jennie. "I 
 suspected you from the first, though I did n't tell your 
 father so. I 'd already learned how clever you were at 
 imitating other folks' handwriting. Well, I got something 
 on your father's cashier, never mind what. I put the 
 screws on him to-night, and he told me he'd seen you, 
 when you thought he was n't about, take the original 
 Morrison check out of the cash register and then 
 about an hour later he saw you slip it back. And then 
 I have the testimony of the grocery store where you 
 cashed it ; the owner says you 're the party that shoved 
 the check across. And I have a lot more evidence." 
 
 "He's got you I know it," Jerry growled at her. 
 "And it's going to be a lot easier all around if you come 
 across clean." 
 
 She considered the situation rapidly for a moment, 
 gazing from her father to the detective. Then, "All 
 right I did it," she admitted sullenly. 
 
 "Jennie, I 'm surprised at you ! " put in Uncle George. 
 "The forgery was clever work, all right, but all the rest 
 was pretty rotten, Jennie pretty rotten." He shook 
 his head sadly. Uncle George, in the days before his re- 
 tirement, had been an artist; and at this moment his 
 dominant feeling was an artist's impatience with clumsy 
 work. 
 
 "How'd you get the check?" demanded Jerry. 
 
 She remembered Slim's request and her own promise. 
 "Mr. Morrison was drinking, you know, and he must 
 have dropped his check-book. I tore out a check, and 
 then a waiter gave the book back to him."
 
 A Daughter of Two PForlds 43 
 
 "Anybody in the game with you?" inquired Casey. 
 
 Again her answer was guided by Slim's request: " No, 
 I did it all alone." 
 
 Once more Black Jerry's wrath surged up. And in 
 Jerry's inchoate, inarticulate soul, a sense that a wrong 
 had been done, a law broken, was no element in his 
 wrath. The few who knew Jerry most intimately knew 
 him as a "straight guy " ; but for him there was no right 
 or wrong the sole meaning of this to him was that 
 something had happened which was violently contrary 
 to his interests and his desires for Jennie. 
 
 "You damned little fool!" he burst out. 
 
 Again he raised his hand. She stepped swiftly back; 
 the angered palm fell to his side, clenching and un- 
 clenching. 
 
 "Don't be too sore, dad," she argued rapidly. "You 're 
 not going to lose anything." She turned and lifted the 
 artificial roses from the jar on the piano, recovered the 
 money, and held it out to her father. " I heard you say 
 you were going to square this case. There 's the twenty- 
 five dollars I have n't spent a cent of it. Take it and 
 square that Mr. Morrison." 
 
 He looked at her grimly. "Mr. Morrison won't be 
 squared." 
 
 "But I thought" 
 
 "So did I, but I just learned that Morrison don't care 
 about the money. He 's sore and wants to prosecute to 
 the limit." 
 
 "Then then " Jennie stopped, bewildered. 
 
 Casey moved to her side. "Sorry, but I guess you'll 
 have to come along with me." 
 
 "You mean I'm pinched?" 
 
 "Yes. Better put on your hat and coat. We'll be
 
 44 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 going right over to the Women's Night Court. We got 
 a taxi waiting below. I don't want to make a scene if I 
 can help it." 
 
 She hesitated, still bewildered by the turn events had 
 taken. Her glances shifted about the four men, then 
 rested on Harry. The young man was staring at her, 
 with loose jaw, taken aback by the revelation of her 
 forgery, and by the manner in which a little earlier she 
 had secured a loan from him, and by her easy prevarica- 
 tion concerning that money. 
 
 Jennie turned and went into her bedroom, and pres- 
 ently she reentered dressed to leave; and in another 
 minute she and her father and Uncle George and Casey 
 were out upon the sidewalk a cold rain was misting 
 drearily down and Casey was pressing her before them 
 into the taxicab. She was thoroughly frightened. Sus- 
 pense and vivid apprehensions shot her wildly through. 
 What was about to happen ? Courts prisons ! What 
 would the judge do to her? 
 
 But frightened as she was, even so her self-confidence 
 did not all desert her. She sat up very rigid in her 
 corner, and listened to the talk of the men as the car 
 jolted over granite-paved streets. She learned that 
 Uncle George had already telephoned a lawyer to be 
 waiting at the Jefferson Market Court. Black Jerry 
 and Uncle George, with occasional advice from the 
 friendly Central Office detective, discussed what would 
 be the wisest procedure, whether to have an immediate 
 trial, or waive examination and have the case held for 
 the Court of Special Sessions. 
 
 "Better have Jennie stand trial to-night," argued 
 Uncle George, who had the wisdom of long experience 
 in such matters. "That'll give her two trials: two
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 45 
 
 chances see? The judge to-night may be easy on 
 her, and let her off. On the other hand, the worst he can 
 do is to hold her for Special Sessions." 
 
 To that Jerry agreed. 
 
 "And, of course, the wise thing is for her to plead 
 guilty and throw herself on the mercy of the court," 
 Uncle George went on. "And you, Jerry, you'd better 
 keep as much out of it as you can you can't help much ; 
 and I '11 do the same. We'll leave it up to the lawyer." 
 
 The car stopped and they all got out into the rain 
 before a dingy red building. Overhead an Elevated train 
 went thundering through the night. 
 
 "Understand what you're to do, Jennie?" queried 
 Uncle George. 
 
 "Yes," said Jennie. 
 
 At the last moment the old man could not forego giv- 
 ing further words to his provoked artistic sense. "It 
 was raw work, Jennie, awfully raw work. . . . But re- 
 member keep your head in there." 
 
 She felt Casey slip a hand under her arm, and guided 
 by him she went up through the wide portals of the 
 building, across the rear of the court-room, and through 
 a passage into a grimy chamber in which some ten or 
 a dozen women lounged about awaiting trial. For all her 
 sense of impending personal disaster, Jennie looked her 
 fellow-prisoners over quickly. A few were bedraggled, 
 hats awry, with skirts rudely dissociated from waists, 
 and others had high-colored, bold-eyed faces. Cir- 
 cumstances had acquainted Jennie with a wide area of 
 life, and she knew what these women were charged with. 
 She was not shocked ; this was the way things were ; but 
 she drew apart from the others with instinctive repug- 
 nance.
 
 46 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 She was not here long. Casey had promised expedi- 
 tion, and ten minutes later he led her into a great, high- 
 ceilinged room that to her alert eyes seemed a small, 
 packed theater. She heard an official in brass buttons 
 call her name and she was pressed up before a long, 
 counter-like affair behind which, beneath a drop-light, 
 sat a man in a black robe who did not even look up 
 so that all Jennie saw of her judge was his black shoul- 
 ders, a hand that rapidly signed endless documents, and 
 a luminous bald head. She heard the official mechani- 
 cally chew out a speech with remarkable rapidity and 
 unintelligibility, ending with "Are you ready for trial 
 now?" 
 
 "Yes," quavered Jennie. 
 
 A man who had appeared at Jennie's side spoke up 
 quickly, persuasively. 
 
 "Your Honor, my client admits her guilt, and we stand 
 perfectly ready to make immediate restitution of the 
 amount which she came into illegal possession of. Your 
 Honor, the defendant is only sixteen, what she did was 
 her first offense, and she did it in one of the irresponsi- 
 ble moments of childhood without realizing the gravity 
 of her act. I therefore suggest to your Honor that you 
 permit us to make restitution, and that you severely 
 reprimand the prisoner and dismiss her and give her 
 another chance upon her definite promise " 
 
 "Judge, I won't stand for anything of the sort!" de- 
 clared a voice on the other side of the bailiff a voice 
 Jennie knew to be Mr. Morrison's. 
 
 At this the magistrate for the first time looked up 
 from the papers he had been signing. He had tired, 
 blase eyes with tiny purple folds beneath them and 
 wrinkled skin where full jowls must once have swayed.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 47 
 
 His faculties, trained to quick observation, instantane- 
 ously noted three points : first, that Jennie was young and 
 well-dressed and pretty obviously this was an affair 
 differing from the disorderly cases which constituted his 
 nightly grind; second, that a city press reporter was 
 pushing near; and third, that out in the audience was 
 a group of uptown ladies, perhaps wives of important 
 men, such as every night appeared in court seeking sen- 
 sation. The magistrate instantly sensed a chance for 
 publicity ; few things help so well to establish the repu- 
 tation which leads to higher judicial positions as frequent 
 and striking appearance in the papers. 
 
 " I'll see what there is in this case," he said. "Officer 
 Casey, take the stand." 
 
 Casey did so. Eyes on him, Jennie hardly breathed, 
 but Casey made his testimony as lenient as he dared. 
 He even referred to Black Jerry merely as "Mr. Ma- 
 lone," and to the Pekin merely as "a restaurant." 
 
 Jennie was then ordered to the stand. Sitting on high 
 at the magistrate's elbow she was a-tremble with fright 
 stage-fright and the more fundamental fear as to 
 what was going to happen to her. Her eyes swept out 
 over the crowd : she saw her father and Uncle George 
 sitting obscurely in the back seat of the court-room ; and 
 nearer to her she picked out the pale face of Harry 
 Edwards. 
 
 She pulled herself together and faced the magistrate, 
 her quick wits having come back to her. She was afraid, 
 but she acted more afraid than she really was, and also 
 more contrite. In response to the magistrate's ques- 
 tioning, she made her confession just as she had made it 
 a little earlier to her father and Uncle George, leaving 
 Slim Jackson entirely out of the affair.
 
 48 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 " You know what you have been guilty of?" the mag- 
 istrate demanded with impressive severity when she 
 had ended. 
 
 "Yes," answered Jennie. 
 
 "You have been guilty of forgery. You are a young 
 girl and I hope this will be a lesson to you. Are your 
 parents living?" 
 
 "My father is, sir." 
 
 "Is he in court?" 
 
 "I think not, sir." 
 
 1 ' Officer Casey " severely ' ' why did n't you 
 notify this girl's father to be in court?" 
 
 "I believe he is here, your Honor," Casey had to 
 admit. 
 
 The magistrate gave Jennie a sharp glance. Then he 
 spoke to his bailiff. 
 
 "Find this girl's father and bring him to me." 
 
 A minute later Black Jerry was pushed through the 
 gate in the railing and up before the desk. At sight of 
 him the magistrate stared. 
 
 "Why, it's Jerry Malone! Black Jerry!" he ex- 
 claimed. 
 
 He saw that the reporter was leaning eagerly over his 
 desk and that the uptown ladies were excitedly attentive. 
 He was a judge who roared righteously from the bench 
 when effective and safe opportunity was offered; and 
 this was developing into an unusual chance for de- 
 sirable publicity. His tired, routine voice sounded out 
 sharply, clearly, so that it reached throughout the court- 
 room. 
 
 "Black Jerry!" he repeated. "That changes the case 
 entirely! Jerry Malone the notorious, the infamous 
 Black Jerry ! " He fairly hammered Jerry with his words.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 49 
 
 "Do you think you are fit to have a child under your 
 care? Your influence is enough to ruin any child! No 
 wonder this girl forged that check ! And Heavens, man," 
 he drove on, "just being known as the child of Black 
 Jerry is enough to ruin any girl's chances, even if she 
 wants to be decent! Being known as your child, that is 
 enough to stamp her with a bad name that is enough 
 to make decent people want to keep away from her!" 
 
 "Your Honor " began Black Jerry huskily. 
 
 "Silent!" The magistrate pounded his desk with his 
 gavel. "And who knows, Jerry Malone, that you were 
 not behind all this, putting the girl up to it! A reform 
 school may be what your daughter needs anyhow, 
 she ought to be taken out of your custody. I 'm going to 
 hold this case for further examination to examine into 
 the character of the girl, and to examine into your part 
 in this affair, Black Jerry. This court stands for wiping 
 out the practice of an old crook teaching his child to be- 
 come a crook, too!" And then with a louder thwack of 
 his hammer: "Prisoner held for further examination on 
 the charge of forgery, bail one thousand dollars! Next 
 case!" 
 
 "But, your Honor!" the lawyer tried to protest. 
 
 "Next case!" roared the magistrate. 
 
 That was all. Jennie shrank down from the witness 
 stand. She saw some bills come out of the big wallet of 
 Uncle George, and she saw these bills pass to the lawyer, 
 and then pass to a man behind a grilled enclosure beside 
 the magistrate. Some papers were signed, and then she 
 followed Black Jerry up the aisle, all eyes staring at 
 them, and out of the court-room. 
 
 Uncle George had a taxicab waiting, and into a corner 
 of this Jennie huddled herself. The three of them were
 
 5O A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 silent, but now and then she glanced covertly at her 
 father. His dark face was set, glowering. She sensed that 
 there was something going on behind that grim face, 
 and all the way home she wondered what that something 
 might be.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 TWO MEN PLAN A LIFE 
 
 UNCLE GEORGE, you and Jennie go on up- 
 stairs," said Jerry when the taxicab had returned 
 them to the Pekin, and they had entered the 
 hallway. " I '11 be up in a minute I gotta pass an eye 
 over how things are going in my joint." 
 
 He stepped through the side door and peered through 
 the screens. To the hard-working music of his two- 
 piece orchestra, general dancing was in progress ; and as 
 far as he could see, there was that atmosphere of hilari- 
 ous, evil-seeming abandon, behind which was a strict 
 observance of the letter of the law, that he had so care- 
 fully worked out as the character of his establishment. 
 He slipped around the rear of the big room, spoke to the 
 cashier and examined the receipts, which were excellent, 
 spoke to his manager, and was back behind the screens 
 on his way out, when a hand touched his arm. Turning, 
 he saw Slim Jackson. 
 
 "Just heard Jennie got pinched and hustled off to 
 court," said Slim in a low voice, from which he man- 
 aged to suppress any concern as to his own person. 
 "How'd it come out?" 
 
 "Has n't come out yet," Jerry returned shortly. 
 
 "But was n't there a trial? Did n't Jennie have to 
 take the stand?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Anybody in it with her? Did she say?" 
 
 "Said she'd done the whole thing herself. But what 
 business is that of yours?" Jerry demanded gruffly.
 
 52 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "I guess I can't help being interested in what hap- 
 pens to Jennie, even if you do happen to be sore at me." 
 
 His manner and tone were those of unjustly under- 
 rated and suspected friendship. Black Jerry turned 
 abruptly and went out. Friendship vanished from Slim's 
 handsome face; on it appeared a great relief; it became 
 shrewd, calculating. He'd had a close call, all right; 
 well, in the future he'd have to be more careful. 
 
 Upstairs, Jerry closed the sitting-room door and 
 crossed to where Jennie sat in a large chair, and glow- 
 ered silently down upon her. She fully expected one of 
 those big clenching and unclenching hands to strike her. 
 She looked up at him steadily, fear in her heart but 
 she did not flinch, she did not so much as put up an arm 
 to shield her head from the blow. He had not struck 
 her often, but when he had she had taken it as a matter 
 of course ; every one was beaten sometimes that was 
 just a part of living. As far as it was in her ambitious, 
 confident, cynical, generous, self-centered soul (hers 
 was just the selfishness, inflated by her young egotism, 
 which seems an inseparable element of youth), Jennie 
 loved and admired her father above any other person. 
 
 "Well, I hope you realize the mess you've got us 
 into," he grated at her. 
 
 "Don't hit the kid, Jerry," interrupted Uncle George. 
 He still spoke as the artist provoked by an inferior per- 
 formance, but he also spoke palliatingly. "It was raw 
 work, sure and she should have had more sense than 
 to try to pull any such stunt. But we were all young 
 once we were all crude workers we all made our 
 bonehead plays." 
 
 Black Jerry did not reply to this attempted mediation. 
 He continued glowering at Jennie, his hands working,
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 53 
 
 his deep chest rising and falling until there was a 
 knocking at the door. 
 
 "Come in!" he said curtly. 
 
 The door opened and Harry Edwards entered. The 
 young fellow's quick breathing showed either hurry or 
 excitement, or both, 
 
 "Now, what the hell do you want?" exploded Black 
 Jerry. 
 
 "I was at the trial, Jerry," the young fellow said 
 rapidly, "and I heard what the judge said. You know 
 about you not being a fit person to have the custody 
 of Jennie about his perhaps taking her away from 
 you about perhaps putting her in an institution." 
 
 " Well, what of it?" demanded Jerry. 
 
 "You know that I know, Jerry," the high-wrought 
 young fellow went on earnestly, "that what that bum 
 of a judge said about you is all bunk. I know what you 
 really are, and I know you 're all right. But what the 
 judge said about you, he really thinks; and that's what 
 the world thinks of you and he'll take Jennie away 
 from you, somehow, as sure as shooting!" 
 
 Harry stepped nearer; his whole body was tense 
 with excited purpose. "But listen, Jerry that judge 
 would n't take Jemfie away from me!" 
 
 ' ' From you ! " Jerry exclaimed. ' ' What are you driv- 
 ing at?" 
 
 "Let Jennie and me get married." 
 
 "What!" 
 
 "Don't you see?" urged Harry. "They've got noth- 
 ing against me, and I Ve got a good job and if I were 
 married to her, they 'd never send her away. That 'd really 
 be the same as your keeping her, Jerry. To make it all 
 safe, we could be married the first thing in the morning! "
 
 54 -A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Black Jerry stared at the eager young face. "You 
 want to do this because you want to save Jennie?" 
 
 "Yes. And also because " He broke off, flushing; 
 it was hard to say the thing in public like this. But he 
 braced himself and spoke. " I also want to do it because 
 I love Jennie." 
 
 "Oh, you do!" Jerry gazed at him fixedly, his coal- 
 black eyes piercingly keen. After a moment he spoke, 
 and shortly: 
 
 "Nothing doing in that line, young fellow. I got 
 some ideas of my own very different ideas. And as 
 we 've got some business to talk over, I guess you won't 
 mind our excusing you." He firmly pressed the be- 
 wildered Harry backwards and opened the door. "Good- 
 night," he said roughly. And then suddenly he gripped 
 the other's hand. "I guess you 're a pretty decent guy, 
 Harry." 
 
 But before Harry could recover and speak, the door 
 had been closed upon him. Black Jerry turned about. 
 
 " Now, we gotta talk about what we're going to do," 
 he said brusquely. 
 
 Jennie rose, and started for her bedroom. " I suppose 
 you'd like me out of the way." 
 
 "You stay right where you are," Jerry ordered. "This 
 talk's going to be about what's going to happen to 
 you, and you might as well ~et it first-hand. When we 
 want anything from you, we'll ask you till then you 
 keep still." 
 
 She sank down into the big chair and drew herself 
 back, as small as possible, into a corner; and, a mere 
 spectator, she looked on with fearing, expectant, bright 
 eyes at what was to be the unfoldment of her fate. Black 
 Jerry sat down for the first time, and Uncle George drew
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 out a long cigar, lighted it, and eyed its end medita- 
 tively. There was a brief silence the cuckoo stepped 
 out of its abode and chirped one o'clock and then 
 again there was silence about the three. 
 
 Uncle George was the first to speak. "Now, don't 
 you worry too much, Jerry," he advised. "This case 
 why, it's nothing/' 
 
 "It's a damned big thing! the biggest thing that 
 ever happened ! " came from Jerry as a muffled explosion. 
 
 "Why, Jerry!" expostulated the old man. "I tell you 
 we'll get her off easy. We'll fight the case, and I know 
 some mighty strong political influence we can get be- 
 hind us Sam Conway '11 help me if we need him. 
 About Jennie's being convicted, or taken away from 
 you, don't you worry a minute about that, Jerry!" 
 
 "That's not worrying me. I wasn't even thinking 
 about that when I said it was a big thing. It's big 
 because of what it means what it makes me see." 
 
 "Makes you see? "queried Uncle George. "See what?" 
 
 Jerry's dark face was flushed; again his breath was 
 coming deeply and unevenly. Before him were matters 
 about which it had always been hard for him to speak 
 matters relating to the emotions. In the past, the undis- 
 covered and unrecognized forces of his crude being had 
 vaguely yet powerfully sensed big ideas, and insensibly 
 the ideas had grown into plans; all had been undefined, 
 incoherent yet latently all had been there. And now, 
 almost suddenly, what had been vague was growing clear, 
 and those great stirrings were becoming painfully defi- 
 nite. He strove to keep the flood swelling up in him under 
 his control, but it burst the bonds of his restraint all 
 poured from him at once. But even so he spoke defen- 
 sively, defiantly, as though what were being exposed
 
 56 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 might be unmanly and as though he challenged any one 
 to laugh at him. 
 
 "Well, I got a right to like my own kid, ain't I? I got 
 as much right as any other man, no matter how damned 
 good he thinks he is! And I got a right to be proud of 
 my own kid, too ain't I?" 
 
 "Sure you have, Jerry, sure you have," agreed Uncle 
 George appeasingly, though bewildered. 
 
 Jennie, hunched back in her corner, held her sharp 
 eyes in wonderment upon the unmatched sight of her 
 eruptively emotional father. 
 
 "You bet I got a right to be proud of my kid. I 
 already said a part of this to you to-night, Uncle 
 George. No man's kid has got a right to anything 
 better than my kid, and I Ve always thought, these last 
 few years, anyway, that sometime, somehow, I was 
 going to give Jennie as good a chance as any other 
 kid. I got a little dough, and Jennie's clever so why 
 not? I've seen the uptown kids. Those uptown kids 
 with their damned nurses, and their damned parks, and 
 their damned everything else that 's swell they Ve 
 got all the chances, but they ain't got no more right 
 to a good chance than Jennie. And Jennie" with an 
 emphasis that mounted to fierceness "By God, 
 Jennie's going to be something big! I don't know what 
 it's going to be; but, you hear me, it's going to be some- 
 thing big! Jennie's going to have her big chance!" 
 
 Uncle George nodded nis head. He was surprised at 
 this flaming outburst of pride and purpose but not 
 greatly surprised; the world in all its phases had been 
 the object of his philosophic observation (and in earlier 
 days the source of his subtly acquired income) and he 
 was equably prepared for any personal revelations or
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 57 
 
 any twists of fate. But Jennie, drawn up tensely, gazed 
 with parted lips at Black Jerry. Never before had she 
 seen her father like this ; and his ringing words stirred a 
 leaping desire in her. 
 
 "Every kid has a right to have a chance," Jerry's un- 
 loosed torrent of words rushed on. "But what kind of a 
 chance I mean a real chance, a big chance, the kind 
 them uptown kids have does a kid down here have? 
 None at all! I've been thinking of that a lot lately. 
 But what happened to-night has made everything a 
 thousand times clearer. Down here is no place for 
 Jennie. If she stays down here, mixing in with the kind 
 of people she's sure to mix with around my place, she's 
 bound to become a crook. I ain't got anything much 
 against crooks, but it's a poor line for a woman. It 
 don't get her anywhere, and she always has a rotten 
 finish." 
 
 Never before had Black Jerry spoken at such length. 
 And conscious only of his own troubles, he was not 
 aware that in much of what he said he was roughly 
 voicing the problems and aspirations of tens of thou- 
 sands of inarticulate others. 
 
 "Yes, she's absolutely sure to become a crook if she 
 stays down here that's plain," he went on. He 
 paused, his big chest rose from a mighty swallow, and 
 he grimly drove out his next sentences. "And that ain't 
 all. I wanted to punch that booze-soaked judge for 
 what he said about me to-night but after all, that old 
 goat had the proposition sized up just about right. He 
 said it was enough to drag any girl down, having me 
 for a father, and no matter how high up Jennie got, 
 it would smash everything when people learned she 
 was the daughter of Black Jerry M alone. There," he
 
 58 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 ended, "is the whole lay-out. And it certainly is one 
 mess!" 
 
 Uncle George blinked. The gigantic earnestness of 
 Black Jerry was a thing for even him to marvel at. 
 Then he slowly nodded. 
 
 " It sure is one God-awful mess, Jerry. What do you 
 want to do?" 
 
 ''Ain't I already told you ! " Jerry exclaimed. " I want 
 to get Jennie away from down here, and I want to fix 
 things so I won't be a drag on her. And I want action 
 before that judge can butt in with any court pro- 
 ceedings." 
 
 "I suppose you want me to help you?" 
 
 "Why else would I be telling you all this junk?" de- 
 manded Jerry testily. "Sure I want you you're the 
 smoothest guy I know." 
 
 "I just wanted to be certain you wanted me," Uncle 
 George returned evenly. "Yes, some people do think 
 I 'm a smooth article " a bit complacently ' ' though 
 I 've retired now, you know, Jerry, and am not doing 
 anything except obeying those commandments about 
 loving my neighbor as myself, and keeping my mitts 
 off his bank-roll. But in wandering up and down this 
 here widely press-agented civilization of ours, and in 
 meeting human nature with its manners on and off, 
 and in sitting in every kind of game, why, I just natu- 
 rally have picked up a thing or two and everything 
 I Ve picked up is all yours, Jerry. What do you want 
 to know first?" 
 
 "I want to know what's the best thing to do!" Jerry 
 fumed impatiently. 
 
 "Well, what do you want Jennie to become?" 
 
 " I don't, know. I have n't thought about that.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 59 
 
 What I first want is for her to have a big chance as 
 good a chance as any other girl, no matter what the 
 other girl's name is, or how much dough her old man 
 has got. Jennfe has a right to the same kind of chance." 
 
 "You're willing to play that idea to the limit?" 
 
 "I '11 put all the chips I got, or hope to have, on that 
 play!" 
 
 Wise old Uncle George saw that love for and pride in 
 his daughter were the dominating qualities in this man 
 that the world saw as less than human, and his first 
 suggestion was based upon the probable desire of Jerry 
 to be with the object of his love. "Well," he said medi- 
 tatively, ' ' some men move away to the end of things 
 where people don't pay much attention to what a man 
 has been." 
 
 "Nothing doing," returned Jerry shortly. "In a 
 rough, new country Jennie would n't have the chance I 
 want her to have and she deserves." 
 
 "Then you might move to some other city, and start 
 out under a new name." 
 
 "What good 'd that do? " demanded Black Jerry. "I 
 look like a rough specimen, and I 'd still be a drag on 
 Jennie and when people found out who I was, as they 
 would, it'd all be over. Might as well stay right here. 
 Neither idea is any good, Uncle George." 
 
 The older man nodded. "I knew that. I merely 
 mentioned 'em to see whether you were ready to play 
 the real limit.'" 
 
 "The real limit? What do you mean by that?" 
 
 " If you want Jennie to have that big a chance, to go 
 away up and become somebody why, Jerry, there's 
 only oneway, and that's for you and her to part com- 
 pany. You stay Jerry Malone. She becomes some-
 
 60 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 body else, who does n't even know }'ou. Can you stand 
 the gaff?" 
 
 Black Jerry looked over at his daughter, a tense, 
 breathless huddle, with staring eyes of shining black. 
 Then he swallowed. 
 
 "I'll stand it. What's the rest of the idea?" 
 
 Uncle George ignored the question. "You might as 
 well give her up of your own accord, Jerry, as have that 
 judge take her from you. . . . What would you yourself 
 do?" 
 
 "Me? I might as well stay right here. People know 
 me here, and what they think of me don't bother me a 
 lot. And I've a good business; and I'll be all right as 
 long as I go straight and I 'm going to go straight." 
 
 "How much money can you spare for Jennie?" 
 
 "I guess you know I'm making good coin here, and 
 you know about how much. Me the ponies, cards, 
 women, or booze don't interest me and don't get any 
 of my dough; it don't take much for me. The rest of 
 what I make Jennie can have." 
 
 "That '11 be plenty." 
 
 Silently Uncle George considered his forming plan. 
 That it was based upon pretense did not give him one 
 troubled thought. All his life Uncle George, and most 
 of those with whom he mixed, had secured what they 
 wanted by the use of pretense. Pretense was entirely 
 the natural order of life; pretending that was what 
 every one was doing. 
 
 " Well?" Jerry said impatiently. 
 
 "Don't be in a hurry, son," said the old man. "Here's 
 the big idea: Jennie's smart all right, and she's a good 
 actor, and she knows twice as much out of books and 
 about real things as those swell uptown girls. But
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 6 1 
 
 she 's sort of rough around the edges. She needs finish 
 
 manners. Beginning to see where we're heading 
 at?" 
 
 "Go on!" said the impatient Jerry. 
 
 "Here's where we kill two birds with one piece of 
 change. This old town of New York and the little 
 towns about it have got about a thousand plus one or 
 two more swell private schools for girls. I pick out one 
 of the swellest of these private schools you leave it 
 to me and I put Jennie into it. She'll be there two or 
 three years, mebbe more: she gets the rough spots pol- 
 ished off, and while she 's growing up she makes a bunch 
 of swell girl friends top-notch families. By the time 
 she 's through she '11 be just one of the regular fellows to 
 these girls; she'll just naturally belong. And after that 
 
 well, after that it depends upon how clever Jen- 
 nie is." 
 
 There was a sharp intake of Jennie's breath. Her 
 black eyes were brilliant with far-visioning excitement. 
 
 "I see," said Black Jerry. "But how 're you going 
 to put that across?" 
 
 "Jennie's an orphan," Uncle George explained with 
 deliberation. "Miller is her last name. Parents died 
 when she was a baby. Brought up by an uncle, a West- 
 ern mining engineer, who recently died. All her life 
 she has had to knock about Western mining towns 
 which will explain her rough edges. That's the dope 
 I '11 hand out to the lady-boss of the school I pick out. 
 To her I '11 be Jennie's guardian though I 'm going 
 to keep out of this game as far as I can I might queer 
 it. I '11 tell the lady-boss that Jennie 's been left some 
 money, and that she's come East for a real education. 
 Well, how does all that listen?"
 
 62 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "You were king of them all in your day, Uncle 
 George," Jerry said admiringly, "and you ain't forgot 
 a trick since. It listens great! But how about between 
 that school and right here and now?" 
 
 "You've got to be alibied, Jerry. Jennie runs away 
 from home runs away to-night. That 's all you know 
 about it, except that you guess she got scared over being 
 arrested you have n't any idea where she is. Stand 
 pat on that, and the police and courts can't touch you 
 though, of course, Jennie's bail will be forfeited." 
 
 " I '11 square with you, Uncle George, for that thousand 
 you put up." 
 
 "Any time it suits you, Jerry. Now, about Jennie's 
 get-away from here you leave that all to me. Well, 
 there's the whole proposition. What d' you say? But 
 before you answer, Jerry, or you, Jennie, remember that 
 if you say 'yes' and if this goes through, you are seeing 
 each other to-night for the last time. And if in the years 
 ahead you ever should meet by accident, why, you just 
 don't know each other." 
 
 Black Jerry gazed fixedly at his daughter; his set, 
 square face paled to yellow, it could not pale to white. 
 Jennie, her breath suspended, gazed back at him, her 
 eyes black stars. 
 
 At length Jerry spoke. "It's a great idea, and I'm 
 for it," he said with a rigid calmness. 
 
 "How about you, Jennie?" Uncle George inquired. 
 
 "I I think it's it's wonderful!" she breathed. 
 
 "Then it's all settled. Jennie, you're all right as a 
 girl from a Western mining town in the clothes you 
 have on. Just slip a few little extra things in a bag. 
 I '11 put you in some quiet, respectable hotel for two or 
 three days, until I've arranged about the school. I'll
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 63 
 
 have a taxi waiting around the corner a block north; 
 meet me there in ten or fifteen minutes." 
 
 With a few more words of instruction Uncle George 
 went out. Jerry and Jennie had risen, and they now 
 stood, face fixed on face, alone. A moment passed with- 
 out either moving or speaking. Then Jerry's big chest 
 heaved convulsively, and he reached out and caught 
 her to him and kissed her fiercely. She clung tightly 
 around his neck and kissed him again and again. 
 
 "Jennie!" he said hoarsely "Jennie!" 
 
 "Oh, dad dad!" she breathed passionately: 
 thrillingly startled, for this was the first time he had 
 kissed her since he had come out of the Tombs when 
 she had been six. 
 
 "Jennie," the heavy bass quavered on "you're 
 the biggest thing in the world to me! " 
 
 "And I love you more than any one else ! ' ' she sobbed. 
 
 They stood in close, trembling embrace for a long 
 minute. Then almost roughly Jerry removed her arms 
 and pushed her from him. 
 
 "I hope it works out all right, and you get your big 
 chance," he said gruffly, and he turned abruptly and 
 went out the door and down the stairway. 
 
 Crying softly, Jennie stood gazing at the door 
 through which he had passed. Then, remembering her 
 orders, she entered her room and hastily packed a few 
 necessaries in a bag. Back in the sitting-room she 
 thought of her aunt, and very gently she opened the 
 sick woman's door. The light from the sitting-room 
 fell dimly across the white face; and gazing at it Jennie 
 remembered all the kindness of that loving but ineffec- 
 tual person. Still weeping softly she crossed to the bed 
 and kissed the worn face good-bye.
 
 64 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 A minute later she was creeping down the stairs, the 
 tender emotion of the few minutes before already giving 
 place to the high spirits of youth, to the excitement of 
 unknown adventure lying just ahead. At the doorway 
 opening from the hall she set down her bag and stepped 
 inside and through the screens; this in accord with 
 Uncle George's final injunctions for clearing her father 
 from being an accessory in her flight that she was to 
 be last seen by others than Black Jerry. Her rapid 
 glance about showed her Black Jerry near the cashier's 
 desk across the cafe, his back steadily toward her 
 this also per instructions; and she saw Harry Edwards 
 alone at a little table, sunk in dejection after his im- 
 petuous offer of half an hour before, brooding over a 
 sandwich and a glass of beer; and she saw Slim Jackson 
 seating himself after a dance with Daisy White. 
 
 Several persons, seeing her in the doorway, called 
 to her. At the sound of her name Harry glanced eagerly 
 up, then looked gloomily back at his table. Slim arose, 
 half started toward her, then remembering her father's 
 presence sat down again; but he smiled at her, taunt- 
 ingly, confidently and despite her excitement over 
 her own great future just beginning, a phrase of his 
 flashed back upon her: "I'm going away up, Jen 
 you just watch me!" 
 
 She gave another glance about ; she had a momentary 
 sense of saying good-bye to what had been her world, of 
 saying good-bye to what had been herself. Then she 
 slipped out, picked up her bag, and two minutes after- 
 ward she had stepped into a darkened taxi beside Uncle 
 George. 
 
 "All right, Jack," Uncle George said to the chauffeur; 
 and to Jennie: "The driver is safe is a friend of
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 65 
 
 mine has got reason to be; so don't be afraid they'll 
 ever trace you through him." 
 
 Ten minutes later Jennie was rolling up Fifth Avenue, 
 the Pekin, and Harry, and Slim Jackson, and even her 
 father, all for the moment forgotten. Tense, excited, 
 exultant, her imagination stimulated to the most dar- 
 ing possibilities, she was gazing forward into the dis- 
 tantly glimpsed, shimmering land which she was en- 
 tering . . . wondering whom she was going to meet in 
 this new world wondering what was going to happen 
 to her pulsing with determination to play her part 
 well in whatever circumstances the curtained future 
 might place her. . . . 
 
 And being sixteen, and having a dazzling, unknown 
 world opening to her, her mind could not glance back- 
 ward to the Pekin : could not see Black Jerry, seated at 
 the little table in his private office, his big hands gripped 
 before him, his set face looking straight across the room 
 and seeing nothing at all ... having not even a glimpse 
 of the drama of tangled human passions and relation- 
 ships, that he and Uncle George, thinking and acting 
 according to their training, and Life, all working to- 
 gether, had set into motion.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 JENNIE'S NEW WORLD 
 
 FOR two irksome, suspense-fevered days, accord- 
 ing to Uncle George's instruction, Jennie played 
 at being indisposed and kept to her room in that 
 conventionally proper hotel for women, The Martha 
 Washington. Aside from her fears, her bold dreams, 
 her constant waiting for the promised return of Uncle 
 George, she had but one occupation for her mind 
 this was the newspapers. Her first morning here she 
 had read a romantic and dramatic account of the trial 
 of the " beautiful girl forger," with its culmination in the 
 discovery that she was the daughter of Jerry Malone, 
 and in the most righteous and deserved tongue-lashing 
 the magistrate had given the notorious Black Jerry. And 
 the morning after that she read of the second hearing of 
 the case, at which it had developed that the "pretty girl 
 forger" had run away, and at which the magistrate had 
 stormed almost equally at Black Jerry and at Officer 
 Casey, and at which he had demanded that Casey and 
 the police force find the Malone girl and bring her 
 straight before him. 
 
 Jennie shivered. So all the world knew what she had 
 done, and knew she had run away ! So Casey and all the 
 police force were now after her! She held her breath 
 every time footsteps sounded in the corridor, expecting 
 to be haled back to face it all. 
 
 But the only person who came in upon her was the 
 maid, to straighten her room a bit and bring her her 
 invalid's portion of food.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 67 
 
 At five o'clock of the second afternoon her telephone 
 rang. She crept fearfully out of her bed, took down 
 the receiver, wavered, then in a disguised voice said, 
 "Hello." But she was instantly relieved ; the voice that 
 sounded in her ear was Uncle George's. He told her to 
 be ready to leave in half an hour and to put on the 
 motor veil which would be brought up to her. 
 
 Thirty minutes later, dressed and veiled, and acting 
 the semi-invalid, she met Uncle George in the lobby 
 below. In this conventional atmosphere Uncle George 
 was in manner and language suggestive of an amiable 
 and beloved deacon; he asked for his "niece's" bill, 
 settled it, took from the desk a folder announcing va- 
 rious religious services, and then with great solicitude 
 escorted the weak-seeming Jennie to the doorway. 
 Within this he halted until a porter had placed Jennie's 
 bag in a closed car waiting at the curb. For a minute 
 longer his whole concern seemed to be engrossed in his 
 questions regarding Jennie's health, but actually his 
 whole attention was in the seemingly casual but all- 
 seeing glances he cast along the street, east and west. 
 Then with apparent leisure, but with carefully timed 
 dispatch, he led her across the sidewalk, pressed her be- 
 fore him into the closed car, shut the door, and the car 
 moved away but not before Jennie's quick eyes had 
 noted that the chauffeur was the "safe friend" of Uncle 
 George who had driven the taxicab which had brought 
 her hither. 
 
 "Did anybody see us come out?" Jennie breathed. 
 
 "There was n't a copper in sight. And if there had 
 been, I'm sure he would n't have suspected anything." 
 
 "You know the police are after me, Uncle George?" 
 
 "Sure I know." He caught the strain in her voice.
 
 68 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "But don't you worry about that, Jennie," he said 
 kindly, and with a note of self-satisfaction in his voice. 
 "You Ve made one swell get-away. The Martha Wash- 
 ington Hotel is the last joint the coppers would ever 
 think of the daughter of Black Jerry going to." 
 
 "But the papers said the judge had ordered the police 
 to send out a general alarm." 
 
 "But what good '11 that do? Lucky for us, the night 
 you were tried no newspaper photographer was around 
 trying to flash you. And I told your father to burn up 
 all the photographs of you. So the police and the papers 
 can't print any picture of you ; about all they can do is to 
 say that a pretty girl disappeared and I guess every 
 young female between fourteen and forty thinks that 
 that is an exact description of herself. Yes, you 're safe 
 all right. Anyhow," he reassured her, "the case ain't 
 so serious that check was for only twenty-five. Of 
 course that judge made a big holler; and the papers 
 played it up big but that was because news was scarce, 
 and because they could pull the ' pretty girl ' stunt, and 
 because you were Jerry Malone's daughter. But it's 
 mostly noise, my dear just the concussion of one 
 large word against another. So don't you worry." 
 
 " But dad ? They 're after dad ! ' ' 
 
 "They'll try to make trouble for him, sure but 
 they can't do a thing. He's got a perfect alibi as far as 
 your running away is concerned, and that fool judge's 
 charge that he put you up to writing phony checks, of 
 course they can never fasten that charge on Jerry. 
 Everything '11 soon quiet down with your father, and 
 things will be the same as ever. So don't you worry 
 about your dad, my dear don't you worry." 
 
 Huddled back in the car, the fear of a fugitive upon
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 69 
 
 her in spite of the complete masking of the motor veil, 
 Jennie was silent until they had entered the park. Then 
 she spoke. 
 
 "Where are we going to, Uncle George?" 
 "I thought you understood. We're headed for a pri- 
 vate school." 
 
 "You mean you've already found one?" 
 "Yes, and already settled everything about your en- 
 tering it." 
 
 "Uncle George ! " For the moment she forgot the past, 
 which had seemed to be clutching pantingly at her 
 shoulder. "What's the school like?" 
 "Well, it sure does have class!" 
 "Was it much trouble? Finding it, I mean?" 
 "Not much. I remembered that Sam Con way was 
 a sort of a silent partner in that big contracting firm of 
 Harrison and Company; and I knew that Mr. Harrison, 
 who is something of a swell, has a daughter " 
 
 "Is this the Harrison and Company where Sam 
 Conway has just got Harry Edwards a job?" Jennie 
 interrupted. 
 
 "I don't know mebbe. I knew Mr. Harrison has 
 a daughter in a school, and I knew any school he would 
 pick out would be the best. So I asked Sam to inquire, 
 casual-like, of Mr. Harrison what school his girl's at 
 which Sam does and tells me. You Ve got to have social 
 and business references to get into that school; but I 
 knew it, so I was all readied up with references when I 
 went out to the school to-day and settled things. Braithe- 
 wood Hall is the school's name, and Miss Gresham is 
 the combination of hostess, grand duchess, secretary of 
 state, and traffic cop who runs it. I guess she owns the 
 joint. It certainly does have class, Jennie! And another
 
 7O A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 big point in its favor is that if the police ever do want to 
 make trouble in a small way, Jennie, you 're a sort 
 of fugitive from justice Brai the wood Hall is the last 
 place where they 'd ever look for you, and even if they 
 saw you there, they would n't believe you are you." 
 
 As the car made its way out of the city and then 
 through the pleasant reaches of Westchester County, 
 Uncle George went over his interview with Miss 
 Gresham: he had told her in detail the story about 
 Jennie's being an orphan, about her Western life. As 
 they sped on, Jennie, huddled back in her corner of the 
 car, all her faculties reaching forward in poignant sus- 
 pense, wondered throbbingly about this new world to- 
 ward which she was hurrying : what was the school going 
 to be like? what its grand duchess principal? what 
 the girls? and would she, could she, really ever get 
 on with them? 
 
 Presently, at twilight, after an hour's running, the 
 car turned through a high wrought-iron gate in a brick 
 wall with stone coping. It followed a curving drive 
 through low-shorn trees and a precise lawn, and came 
 to a stop before a handsome ivy-covered brick building 
 with a large white-pillared portico that looked out 
 upon the now dull waters of Long Island Sound. 
 
 "Here we are, Jennie," whispered Uncle George. 
 "Don't forget who you are, and the part you have got 
 to play. Come on." 
 
 In a daze, yet watching everything, Jennie followed 
 him. After being taken in charge by an amazingly neat 
 maid in black, she found herself in a large room with 
 shelves and shelves of books and many comfortable 
 chairs and a business-like desk, and she heard Uncle 
 George saying in his best manner:
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 71 
 
 "Miss Gresham, this is my ward about whom I 
 talked to you to-day Jennie Miller." 
 
 ''I'm very glad to meet you, Miss Miller," Miss 
 Gresham said in a voice modulated to a careful gra- 
 ciousness, holding out her hand. 
 
 "Thank you m ma'am." 
 
 As the hand was withdrawn after a light pressure, 
 Jennie gave a quick glance at Miss Gresham. Cer- 
 tainly she was unlike any teacher or principal Jennie had 
 ever known. She reminded Jennie more of the ladies 
 she had seen on Fifth Avenue on soft spring afternoons, 
 leaning back in their leisurely moving cars. She was 
 slender, of very erect yet not stiff carriage, and wore a 
 distinguished black silk gown with a bit of train to it. 
 Her thin face, with its firm yet delicate lines, and her 
 smartly done graying hair, made her seem a very great 
 lady to Jennie. Jennie's dominant feeling in that mo- 
 ment of first meeting was one of awe and doubt : could 
 she ever, ever, conduct herself in a manner that would 
 win even so much as this lady's toleration? 
 
 "I believe I covered everything this afternoon," she 
 heard Uncle George say and Jennie found herself 
 marveling at the suavity and poise, the air of perfect 
 culture, with which the old man was bearing himself. 
 "But I wish to make myself quite clear on one point. 
 As I told you, my ward, through the limited opportuni- 
 ties and peculiar circumstances of her life up to this time, 
 knows a great deal about many things and nothing at 
 all about other things. Now, I want her to learn these 
 other things; to acquire the proper manners; to learn 
 to be a lady." 
 
 Miss Gresham inclined her head ever so little. "I 
 understand. I presume you have satisfied yourself,
 
 72 A Daughter of Two PForlds 
 
 before bringing her here, as to the ability of Braithe- 
 wood Hall to serve your ward in this manner just as 
 I have satisfied myself in regard to you." 
 
 "But you can really know nothing about me, Miss 
 Gresham," smiled Uncle George. 
 
 " It is a necessity in my profession to judge the charac- 
 ter of a person by my impressions," said Miss Gresham. 
 
 "Thank you " and Uncle George made a grave and 
 dignified bow. "Oh, yes there are two other points 
 which I almost forgot. First, my ward's clothing was 
 obviously unsuited to our present plans, so when she 
 came East she brought only the bare necessities for 
 travel. I presume you can see that she is provided with 
 a suitable outfit. I shall leave extra funds with you for 
 this purpose." 
 
 Miss Gresham nodded. "One of my teachers special- 
 izes in helping the girls in just such matters." 
 
 "Excellent. The second point is this: My ward is 
 not only an orphan, but has no near relations and few 
 friends and having no family myself, I have no home 
 to take her to. Therefore she has no place to return to 
 during vacations. I shall be glad to have her remain 
 here during the shorter vacations, and to have you place 
 her in some girls' camp of the highest class during the 
 summers. I shall make the necessary financial provision 
 for this." 
 
 "That can easily be arranged. Is there any other 
 matter?" 
 
 "Yes. I should mention that my affairs require that 
 I should constantly travel; in consequence I shall be 
 able to visit my ward rarely, and shall not be able to 
 give her the direct attention I should like. I have there- 
 fore placed her affairs in the hands of a firm of attorneys,
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 73 
 
 with whom you may always communicate. Here is their 
 card." 
 
 "Thank you. Is that all?" 
 
 "I believe we have covered everything." 
 
 "I presume, then, you would like a few parting words 
 with your ward, so I shall now leave you alone with her. 
 As our fall term opened only three days ago she will 
 lose little, and we shall do our best for her. Good-bye." 
 
 "Good-bye. Please let me thank you in advance for 
 all I know you are going to do for Jennie." And with his 
 grave dignity Uncle George bowed over her hand. 
 
 "Dinner is served at seven, Miss Miller. When you 
 are ready, ring this bell and a maid will show you to 
 your room. You need not bother to dress to-night." 
 
 When Miss Gresham had gone, Uncle George held his 
 gaze of sober dignity upon Jennie for a moment. Then 
 he gazed cautiously about, and when he looked at her 
 again one lashless eye drooped in a slow wink, and he 
 grinned. 
 
 "Well, Jennie," he whispered, "how was I in the 
 part?" 
 
 "You did it great, Uncle George! If I had n't known 
 you, I 'd have believed it all about me and about 
 you." 
 
 "It was easy, Jennie nothing at all." He raised a 
 deprecatory hand. "I rather hated, though, to put that 
 across on a lady but it's all for the glory of God." 
 
 But Uncle George was really delighted with himself. 
 He was truly attached to Black Jerry and Jennie; and 
 he had made a successful use of highly trained faculties 
 that long had been disused and he had used them in 
 what for him was a highly moral and soul-warming 
 performance.
 
 74 <A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "But, Uncle George," Jennie whispered nervously, 
 "do you think I can ever act my part in a place like 
 this?" 
 
 "Sure you will, dear! But I want to slip you a few 
 points take 'em from an old man who has had to read 
 human nature in all languages." If Uncle George had 
 not early in life drifted into devious ways, he might 
 have become a preacher, so strong was his inclination 
 to discourse. "You come here labeled as pretty crude, 
 so if you make a break it's just what's expected of you, 
 so don't let it worry you. But keep yourself pretty 
 much in the background until you know the ropes. 
 When in doubt about what to do, wait and watch what 
 the other girl does with her fork. That rule applies to 
 everything else as well as to eating. Understand?" 
 
 "I think I do, Uncle George." 
 
 "And here's the great thing, Jennie: Keep yourself 
 quiet, obscure, until you gradually begin to get in solid 
 here you 've got four years to turn the trick, so you 
 can take your time. Remember, you've got to keep 
 yourself down. If necessary, be more ignorant and crude 
 than you really are." And then Uncle George spoke 
 sententiously, in the tone of universal and eternal 
 truth. "Women, and girls, too, Jennie, are curious 
 cusses. They don't care how superior to them a woman 
 or girl is who was born, at the top, or who some time ago 
 solidly landed there. But they're as jealous as hell of, 
 and they hate like hell, the girl of their own bunch or 
 a lower bunch, who is smarter or prettier than they are. 
 They'll eat her raw and alive. Get the drift of what 
 I'm saying?" 
 
 "I think I do." 
 
 "You'll not be likely to go wrong if you remember
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 75 
 
 what I said about underplaying yourself. I don't know 
 just how this here business is going to come out in the 
 end but it would be an awful big help, Jennie, what- 
 ever way the thing breaks, if you could come out of this 
 school with a few classy girls as your solid friends. 
 But don't go after 'em let 'em come to you. Be quiet 
 grow slow don't really let yourself out until you 
 know the girls have taken you on as one of themselves, 
 and mebbe you'd better not do it even then. You know 
 the way for a wise guy to trim a sucker is to let the 
 sucker think himself a wise guy at first and let him do 
 all the early winning and the same rule, my dear, 
 holds good for every other sort of diplomatic career." 
 
 "I'll try to remember it all, and do it all, Uncle 
 George." 
 
 "If you do, Jennie, if you play the cards right," he 
 said with the emphasis of certainty, "why, in three 
 years you'll be one of the first families in this here 
 joint!" 
 
 He gave her much more advice, gathered out of his 
 experience with the worldliness of the world. Then, all 
 his own worldliness fallen away from him, and being for 
 the moment just an affectionate old man, he kissed her 
 very simply. 
 
 "I'll be pulling hard for you to make good, my 
 dear," he said. "Good-bye and good luck!" 
 
 Recovering his former bearing he walked out. Through 
 the doorway Jennie saw the maid hold out to him his 
 hat and stick and saw him accept them with his sober 
 mien. And then he was gone.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 JENNIE MAKES A FRIEND 
 
 LEFT alone, the last human tie removed that 
 bound her to the life she had known up to this 
 time, her heart throbbing wildly, Jennie looked 
 sharply about this large room of austere elegance. 
 
 She was seized with a fear that bordered closely 
 upon a frantic impulse to flee out of this splendid es- 
 tablishment containing only that which was unknown. 
 But she remembered Casey the police court judge 
 she remembered her father, giving her up that she 
 might have this very chance; and to reinforce these 
 counter impulses there came the reflex of her audacious, 
 dogged courage. She moved over and pressed the bell 
 Miss Gresham had indicated. 
 
 Almost instantly the very neat maid entered who 
 had admitted her. "You are ready to go to your 
 room?" 
 
 "Yes. Where is my bag?" 
 
 "It has already been taken up, miss." 
 
 Jennie followed the maid up a wide stairway, muted 
 by a deep rug, with white banisters, through a wide, 
 airy corridor, through another corridor, and to a door 
 which the maid opened. She allowed Jennie to enter 
 first, then followed her. 
 
 "This is your room," said the maid, "and that door 
 there opens into your bathroom. Dinner is served. 
 I'll wait outside to show you to the dining-room." 
 
 Jennie gazed about her, bewildered, awed. The room 
 was a combination bedroom and sitting-room, high,
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 77 
 
 airy, as large as three of the rooms at home and in it 
 were two beds, though the second bed had no signifi- 
 cance to her at that moment. The woodwork was white, 
 the window hangings, the bed-spreads, and the cover- 
 ings of the chairs, were all dominated by a soft warm 
 blue; and at one end was a fireplace with logs of real 
 wood in it. Dazed, Jennie automatically stepped into 
 the bathroom. She had never known there was such a 
 bathroom ! it was all porcelain and white tile and 
 glistening nickel. All these luxuries for her! 
 
 She wanted to stay here and examine in detail these 
 exquisite marvels of her new home; but there was that 
 maid waiting for her, and instinct told her it would 
 never do to show excitement over marvels that must be 
 commonplaces to every other person here. So she laid 
 aside hat and coat, quickly removed the soil of her 
 motor-ride, and joined the maid without who led her 
 back the way they had come, through a broad corridor 
 on the ground floor, to a wide doorway which gave into 
 a large, brightly lighted room. It seemed as large as a 
 restaurant to Jennie only different different in 
 a nicer way. She felt lost, but at once she saw Miss 
 Gresham coming toward her. 
 
 "This way, Miss Miller; I '11 show you to your place." 
 And as Jennie trailed behind her: "Miss Gould, who is 
 the teacher that always sits at your table, is ill to-night, 
 so I '11 introduce you to your table-mates I Ve al- 
 ready told them a bit about you." 
 
 They halted at a table at which sat six girls. Jennie 
 managed to achieve a bow as each girl was presented, 
 but she was too confused to hear a single name. Seated 
 in her place, several minutes passed during which her 
 eyes saw only the soup which had been set before her
 
 78 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 but she heard a constant chattering, and a light gig- 
 gling. Then her self-control began to return; her first 
 impulse was to be defiant to these young swells. But 
 she recalled Uncle George's instruction to hold herself 
 down, and when she glanced up she was a very shy- 
 looking person. 
 
 There were perhaps a hundred girls in the room, in 
 dresses that fairly took Jennie's breath. Their style 
 and obvious cost made her suddenly and acutely con- 
 scious of her own dress which seemed to her common 
 and shabby in this company: and then, in turn, she 
 became panically conscious of who she really was. She 
 was Jennie Malone! Did these girls read the news- 
 papers? If they did, what would they do if they were 
 this minute to learn that among them, one of them, was 
 a girl who three nights before had been on trial in a 
 police court for forgery, who was now hiding away from 
 police and courts and prisons who was the daughter 
 of the man that black-robed judge had wrathfully de- 
 nounced as "the notorious, the infamous Black Jerry 
 Malone!" 
 
 A prickling shiver ran through Jennie, and she held 
 her breath, waiting tensely for these girls to rise and 
 cry out against her. But the hundred girls chattered 
 on. . . . 
 
 Eating little, and being very careful how she ate it, 
 Jennie covertly but sharply began to take note of the 
 girls at her own table. At her right sat a girl, perhaps 
 eighteen, her body with the languid droop which at that 
 time was considered smart, with full lips, a short nose, 
 large, insolent eyes, and dark hair which was bobbed : 
 an irregularly handsome girl who showed she was fully 
 conscious of her beauty, and conscious of the place in
 
 A Daughter of Tzvo Worlds 79 
 
 the world which belonged to her. She was talking all 
 the time, and Jennie quickly sensed that this girl dom- 
 inated her table, from the way in which most of the 
 other girls heeded her most casual remarks some of 
 which were perhaps more daring than they would have 
 been but for the empty chair belonging to the presiding 
 teacher and giggled at her every essay at humor. 
 
 On Jennie's left was a girl of about her own age: 
 all the impression Jennie got of her just then was that 
 she was a rather pretty blonde, that she had blue eyes 
 and that she was very quiet. 
 
 The girl with the bobbed hair Gloria, Jennie had 
 heard her called after having touched upon a score 
 of subjects with remarks that had been deliciously 
 humorous, judged by the giggles with which she had 
 been applauded, presently turned her cool, direct eyes 
 upon the diffident-seeming Jennie. 
 
 "Believe your name is Miller," she drawled. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And Miss Gresham said you came from out West 
 Wyoming." 
 
 "I do." 
 
 "That's where the cowboys come from." The girl 
 looked Jennie up and down with slow, superior eyes 
 until she knew she had the attention of the others, 
 "Tell me, Miller," she drawled, "does that get-up you 
 have on give us an idea of how all the cowboys look? " 
 
 A hesitating titter ran about the table at this hit. 
 
 "Don't mind what she says, please!" the blonde at 
 Jennie's left whispered quickly. 
 
 But Jennie did mind. It did not come to her that the 
 other might possibly be ill-bred ; she was merely aware 
 that she was being made sport of. She forgot for the
 
 8o A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 moment Uncle George's legacy of wise injunctions. But 
 though angry, her mind controlled her anger. 
 
 "They don't look exactly like this," she replied with 
 suspicion-lulling embarrassment. "There's one great 
 difference." 
 
 "Indeed!" said the other in her musical drawl. 
 "And what is that difference, Miller?" 
 
 Jennie looked her straight in the eye. "The chief 
 difference is that most of the cowboys, the very 
 rough cowboys, have a haircut just like yours, Gloria 
 dear." 
 
 Gloria gasped, and turned very red. The other girls 
 stared at the two in loose-faced silence. Jennie gazed 
 steadily at Gloria, waiting, challenge in her eyes 
 but after a moment Gloria's gaze wavered and her 
 high-colored face fell to her food. There was painful 
 silence at the table during the rest of the meal. 
 
 Jennie got back to her room as quickly as she could. 
 Before she had time to think over her experiences in 
 the dining-room, or even to look about her new quarters, 
 her door opened and there was the pretty blonde who 
 had sat at her left. There was a moment of embar- 
 rassed silence. Then the other girl spoke. 
 
 "I hope you don't mind my coming in, for, you see" 
 
 smiling "this is my room, too." 
 "Oh!" 
 
 "Did n't you know I was your room-mate?" 
 "No. I have n't been here long enough to be told 
 anything." Here was a new difficulty, a new problem! 
 
 a room-mate, and one who probably had everything 
 and knew everything. How was she going to get on, 
 living so intimately with this unknown girl from an- 
 other world?
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 8 1 
 
 "I hope we're going to be good friends," the other 
 said shyly. ' * Let 's sit down. ' ' 
 
 They did so. Again there was a moment of embar- 
 rassed silence. Then the other burst out: 
 
 "I think Gloria Raymond was perfectly horrid to- 
 night! But it was just like her. She's got a horrible 
 temper." 
 
 "I guess I lost my temper, too," Jennie responded 
 discreetly. 
 
 "You treated her perfectly right though none of 
 the rest of us dare talk that way to her. I guess she has 
 more money than any other girl here and she does 
 about as she pleases with her aunt and she's been 
 to a lot of parties and she's got a lot of beaux so 
 she thinks she's just about all right and just a little bit 
 better than any of the rest of us. But I would n't mind 
 the way she behaves if I were you." 
 
 "I'm not going to," said Jennie. 
 
 "She's fairly decent to me, because my brother is one 
 of the fellows she's sweet on." 
 
 " Is your brother in school, too?" 
 
 "No. Kenneth graduated from college years and 
 years ago. Three years I think it was. But I hope he 
 does n't let anything you understand serious grow 
 up between him and Gloria, for I 'd hate to have Gloria 
 in the family." 
 
 With her pleasant, friendly smile Jennie's room-mate 
 changed the subject. "I wish I'd lived out West. I 
 suppose you shoot well, and ride like everything. You 
 know the school has a stable and most of the girls here 
 ride almost every day. I'm sure you can show them 
 what real riding is." 
 
 Jennie saw danger before her. " I was always afraid
 
 82 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 of guns," she said, "and my uncle got hurt riding when 
 I was a little girl and would never let me get on a horse. 
 So I really can't do anything that Western girls are 
 supposed to do." 
 
 "I wish you'd tell me about yourself if you don't 
 mind," said the other. 
 
 The girl was interested and eager. And so Jennie, in- 
 venting carefully where Uncle George had not supplied 
 her with data, told of the rough Wyoming life of that 
 recently created orphan, Jennie Miller. Subconsciously 
 she followed Uncle George's advice to "underplay" 
 herself; or perhaps she was rather acting from the dic- 
 tates of her own instincts. She was seemingly shy, 
 modest, and very open. She confessed that she knew 
 nothing, either about books or how to behave among 
 people; and she confessed, with every appearance of 
 simple frankness, how it was that she had come here, 
 with only a few rough items of clothing. Her watchful 
 eyes noted that her unknown room-mate was warmly 
 sympathetic. 
 
 "And now I wish you'd tell me all about yourself," 
 she said when she had finished. 
 
 Her room-mate's blue eyes opened wide. "Why, I 
 thought you knew all about me!" 
 
 " I don't even know your name." 
 
 "No! It's Sue Harrison. Why, Miss Gresham told 
 me your guardian had brought you to Braithewood Hall 
 because he knew my father, and that 's why she put us 
 together here and at table." 
 
 Jennie saw several things at once one of which was 
 that danger might grow out of this reputed friendship 
 were a correction not made. "I'm sure it's just a 
 misunderstanding," she said quickly. "My guardian
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 83 
 
 does n't know your father. He merely happened to hear 
 of this school through one of your father's friends 
 that 's all there is to that. Though, if you 're not sorry, 
 I'm glad we're to be room-mates." 
 
 And to herself she was saying : So this was the daugh- 
 ter of that Mr. Harrison whose silent partner Sam 
 Conway was! of that Mr. Harrison for whom Harry 
 Edwards had just begun to work! 
 
 Sue declared that there was n't much to tell of her- 
 self. Besides herself there were just her mother and 
 father and brother; they lived in New York in a house 
 in the East Seventies just off Fifth Avenue; in summer 
 they lived at their country-place on Long Island. That 
 was all. ... It was n't much as Sue told it, but within 
 herself Jennie was gasping. 
 
 They talked on for two hours, Jennie seemingly frank, 
 Sue unaffectedly so; and presently they had dropped 
 into the familiarity of calling each other Jennie and Sue. 
 Jennie was definitely drawn toward the other, though she 
 did not quite know why. Not till the events of a much 
 later time brought her a clearer vision was Jennie to ap- 
 preciate the fullness of her own fortune in making such 
 a friend, or was she really to understand Sue. Sue 
 was too uncomplex for her to understand at present: 
 not very clever, not very aggressive, just a simple, 
 unassuming, likable girl a splendid specimen of her 
 
 type. 
 
 At length the two girls got into bed. But though she 
 was worn and the bed was marvelously soft and caress- 
 ing, there was no immediate sleep for Jennie. This was 
 the first period she had had in which she could think 
 without interruption, could consider the many ele- 
 ments of her situation. She lay there in the darkness,
 
 84 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 athrill with exultation. What a world of things had 
 happened in the last three days! She was now at last 
 really started in her new life she had started up 
 she was going far very far! ... 
 
 Then her mind shot back to the Pekin. She thought 
 of her father, whom she loved more than any other 
 person, and whom according to the arrangement she 
 was never to see again, and if seeing him by chance she 
 was not to recognize. And she thought about her Aunt 
 Mary kind Aunt Mary! And about Harry Edwards. 
 The way he talked about caring for her was, of course, 
 all nonsense; but just now she felt tender toward Harry 
 he really was a nice boy. . . . They were all cut out of 
 her life. Definitely ! Forever ! She cried softly into her 
 pillow. . . . 
 
 And then she thought of Slim Jackson. Well, at any 
 rate, Slim was one person severance from whom would 
 cause no sorrow in this new life she was entering 
 upon. . . . 
 
 At about the time Jennie was thinking of the Pekin, 
 Uncle George entered that smoke-clouded establish- 
 ment. His old eyes noted a change or two, and then, 
 catching Jerry's attention and followed by him, he 
 stepped on back into Black Jerry's office. The door 
 closed behind the two, shutting out the dance-music, 
 and they sat down. 
 
 "I see you got a new guy out there instead of Slim 
 Jackson," said Uncle George. "What's happened to 
 Slim?" 
 
 "Told me to-day he just had a swell opening in vaude- 
 ville. Said he had to grab it quick or lose the chance. 
 So I let him go."
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 85 
 
 "Is he going to be teamed up with that Daisy 
 White?" 
 
 "I don't know. The main thing he said was that he 
 sure was going to make a hit." 
 
 "Mebbe he will, Jerry mebbe he will." Uncle 
 George nodded. "He's clever, that guy, and if he gets 
 agoing he'll never have to slow down his pace because 
 he 's carrying a lot of heavy scruples. Almost anything 
 may happen to him." 
 
 "I ain't interested in what happens to him," Jerry 
 said impatiently. " I want to know what's happened to 
 Jennie." 
 
 So Uncle George told about Braithewood Hall and 
 leaving Jennie there. 
 
 "Do you think she can put it across in a swell joint 
 like that?" 
 
 "I think she can, Jerry." 
 
 "Well, then" with suppressed gloating "she's 
 really got her big chance!" 
 
 "Yes, she's really got her big chance. We've done 
 our job, Jerry. We're through you and me." 
 
 And then Uncle George amended a previous remark. 
 "She'll put it across, Jerry, provided you stick to your 
 promise to keep out of her life." 
 
 "Oh, I '11 keep out of her life all right." And then he 
 added grimly: "That is, unless some one tries to put 
 something over on her." 
 
 "Sure, Jerry, in which case we'll all be heard 
 from." 
 
 The two fell silent. And while Jennie lay excitedly 
 visioning her new life, the two men who had brought 
 her into it, unmoral, affectionate men in this case 
 high-minded and natural and consistent according to
 
 86 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 their own standards the two sat gazing fixedly across 
 the little table into the other's set face : and behind 
 the dark, masklike face of Black Jerry, deep down in 
 the heart which the world believed had no existence, 
 there throbbed infinite loss and infinite exultation.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 JENNIE SHAPES HER FUTURE 
 
 WHEN Jennie awoke the next morning, she was 
 for several moments as a person of lost mem- 
 ory cast ashore upon an unknown land. Not 
 till she had gazed around the large blue-and-white room 
 and over at Sue's honey-colored hair on the pillow in the 
 near-by bed, did she recall what had happened to her 
 and where she was. 
 
 She felt dizzy with the responsibility of her position : 
 so much danger behind her so much that was un- 
 known before her herself so ignorant of even the 
 commonplaces of this new world. 
 
 It was now all up to her up to her alone ! She lay 
 there, carefully thinking her way forward, shrewdly 
 planning her course. For the present she would be very 
 quiet, would remain in the inconspicuous background; 
 she would unassumingly accept the role of that untaught 
 girl she was here supposed to be. If she was that girl, 
 frankly and seemingly without aspirations, the fewer 
 questions would be asked her, the less hostility would be 
 roused. Her first efforts would be merely to get herself 
 accepted by slow degrees. But later on, she was going to 
 be somebody here! She would do it somehow! For this 
 was the way up. 
 
 Presently the rising gong sounded. Sue awoke and 
 rubbed the last of the soft sleep from her eyes. Rolling 
 over, she saw a dark-eyed girl in the next bed who 
 seemed to her lonely and very apprehensive.
 
 88 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 " Everything is going to be all right, Jennie," she said 
 cheerily. "Just you don't be afraid." 
 
 "I'll try not to," Jennie replied diffidently keenly 
 trying to study her room-mate. 
 
 Sue thought a moment ; she recalled how limited was 
 Jennie's wardrobe. "I say, Jennie, you told me last 
 night you were going shopping in a few days. We're 
 about the same size, and I Ve no end of things ; I wish 
 you'd wear 'em till you get a chance to buy your own." 
 
 Jennie hesitated an instant. Her present clothes were 
 not only pitifully inadequate for, but strikingly dis- 
 cordant in, such surroundings as these and Jennie, 
 even if she had had few of them, loved pretty clothes. 
 But her shrewd wit prompted her to a decision in keep- 
 ing with the plan she had just made for herself. 
 
 "You're awfully good, Sue but, no, thank you," 
 she said, and got into the plain dress which had pro- 
 voked Gloria's sarcasm the night before. 
 
 After breakfast she was summoned by Miss Gresham 
 into the study where she and Uncle George had been re- 
 ceived. Miss Gresham briefly examined Jennie, assigned 
 her courses for the first half-year, then said in her care- 
 fully modulated voice : 
 
 "Jennie, I have arranged for Miss Van der Brunt, the 
 social director of the school, to motor into New York 
 with you after an early luncheon to-day and help select 
 the new outfit your guardian desired purchased for 
 you." 
 
 "If you don't mind, Miss Gresham," said Jennie, 
 " I 'd like to wait for a few days." 
 
 Miss Gresham raised her handsome eyebrows. In her 
 experience it was something distinctly out of the ordi- 
 nary for a girl to avoid new clothes.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 89 
 
 "Why, Jennie?" 
 
 "If you please, it was a long trip here, and I 'm rather 
 tired," replied Jennie. 
 
 "Just as you like," said Miss Gresham. 
 
 And so Jennie went about in her old clothes not 
 altogether pleased with them, but having the approval 
 of her shrewd, patient plan. Better to be laughed at 
 for her crudity and ignorance than sneered at for being a 
 climber. The change must be made so gradually that 
 it would attract no attention. She could afford to 
 wait. 
 
 For the first day or two in this wonderful school,, be- 
 neath the quiet, retiring manner which she showed her 
 mates, her every nerve was stretched to tightest suspense 
 For all her decision, the present, the future, existed for 
 her only in terms of pressing and constantly iterated 
 questions the same questions that had risen in her 
 when she had rolled hither with Uncle George. What 
 was life here really going to be? Could she really make 
 good in such a place? Would the police trace her? 
 Would she, despite her guard Upon herself, thoughtlessly 
 commit some error which might lead to her betrayal? 
 
 On her second day at Braithewood Hall this thought- 
 lessness overtook her. She had gone in bathing in a suit 
 borrowed from Sue Harrison; in these sheltered waters 
 of Long Island Sound the water continued warm enough 
 for bathing throughout October. Conscious of nothing 
 but the animal delight of being in the water, away she 
 went with a racing stroke, white arms swiftly flashing, 
 her face deep in the water, out around the float and 
 back to the bathing-pier. On the pier a group of girls 
 in bathing dress were gazing at her in surprise. It was 
 Gloria Raymond who spoke for them.
 
 90 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "I say, you there," she drawled, "did you learn that 
 crawl out on the deserts of Wyoming?" 
 
 For a moment Jennie was all consternation : had she 
 by her indiscretion opened the way for her exposure 
 and the coming of Casey? She hid her dismay under the 
 business of wringing out her skirt ; then she said calmly : 
 
 "It was n't really a desert where I came from. There 
 was a river, and my uncle taught me to swim." 
 
 She saw that, though still surprised, they believed 
 her. The tense moment passed, and she breathed easier. 
 What if these fine young ladies really knew the truth: 
 that she had learned to swim in the enclosed public baths 
 which are tied up against the city docks during summer 
 time, that she had been something of a star in these com- 
 mon places that Black Jerry, who loved the water 
 and was a mighty swimmer, had for years past taken 
 her once or twice a week on slack summer afternoons 
 down to Coney Island or Brighton Beach? 
 
 But after the first few days had passed and no police 
 had come, the fear of outside interference began to sub- 
 side in Jennie. As for her possible betraying blunders, 
 reason began to quiet her on that point. She reminded 
 herself that she was expected to make mistakes she 
 decided it was in keeping with her character to make 
 them, and perhaps make a few consciously; and so 
 when she did make real blunders she was not greatly 
 discomfited. She bore in mind one sage injunction of 
 Uncle George: "When in doubt about what to do, wait 
 and watch what the other girl does with her fork." She 
 was constantly watching what the other girl did with 
 her "fork." She noted everything she remembered 
 it and one at a time, she made little changes. 
 
 After a week Jennie consented to a shopping expedi-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 91 
 
 tion in New York with the very erect Miss Van der 
 Brunt. Even then she chose only the fewest and sim- 
 plest things possible though it hurt her to give up 
 the pretty garments that might have been hers by 
 merely saying yes. In this procedure she was guided 
 not only by her own decision to play down to her part, 
 but by the canny realization that she did not yet know, 
 of her own knowledge, what a girl in her station should 
 wear ; if she bought much now, even under the guidance 
 of Miss Van der Brunt, most of her purchases would 
 have to be kept discreetly in reserve, or else go into the 
 discard. She would wait and watch; and when she 
 bought she would buy what was right. 
 
 Miss Van der Brunt, unaccustomed to such restraint 
 in her charges, was amazed ; she thought Jennie penuri- 
 ous and tried to urge the purchase of what seemed to 
 her necessities but Jennie, in her quiet manner, kept 
 to her decision. Later on, the correct, unimaginative 
 taste of Miss Van der Brunt was to help Jennie greatly 
 in avoiding what was spurious or pretentious, or out-of- 
 date, or too daringly anticipatory of the fashion 
 though it was never to help her in the final selection of 
 those things which seemed a part of her individuality. 
 
 The academic work at Braithewood Hall Jennie 
 found easy, after the tasks to which her public school 
 life had accustomed her. But she was bewildered by 
 some of the other courses which were essentials of her 
 education. There was M. Dubois, who gave the Metro- 
 politan Opera House as his address, a fussy, voluble 
 gentleman of frenzied gestures, who came out three 
 times a week to give them lessons in classical and aes- 
 thetic dancing, also the ballet. There was Miss Van 
 der Brunt (of a very old New York family indeed) who
 
 92 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 drilled them in how to start and keep in motion a polite 
 conversation; who rehearsed them in how to enter a 
 drawing-room, how to take a gentleman's arm in going 
 in to dinner, how to say good-bye to a hostess. And 
 then every Friday afternoon Miss Gresham "received" 
 in her study, where tea was served with all the details 
 of propriety, and where all the formalities were observed 
 that obtained in the grown-up life that lay a few years 
 ahead. 
 
 And once a fortnight a formal dinner was served, 
 complete, if not in regard to actual food, at least in 
 regard to appurtenances. The dozen pieces of silver at 
 her place at first had Jennie confused; here, indeed, 
 was real necessity for the literal following of that figur- 
 ative injunction about waiting to see what the other 
 girl did with her fork. 
 
 In these matters also Jennie did her best rather, 
 as far as actual performance went, a little less than her 
 best. To learn such things was what she was here for. 
 But in the midst of these august ceremonials Jennie 
 would sometimes think of her father, and within herself 
 she would smile at what would be the amazement of 
 Black Jerry and her old friends at the Pekin, could they 
 only behold these maneuvers and her soberly taking 
 a part in them. 
 
 Of all these "cultural branches" she cared most for 
 the work of the dancing master and the vocal teacher. 
 But here, too, she tried to hold herself back and when 
 the joy of dancing made her forget and she let herself 
 out and surprised the little dancing-master, she immedi- 
 ately counteracted it with a display of awkwardness and 
 stupidity that sent the little man into one of his worst 
 fits of artistic frenzy. She pursued the same course
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 93 
 
 with the vocal master. By both despairing teachers she 
 was considered a mediocrity gifted with streaks of unde- 
 pendable and undeveloped talent "but impossible 
 altogether impossible!" But from both and both 
 knew their business Jennie, despite appearances, 
 absorbed every point. 
 
 Weeks passed, and months, and Jennie, watching 
 everything, with a growing sense of security, fitted more 
 and more into the routine of the school. Most of the 
 girls paid little heed to Jennie they were too much 
 engrossed with themselves, with their chums, with 
 sports, and quite incidentally with their school work. 
 And when they did giggle a bit at her, or were superior, 
 or snubbed her, she gave no sign and tried not to care. 
 
 From that first evening in the dining-room she knew 
 that Gloria Raymond was to be unchangeably hostile. 
 Jennie had early sensed that Gloria held the somewhat 
 anomalous position of being the most autocratic, the 
 most sought-after, girl in the school and secretly 
 the girl most feared and most hated. 
 
 It was Gloria who made her most strikingly forget 
 her meek role, and who started her upward out of her 
 self-enjoined obscurity. One February day in the 
 squash court during a match between Sue and Gloria, 
 both in white sweaters and knickerbockers, there was 
 a dispute over a point in which the usually yielding 
 Sue doggedly maintained that she was right. Gloria's 
 temper mounted into swift flame, and she called Sue 
 a liar. Jennie, the only onlooker and a perfunctory on- 
 looker at that, knew nothing about squash, but she was 
 fully acquainted with the word "liar" and what people 
 did at the sound of that word. Instantly and instinc- 
 tively she sprang before Gloria, her black eyes gleaming.
 
 94 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "You take that back!" she cried. 
 
 "I'll take nothing back!" snapped Gloria, at first 
 not noting who Sue's champion was. And then as she 
 saw, she added in a drawl that was vibrant with anger, 
 "Hello, if it is n't that Wyoming runt!" 
 
 "You take back what you said about Sue!" repeated 
 Jennie. 
 
 For answer Gloria's right hand shot out furiously. 
 Jennie was slighter and half a head shorter, but she had 
 fought since she was a child, and in her later years she 
 and Harry Edwards had scuffled good-naturedly, and 
 he had shown her many tricks of the wrestling game of 
 which he was a devotee. Jennie caught Gloria's wrist 
 before the darting, clawlike hand could reach her face, 
 gave the arm a sharp twist and tripped her opponent 
 and the rest of what happened happened so quickly 
 that it seemed to have only beginning and end. There 
 was Gloria lying on her back on the floor, and on her 
 proud body sat Jennie, holding each wrist in a grip so 
 clever that all the other's writhing could not avail to 
 break it; in fact so cunning were the twisting grips that 
 Gloria's struggles served only to start excruciating 
 pains to shoot through elbows and shoulders with the 
 result that she subsided, gasping. 
 
 "Let me up!" she demanded. 
 
 "I will just as soon as you have apologized to Sue." 
 
 "I'll not do it!" 
 
 1 ' All right. I guess I can stand this as long as you can. ' ' 
 
 " If you don't let me up," fumed Gloria, " I'll call for 
 help and then you'll see the trouble you'll get in!" 
 
 "Please call," Jennie urged tauntingly. "Don't hold 
 back because of worry over the trouble I'd get in. 
 Call! I'm sure all the girls would just love to run
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 95 
 
 in and see what 's here and it would be something for 
 them to talk about all the while you 're in school and for 
 years afterwards the wild runt from Wyoming sit- 
 ting on the elegant Miss Gloria Raymond's stomach. 
 So please do cry out, there's a dear." 
 
 Gloria was consumed with fury. But she realized she 
 dared not carry out her threat. She was helpless. 
 
 "What do you want?" she demanded huskily. 
 
 44 Just say, 'Sue, I was wrong, and I 'm sorry I called 
 you what I did.'" 
 
 Gloria glared and choked for a moment. But in a 
 husky voice she repeated the sentence. 
 
 "And now say, 'Sue, I promise I'll never do any- 
 thing of the sort again.' " 
 
 That, likewise, Gloria repeated. Jennie promptly 
 released her, and Gloria struggled to her feet. 
 
 " I don't ask you to promise this, Gloria dear," Jennie 
 went on, "for it's a promise you probably can't keep 
 but in spite of who you are, just try to be as much of 
 a lady as you can." 
 
 Gloria trembled all over, her face was a dull scarlet, 
 her eyes glowered with a malignant fire, but she choked 
 impotently. Without speaking, she turned abruptly 
 and hurried out of the squash court. 
 
 Sue, who had stood stupefied during this swift clash 
 of instincts that were supposed to have been eradicated 
 generations before one came into the refined atmosphere 
 of Braithewood Hall, now came to life. 
 
 "Jennie!" she breathed. "Jennie!" 
 
 "I wish dad could have seen that!" exclaimed Jen- 
 nie : and the sight of those two figures in their re- 
 spective positions might indeed have given grim joy to 
 Black Jerry.
 
 96 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "Your father, Jennie? I thought your father was 
 dead." 
 
 Jennie quickly rectified the slip. "I sometimes call 
 my guardian dad." 
 
 "But, Jennie," Sue cried, "Gloria will never forget 
 that she'll hate you all her life! And there 's nothing 
 she won't do!" 
 
 "Let her go to it I'm not afraid of her!" Jennie 
 returned defiantly. And then she remembered that she 
 had not played her role as she had written it for herself ; 
 she was suddenly contrite and was the mild, unassuming 
 person she had created. 
 
 "I'm awfully sorry, Sue," she said with her best 
 humility. "I forgot myself I am terribly crude 
 I don't know at all how to behave myself." 
 
 "It was wonderful, Jennie!" Sue kissed her impul- 
 sively. "And Gloria was trying to cheat. Only I 
 guess we'd better say nothing about it." 
 
 "I'll not," replied Jennie. 
 
 And they did not, and it is to be presumed that 
 Gloria was at no pains to publish the incident. But in 
 the close community of a girls' school secrets seem not 
 to require the medium of words; they seem to have 
 ways known only to themselves for escaping the con- 
 finement of human silence. And so the encounter in 
 the squash-court house did come to be talked about 
 in whispered privacy ; but never directly to Jennie and 
 never directly to Gloria. The latter was accorded the 
 same deference as before and allowed the same domina- 
 tion which may or may not be a commentary on the 
 human species; but thereafter Jennie began to receive 
 little attentions from the other girls, never in the open 
 and never marked. From this time there began a
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 97 
 
 subtle change in the attitude toward her that was to 
 grow; it was from this time she began slowly to be 
 somebody. 
 
 But as the months passed, there was not a day that 
 she did not think of her father and her Aunt Mary 
 of all the people who belonged to the world which she 
 had left; not a day that in her there were not deep 
 yearnings to see them. The one thing of her present life 
 that she did not like was the thing which was its very 
 foundation that she was not to see her father again. 
 Nor Aunt Mary. Nor nor Harry Edwards. In those 
 night hours when she lay yearningly awake, looking 
 back upon the people of her past, she wondered if the 
 parting really had to be forever or if there might 
 come some unguessable twist of affairs, as great as that 
 which had landed her here, which would sometime, 
 somehow, bring her life again in touch with those 
 whom she had left. 
 
 In her lived two great desires: to reach forward and 
 grasp whatever prizes might develop in the vague, 
 rainbowed future to reach back and hold tight to a 
 few persons of the past. 
 
 In her wondering over the plans she had so carefully 
 laid, she gave shrewd consideration to every element 
 which might influence her career. To every element 
 except one, and of that she did not think at all: that 
 element was the unknown person who existed in her 
 even then existed germinally for in most of us our 
 real selves lie deep hidden, and many of us go on to 
 the end without the seed sending forth its first sprout, 
 without our guessing who we really are.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 BLOOD CALLS TO BLOOD 
 
 THE long and lonely Christmas vacation Jennie 
 had spent at Braithewood Hall. But in March 
 there came a cordial letter from Sue's mother 
 asking her to spend the Easter holidays as Sue's guest. 
 Sue was happily importunate. For several days Jennie 
 wavered between desire and fear: could she carry her- 
 self through the new experience of such a visit? But 
 she saw the visit as another rung in her cautious upward 
 climb, and in the end she decided to go. She would 
 be that unpretentious, frankly unfinished girl from the 
 West who knew nothing. That attitude had saved her 
 thus far; it might save her in this new adventure she 
 was entering upon. 
 
 At the close of a March day the Harrison car dis- 
 charged the two girls before one of a row of graystone 
 houses off Fifth Avenue. Jennie followed Sue in with 
 a palpitant sense that this was the beginning of another 
 phase of her new life though she then had no pre- 
 monition of how important this new phase was to be. 
 The interior of the house seemed to her unbelievably 
 spacious and splendid; having no experience by which 
 to form her critical judgment, she had the swift, vague 
 impression that this house was an individualized expres- 
 sion, for a few, of those things which Miss Gresham's 
 school expressed for many. 
 
 Almost at once Sue was being embraced by her 
 mother. With her quick eyes Jennie studied this im- 
 portant factor in her new situation. Mrs. Harrison
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 99 
 
 seemed to her very much like Sue: considerate, and 
 not very discerning. Physically, she was of that blonde 
 type which seems to mature but not to age. 
 
 Mrs. Harrison, turning, gave Jennie her hand and 
 kissed her. "I'm so glad you could come," she said 
 warmly. "Sue has talked about you every time I've 
 seen her, and written about you in every letter, since 
 school opened." 
 
 Jennie plunged boldly. "Then Sue's told you what 
 a regular barbarian I am," she said with her air of 
 naive frankness. 
 
 "She's told me you are very modest, but that for 
 all your modesty you are very clever." The essence 
 of Mrs. Harrison's nature was an unhesitating kindness. 
 "The other things, they are just superficialities that 
 you '11 easily learn if you have n't already done so. I 'd 
 not worry about them." 
 
 "You are very good, Mrs. Harrison." 
 
 Mrs. Harrison kissed her again. "And now, Sue, 
 you and Jennie had better go up to your rooms. By 
 the time you're unpacked and dressed, dinner will be 
 served." 
 
 " Is n't mother just a wonderful dear ! " Sue exclaimed 
 a minute later in Jennie's bedroom which connected 
 with her own. 
 
 "That's not half what she is, Sue. You don't know 
 how lucky you are; I hardly remember ever having had 
 a mother." 
 
 "You'll like my father, too. And maybe you'll like 
 Kenneth if he does n't show that he thinks he's too 
 awfully grown up." 
 
 An hour later, in the drawing-room, Jennie was being 
 introduced to Mr. Harrison and then to his son. The
 
 i oo A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 father had a pleasant face when he smiled; but the 
 moment the occasion for the smile was gone, his atten- 
 tion went automatically to what lay within his mind, 
 and the observant Jennie noted that his face took on 
 that set, masklike, rather heavy look, which she had 
 noted as a common characteristic of the pictures she 
 had seen in magazines and newspapers of the men who 
 manage large affairs. Kenneth Harrison was a slender 
 young fellow of twenty-five, an amused smile of good- 
 natured worldliness on his pale face, grace and self- 
 possession in all his movements. He seemed to Jennie 
 quite the handsomest young man she had ever met. 
 She would have been sorely embarrassed but for the 
 perfect ease with which he carried off the introduction 
 and their first sentences. 
 
 At the table Jennie was seated between Mr. Harrison 
 and Kenneth. Never before had she been at such a 
 family dinner; and never before had she sat with a 
 gentleman in evening clothes at either elbow, a situa- 
 tion that was made more difficult by both being stran- 
 gers. She summoned her resources for the ordeal. But 
 after all, there was not much actual strain put upon her. 
 When she was addressed and the talk seemed to be 
 leading her into difficulties, Mrs. Harrison was in- 
 stantly coming to her aid with gracious tact and humor. 
 And then most of the conversation was between Ken- 
 neth and Sue, and consisted mainly of a brother's 
 privileged raillery at his younger sister. He seemed very 
 clever to Jennie; but she plainly saw that he regarded 
 Sue with amused superiority as only a schoolgirl. And 
 for all his courteous attention to her own self, she was 
 aware that to him she was only that most negligible 
 of creatures, the school friend of a half-grown sister:
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 101 
 
 so vast is the abyss between twenty-five in the male 
 and sixteen in the other sex, when sixteen is still in 
 school and wears its skirts an inch or so short of woman- 
 hood. 
 
 Directly after dinner Kenneth left the house. "I'll 
 bet he's gone over to see Gloria Raymond," whispered 
 Sue. "I wish he could be married to her for about a 
 year, and then it could all be wiped out." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "He's such a fool about her and he's so stuck on him- 
 self," replied Sue with a sister's candor. "I think a 
 year of Gloria might help him a lot." 
 
 "What does he do?" 
 
 "He's in business with my father. He thinks he's a 
 very clever business man, and I guess he is, too. And 
 another thing he does is to go to the theater. He hardly 
 ever misses a first night and I guess he knows every 
 actor and actress who's at all prominent." 
 
 "He does seem to know how to get on with people 
 very well," remarked Jennie. 
 
 "He certainly does, and he knows it, and he counts 
 on it. That's what makes him so sure of himself 
 that's why you wish his foot would slip and he'd fall." 
 
 Despite Sue's sisterly criticisms, Jennie thought him 
 wonderfully attractive. A pleasant home evening fol- 
 lowed, and after Jennie was in bed and the lights were 
 out, and she lay going over accounts, she decided with 
 thrilling satisfaction that she had borne herself very 
 well. She was indeed on her way up! Here she was, 
 now a welcome guest in this splendid home ; six months 
 before, down at the Pekin 
 
 But as her mind went back to the Pekin she thought 
 of her father, and the longing to see him, which so often
 
 i O2 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 had risen in her at Braithewood Hall, surged poignantly 
 upon her once more. To be sure, Uncle George had 
 said she and her father must not see each other again; 
 to be sure, a meeting would be dangerous but she 
 wanted to see him ! merely to see him ! Could it 
 possibly be managed while she was in the city? Surely 
 she could manage it somehow! Excitement, desire, 
 ran high. She slipped eagerly out of bed hesitated 
 then crept back in again. Reason had out-argued 
 desire. It was too dangerous. Her whole future, open- 
 ing so splendidly, would be risked, might be ruined, by 
 such an attempt. 
 
 But though reason had put down desire, yet even 
 when she was not actively thinking of it, desire per- 
 sisted in her subconscious mind. 
 
 The next afternoon it was a Saturday she and 
 Sue and Mrs. Harrison, attended by the agreeably 
 tolerant Kenneth, went forth upon a small foraging 
 expedition among Fifth Avenue shops. Jennie was in 
 a tailored suit, part of her later purchases chosen with 
 the aid of that estimable adviser, Miss Van der Brunt, 
 and a glance she caught from Mrs. Harrison gave her 
 the gratifying sensation that her company found no 
 fault with her appearance. 
 
 They had left the car at the curb to follow along, and 
 had been in and out of half a dozen shops, and were pro- 
 ceeding on foot to another half a block farther down the 
 street, when all at once her heart went dizzily still: 
 there was Harry Edwards walking up the Avenue 
 toward them. She saw he had not yet seen her, and 
 she turned swiftly and began to talk rapidly to Kenneth 
 Harrison. But as they passed she was conscious that 
 Harry had stopped short and was gazing at her. With-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 103 
 
 out conscious thought, she acted upon the instant. 
 She dropped her purse, walked on for a dozen paces, 
 then said, "Oh, excuse me," and turned and walked 
 back. Harry had picked up her purse and was staring 
 at her in utter bewilderment. 
 
 "My God, Jennie!" he gasped as she came up. 
 "What does this mean?" 
 
 "Don't give me away!" she breathed sharply. 
 
 "But I was told you had run off! And here I find 
 you at home among such people and in such clothes! " 
 
 " No time to explain," she whispered rapidly. "Don't 
 give me away!" 
 
 "I'll not, Jennie. But Jennie please! can't I 
 have a chance to see you?" 
 
 It was her subconscious self that spoke her long- 
 controlled yearning. "Tell dad I'll try to be home 
 to-night sometime after midnight," she whispered. 
 And then, taking her purse from his hands, "Thank 
 you very much," she said aloud in her natural voice. 
 
 She rejoined the others. "I dropped my purse," she 
 explained. 
 
 "So I saw," said Kenneth. "And here's something 
 just a bit odd: the fellow that picked it up is one of the 
 men in our office. Edwards is his name. Rather a 
 clever chap, I believe." 
 
 She perceived that they had seen nothing more than 
 that her purse had been returned to her. She felt re- 
 lieved. 
 
 But nevertheless the rest of that afternoon, and all 
 that evening, were trying to her her imagination was 
 constantly leaping feverishly ahead ; but she kept close 
 watch upon herself, and she managed to seem the dif- 
 fident, rather self-conscious schoolgirl suffering from
 
 1O4 ^ Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 nothing else than the occasional and minor embarrass- 
 ments natural in a first visit. At eleven she went to bed 
 and lay tensely in the darkness until after twelve, when 
 she calculated that all the household was asleep. She 
 slipped out and crept into Sue's room and secured Sue's 
 latch-key from the dresser where she had marked that 
 Sue had placed it. Then she dressed in the dark she 
 had carefully laid out her clothes for this and crept 
 cautiously downstairs and out the front door. In the 
 deep-shadowed vestibule she halted and peered out. 
 Fortune was with her. The private watchman who 
 patrolled the block had passed the house and was pro- 
 ceeding, slow and heavy-footed, toward the west, and 
 there was no one else in the street. She drew her veil 
 down to her nose, buried her face up to the nose in her 
 fur boa, and stepped quickly forth and walked rapidly, 
 but without appearance of haste, toward the east, turn- 
 ing south at the first corner. 
 
 Taking a Madison Avenue surface car, she rode to 
 Forty-second Street, changed there to the Subway, got 
 out at Fourteenth Street, and walked southward. 
 Fear constantly clutched at her, but her danger was 
 not so great as she thought; her face was practically 
 hidden, and the hour was one at which most devotees 
 of late pleasure had settled down in their place of last 
 call, and there was practically no one in the streets who 
 might recognize her. 
 
 At last she came into her old neighborhood the 
 neighborhood that had been home to her until six 
 months before. Her heart beat higher still, and now not 
 so much from fear. She paused and stepped into a door- 
 way. She knew the posts of the policemen down here, 
 and she waited until she saw that the officer stationed
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 1 05 
 
 nearest the Pekin was at the farther end of his beat; 
 then she hurried on and approached her old home. 
 Fortune again favored her. No one was entering or 
 leaving the Pekin. 
 
 She slipped into the passage and glided along it. But 
 she halted at the side door; within, the two-piece or- 
 chestra was playing, there was dancing and laughing 
 the old familiar sounds of her childhood, the tonal 
 background of her life. Then she crept upstairs, and 
 very gently she turned the knob. The door was un- 
 locked and swung open, and there sat her father, her 
 aunt, and Harry Edwards. 
 
 She halted an instant, her breath coming quick, and 
 gazed at her father. Black Jerry rose at sight of her. 
 His dark face twitched a trifle and his big chest filled. 
 Then he held out his hand. 
 
 "Howdy, Jennie," he said gruffly. "But what the 
 hell" 
 
 "Dad!" she cried, and sprang forward and threw her 
 arms about his neck. Instantly he strained her to him. 
 "Jennie!" he breathed "Jennie!" 
 
 After a moment he let her go and she embraced and 
 kissed her aunt and shook hands with Harry. 
 
 "But what you mean, coming down here?" Jerry 
 demanded. 
 
 " I just had to see you, dad." 
 
 He swallowed at that. "Well, I'm glad to see you, 
 Jennie." 
 
 Pride swelled within him as he now took her in more 
 fully; something like awe came into his manner. "You 
 certainly look like you been making good, Jennie. You 
 certainly do look the class. Tell us what it was like." 
 
 They sat down and she told them about Braithewood
 
 1 06 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Hall about her plan for her own behavior which was 
 to carry her upwards about Sue and the Harrisons ; 
 and all the while Harry Edwards's eyes were on her 
 meditatively, hungrily in pain and doubt and deter- 
 mination. And then she asked about things here at 
 home, and then she asked Harry about himself. 
 
 "I'm getting on fine," he declared. "Remember 
 what you said about Sam Conway - about his being 
 a crooked politician who never helped anybody unless 
 he expected to collect about five hundred per cent on 
 the deal sometime? Well, I know now you were just 
 about five hundred per cent wrong. On the office sta- 
 tionery Sam does n't figure as anybody in the Harrison 
 firm, but when it comes to real business he's some- 
 body big, all right. And he's solidly behind me, and 
 he's pushing me along; he's my friend and he's going 
 to see that I get on." 
 
 Jennie enjoyed this relaxation from the rigidities of 
 good form, after having been for six months so industri- 
 ously and carefully a lady. "And so, Harry," she said 
 tauntingly, "because you've got a friend to push you, 
 I suppose you're leaning back with your feet crossed 
 and are n't trying." 
 
 "I'm trying harder than any man in the firm!" he 
 bristled. 
 
 "There 's your answer, my child. If you 're getting on 
 it's because you're trying. And what I said about Sam 
 Conway still stands; if he does help you, you'll get a 
 little bill for it some day. But let 's avoid trouble and 
 change the subject. Who picks your neckties now, 
 Harry?" 
 
 "I guess this necktie is all right!" 
 
 "I'm glad to hear it," she said solicitously, "for it
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 107 
 
 does n't look at all well. Looks as though you ought 
 to give it something to reduce its fever. What's the 
 matter with it, Harry smallpox, scarlet fever, or just 
 a nervous breakdown?" 
 
 "It's as good as that young Harrison had on this 
 afternoon!" he flung at her. 
 
 "Is it? Then that young Harrison was exposed to 
 and probably caught a very serious sickness this after- 
 noon poor fellow." 
 
 "From the way he was looking at you, it was easy 
 enough to guess what sickness the poor fellow was 
 catching," Harry retorted meaningly. 
 
 Her eyes grew sharp. "Oh, I see what you 're insinu- 
 ating. I had n't thought of that before. So you're 
 jealous, are you?" 
 
 He spoke doggedly, defiantly. "Well, I'm going to 
 marry you some day you just remember that. And 
 in the meantime I don't want any man to make a fool 
 of you." 
 
 "You think he could make a fool of me?" she asked 
 with a provokingly cool smile. "I'm not so sure he 
 could. It might be the other way around. Anyhow, it's 
 a fine idea you've put in my head. I'll think it over. 
 Thanks. And if I ever do work it out, Harry, you '11 
 sure be adequately remembered." 
 
 He grew red, and swallowed hard. "I'd like to be 
 your teacher for just about five full-sized minutes in 
 a school where corporal punishment had n't been abol- 
 ished!" 
 
 "I say, you two lay off each other!" ordered Black 
 Jerry. "Can't you ever see each other without starting 
 a dog-fight!" 
 
 Her teasing manner vanished. "I'm sorry, dad
 
 io8 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 I 'm sorry, Harry. I never saw Kenneth Harrison until 
 yesterday. As for him, he has n't seen me at all yet. 
 I'm not worth bothering to look at just a shy little 
 schoolgirl. Let 's see what it really is that 's wrong with 
 that necktie, Harry the poor thing!" 
 
 She fussed for a moment with the tie, then her head 
 darting forward aimed a kiss at his cheek which skidded 
 and ran off on to one of his ears. Before he could move 
 she had sprung behind her father with a laughing "Save 
 me, dad save me!" The next moment he was after 
 her with a free, boyish shout, but she eluded him, pivot- 
 ing about her father, laughing provokingly at him all 
 the while. 
 
 "Here, can that stuff!" protested Black Jerry. "You 
 two toughs are making too much noise!" 
 
 But for a moment longer she laughed at Harry, and 
 he made futile lunges at her. And then a voice spoke 
 from across the room : 
 
 "Hello, Jerry. What's up?" 
 
 They all wheeled sharply about, except Jennie who at 
 that instant was behind her father. The door was open 
 and in it stood a man with heavy face and flat feet, hold- 
 ing a derby hat in one hand and a half-smoked cigar 
 in the other. 
 
 "Casey!" ejaculated Black Jerry. 
 
 ' ' Sure. Don't I look like my picture ? ' ' said the plain- 
 clothes man good-naturedly. 
 
 "What are you doing here?" 
 
 " Friendly call. Dropped in to your joint to say how 's 
 your liver to-night and was told you were up here. I 
 knocked no one answered the door was unlocked 
 I walked right in. Why, ain't you glad to see me, 
 Jerry?"
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 109 
 
 The four looked at him in strained silence. Then the 
 apparently slow eyes of the detective caught the skirt 
 flaring behind Jerry's knees. His face went loose with 
 amazement. 
 
 "Jennie!" he exclaimed. "By God Jennie Ma- 
 lone!" 
 
 And then his eyes grew bright with professional keen- 
 ness.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE FACE OF DISASTER 
 
 CASEY closed the door and without a word 
 crossed the room. Jennie, suddenly sick, did 
 not try to evade him she knew such effort 
 to be of no avail. And when he had come around her 
 father, her dark eyes looked straight into his and she 
 stood tense, nerveless. 
 
 "Jennie!" Casey ejaculated again, still amazed. "If 
 it ain't Jennie." He stared for a moment, silent. "Jen- 
 nie, come back! and dressed like a queen! What's 
 the play?" 
 
 Suddenly, from a drawer in the table, Jerry drew a 
 short black pistol and shoved it hard into the officer's 
 stomach. "Here 's the play, Casey," gritted Jerry. " You 
 try to start anything about Jennie you try to take 
 my Jennie and this gun goes off!" 
 
 Casey turned his gaze from daughter to father. His 
 heavy face still bore signs of his astonishment, but other- 
 wise it was unperturbed. 
 
 "I don't know what this kid has been doing, Jerry," 
 he said evenly "but whatever it's been, it'll only 
 make the case worse for her if that gun should go off. 
 Forgery and jumping her bail is all I got against her now. 
 If a little murder is thrown in, it'll only make things 
 that much harder for her not to mention what '11 
 happen to you, Jerry and somebody '11 get her just 
 the same. Just let all that soak in a little while, Jerry, 
 before you lean too heavy against that trigger." 
 
 Jerry's dark eyes blazed fiercely into the officer's. A
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds ill 
 
 minute passed. Then Casey remarked in his same even 
 tone, "Guess you'd better let me have that gat, Jerry," 
 and reaching down he took the pistol from Jerry's unre- 
 sisting hand, and laid it on top of the piano. When he 
 turned back it was to gaze at Jennie. 
 
 "Well, kid, it looks like I got you again. I certainly 
 did get it rough on the last deal what from that 
 judge roasting me and the Chief giving it to me 
 and the boys at Headquarters giving me the grand laugh 
 because a girl had put one over on me. But before I take 
 you along with me, Jennie, I 'd like to know what you 
 been doing the last six months. It's something big, you 
 bet : six months ago you looked like 'most any girl around 
 here now you look like a million dollars. What 's 
 been the game?" 
 
 "It's none of your damned business! " growled Jerry. 
 "Go ahead with your pinch!" 
 
 "Oh, yes, it is some of my business," the even voice 
 of Casey returned. "And you might as well hand it 
 to me now, for you know it 's going to come out anyhow. 
 Take your time, if you want to. I can wait till you loosen 
 up. And while I wait I '11 just give my feet a little time 
 off duty." 
 
 He sat down heavily and crossed his feet. Jerry glow- 
 ered at him, then he gazed at Jennie with a look of 
 grim futility. She was dizzy with fear: more so than 
 that other time Casey had walked into her life, for she 
 had more to lose far, far more. And it was lost, all 
 lost! she had a gasping sense of falling swiftly from a 
 great height and with it a more poignant sense of 
 being haled before a great shame. 
 
 All were silent. Then one by one they sat down. 
 And presently Black Jerry began to speak, roughly,
 
 112 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 defiantly, briefly at first then more fully : and while 
 he spoke Casey crossed and recrossed his broad police- 
 man's feet. Jerry told all : how, seeing that Jennie was 
 going crooked down here and seeing that his name would 
 always be a drag on her he and Uncle George had evolved 
 the plan to give her a chance; told about Braithewood 
 Hall ; told of Jennie's visit to the Harrisons. 
 
 Casey blinked when the story was done. "God, what 
 a pinch!" he breathed. "And what a story for the 
 papers: the daughter of Black Jerry that swell school 
 visiting the Harrisons! It's a peach!" 
 
 "Sure it's a peach for you!" growled Jerry. 
 "Every paper in town '11 have your name in it big for 
 the next few days, and so '11 the papers all through the 
 country. And you coppers, you hate publicity just like 
 you hate a shot of whiskey on a cold night!" 
 
 "And you done it all just to give the kid a chance?" 
 demanded Casey. 
 
 "Ain't I told you that already! What else would I 
 do it for? And she was making good, too only she 
 pulled that bone of coming down here." 
 
 "What did you come down here for, Jennie?" 
 
 "I I just wanted to see dad," she answered. 
 
 1 ' Aw, cut out the questions ! ' ' snapped Jerry. ' ' We 're 
 ready go ahead and make your pinch!" 
 
 Casey crossed his legs, nursed another large unlovely 
 foot, and sucked deeply at his tobacco. Then he gazed 
 steadily at his cigar which was now a stub so far gone 
 that it could be held only by pinching it with his nails. 
 Then he turned to Harry. 
 
 "You there, Edwards," he said, "we all know you're 
 thinking that a young guy that's got a job waiting him 
 in the morning ought to have been in bed long ago. So
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 113 
 
 though we're sorry you gotta go, we'll all say good- 
 night." 
 
 Harry started. " I don't understand, Casey." 
 
 "Don't you? I thought what I said was simple. I 
 said good-night." 
 
 Harry looked at Black Jerry. Jerry did not under- 
 stand either, but he nodded. Harry stood up, hesitated, 
 went to the door, halted there. 
 
 "If you need me, Jennie, you can count on me to the 
 limit ! " he stammered. " I guess that 's all, except ex- 
 cept good-night." 
 
 "Good-night," she whispered and the door closed 
 behind him. 
 
 Casey turned to Jennie's aunt. " I 'm sure you ought 
 to be in bed, too. Good-night, ma'am." 
 
 Bewildered, rather frightened, Aunt Mary rose, clung 
 to Jennie in a tight kiss, then passed into her bedroom. 
 
 "A capacity house is a swell thing for a regular show," 
 remarked Casey, "but it sure does n't help this kind of 
 a play." 
 
 "This kind of play?" demanded Jerry. "What you 
 driving at, Casey?" 
 
 "The less them two knows," Casey went on, "the less 
 lies they may ever have to tell. The fewer we got in the 
 cast, the less chance of trouble busting out among the 
 actors." 
 
 "I don't make you at all, Casey," Black Jerry de- 
 clared. 
 
 "No? It's like this: you tried to give your kid a 
 chance. Well, I 'm willing to give the kid a chance, too 
 provided I can keep myself protected." 
 
 Jennie caught a sharp breath. Was her lost world 
 spinning back to her?
 
 114 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "Protected how?" exclaimed Jerry. 
 
 "First, the kid has got to make a clean get-away. 
 Back to those Harrison people. And she 's got to manage 
 it so no one ever knows." 
 
 "Yes. What then? "asked Jerry. 
 
 "Second, I can't afford to have any one else ever 
 pinch her. It would show me up something rotten 
 I 'd get roasted worse than ever. You understand? If 
 she's ever arrested, I 'm the guy that's got to make the 
 pinch. See?" 
 
 He turned to Jennie. "I know now where you are, 
 and I'll always keep an eye in your direction. But I 
 want you to promise me, if ever you see that things are 
 going bad for you, and are about to go all bloo-ey, that 
 you '11 get me quick word, so I can beat any other guy to 
 the pinch." 
 
 In a bare whisper Jennie promised. 
 
 "And now for to-night's get-away. You go back the 
 same way you came. Me, you might as well know I '11 
 be tailing you all the time and if any trouble hap- 
 pens to you, why, I gotta jump in and identify you and 
 say I'd been tailing you and put you under arrest. 
 That 's gotta be understood you gotta be ready for 
 it." 
 
 "I understand I'll be ready," Jennie whispered. 
 
 Black Jerry had drawn from a pocket a big roll of bills. 
 "Casey," he said huskily, "you sure are a white man 
 and" 
 
 ' ' Damn you, Black Jerry ! ' ' roared the other. ' ' What 
 kind of a guy do you think I am?" 
 
 "Why, Casey, I thought ' 
 
 "You stick that dough back in your pants, or I call 
 all bets off!" And then in his even voice again: "How-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 115 
 
 ever, Jerry, I might be approached by the offer of a good 
 cigar, if you've got one that was n't raised by them 
 Eyetalian truck-farmers out on Long Island." 
 
 He took the three cigars Jerry thrust upon him, 
 stowed two carefully away, lit one from his fast-expiring 
 stub, and made for the door. There he paused. 
 
 "Better move along quick," he said to Jennie. "And 
 say, kid, I hope you win out to-night and in the years 
 ahead. I hope you make good on your big chance. But 
 remember I gotta always be on the job ready to nab 
 you when you make your first slip. Good-night, and 
 I hope I never speak to you again. So-long, Jerry." 
 
 When Casey had gone, Black Jerry gripped Jennie's 
 shoulders with fingers that sunk deep in his tensity. 
 "God, that was a close one! Don't you ever come down 
 again! Understand? Don't you ever come here again !" 
 
 "I won't, dad! Never!" 
 
 "It's a big chance you got and I don't want you to 
 lose any part of it." His dark face took on the grim set 
 of that October night when Uncle George had proposed 
 this plan, only now there was also exultation in the look. 
 "It's already working out the way Uncle George and 
 me thought you 're already getting to be somebody. 
 I want you to do your best to make good ! You '11 do 
 that, Jennie?" 
 
 "I'll do my best, dad!" 
 
 "You 've already done a lot ! " His eyes gloated pride- 
 fully over her trim figure. "A little while longer and 
 you '11 really be way above my class but that 's what 
 I counted on, Jennie. But don't you ever come down here 
 again!" 
 
 He caught her suddenly to him, then thrust her almost 
 roughly through the door and closed it behind her. She
 
 n6 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 stood there in the dark for a moment, her soul torn 
 and throbbing with emotions. Then she remembered 
 what lay ahead, what would certainly accompany any 
 slightest misadventure. She adjusted her veil, muffled 
 her face in her boa, and slipped cautiously down past 
 the doorway whence issued the old familiar hilarity 
 out into the night and away. She was conscious of the 
 hovering presence of Casey, and twice she glimpsed 
 him. There was not a moment that fear was not clutch- 
 ing at her, menacing her. 
 
 But yet again fortune seemed to favor her, and she 
 came at last to the Harrisons' street. She paused and 
 peered around the corner; the night watchman was not 
 in sight, so she hurried for the Harrisons' door. Then 
 fortune, which had been her friend so long, suddenly 
 deserted her. As she started up the stoop she heard a 
 voice call, "One moment, miss!" and she saw the bulky 
 private watchman bearing down upon her. She had a 
 frantic impulse to run; but that course she instantly 
 recognized would be fatal. So she halted. She looked 
 quickly back in the direction whence she had come. 
 Approaching was a shadowy figure which she knew to 
 be Casey. 
 
 Something clicked in the watchman's hand, and a 
 tiny light flashed into Jennie's face. "If you don't 
 mind, please lift your mouth out of that there fur," the 
 watchman said politely, but firmly. 
 
 Jennie could but obey. She saw Casey draw nearer. 
 
 "U'm, I thought so," remarked the watchman. "Ex- 
 cuse me, miss, but you don't live here, do you?" 
 
 "I'm visiting the Harrisons." 
 
 "That may be so, miss, but I know all the Harrisons 
 and all their servants. And I never seen you before."
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 117 
 
 "But I'm visiting here!" she protested. "And I've 
 got a latch-key!" 
 
 "That may be so, miss" very respectfully "but 
 they's been a lot o' clever burglaries pulled off in this 
 neighborhood, and I don't dare take no risks." 
 
 "You mean you don't believe me?" she breathed. 
 
 "I ain't saying that, miss; I'm just saying I don't 
 dare take no risks. A clever lady-crook might have a 
 latch-key she probably would and she 'd have 
 ready just such a story as yours." 
 
 Jennie realized that he did not believe a word she had 
 said, that his politeness was merely to protect him in the 
 event of the hundredth chance that it should turn out 
 she had spoken truly. And she saw that Casey had 
 moved to within a dozen feet, and had halted under 
 pretense of fumbling for a match. 
 
 "But ring the bell ! " she cried desperately. ' ' They can 
 identify me!" 
 
 "Excuse me but a lot o' these robberies is partly 
 inside cases. The person that answered the bell might 
 be the very one that furnished you the latch-key, 
 and of course the person would identify you as being 
 O.K." 
 
 "Then what are you going to do?" 
 
 "Askin 1 your pardon, miss they's a police station 
 just around the corner. We'll just step over there where 
 everything '11 be safe, and I'll telephone Mr. or Mrs, 
 Harrison." 
 
 In a police station! She swayed giddily as he slipped 
 a hand through her arm. Casey again moved toward her; 
 she knew what Casey was about to do. For the second 
 time that night she believed that all was over that 
 she was done for and there was nothing whatever
 
 n8 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 that she could do to save herself nothing ! She leaned 
 weakly against the watchman. 
 
 And then for the second time that night safety came 
 unexpectedly. A taxicab which had just turned the 
 corner slowed down at the curb and a young man 
 stepped out. 
 
 "Hello, there, Halpin. What's the matter?" he 
 exclaimed. 
 
 '"Evening, Mr. Harrison," said the watchman. "I 
 seen this young lady going in the house " 
 
 "And he thought I might be a thief," Jennie inter- 
 rupted, with hysterical relief, "and he was going to take 
 me to the police station " 
 
 "Why, it's Miss Miller!" the young man exclaimed, 
 staring his amazement. 
 
 Jennie's wits responded to the emergency. "Yes. 
 I was restless and could n't sleep. So I took Sue's key 
 and slipped out for a walk. I thought a walk might help 
 me fall asleep." 
 
 "I'm sure I beg pardon, miss " began the watch- 
 man. 
 
 "Was Halpin rough with you, Miss Miller?" young 
 Harrison broke in sharply. 
 
 " I 'm sure he did no more than what he thought was 
 right." 
 
 "Thank you, miss. You see, Mr. Harrison " 
 
 "Need n't explain, Halpin. Miss Miller will tell me 
 all about it. Good-night." 
 
 Young Harrison paid off the taxi and led Jennie 
 up the steps. Glancing back, she saw the heavy- 
 footed Casey moving on in his manner of a mere 
 passer-by. 
 
 When they had gained the hallway two flights up,
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 119 
 
 "Thank you ever so much good-night," Jennie said 
 quickly, and started for her door. But Harrison caught 
 her by the hand. 
 
 "What's the hurry?" he asked in his pleasant voice. 
 "Stay a minute, let's get acquainted. Besides, you 
 know you are to tell me all about how you nearly got 
 arrested for trying to rob us. And like a good child, 
 take off that veil ; this is n't a masked ball." 
 
 She removed the veil, also the hat, and standing 
 directly beneath a wall light she gave him a carefully 
 edited account of her adventure. He looked at her 
 steadily all the while, and when she had ended he 
 demanded in a lowered voice: 
 
 "Shall I tell you, Miss Miller, just what I think 
 about all that?" 
 
 She gave an inward start. "What?" 
 
 "I think," he said gravely, "that you have the hand- 
 somest pair of eyes I have looked into for a year." 
 
 "Oh!" 
 
 "And I have a guess that, by the time you have 
 decided you are a woman, you are going to be all kinds 
 of a beauty and that you are going to make all kinds 
 of trouble for us poor men." 
 
 " I must be going to bed," Jennie breathed hurriedly. 
 "Good-night." 
 
 "Wait, please" and he caught her hand again. 
 "Now I wonder if you really are such a quiet little 
 mouse as you seem to the naked eye?" 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 He smiled challengingly, pleadingly. "You said 
 something which might be construed to mean that I was 
 a knight who had just rescued a lady in distress. 
 Don't you think you could give the knight some reward
 
 120 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 one, of course, that is far beyond his poor merits 
 say a little kiss?" 
 
 Suddenly her awe of him fell away but not her 
 liking. 
 
 "I could n't answer that," she said eyeing him inno- 
 cently, "until after I had asked permission." 
 
 "Whose permission?" 
 
 "Gloria Raymond's." 
 
 "Ouch!" He winced, then flashed a smile at her. 
 "You're no little mouse! There's a little devil in you 
 
 and I hope it's a nice little devil! And what I just 
 spoke of as a guess you know, that later on you 
 might make trouble for us men that 's no guess, it 's 
 a certainty ! As for me, when you get a little older, I 'm 
 going to be very careful very, very careful, Miss 
 Miller." 
 
 In mock fear, and with an amused half-serious, half- 
 careless admiration, he bowed over the hand he still 
 held and kissed it. "All I can ask is, don't be too hard 
 on me, little devil. Good-night." 
 
 "Good-night," she answered and this time he let 
 her go.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 JENNIE CONSIDERS A PROBLEM 
 
 TEN days later when the Easter vacation was 
 over and the two girls were returning, Mrs. 
 Harrison said privately to Sue: "What a simple, 
 naive, frank, unaffected girl your new friend is, my 
 dear so refreshing, so unspoiled, so unsophisticated!" 
 And to Jennie, kissing her warmly: "I do hope you'll 
 come home with Sue again come soon and often!" 
 
 Jennie went back to school exulting. She was indeed 
 succeeding and this was only the beginning of 
 things. That reaffirmation of purpose between herself 
 and her father, as she thought over the scene during the 
 days and weeks which followed, stiffened her determi- 
 nation to make good ; and to make good by adhering 
 to her programme of growing so imperceptibly as to 
 cause no remark and awaken no jealousies. More 
 clearly than before did she see that her first victory 
 must be to win here at Braithewood. 
 
 She now settled more easily into the routine of 
 school life, and the months, which perform such great 
 and swift magic in a girl between sixteen and twenty, 
 passed without notable events. All proceeded accord- 
 ing to the careful plan Jennie had made for herself. 
 Her summer vacations she spent, as Uncle George had 
 suggested, in very, very select girls' camps. There were 
 occasional visits to Sue's home over week-ends and 
 during short vacations though Jennie, calculating 
 shrewdly, took pains not to go too often. During none 
 of these visits did she again meet Kenneth. It appeared
 
 122 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 that he was a very popular young man, with countless 
 friends and more invitations to house-parties than he 
 could accept even were he to do nothing else than play 
 the constant guest; and it also appeared that this 
 absence from business he more than compensated for by 
 extreme concentration when he did appear at the office. 
 
 Toward the end of Jennie's second year at Braithe- 
 wood, Gloria Raymond prepared for her final leave- 
 taking. During Commencement Week, Gloria, with a 
 superior and very mature manner which she seemed 
 to acquire from the fact, sprung a very great surprise : 
 she was going forth an engaged young lady and to 
 heighten the superiority thus given her she had her 
 fiance in attendance on Commencement Day. He 
 was not Kenneth Harrison. Kenneth had been dis- 
 carded for the present title-holder, who possessed a 
 little more of those things which the social world 
 respects than Kenneth had. But above his reputed 
 wealth and position, and his undeniably perfect cloth- 
 ing, there was obviously nothing remarkable about 
 Gloria's thoroughly paraded inamorato. 
 
 Since the distant encounter in the squash court, 
 when the two girls had reverted to primitives, Gloria 
 had been discreetly careful in her attitude toward 
 Jennie. But on this her last day, her soul raised aloft 
 by the double dignity of graduation and the presence 
 of her fiance, she turned to Jennie, after saying good- 
 bye to the other girls of the group in which Jennie 
 chanced to be. 
 
 "Well, Miller," she drawled, haughty insult behind 
 her fine manner, "you at least I'll never see again, so 
 I guess this is a permanent good-bye. However, I'll 
 try to bear up."
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 123 
 
 Jennie seemed to be unconscious of the insult. 
 "Good-bye," she said simply. "To me it will always 
 be a source of pleasure to have known you." 
 
 The quiet of Jennie's answer was not what Gloria had 
 expected ; it threw her off her guard. " Why ? " she asked. 
 
 "Because, Gloria dear," Jennie replied, "knowing 
 you has made it possible, every morning when I wake 
 up, to start off the day happily by just remembering 
 how much worse everything might be if I ever had to see 
 you again." 
 
 Gloria flamed ; for an instant it looked as if these two 
 might revert a second time. Then Gloria turned about 
 and took the arm of her fiance, with " Aunt is waiting 
 for us, Leonard." And fifteen minutes later Gloria, in 
 a car with her young man and with her aunt, a lean and 
 tottering lady with an amazingly girlish complexion, 
 rode forth from the grounds of Braithewood and out 
 into the great world which was to be hers. 
 
 Little by little, very carefully, Jennie let herself out 
 particularly after Gloria's leaving though she never 
 went so far as to try to be a leader. Gloria had always 
 assumed herself to be the first, and Gloria had been 
 hated. Gloria could afford to be hated, for she had 
 assured position. But Jennie needed friends; she could 
 not afford to excite jealousy and hostility; so she tried 
 to be no more than one of the first. And so shrewdly 
 had she planned, so cautiously had she executed, so 
 vigilantly had she watched for and assimilated details, 
 that when she began her fourth year the crude girl 
 who had entered Braithewood was hardly remembered. 
 She was liked and admired by both the girls and the 
 teachers. She had learned to dress correctly from the 
 precise and unimaginative Miss Van der Brunt, and
 
 1 24 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 to correctness her own taste had added originality. 
 The singing master was enthusiastic over her voice. 
 The little dancing master declared, in his excitable 
 manner, that as a dancer she might become an artist 
 if she cared to. And Miss Gresham liked to have her 
 pour tea at her weekly teas for the girls and more 
 than once she said approvingly, "You did it excellently, 
 my dear; you have good humor, you know how to make 
 people talk, you have poise and those are what a 
 lady most needs." 
 
 And so, after slow years, Jennie had consummated 
 her careful plans. She had won! 
 
 Yes, she had won. But toward the latter part of her 
 fourth year, when she was soon to be twenty, it came 
 upon her with growing conviction that what she had 
 won was really only the veriest beginning that before 
 her was her greatest problem. In a few months her life 
 at Braithewood would be ended. She had no home to 
 go back to as had the other girls. No pleasant course of 
 life was all prepared waiting for her to slip into. What 
 was she going to do? 
 
 She saw possible answers. But this great problem so 
 profoundly affecting her nearing future was not one 
 she could, or had the right to, solve by herself. Others 
 were deeply concerned chiefly her father. She had 
 not tried to see him again all these years; she had 
 adhered faithfully to the promise Black Jerry had 
 extracted from her that night when her surreptitious 
 visit to him had so nearly ended in disaster. As for 
 Uncle George, that worldly-wise gentleman had de- 
 veloped a consistent plan out of the possibility he had 
 mentioned to Miss Gresham the evening he had brought 
 Jennie to Braithewood that the necessity of travel-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 125 
 
 ing imposed upon him by his affairs might prevent him 
 from coming frequently to visit his ward. He had never 
 come a second time ; it seemed safer so ; hardly any one 
 had seen him on his first visit except a maid or two 
 and Miss Gresham and he thought it wiser for his 
 personality to be no more than a dim and fading mem- 
 ory. He had written Miss Gresham occasionally, but 
 all financial and business affairs had been transacted 
 through the firm of reputable attorneys. 
 
 But Jennie had his address, and she now wrote him 
 an unsigned letter which she did not trust to the open 
 letter-basket of the school. She stole into the village 
 and slipped the letter into the safety of the drop of the 
 post-office. Two days later Miss Gresham sent for her. 
 
 "Jennie, I have just had word from your guardian. 
 He is in New York for only half a day. He is going to 
 motor out to see you. He wishes to take you out with 
 him for a little ride, and since his time is so extremely 
 limited he asks that you be ready to join him in the car 
 the moment he drives up. He expects to arrive at 
 about four." 
 
 "Very well, Miss Gresham," Jennie replied. 
 
 At ten minutes to four, warmly dressed against the 
 shrewd April wind, Jennie was waiting on the piazza. 
 At exactly four a large car swung into the drive and 
 slowed down at the steps, in the tonneau a single figure, 
 goggled and face muffled in upturned collar. Jennie 
 sprang in and the car moved away. 
 
 "How are we going to meet dad, Uncle George?" she 
 whispered to the figure beside her. 
 
 "There he is," Uncle George whispered back, and 
 nodded at the goggled and deeply-collared man at the 
 wheel. "But we'll not talk about things just yet."
 
 126 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Uncle George had evidently planned all details in 
 advance, for twenty minutes later on an obscure 
 side road, Black Jerry let down the bars opening into 
 a wooded plot, then drove along a rutty road down into 
 a rough hollow screened on its rim by a thicket of leafless 
 hazel and bramble. But even in this seemingly safe 
 isolation the two men did not venture upon a too open 
 familiarity. They pushed their goggles up on their fore- 
 heads and Jerry clambered into the tonneau where he 
 sat on one of the little folding seats, hunger and admira- 
 tion and awe in his dark, grim face, but he did not offer 
 a single caress to this far-removed young lady who was 
 his child. And now for the second time Jennie sat in 
 consultation with the two men who had tried to shape 
 her life according to their ideas of giving her as good a 
 chance as any other man's child. 
 
 "Well, now, Jennie, what's the trouble?" began 
 Uncle George. 
 
 She told them, ending with: "You see, when this 
 school year is over, I'm at the end of things. Other 
 girls have homes and families to go back to. There's 
 no home for me to go to, unless it is back to the 
 Pekin." 
 
 "I see," said Uncle George. "It sure does look, 
 Jerry, as though the first part of our plan for Jennie 
 was just about played through to its finish." 
 
 Black Jerry nodded. 
 
 "I've thought of a lot of things," Jennie went on. 
 "But you, dad, you've already spent so much money 
 on me and putting me at Braithewood was all your 
 plan and Uncle George's and I know it's all meant so 
 much to you so I felt you both had a right to help 
 decide what I ought to do next."
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 127 
 
 "Sure, Jennie. For example, what had you thought 
 of?" queried the old man. 
 
 "I might take a post-graduate course at Braithewood. 
 That would settle the problem of my having some place 
 to go." 
 
 "But we'd probably have to face exactly the same 
 problem in a year or two years," commented Uncle 
 George. ''And in the meantime perhaps most of your 
 best friends would have faded from the picture. How 
 about it, Jerry?" 
 
 "Let's settle it now," replied Black Jerry. 
 
 "Well," continued Jennie, "another idea was that 
 I might stay on for another year and take the business 
 course, and then earn my living." 
 
 "I know what your business course is like I've 
 seen your catalogue," spoke up Uncle George. "They 
 teach a young lady how to fill out a check and how to 
 cut the coupons on the bonds her old man 's given her 
 for a Christmas present. That 's the size of it except 
 that in a footnote they do offer a course in stenography 
 and typewriting. That 's the only thing in all their busi- 
 ness bunk that '11 really bring in money and I say, 
 Jerry, after keeping Jennie here all this time, do you 
 want her to start in in an office pulling down eight dol- 
 lars a week? which '11 be all she'll be worth." 
 
 "Nothing doing," Jerry replied briefly. "It'll be a 
 bum return on what I've spent, and Jennie '11 lose all 
 she ' s gained . What ' s next ? " 
 
 "Well, my singing teacher thinks a lot of my voice. 
 I 've thought I might go on the stage in some kind of a 
 musical play, I mean." 
 
 "I'll answer that," Uncle George spoke up promptly 
 and emphatically. "That's the bummest idea yet! Un-
 
 128 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 less you 're a whale of a musical star you may be 
 good, Jennie, but I don't think you '11 ever be that 
 the Broadway musical life is the rottenest life ever in- 
 vented. Especially for a woman. There 's no music in it 
 and there 's no life in it ! You Ve got to be ready to play 
 any kind of a game to get the good jobs anyhow, 
 most of the women do and you 're lucky if you Ve 
 got a job half the time. And about the time you begin 
 to think you 're getting good, you 're really all through 
 and nobody wants you. And before that time you've 
 probably married some musical comedy actor oh, 
 but the men there are a bum bunch ! who 's signed a 
 life contract to appear exclusively in high-ball attrac- 
 tions, and who ain't missing a performance. And there 
 you are ! I 'm not even going to pass this on to Jerry ; 
 I'm going to settle it myself. That idea is canned! 
 Now, what else have you thought of?" 
 
 "Nothing else. Nothing, that is, that would earn my 
 living." 
 
 "Who said anything about your eafning your liv- 
 ing!" It was Jerry's gruff voice that spoke. "I ain't 
 worrying about that anyhow, not now. What else 
 could you do that would keep you up where you 
 are?" 
 
 "Well, my room-mate's mother, Mrs. Harrison, has 
 asked me to spend the summer with them." 
 
 "That begins to listen like something, Jerry," com- 
 mented Uncle George. "Where is their place, Jennie?" 
 
 "Somewhere out on Long Island." 
 
 "That looks like a good lead to me, Jerry. What do 
 you say?" 
 
 " It'll keep her up at the top," agreed Jerry. "And if 
 by the end of the summer nothing has turned up, we can
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 1 29 
 
 then talk about her going back to school or doing some- 
 thing else. I say it's O.K." 
 
 And thus, out there in that bleak solitude, the farther 
 stage of what was to be Jennie's chance, was decided on. 
 But before Black Jerry resumed his goggles and his r61e 
 of chauffeur, he gripped Jennie's hand. 
 
 "You're somebody now" his eyes glittered with 
 pride " and, whatever happens, you're going to stay 
 somebody! Remember, I don't want you to run no risks, 
 nor do a thing, that may spoil your big chance. I want 
 you to promise me, Jennie!" 
 
 All he said fitted in with Jennie's own soaring dreams; 
 but she felt just a bit frightened as she gazed into the 
 tremendous earnestness, the fierce gloating, of Black 
 Jerry's face. 
 
 "I promise, dad!" 
 
 Half an hour later Jennie stepped down in front of 
 Braithewood Hall, and the big car, with its muffled 
 and goggled figure in the tonneau and its big chauffeur 
 muffled and goggled, rolled away around the perfect 
 curve of the drive. 
 
 At last Jennie's four years at Braithewood reached 
 their end and climax: Commencement Day arrived, and 
 Jennie was to deliver the valedictory for her class. The 
 exercises were held in the Braithewood open-air theater, 
 with the cars of parents and guests parked on the lawn 
 about it. Miss Gresham told Jennie that her guardian 
 had telephoned that he would come out by train and 
 go back in his motor which would meet him at the school. 
 Uncle George did not arrive, but his motor did. There 
 was excitement enough for Jennie in the kindly attentions 
 of Mrs. Harrison, who was going to take the two girls
 
 1 3O A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 back with her; and in the attentions of the great man 
 who was to deliver the formal address ; and in the thought 
 of having to speak before all these visitors : but when at 
 length her time came, and she stood alone on the little 
 stage, straight and slender in her white, speaking her 
 few words, all she then could see or think of was the 
 chauffeur in Uncle George's otherwise empty car a 
 barrel-chested man, slipped low down behind his wheel, 
 his goggled eyes never once shifting from her.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 REENTER AN OLD FRIEND 
 
 THOUGH the Harrisons' country place on the 
 north shore of Long Island had been opened, 
 and the family was supposed to be settled there 
 for the summer, it was to the town house that Mrs. 
 Harrison bore Sue and Jennie. This also was open, with 
 half a corps of servants, for the business convenience of 
 Mr. Harrison and Kenneth. Not until warmer days 
 would the two men begin their summer schedule of daily 
 voyaging to and fro in the Harrison motor yacht, the 
 Myra, which could split the waters of the Sound at 
 thirty-five miles an hour or better. 
 
 Following Jennie's very short valedictory there came 
 the real Commencement address, which was delivered 
 by a Justice of the Supreme Court, who, as a speaker, 
 could out- wind any man in public life and after that 
 there was Miss Gresham's farewell tea to the graduates 
 so that it was half-past six when the Harrison car 
 reached the house in the East Seventies. Jennie had 
 just begun to settle herself in the room which she had 
 occupied on her first visit to the Harrisons, when Sue 
 burst in upon her rather breathlessly. 
 
 "Jennie what do you think! Father has a bad 
 headache, nothing serious, and mother wants to stay 
 home with him. There was a note for me from Kenneth; 
 he invites us out to dinner then to the theater 
 then to supper. And mother says we may go. Would you 
 like to?" 
 
 "Of course," said Jennie.
 
 132 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "And there's to be some one else Billy Grayson." 
 
 "Billy Grayson?" Jennie pretended to be struggling 
 with a baffled memory. " Billy Grayson? Sue where 
 have I heard that name before?" 
 
 "Don't waste time trying to tease me," Sue replied, 
 flushing. " Hurry up, dear. We're to be ready at seven." 
 
 Jennie set about dressing with not a little excitement ; 
 thinking of Sue's handsome brother, with his amused 
 smile, whom she had hardly seen since that Easter visit 
 of years ago when he had rescued her from the night 
 watchman and the impending Casey, and when he had 
 tried, not very impetuously, to collect tribute in the 
 coinage of a kiss. She dressed with care, and she now 
 had the things to dress with : a girlish evening gown of 
 pea-green charmeuse touched with silver bought at 
 Madame Helenas with the hesitating approval of Miss 
 Van der Brunt; and there were green stockings to 
 match and silver slippers, and a richly broidered manda- 
 rin coat of blue and green and silver with old-rose lining. 
 Finished, the coat flaring open, she stood gazing for a 
 minute or more into the long mirror at her dark eyes, 
 her thick, night-colored hair filleted with a silver band, 
 her dark cheeks with the faint rose of excitement in 
 them. She liked what she saw; she liked it very much 
 indeed. 
 
 Her clock showed ten minutes past seven ; she had not 
 yet acquired woman's prerogative of being equably late, 
 so in a bit of a flutter she hurried out. As she slipped 
 down the stairway she heard voices in the drawing- 
 room Sue's and another's, and the teasing voice of 
 Sue's brother. They were speaking of her, and in- 
 stinctively she paused near the foot of the stairway. 
 
 "Is n't that partner of yours ever going to show up?
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 133 
 
 or did n't you tell her I 'd humbly asked her to 
 honor us?" It was the voice of Kenneth that she 
 heard. 
 
 "Don't worry she'll be right down, Kenneth," 
 said Sue. 
 
 "I hope so," the half-grumbling, half-humorous, and 
 wholly pleasant voice went on. "I want to see what 
 she 's grown up to be. She was a funny little fellow when 
 I saw her before shy, owning about a half-dozen 
 words, with eyes that saw everything, never certain just 
 what to do with herself. Does she still wear a gun on 
 each hip, Sue?" 
 
 "Wait till she comes down and see for yourself." 
 
 " I can't wait I 'm going to reconnoiter." 
 
 Before Jennie could move he had stepped out into the 
 hall an even more handsome figure than he had 
 seemed to the eyes of sixteen. He halted, and looked 
 straight up into her eyes, and she looked straight down 
 into his. 
 
 "Hello, and who might you be?" he demanded, 
 surprise in his gaze, yet at his ease. 
 
 "I was just going to ask that question of you." 
 
 "I? Oh, I 'm just one of the boarders Mrs. Harrison 
 keeps. Now, you perhaps you 're the person they call 
 Jennie Miller?" 
 
 "Perhaps." 
 
 "And perhaps you heard everything I was just saying 
 about you or her?" 
 
 "Perhaps just possibly." She felt excitement, but 
 no embarrassment. Nothing else so definitely marked 
 what time and change had done : at sixteen she had first 
 stood in Kenneth Harrison's presence awkward and 
 abashed, and feeling that he was of an older generation;
 
 134 ^ Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 at twenty she felt herself of his own age, and was able 
 to exchange banter with him on even terms. "But if I 
 did overhear, it 's not wholly my fault that sound travels 
 and I have ears." 
 
 Suddenly he smiled engagingly and held out his hand. 
 "I'm glad to see you again, Miss Miller!" 
 
 She came down the three steps and took his hand. 
 '"Thank you." 
 
 "May I tell you something?" he asked. 
 
 "Please do." 
 
 His smile became very direct and personal, but its 
 apparent frankness negatived any offense that might 
 otherwise have been in it. "You may not carry guns, 
 Miss Miller but you are a very unsafe young woman 
 to be allowed abroad." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "You remember what I said years ago after mid- 
 night, in the hallway above: that you might grow up to 
 be a very dangerous person to my poor sex?" 
 
 "I don't seem to remember a thing about it." 
 
 "Well, you've done it! Perhaps not intentionally or 
 maliciously but you certainly have done it!" 
 
 There was real admiration in voice and eye. Jennie 
 thrilled with pleasure, but before she could reply Sue 
 came out of the drawing-room, and Jennie found her- 
 self taking the hand of a nice-looking, blue-eyed young 
 man and saying, "I'm very glad to meet you, Mr. 
 Gray son." 
 
 Twenty minutes later the four of them were sitting 
 down to dinner in Delmonico's. It soon became essen- 
 tially, not a party of four, but a party of two twos. 
 Sue had mentioned Billy Grayson to her now and then, 
 in an attempted offhand manner, but if Jennie had not
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 1 35 
 
 before suspected what young Grayson meant in Sue's 
 life, she learned it well enough now from the shy but 
 obvious way in which the interest of each was centered 
 in the other. Kenneth, even had he wished to do other- 
 wise, could hardly have done else than give his attention 
 chiefly to Jennie and Jennie sensed that he did not 
 wish otherwise; she sensed that the admiration which 
 had come into his eyes the moment he had stepped out 
 and seen her on the stairway, was increasing with every 
 minute. 
 
 Jennie had no consciousness of caring particularly for 
 Kenneth he was for her, at that hour, just a hand- 
 some, fascinating young man. But his admiration was 
 more exhilarating than the champagne; it gave her 
 strength, it lifted her. And she looked better than be- 
 fore, and spoke better, and gave a freer play to all her 
 faculties and his open admiration kept on growing 
 as she unfolded. 
 
 During the dinner she dimly remembered something 
 Sue had told her about Gloria Raymond : how Gloria, 
 once half-engaged to her brother, and actually engaged 
 to another young man when she had graduated, had 
 broken the real engagement after the cards were out, 
 and was once more in the midst of an active and de- 
 termined affair with Kenneth. But what might be be- 
 tween Kenneth Harrison and Gloria Raymond at this 
 moment concerned Jennie in no slightest degree; the 
 present was sufficient unto itself. 
 
 It was a wonderful dinner a thrilling dinner. But 
 at length it was over, and just as the curtain rose on 
 the second act they took their seats in a theater. The 
 setting of the act was a ballroom in some millionaire's 
 house. There was not much of a story, but there were
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 lots of girls "With Lots of Girls," that phrase was 
 run beneath the play's title on the posters in very 
 large hats and in dresses which certainly had never 
 been selected by Miss Van der Brunt. And after the 
 girls had sung something with an ogling air of naughty 
 innocence, and had danced and maneuvered, they 
 marched off as a tramp comedian came on with his trick 
 dog; and after the tramp comedian had finished the 
 stunts which he -had been repeating without variation 
 for five years in vaudeville houses, a young woman 
 entered in an evening gown of a cut which knew no fear 
 (exit tramp and dog) followed by the previous young 
 women now gowned as guests at the ball, and followed 
 also by chorus men also in supposititious fashionable 
 evening wear. The young woman, evidently the hostess 
 of the stage party, advanced to the footlights, conscious 
 of her every charm, with the air of being a personage 
 that every one knew and wished to see, and sang a 
 supposedly humorous topical ditty, dealing with the 
 varieties of stumbling men a woman has to dance with, 
 each verse mournfully ending with "And that's the 
 sort of partner a hostess always gets." After she had 
 responded to her last encore, there was dancing of the 
 ballroom type by the guests then there was an in- 
 stant's pause in the action of the play while the guests 
 retired up-stage then through a gilded doorway 
 sauntered a slender young man. 
 
 Instantly the whole theater was applauding. The 
 young man had to bow his appreciation, which he did 
 with extraordinary grace, holding his silk hat with none 
 of the half-afraidness with which men in real life man- 
 age that insignia of formality. He had to bow again 
 and now something distantly familiar about him drifted
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 137 
 
 into Jennie's mind. She tried to place him she could 
 not but the sense of familiarity persisted. He had a 
 few words of comedy dialogue with the hostess, then 
 laying his hat on a chair, he slipped an arm about the 
 lady and the two went circling around in a ballroom 
 dance. 
 
 And then, suddenly, Jennie knew him. It all came 
 upon her with a rush those long-gone years the 
 Pekin their petty rogueries. She almost gasped aloud. 
 
 "Who who is he?" she at length asked Kenneth. 
 
 "What you don't know who he is!" Kenneth 
 exclaimed. 
 
 "Miss Gresham did n't let us come in to see plays 
 very often," she explained, "and I've read almost 
 nothing about the theater the last four years." 
 
 "That," said Kenneth with emphasis, "is Jackson 
 Holt." 
 
 " Is he is he very good?" 
 
 "Good? He's the best there is in his line. He's a 
 marvel! He's the real star of this show!" And then 
 Kenneth added: " He's not only good on the stage, 
 he's a gentleman off of it I happen to know him a 
 little. And the women who like to dance are crazy 
 about him; he goes just about where he likes in 
 society." 
 
 Jennie drew a slow, deep breath. So that was Slim 
 Jackson ! And so Slim had made good his boast about 
 getting to the top ! She watched him closely. There was 
 nothing vulgar or suggestive or exaggerated in his 
 work; it was graceful, finished, refined; it was ballroom 
 dancing at its truly highest. His partner was good 
 but he belonged to a different order of dancers. The 
 gods had put gifts in his feet. Indeed he was a marvel I
 
 138 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 But how had he done it all? How had he got up 
 here? Jennie sat wondering through the succeeding 
 scenes of the play. . . . Once she had a start of a differ- 
 ent sort. Glancing back, she saw a man leaning against 
 the orchestra rail who seemed to be staring fixedly at 
 her. She thought it was Harry Edwards, and she turned 
 quickly again to the stage. But a few minutes later 
 curiosity impelled her to look backwards; a more com- 
 posed glance showed her that the man standing where 
 she thought Harry stood was not Harry Edwards. 
 She had been deceived by a mere fancied resemblance, 
 had been played upon by this resurgence of old mem- 
 ories. . . . For the rest of the performance she continued 
 to wonder about the rise of Slim Jackson. 
 
 She was relieved to get away from the theater. With 
 Slim out of her sight, and in the company of the little 
 party which was now in gay mood, she tried to throw 
 off the disturbing memories, the sense of nearness to her 
 old life. By the time they were all in Kenneth's car, the 
 feeling of security, of confidence, which she had slowly 
 won during the past four years had returned; it reas- 
 sured her, convincingly, that time had wiped out all 
 remembrance of her, that she had gone too far, had 
 risen too high, ever to be connected with the Jennie 
 M alone who once had been. 
 
 Spring had ended with summer-like days that year, 
 and the roof-gardens were already open. Ten minutes 
 after they had left the theater the four stepped out upon 
 the Astor roof. A captain instantly sighted Kenneth 
 and was beside them. "Your table is this way, please, 
 Mr. Harrison," he said, and led them across the roof 
 to a table beneath an arbor of vari-colored lights. The 
 quickness with which her escort was recognized, the
 
 A Daughter of Tivo Worlds 1 39 
 
 deference paid him, elated Jennie; and she was further 
 gratified when she saw that the table was already set, 
 and when waiters began immediately to serve. She 
 knew then that the table had been reserved and the 
 supper ordered in advance. This, indeed, was atten- 
 tion! 
 
 Then she noticed something else which in the first 
 excitement of this new experience she had overlooked. 
 "Why, there are five covers!" she exclaimed. "There 
 are only four of us who's the fifth place for?" 
 
 "A friend of mine promised to drop around if he 
 could none of you know him," Kenneth answered. 
 
 He spoke casually. It was an element of his charac- 
 ter, which Jennie was yet to discover, that he liked to 
 do carefully planned and perhaps even big things, in 
 an offhand manner as though they were common- 
 places to him. Perhaps he so acted because it was a 
 subtle way of increasing his own importance because 
 it fed his egotism, which his sister had declaimed 
 against, but of which Jennie had seen no trace. Per- 
 haps it was merely because of his quizzical bent; per- 
 haps merely because he had a penchant for little sur- 
 prises. 
 
 Jennie had danced one number with Kenneth, danc- 
 ing it very formally, and was seated again at the table 
 with Sue and young Grayson, when coming out upon 
 the roof she saw that which caused her whole being to 
 go suddenly still. It was Slim Jackson. Captains and 
 head waiters hurried toward this great celebrity of 
 their world, eagerly, obsequiously; but before they 
 reached him his scanning eyes had caught sight of 
 Kenneth, on his feet with a signaling hand, and he was 
 crossing toward the table.
 
 14O A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 It went through Jennie like a shot: so that fifth 
 cover was for Slim Jackson! 
 
 Frantic, yet controlling herself, she turned her back 
 as if to pluck a sprig from a tubbed privet- tree; but 
 all the while her sidewise glance was watching Slim 
 draw nearer. "Sorry, if I'm late, Kenneth," she heard 
 him say "but you know you can't just wish your 
 make-up off." And then she watched his introduction 
 to the others. What would he do when he saw her? 
 her frenzy kept asking. He would start with amazement 
 at this unexpected meeting with her, and his involun- 
 tary start would lead to her certain exposure 
 
 "Miss Miller," called Kenneth. 
 
 It was inevitable. Jennie summoned her strength, 
 and turned, holding the sprig of privet she had plucked. 
 
 "Miss Miller," said Kenneth, "I want you to meet 
 Mr. Jackson Holt whom you saw to-night." 
 
 Her face was pale; the gaze she raised to him was 
 strained in its fixity. But he did not start, as she had 
 thought he would. The look he gave her was conven- 
 tionally pleasant; it was the look he might have given 
 any woman he was meeting for the first time. 
 
 "I am, indeed, pleased to meet you, Miss Miller," 
 he acknowledged in an even voice, bowing with his 
 extraordinary grace. 
 
 Jennie came as near to fainting as she had ever done. 
 He did not know her! Her courage, her self-confidence, 
 flowed back. Well, was there really anything so strange 
 in that, after all? Four years had passed she was 
 in company in which he would never dream to find her. 
 Certainly there had been change enough since the 
 night of that far-away last meeting the time she had 
 danced with him at the Pekin. . . . Well, she was going
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 141 
 
 to play it through just as though they had never met 
 before. 
 
 After a few bites, Slim asked Sue to dance, and Jennie 
 danced with young Grayson. And then, after a few 
 more fragments of the supper, Slim invited her to take 
 the floor with him. She dared not refuse; she had said 
 that her part had to be to act just as though Slim were 
 any other friend of Kenneth's; so she arose and gave 
 herself into his arms. She danced the steps correctly, 
 but formally, just as she had done with Kenneth; she 
 was on her guard not to betray any trace of her old self. 
 She believed she was acting the stranger well. And as 
 for Slim, he was the stranger; he could not have been so 
 formal, and yet so gracefully at ease in his formality, 
 had he been other. She was getting on well very 
 well, indeed! 
 
 They had circled the roof once and were a second 
 time at a point farthest from their table, when he 
 stopped. "Miss Miller, you must let me show you the 
 lights of New York from this roof," he said; and her 
 hand through his arm he led her from among the dancers 
 to a quiet place against the parapet. 
 
 "Some people tell us all the scenery is in Europe or 
 out West," he said, "but New York, at night, is n't 
 it worth looking at?" 
 
 "Yes it is wonderful." 
 
 They stood silent a moment gazing over the stone 
 coping of the wall at the white day that streamed up 
 from the deep streets. Then, suddenly, Jennie felt a 
 hand laid upon her hand within his arm, and felt his 
 breath close against her cheek. 
 
 "You're doing it great, Jennie!" he whispered. 
 "But in the name of God, how have you done it?"
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE PAST REACHES FORWARD 
 
 JENNIE caught the coping with her free hand; that 
 alone saved her from falling. For a moment she 
 hung on dazed, unable to speak. Then she tried 
 to answer calmly, but even to her own ears her 
 voice sounded husky and tremulous. 
 
 "I fear you are mistaken, Mr. Holt." 
 
 "Ah, Jennie, cut out the kidding," Slim said good- 
 naturedly. He had lapsed from the very proper and 
 cultivated speech, which she had remarked at the 
 table, into the easy method of talk which she knew of 
 old. "Don't try to fool your old side-kick, Jennie. 
 You can't any more than you could fool Black Jerry." 
 
 She slowly looked about at him. In his face was 
 undeniable recognition. There was no use trying to 
 pretend longer. 
 
 "But if you know me now, Slim," she said, "then 
 why were n't you surprised when you first came to our 
 table?" 
 
 "That puzzles you? Well, that's easy," he laughed 
 softly. "Kenneth Harrison told me this afternoon he 
 was coming to the show and asked me to join his 
 little party to-night. So between the second and the 
 third acts I was at the peep-hole in the curtain sizing 
 up the bunch I had signed up to meet. My eyes stuck 
 to you you looked like somebody I ought to know 
 and then I placed you. That's when I got my real 
 jolt when I stood there alone at the peep-hole. I 
 sized up this much, that the Harrisons did n't know
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 1 43 
 
 who you really were. So when I came here to-night 
 I was all readied up to play the stranger. Easy enough, 
 was n't it?" 
 
 "Yes," she said. 
 
 "But you, Jennie!" he exclaimed. "You sure look 
 a winner! and you're right in with this classy bunch 
 as though you were born there! The last I heard of 
 you you had jumped your bail and had run away, and 
 no one knew where you were, and no one had ever heard 
 from you. And now here you are! In the name of God, 
 Jennie, how did you turn the trick?" 
 
 Briefly she outlined the past four years. 
 
 "But it must have taken dough, real dough, to have 
 put that across," he said. "Who put up the dough?" 
 
 "Dad." 
 
 "Black Jerry! All of it?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And who's backing you now?" 
 
 "Dad." 
 
 "You mean to say you're playing this game on what 
 Black Jerry shoves you? playing a big game like 
 this on a shoestring like that!" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 He whistled softly. "Well, you or Black Jerry may 
 be short on chips, but you're long on nerve! Here's 
 hoping you win out!" 
 
 "I can't unless you promise not to tell on me." 
 
 "Oh, I'll never tell," he assured her. 
 
 "Thanks, Slim." 
 
 "Why should I tell?" he went on, smiling frankly. 
 "Even if I wanted to be a crook, what'd there be in it 
 for me? You're going up I can see that. I 'd rather 
 have a friend at the top than a friend at the bottom
 
 1 44 *A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 where you'd be if my tongue got to running too free 
 and easy. Sure, there'll never be a whisper or a sign 
 from me, Jennie." 
 
 She thanked him again; and then she asked how he 
 had come so far in four years. He lifted his shoulders 
 and smiled at her with cynical frankness. 
 
 "You know I never did hate myself, Jennie. I got up 
 here because I 'm a clever guy. And also because I Ve 
 worked like hell yes, don't you forget it, I Ve worked 
 like hell ! But I Ve done it chiefly because I own a bean. 
 I danced six months in vaudeville; at first I thought it 
 was great. Then I saw I would get nowhere unless I 
 developed an individual act something that was dif- 
 ferent. That was when I put the bean to work. I saw 
 that the stage was all cluttered up with teams doing ec- 
 centric or comedy dances, or dancing stunts pretty 
 bum, most of them. I decided that the freshest line 
 for me was to try to become the best straight dancer in 
 America: you know, the social and ballroom stuff, done 
 better than anybody else ever dreamed of doing it 
 more finish to it, more refinement. I started out on that 
 line and believe me, Jennie, I sure worked. I took 
 lessons as long as anybody could teach me anything; I 
 practiced by myself; I worked out new ideas and new 
 combinations; I got new partners for my act, and let 'em 
 out as fast as I got too good for them and so I kept 
 on, getting better and better as a dancer. Am I knock- 
 ing myself too hard, Jennie?" 
 
 "Please go on." 
 
 "And all the time," he continued, " I was looking out 
 for other things. I made it my business to learn to dress 
 like a gentleman and act like a gentleman. There are a 
 lot of dames in this burg, swell dames all right, who will
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 145 
 
 privately take you on and teach you society manners 
 and society conversation and everything there is to 
 know about how to behave with the ladies and, 
 Jennie, you would n't believe how much coin I paid out 
 to one of those dames but I made her earn it, you 
 bet, and what I got was worth a hundred times what 
 I paid. And as the result of it all," he ended, "here I am, 
 the delightful and popular gentleman you see." 
 
 "You're the one who has done wonders, Slim!" she 
 exclaimed. 
 
 "Thanks for the flowers, Jennie. But honest," he 
 grinned, "it does seem a queer situation when I think 
 it all over. I've never advertised where I came from; 
 but I 've never tried to hide it the most I 've done has 
 been to twist my name a bit to get something that 
 sounds better for the stage. And here I am, Slim Jack- 
 son, formerly of the Pekin now making more dough 
 than any other man in this line in the country and 
 welcome any place I go ! And some of the swell ladies, 
 real and would-be, trying to slip me money on the quiet 
 to dance with 'em! Funny, ain't it? But I'm not kid- 
 ding myself in any way. I 'm good, but this game's not 
 going to last forever, so yours very truly is cleaning up 
 while the suckers are falling for my graft." 
 
 "Slim," she exclaimed with a sudden thought, "you 
 and Kenneth Harrison seem to be friends. You're not 
 trying to put anything across on him anything 
 crooked, I mean?" 
 
 "On my partner of course not." 
 
 "Your partner?" 
 
 "He owns a piece of the show I'm in, and so do I 
 he plays with the show business on the side quite a lot. 
 Also we're in two or three other deals together. I '11 nat-
 
 146 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 urally be running into you now and then, Jennie; but 
 don't worry you '11 always be Miss Miller whom I met 
 for the first time in my life to-night." 
 
 After a moment they turned away from the wall and 
 swung again into the d^ice. "Come on, Jennie give 
 her a little gas!" Slim whispered. Jennie felt such relief 
 that she required no urging; her spirit free, she danced 
 as she had danced in the old Pekin days, plus all that 
 little M. Dubois had taught her. And marvel though 
 Slim was to look at while dancing, he was an even greater 
 marvel as a partner : no wonder women of smart so- 
 ciety were said to exchange, with decent indirectness, 
 large sums for a dance or so with him. Jennie forgot her- 
 self: dancing with Slim was like being a strain of ex- 
 quisite music, like being a spring wind. 
 
 He swung her back to the wall they had just left, 
 and faced her, his eyes eager. "Jennie, you're the real 
 goods ! " he said excitedly. "You 're my next partner 
 professional partner, I mean." 
 
 "But, Slim " she began, amazed. 
 
 "Oh, I don't want to spring you all at once. You're 
 not ripe. But after some private work with me, you '11 
 be great!" 
 
 "But, Slim your present partner " 
 
 "Doris Dorraine!" he sniffed. "Doris doesn't have 
 the real class ! You saw that yourself to-night. And then 
 Doris may drop out of the game any time and leave me 
 flat. There are too many men in her young life. . . . 
 But you, Jennie, you 've got everything ! You may name 
 your own terms only you've got to come in! We'll 
 show this old town something it's never seen before!" 
 
 As she listened to his excited speech and gazed into 
 his eager face, a sense of there being something familiar
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds i 47 
 
 about this scene came upon her. And then she remem- 
 bered. On the night she had last seen Slim he had made 
 her this same proposal. 
 
 And her answer was in substance now the same. "It's 
 a wonderful chance you 're offering me, Slim but 
 there's something else I want to do." 
 
 He nodded over at their table. "You mean you're 
 going up with that bunch?" 
 
 "I don't know, Slim I don't know yet. But it's 
 something else I want to do. I 'm quite definite that it 's 
 to be something else." 
 
 The excitement faded from his face. He gazed at her 
 thoughtfully, keenly; then he smiled. 
 
 "I'm not giving the idea up, Jennie. But it might 
 somehow work out as a better business proposition after 
 you had solidly landed high up. More publicity. I 'm 
 not going to bother you about it any more but just 
 you remember, I'm not giving the idea up." And then 
 he added swiftly, daringly: "Nor of marrying you, 
 either!" and then before she could speak, "Come on, 
 we'd better get back to the others." 
 
 But even as he started to lead her away, he checked 
 her. "Hello, there's another of your old friends!" he 
 exclaimed. "No two more! " 
 
 "Who?" she breathed sharply. 
 
 "Harry Edwards remember him? and with him 
 Uncle George. At a table in the far corner, just be- 
 hind you." 
 
 She cautiously glanced around. First she saw Uncle 
 George, arrayed as never were the lilies of the field, for 
 Uncle George, in this uptown country that he called 
 home, believed in tailors and jewelers and haberdashers 
 and all their tribe. And then she saw Harry; he also was
 
 1 48 A Daughter of Two 
 
 in evening dress, though his garments were of a lesser 
 glory. There was a disorder in his appearance which sug- 
 gested a disorder in his mind. That disorder might have 
 been augmented by a glass which stood beside his elbow 
 by that glass, its predecessors and its kin. 
 
 So much of detail her quick eyes noted, even though 
 the chief, almost the only, thing she saw were Harry's 
 eyes staring straight at her. They seemed wild eyes 
 to her. 
 
 "Come on, Slim let's get back," she breathed 
 quickly. She went into his arms, they swung through 
 the crowd, and a few moments later they were again 
 at their table. 
 
 "I say, Miss Miller," cried Kenneth enthusiastically, 
 "you know you really are a wonder! I had no idea you 
 were such a dancer! Jackson himself has n't much on 
 you. And the next dance is mine and remember, 
 you 're not to be any little Quakeress such as you were 
 when you danced with me the first time." 
 
 And when he stood up, she could but accede, though a 
 quick glance showed Harry Edwards's gaze still fixed 
 upon her: a glower it now was. She tried to dance as 
 spontaneously as she had with Slim, and she drew from 
 Kenneth unstinted praise; but though she was smiling 
 into his face she hardly heard his words she was 
 always conscious of the eyes of Harry Edwards. 
 
 When she once more seated herself at their table, 
 Slim handed her a folded paper, remarking, "A waiter 
 left that for you, Miss Miller." She opened it; it was 
 a sheet torn from a wine-list ; and across it was penciled : 
 
 I want to see you. Come to see me or I '11 come to see 
 you. 
 
 It was unsigned, but there was no need for signature;
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 149 
 
 she knew the writing. She sensed danger great dan- 
 ger though she did not foresee its shape. She thought 
 rapidly, then leaned toward Slim. 
 
 "Please ask me for the dance after this," she whis- 
 pered. 
 
 He did so. ' ' Dance over toward Harry Edwards, ' ' she 
 said when they were on the floor, "appear to recognize 
 him and Uncle George as old friends, stop to speak to 
 them and then pretend to introduce me." 
 
 "What's all that bunk for? Who 's to be fooled? " 
 
 "The people we've just left. I've got to speak to 
 Harry." 
 
 Slim guided her to where the two men sat seemed 
 to see them for the first time went through the show 
 of introducing Jennie. Uncle George instantly caught 
 his cue, and bowed gravely and with very fine dignity 
 over her hand. But beneath his breath he said : 
 
 "Jennie, you've got 'em all out-looked by a thousand 
 miles ! You 're going great, Jennie ! You 're going great 
 and you're only half-started!" 
 
 But Harry Edwards paid no heed to cues. His inflamed 
 eyes blazed wildly at Jennie. 
 
 "What's all this fool acting for?" he demanded. 
 
 "Now now, better come on home, Harry," urged 
 Uncle George. 
 
 "I'll not go home!" 
 
 "Harry Harry," expostulated the old man in a 
 low voice, "don't make a young fool of yourself!" 
 
 "You leave me alone, Uncle George this is my 
 business!" Fortunately no one was within a dozen feet 
 of them and the dance music swallowed their voices. 
 "Jennie," he cried thickly, "I'm not going to stand 
 all this any longer!"
 
 15O A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "Harry, you've been drinking," she accused. 
 
 "Well, what if I have!" 
 
 "And you've been following me to-night!" 
 
 "Well, what if I have!" he cried. "Yes," he added, 
 "I have been following you. I overheard Harrison at 
 the office to-day arrange for this party, and I knew where 
 you were going to be. I've seen you and Kenneth 
 Harrison together all night and I 'm not going to 
 stand for it ! Yes, I 've followed you ! Now, what are 
 you going to do about it?" 
 
 She perceived that drink had inflamed his jealousy 
 to the point of recklessness. She tried to speak sooth- 
 ingly, and at the same time to seek the purpose in his 
 mad brain. 
 
 "The question is, Harry, what are you going to do?" 
 
 "What am I going to do? Here's what I'm going to 
 do ! " he cried savagely in his muddled mixture of fury and 
 love, looming menacingly above her. "I've been wait- 
 ing four years for you hoping ! but now I see I 've 
 got no chance so long as you can stick it out among those 
 swells. If you were who you really are, on your own 
 level, then I might have some chance with you. I 'm 
 going to have that chance you understand ! I 'm go- 
 ing to tell those people, everybody, just who you are!" 
 
 There was insane determination in his deep-breath- 
 ing figure, in his flushed, tense face; she saw that arguing 
 with him would avail her nothing. And she saw how 
 logical and simple and effective his announced purpose 
 seemed to his frenzied brain: if she were torn down, 
 then she would have him. And just as she realized the 
 magnitude of the danger he represented she did that 
 the instant his last word passed his lips she glimpsed 
 Kenneth Harrison making a determined way toward
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 151 
 
 them. Again there rushed upon her the dizzy feeling that 
 all was over. 
 
 "For God's sake, Harry, get out of this!" urged 
 Uncle George. 
 
 "I stick right here!" returned Harry. 
 
 Uncle George stepped quickly forward to intercept 
 the approaching Kenneth Harrison. He held out his 
 hand, smiling. 
 
 "Hello, Kenneth. Nice of you to come over to visit 
 an old tramp." He took Kenneth's arm. "Listen 
 there's something I been wanting to tell you. Just step 
 over here for a minute." 
 
 But Uncle George's attempted intervention met with 
 instant failure. "Not now, Uncle George" here in 
 his own world every one knew Uncle George, and knew 
 him by no other name. Kenneth freed himself and 
 turned quickly upon Harry. 
 
 "What's this mean, Edwards?" he said sharply. 
 
 "What 's this mean?" Harry repeated, glaring bellig- 
 erently. There was a moment's pause, with the two 
 men facing each other. Then Harry exploded. "It 
 means that " 
 
 But even while Jennie seemed reeling to instant de- 
 struction, her wits were at work. They spoke up swiftly 
 of their own accord, interrupting Harry and her body 
 moved swiftly between the two men. 
 
 "Mr. Holt had just introduced me to his friends," she 
 explained, "and Mr. Edwards had just asked me to 
 dance with him and I had just promised. Shall we try 
 it, Mr. Edwards?" 
 
 As she finished, she slipped her right hand into Harry's 
 left, laid her own left upon his shoulder, fell instantly 
 into step with the music and started away. Automati-
 
 152 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 calty his right hand went to her waist and they were 
 dancing. 
 
 They had made the round of the roof once, both si- 
 lent, before she began even partially to recover herself. 
 She then ventured to look at Harry. The tensity of his 
 face had relaxed ever so little. They danced on, she 
 now and then speaking an easy, inconsequential word 
 always watching his face. After that dance and during 
 the encore number, it seemed to her that the crazed, 
 determined look was gone or almost gone. 
 
 "Harry," she said quietly, gently, almost as if explain- 
 ing things to herself, "I don't think you've been quite 
 yourself to-night. And I think it's been chiefly because 
 you've been drinking. You never did drink much or 
 often, so it's affected you all the more. I think that was 
 what was the matter with you, Harry." 
 
 "That's only part of it, Jennie!" he burst out, with a 
 groan and she then knew that the fierce tensity in 
 him was broken. " I 've been waiting four years for you, 
 loving you all the time. And when I saw you with Ken- 
 neth Harrison with him when I did n't dare be with 
 you and when I saw the way he looked at you in the 
 theater and the way he looked at you up here I I 
 oh, it was just jealousy, Jennie!" 
 
 "But, Harry, Kenneth Harrison " 
 
 "Perhaps I would n't have minded it so much," he 
 rushed on, "if I did n't feel that Kenneth Harrison, for 
 all his nice ways, was n't well, exactly all he should 
 be. He 's not good enough for you, Jennie ! He 's no, 
 I shouldn't be saying anything against him; I know 
 nothing of my own knowledge. Yes, I think I would 
 have minded it just the same whoever the other man 
 was!"
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 153 
 
 "But, Harry," she said in her quiet voice, "I hardly 
 know Kenneth Harrison. It's his sister that I know 
 that's my friend. I don't care anything about him; 
 and he 's hardly seen me more than twice so how can 
 he care about me? It's just something you're dream- 
 ing, Harry." 
 
 " I 'm not so sure of that," he returned. The orchestra 
 had just stopped, leaving them near the entrance to the 
 roof. There was dumb misery and longing in his eyes. 
 "I really lost myself awhile ago, Jennie," he said 
 humbly; "I had just one desire, to pull you down. I 
 want you, Jennie I shall always want you and 
 I 'm going to try to get you but I shall never again 
 try to get you that way. You have nothing to fear 
 from me, Jennie nothing at all. And now, I 'm not 
 going to take you back to your friends. I I can't. 
 Good-night." 
 
 He turned quickly and was gone. For a moment she 
 stood there alone, a pang in her own heart, seeing that 
 misery and longing in his frank, boyish eyes; he still 
 seemed just a boy to her perhaps always would 
 though he was now twenty-six, and past. 
 
 Before she had recovered herself sufficiently to start 
 away, Kenneth Harrison was beside her. "He acted 
 mighty queer Edwards," Kenneth said, with a curi- 
 osity in which there was a bit of anger. "What was 
 the matter with him?" 
 
 "Mr. Edwards did act queer," she agreed. " It must 
 have been because he had been drinking. I thought it 
 better to dance with him than to have a scene." 
 
 "Of course." Her watchful eyes saw that her explan- 
 ation was ample that he had no suspicions. "If he 
 had been impertinent, I 'd have had him fired out of the
 
 154 ^ Daughter of Tivo Worlds 
 
 firm even though he does have the backing of a strong 
 interest, and even though he is getting to be a valuable 
 man." 
 
 Jennie did not reply. A little later, homeward-bound 
 in Kenneth's motor, beneath the surface chatter she 
 thought dazedly about that evening. She was on the 
 upgrade, yes : but the strange part was how her old life 
 seemed to be coming forward and merging itself with 
 her new how two of the persons, both lovers in a way, 
 she had thought she had left behind in the past, had 
 that night strangely reentered her life. And she foresaw 
 that both Harry and Slim Jackson would in some way 
 touch her future. As to that future, she felt quite 
 secure : both had promised to keep her secret. 
 
 And then, suddenly it seemed to spring from no- 
 where, but perhaps it was the working of subconscious 
 logic her mind had only one thought, her father. 
 Would he, too, emerge from the past and become an 
 active presence in her life? That could hardly be any 
 more unexpected than what had happened that night. 
 If he did, when might it come, and how?
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 JENNIE FEELS HER WAY 
 
 THE car had just turned through the creeper- 
 skirted stone wall that shut "Silver Bluffs" 
 off from the highway, and had just drawn up 
 at the broad entrance of the house. 
 
 "Here we are, my dear," Mrs. Harrison said to 
 Jennie. "And I hope you are going to like it, and be 
 free in it, just as though it were your own home." 
 
 "I'm sure I shall, Mrs. Harrison," Jennie replied 
 with that pleasant shyness which had become almost a 
 natural part of her adopted character. 
 
 "Sue will show you to the room that is to be yours, 
 and Maggie" a maid, who with two menservants 
 had come out to the car "will help you in any way 
 you want. Remember, you are to look upon this as 
 home." 
 
 "Thank you," said Jennie. 
 
 Two minutes later Sue left her in her room, saying 
 she would return as soon as she had cleaned up a bit 
 and got into fresh clothes. Jennie refused the offered 
 ministrations of Maggie and dismissed her; and without 
 pausing even to examine her room, other than to note 
 that it was very large quite as large as the entire 
 home of her childhood she slipped out and made her 
 way down the broad stairway and through the sea- 
 facing front door. She did n't want to be in her room 
 when Sue came back; she did n't want to see Sue 
 not just then. 
 
 She had hardly had an hour to herself since before
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 graduation. Following the night at Slim Jackson's play 
 and on the Astor roof, there had been two days of shop- 
 ping busy, eager days, each brought to an exhilarat- 
 ing close by theater- and supper-parties given by the 
 always-ready Kenneth. There had been too much 
 excitement, too many events, to permit a cool and 
 careful study of her new circumstances. She felt the 
 pressing need of such study, the need to be alone. 
 
 She walked rapidly down a brick-paved path and 
 found herself upon the edge of a bluff thrust far out 
 into the Sound, below her the water beating gently 
 upon a mica-glittering beach. She looked back. Jennie 
 had hitherto visited the Harrisons only at their town 
 house; and though she had seen in the illustrated sup- 
 plements of the Sunday papers the pictures of the so- 
 called "cottages" of the rich, and had passed many in 
 motoring about the country, she was rather awed as 
 she now made her first real observation of Silver Bluffs. 
 The low-lying brick house seemed to her to contain far- 
 flung dozens of great comfortable rooms there were 
 sun parlors and great piazzas; there were green-houses 
 and splendid gardens ; and sloping down from the house 
 there was a lawn that might have come from the giant 
 looms of some super- velvet-maker ; and below her was a 
 little natural harbor that had been extended and rein- 
 forced by huge granite breakwaters; and lying in the 
 harbor were two sailboats and three motor launches, and 
 the gracefully slender ninety-foot power-yacht, the 
 Myra, which in a week or two w r as to begin its daily task 
 of carrying the male Harrisons to and from the city, 
 doing the forty miles in a little over an hour. 
 
 As she realized what it all signified, Jennie drew 
 a slow, thrilled breath. She was Jennie Malone! . . .
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 157 
 
 And yet she belonged here they were glad to have 
 her here! . . . 
 
 She made her way down an easy pathway and seated 
 herself upon the bright sand behind a huge boulder. 
 Her eyes fixed upon the quiet, rippling Sound, which 
 the westering sun was transmuting into a giant sheet 
 of hammered copper, she sat considering. Her life, she 
 realized, had now fully begun a new phase; she was now 
 out upon a larger stage ; she had at last definitely en- 
 tered another world she was farther removed than 
 ever, and more definitely removed, from the world 
 which contained her father and her earlier friends. 
 And she realized that, for the future, the management 
 of her life was wholly in her hands. This had been the 
 case before, yes; but in school there had been prescribed 
 grooves which had held her toward prescribed and 
 proper ends. Here, and from now on, there were no 
 grooves. Her future, whether she succeeded or failed, 
 rested entirely with herself with her cleverness, her 
 skill, her caution, her watchful control of herself, her 
 tactful handling of others. She felt strangely alone in 
 this new world and yet she felt exhilaratingly strong. 
 
 She considered what, under these new circumstances, 
 should be her plan. She thought and thought the 
 dying sun flared more ruddily upon the Sound but 
 she could devise, in detail, no concrete course of action: 
 just exactly what she should do, just exactly what might 
 happen to her, lay behind the glory-tinted veil of youth's 
 great to-morrow. But a general plan she did decide 
 upon, and of it her soul took a determined grip : she was 
 going up, far, far up, in this new world of which she 
 was now an accepted part. Her method of doing this 
 would be to turn events as they came to pass, and per-
 
 158 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 sons as they touched her life, all to her advantage 
 and perhaps she might so manage as to bring some 
 events into being. 
 
 Also she perceived that her immediate career was to 
 be founded, in some measure how large or small she 
 could as yet not estimate upon the Harrisons. She 
 must study them, and study to please them; and par- 
 ticularly did she decide, as she turned away from the 
 dimming sun-path, that she must win Mrs. Harrison. 
 No one else, perhaps, could so greatly help her. 
 
 As the days of seeming quiet passed, Jennie's real 
 attention was fixed more and more upon the Harrison 
 family. Mrs. Harrison was of first importance, yes; 
 but irresistibly she found herself giving most study to 
 Kenneth. Since the evening of the theater-party, when 
 Kenneth had so frankly admired her, her mind had been 
 constantly turning to him. He was interesting, he was 
 more finished than any man she had ever known 
 but, on the other hand, Sue had spoken of him flip- 
 pantly, disparagingly. What was he really like? He 
 came out four times during Jennie's first two weeks at 
 Silver Bluffs, and little by little his portrait grew. Some 
 of the details which filled out the portrait Jennie learned 
 from Sue, some from his mother, some she saw or sur- 
 mised and some few she did not learn until much 
 later. But presently the real Kenneth was completed 
 upon her mind's canvas. 
 
 This real Kenneth was more of a person than Sue had 
 indicated; very much more, indeed. Jennie felt that 
 Sue, influenced by the distorting intimacy of family life, 
 which may make one see the large thing as small or the 
 small as great, had been unjust to Kenneth, had under- 
 estimated him. Kenneth, as Jennie at length judged
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 159 
 
 him, was, in a worldly sense at least, the bright star of 
 the family. From the best houses invitations warmly 
 beckoned him; he really was considered a big business 
 man for one so young ; he was one of the younger men 
 that men of large affairs had their eyes fixed upon. 
 In short, he was, not so much because of his father's 
 wealth or because of his position in his father's business, 
 as because of the impression he created through his own 
 personality, heir apparent to a lordly place. 
 
 And another great detail: Kenneth worked much 
 harder than he seemed to work. Like so many of the 
 younger generation of business men who go in for a social 
 life, he worked at a killing pace and for killingly long 
 hours. It was nothing unusual for him to remain in his 
 office until nine, having his dinner sent in then dress 
 for a ball, and leave it at two or three o'clock then 
 have a cold bath and get into a dressing-gown and work 
 and plan until six then have an hour or two of sleep 
 and be at the office again at nine. He had time 
 for everything: but during his hours of work he did 
 not permit himself one wasted second and during 
 his hours of pleasure no one seemed more careless of 
 time. 
 
 The completed portrait was, indeed, a fascinating 
 figure. During these days when she was developing 
 the portrait of Kenneth, she was also trying to deter- 
 mine what Mrs. Harrison beneath her pleasant exterior 
 was really like and she was also trying to press for- 
 ward her main business which was, of course, the thor- 
 ough winning of Mrs. Harrison. This plan had one 
 result she had not taken into calculation: she found 
 herself warming to Sue's mother more and more 
 Mrs. Harrison seemed so kindly, so unpretentious, so
 
 160 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 unassertive, yet so unquestionably a person of con- 
 sequence. 
 
 One Friday afternoon when Jennie had been at Silver 
 Bluffs for two weeks Sue had motored away to a 
 tea Mrs. Harrison and Jennie wandered off together, 
 and finally brought up in a little sunken rose garden. 
 Mrs. Harrison, her hands in large gloves, troweled for a 
 time with loving care about the roots of her rosebushes, 
 keeping up a pleasant inconsequential conversation 
 with Jennie in her richly modulated voice. Then she 
 discarded trowel and gloves and drew Jennie down into 
 a bench beside her. 
 
 "Excuse me," she said, smiling, and lifted off Jennie's 
 hat. "Please don't mind I just feel like having a 
 good look at you, dear." 
 
 A bit startled and frightened, Jennie gazed back into 
 the steady blue eyes. She noted how, in the gracious 
 shadow of the wide garden hat, Mrs. Harrison's face 
 was almost girlish, how her fine, corn-colored hair 
 showed hardly a thread of gray, though half of it was 
 white: just then she looked more like a ripened and 
 thoughtful older sister of Sue than her mother. 
 
 Presently Mrs. Harrison reached over and put a soft 
 hand on Jennie's dark hair. " I like you very much, my 
 dear," she said gently. 
 
 Jennie was so taken aback that she hardly knew what 
 to reply. "I I don't see why," she stammered. 
 
 "You are so simple and unaffected and generous." 
 
 "Ami?" 
 
 "Indeed you are, my dear." 
 
 " But, Mrs. Harrison I 'm poor I 'm nobody 
 nothing." 
 
 "You are yourself," the other returned with soft
 
 , A Daughter of Two Worlds 161 
 
 emphasis. "That's being something very fine, in- 
 deed, to be simply and sincerely and honestly your- 
 self." 
 
 Jennie felt a spasm of guilt as she gazed into those 
 kindly blue eyes. If Mrs. Harrison only knew! 
 
 "I wish," continued Mrs. Harrison, "that I were 
 going to see a lot of you in the future I don't mean 
 weeks or months, I mean years." 
 
 "Why?" breathed Jennie. 
 
 " I feel that beneath your gentleness there is strength 
 and character," the soft, grave voice went on. "I feel 
 that you are going to grow up into a splendid woman, 
 and that you will be a helpful influence to those whose 
 fortune it may be closely to touch your life. I 'd like to 
 be near you to watch you grow." 
 
 Jennie had a dim secondary impression that the 
 grave voice had spoken evasively, or at least had uttered 
 only part of the speaker's full thought. But her dom- 
 inant sense was of mixed triumph and bewilderment. 
 She had won Mrs. Harrison! She could count on Mrs. 
 Harrison's support in whatever larger plan she and the 
 future might evolve! Her whole being pulsed expect- 
 antly. . . . But there were those strange words the 
 grave voice had spoken about her growing into a 
 splendid woman, being a helpful influence. Such ideas 
 were entirely outside Jennie's speculations concerning 
 herself. In fact, she did not quite understand. She 
 caught a quick breath, but she did not speak. In 
 silence the two sat gazing eye into eye, Mrs. Harrison's 
 hand still upon Jennie's dark hair. . . . 
 
 They were still in this attitude when a voice sounded 
 from above. "Hello there you are at last!" 
 
 They looked up. On the retaining wall of the little
 
 16s A Daughter of Two Worlds ^ 
 
 garden, in a long motor coat of raw-silk, stood Gloria 
 Raymond. 
 
 They rose, and Mrs. Harrison stepped forward as 
 Gloria swished down the stone stairway. 
 
 "Why, Gloria what a surprise!" exclaimed Mrs. 
 Harrison. "Where did you come from?" 
 
 "Home of course." 
 
 "You motored out?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Well, it's kind of you to drop in on us. I hope you 
 can spare the time to stay to tea." 
 
 " I can stay even longer than that," said Gloria easily. 
 
 "Yes?" Mrs. Harrison was puzzled. 
 
 " I Ve come for a month or so," Gloria explained. 
 
 "Why Gloria!" 
 
 "It's all right, isn't it? You know you invited me 
 to come." 
 
 "But but, Gloria," ejaculated Mrs. Harrison, "it 
 was six weeks ago that I asked you. And you never 
 answered me." 
 
 " Did n't I? I intended to. I 'm sorry I guess I 'm 
 sometimes awfully careless." She spoke in the assured, 
 confident tone of one who has always had her own way 
 and whose right to that way has never been questioned. 
 "But I'm sure there's some place in your house you 
 can tuck me away, and any room will do for my maid." 
 
 Mrs. Harrison had recovered herself. "Why, of course, 
 it's perfectly all right, Gloria." She slipped an arm 
 about Jennie's waist and drew her forward. "Jennie, I 
 think you know Gloria Raymond, don't you?" 
 
 Jennie did not answer; she waited for Gloria to make 
 the first move. Gloria was autocratic and self-centered, 
 but she had a quick eye for worldly values; and the
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 1 63 
 
 hand she had seen on Jennie's hair and the arm now 
 about her waist informed her that this was a very dif- 
 ferently placed Jennie from the crude and friendless 
 girl who had first appeared at Braithewood Hall. She 
 promptly extended her hand. 
 
 "Oh, yes, Jennie and I were in school together for two 
 years. I'm glad to see you again, Jennie." 
 
 Gloria had never been so friendly as to call her "Jen- 
 nie " before. Jennie took the hand. There was no pres- 
 sure in Gloria's clasp and Jennie returned none. Neu- 
 trality was the best that could be said of their relationship 
 this moment. But Jennie realized that they were now to 
 be much and intimately together, and with her habit of 
 always questioning, always peering ahead, for an instant 
 her mind flashed forward in an endeavor to guess what 
 the character of their relationship was to be in the 
 future. In the past they had fought physically, as boys 
 fight. But they were now both young women, and were 
 out in the fine world. That relationship might continue 
 to be the neutrality of the present moment. Or it might, 
 again, be fight. And if fight, of what sort? and when? 
 and how?
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 GLORIA LAYS SIEGE 
 
 AS they returned to the house, Gloria talking in 
 that assured manner which took everything for 
 granted, Jennie noted a perturbed look flit 
 across Mrs. Harrison's face like the brief shadows of an 
 earthward-fluttering leaf. Jennie had her surmise as 
 to the meaning of that shadow ; and an hour later, when 
 Sue came into her room and sat stiffly upright on the 
 edge of her bed, her surmise had partial confirmation. 
 
 When the amiable Sue was indignant, there had to be 
 good reason; and Sue was indignant now. "You know 
 Gloria Raymond is here?" she demanded. 
 
 "Yes," said Jennie. 
 
 "Of all the nerve!" flamed the even-tempered Sue. 
 "When mother asked her, it was a situation where 
 mother could n't help inviting her without being rude. 
 And Gloria paid no attention to the invitation and 
 to-day she walks in on us without a word, just as though 
 she owned the world ! I tell you, to act like that, she cer- 
 tainly does think she's it!" 
 
 Jennie made no response. 
 
 "Oh, I know why she's done it," Sue went on. "Some 
 other plan which she liked better has suddenly gone 
 wrong, and she promptly came to us as the next best 
 thing. She's a sweet child, isn't she! and it's a 
 delightful compliment to us, is n't it!" 
 
 Again Jennie made no reply. Sue was now glaring. 
 For an instant she was silent, then she burst out again. 
 
 "And she's not here to see us at all. I told you she'd
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 1 65 
 
 broken her engagement, and had started in to try to 
 pick up things again with Kenneth. She's after Kenneth, 
 and for her own reasons she 's decided to be right on the 
 job. That's why she's here! Wait and see and just 
 watch how that girl performs!" 
 
 At the close of the afternoon Kenneth arrived for the 
 week-end, Billy Grayson with him. When they all met 
 at dinner Jennie at once perceived that Sue's statement 
 of the main reason for Gloria's coming was correct. 
 And the correctness of that statement was even more 
 apparent when, after dinner, the young people started 
 dancing in the great living-room, Sue and Jennie alter- 
 nating at the piano. There were no lost motions in 
 Gloria's courtship, no indirection due to maidenly re- 
 serve or even to a pretended desire of being sought. She 
 went straight and undisguised for Kenneth, just as she 
 went for every other thing on which her will or fancy 
 settled with the confident air that it was hers by right, 
 and that no one would presume to deny her. 
 
 Jennie, watching, had to admit that she knew of no 
 one else who could carry off that manner half so well : if 
 Gloria were not actually a beauty, with her large, proud 
 eyes and her dark hair which she still wore bobbed, she 
 at least had the prestige of beauty-ship which comes 
 from being frequently described and published as a 
 beauty in the society periodicals and in the picture sup- 
 plements of the Sunday papers; and further, her man- 
 ner, and also the impression she made, had behind them 
 the undeniable reality of her social position and her for- 
 tune. Only a queen, her queenliness unquestioned, and 
 herself fully conscious of it, would have dared be so 
 direct, so openly possessive. 
 
 As for herself, Jennie swiftly discerned that Kenneth
 
 166 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 liked and admired her much the same as he had on the 
 night of the first theater-party and on the occasions of 
 his recent visits home. But that was all. To the swift, 
 appropriating method of Gloria he seemed almost in- 
 stantly to begin to succumb. He plainly liked her, was 
 plainly nattered by her definite preference for him: and, 
 indeed, was there human reason why he should not be 
 considering that she was a striking figure in herself, 
 and considering all the worldly advantages of which she 
 was the living summary? 
 
 Watching this game, Jennie was for a time resentful 
 in Kenneth's behalf. He was altogether too fine, too 
 worth-while, for Gloria. But presently she regarded it 
 all more philosophically ; she did n't like Gloria, and she 
 did like Kenneth but she could n't help it, and it 
 was none of her business. 
 
 Sunday afternoon brought two surprises to Jennie 
 which made her forget the affair between Gloria and 
 Kenneth. The lesser of these came when Slim Jackson, 
 known here under his professional name of "Jackson 
 Holt," drove up in the smartest of roadsters. The sur- 
 prise was not Slim's arrival or his acquaintance with the 
 family ; her talk with him on the Astor roof was explana- 
 tion for this. The surprise was that he already knew 
 Gloria Raymond, and, moreover, seemed to know her 
 rather well. But as Jennie thought this fact over, it 
 did not seem so strange. Kenneth had told her that Slim 
 was received almost everywhere, and Slim, with his cu- 
 rious mixture of self-confidence and mockery at his suc- 
 cess, had corroborated this statement of his social entree. 
 
 Jennie was aware that Slim was covertly watching 
 her; and presently, when he was apart with her for a 
 moment, he whispered:
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 167 
 
 " I say, Jen, you sure have landed big with Mrs. Har- 
 rison. Keep it up, kid! I'm no slouch is there any 
 way I can help you?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Maybe I can who knows? And if I can, just slip 
 me the word." 
 
 "Thanks, Slim" but she had time for no more, for 
 Kenneth called to him, and the two young men and 
 Gloria drove off to an afternoon dance at a neighboring 
 house. 
 
 A little later Sue and young Grayson were playing 
 tennis, and Jennie was sitting with Mr. and Mrs. Har- 
 rison on the front piazza which looked down upon the 
 tiny harbor Jennie talking with Mrs. Harrison, and 
 Mr. Harrison going half-sleepily through the Sunday 
 papers when the second and greater surprise came. 
 The carriage entrance and the broad turn in the drive 
 were on the other side of the house. Along the brick 
 walk from around the corner, both in motor dust-coats, 
 walked Harry Edwards and with him a tall, bulky man. 
 The appearance of Harry gave her a start, but it was the 
 other man who brought her to her feet, a hand going in- 
 voluntarily to her heart, sudden fear clutching at her 
 throat. For the second man was Sam Conway: he 
 knew her father well she had seen him often 
 during the far-gone days down at the Pekin and 
 in those days he must have seen her, too. Would he 
 recognize her? It was too late now to try to slip out of 
 sight, so she stood waiting, palpitant with suspense, 
 supporting herself with one palm against a white fluted 
 pillar, while first the two older men greeted each other, 
 and then Sam Conway bowed over Mrs. Harrison's 
 hand.
 
 168 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 And then Mr. Harrison turned toward her. "And this, 
 Mr. Conway," he said, "is our guest, Miss Miller." 
 
 Sam Conway advanced and held out his hand. He 
 had the politician's habit of handshaking, and he made 
 much of it. Jennie could barely stand, but she laid her 
 hand in his, and managed to look up into his face, which 
 despite his sixty years was still full and florid a face 
 whose ever-ready geniality had secured for him, in ad- 
 dition to "Big Sam," the more intimate title among his 
 adherents of "Smiling Sam" Conway. 
 
 "I'm very glad to meet you, Miss Miller," he said 
 heartily, his smiling gaze full upon her. 
 
 His shrewd, frank-seeming eyes showed no recognition 
 of her; she knew, for certain, that he had no idea who 
 she really was. Such relief swept into her that it was 
 well her free hand was still against the pillar. But in- 
 stantly her quick mind understood; to her, in the old 
 days, Sam Conway had been one of the large figures of 
 her world, gazed on occasionally and from afar; to him, 
 she had never been more than one of the unremember- 
 able thousands of children he was forever meeting and 
 complimenting parents upon. 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Conway," she managed to say. 
 
 "I am very glad, indeed, to meet you, Miss Miller," 
 he repeated in his voice, so resonant with heartiness. 
 He pressed her hand, held it for a moment it was his 
 instinct to prolong a handshake when it was part of an 
 introduction and gazed with his steady geniality down 
 into her dark eyes. Then he loosed her hand and turned 
 away. 
 
 And thus, with most perfunctory words, these two 
 met and parted never fated really to meet each other 
 again: and neither with even a dream of how, though
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 1 69 
 
 never meeting, the workings of life were to make each 
 a profound influence upon the destiny of the other. 
 
 After a moment the two older men withdrew into Mr. 
 Harrison's study off the library, Mr. Harrison with keen 
 interest., but also with reserve. This relationship with 
 Conway had been good business, but he had never 
 cared to have the relationship extend beyond the bound- 
 aries of business affairs. 
 
 "Anymore news about those recreation pier contracts, 
 Conway?" 
 
 " I Ve landed those all right though we can't make 
 it public yet." 
 
 "Good! It's mighty thoughtful of you to drive out 
 and tell me." 
 
 "That's not what I drove out for, Jim. I could have 
 'phoned you that or let it wait till I saw you in town." 
 
 "Then why did you come out?" 
 
 "Oh, Harry Edwards and I were just out driving, and 
 I thought I might as well drop in and tell you about a 
 little thing I learned last night." 
 
 "Yes?" 
 
 "I guess you know the twist things have taken be- 
 tween me and Larry Murdock?" 
 
 Mr. Harrison nodded. 
 
 "Well, I learned last night that there is no patching 
 things up ; it 's now got to be a fight to the finish. And 
 Sam Conway 's not always a safe man to buck." For 
 an instant his genial face tightened grimly; his look gave 
 an almost startling emphasis to his last sentence; then 
 his features were pleasant again. " But we might as well 
 face this fact, Jim; if Murdock does what he thinks he's 
 going to do, he'll put me down and out." 
 
 " I 'm sorry I wish I could help you but you
 
 1 7O A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 know I Ve always said I could take no part, directly or 
 indirectly, in your political affairs and particularly 
 not in your feuds within your own party." 
 
 "I'm not asking you to yet," the other said 
 blandly. "I'm merely asking you to consider, if I'm 
 put down and out, what that will mean to Mr. James 
 Harrison, of Harrison and Company, in a business way." 
 
 Mr. Harrison looked his question. 
 
 "It will mean that all the contracts I Ve been able to 
 swing to the firm, I '11 not be able to swing any more, and 
 that those contracts will go some place else. It will mean 
 that about fifty per cent of your total business will be 
 suddenly sliced off. That ought to interest you." 
 
 It did. Mr. Harrison looked very gravely at Conway 
 for a long moment. "But I don't see how I can help 
 out. As I said, I never did mix in that end of things." 
 
 "Yes, you always were respectable, Jim." If there 
 was irony or acrimony or menace in Conway's mind his 
 even voice did not show it. "You took the business I 
 turned in, and never asked questions about how I got it; 
 you never wanted to know. And I admit it paid me to 
 have you clean and respectable. Guess I Ve been fairly 
 square myself, as men average up. But now if you don't 
 want your business lopped in two, and if I don't want to 
 lose everything, we've got to get down to brass tacks, 
 and you've got to come in quick and help me." 
 
 "How?" 
 
 "Use your respectable connections. Figure out how 
 they can make it worth Murdock's while if he leaves me 
 alone or how they can squeeze him if he does n't." 
 
 For the next half-hour, the two men discussed this 
 proposition. In the meantime, out on the piazza., Mrs. 
 Harrison, a hand on the shoulder of Jennie who sat at
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 171 
 
 her feet on the steps, had assumed the tactful hostess's 
 duty of starting conversation between Jennie and Harry 
 Edwards. 
 
 "So you two have met before," had been her first re- 
 mark after the men had withdrawn. 
 
 "Yes," replied Jennie. "We met on the Astor roof 
 that first night Kenneth took us out. Mr. Edwards and 
 I had a dance together." 
 
 "Oh, then you really know each other." 
 
 "Yes a little," Jennie admitted. 
 
 Mrs. Harrison chatted on for a few minutes, then 
 arose. She recognized the gulf time had eroded between 
 forty-five and twenty, and it was part of her idea of 
 human relationships that the middle-aged should not 
 intrude unnecessarily upon the interests natural to the 
 young. 
 
 "I must give orders about tea, so you '11 please excuse 
 me. I think you'll find Sue and Billy Grayson playing 
 tennis." 
 
 Jennie and Harry strolled off together, but not toward 
 the tennis courts. Presently they brought up at the tiny 
 beach, with its huge boulder, where two weeks before 
 Jennie had communed with herself and had readjusted 
 and added to her patient plans for her enlarging life. 
 
 Harry glanced about. Their seclusion was perfect. 
 
 "I was down at the Pekin last night and saw your 
 father," he began. 
 
 "How was he?" she asked quickly. 
 
 "In good health but in an awful temper at me." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "You see I told him about my meeting you the other 
 night, and about my threatening you." 
 
 "What did he say?"
 
 172 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "Toned down and made elegant it was to the effect 
 that he 'd smash my everlasting head if I messed things 
 up for you. And he'd do it, too. I told him I was going 
 to behave." Harry's frank blue eyes fixed upon her in 
 grave reflection. "I thought about it last night as he 
 sat in his little office with his big hands gripped in front 
 of him: Black Jerry down there in the Pekin, asking 
 nothing for himself you up here, one of the regular 
 swells. He 's a strange man, Black Jerry but believe 
 me, he's all right!" 
 
 Jennie did not answer. Her mind saw the set look on 
 her father's dark face when, four years before, he had 
 sent her out of his life; saw that set, goggled face as it 
 gazed unwaveringly at her two weeks since while she 
 had delivered her valedictory address. A fierce hunger 
 surged up within her; pretending to gaze at a passing 
 steamer, she turned her head to hide the tears which 
 sprang into her eyes. A moment went by; then she 
 deftly managed to wipe her eyes unnoticed. 
 
 "How are you getting on in business, Harry?" she 
 asked, her eyes still seaward. 
 
 "Fine! With the affairs Sam Conway makes the firm 
 put in my hands, I'm going right up!" His tone was 
 bitter. "Of course I'm not within a million miles of 
 where you are; I saw how strong you are with the Har- 
 risons from the way Mrs. Harrison treated you. And 
 Kenneth Harrison" with a flare of jealousy "he's 
 right here on the ground where he can see you whenever 
 he likes. I suppose he's gone on you!" 
 
 "Don't be foolish!" she said sharply but kindly. " I 
 told you before that I meant nothing to him. And just 
 now he can't see anything but another girl." 
 
 " I hope he marries her, and quick!" Harry exclaimed
 
 A. Daughter of Two Worlds 173 
 
 fervently. He put his hands on her shoulders. "Look at 
 me, Jennie!" She obeyed; the blue eyes, so boyishly 
 frank, were ashine with determination and worshipful 
 desire. "Jennie I'm working hard, just for you! And 
 I'm going to make good, in a big way, just for you! 
 I can wait I can work I'm going to make myself 
 seem worth-while even to you and I 'm going to have 
 you in the end!" 
 
 She was moved by his ardent directness. "You're a 
 dear, dear fool, Harry," she said softly. "But, Harry, it 
 would n't be fair if I did n't tell you that it's no use for 
 you to feel that way about me. I '11 never feel that way 
 about you never, never. So forget me, and just think 
 about your work." 
 
 "What you say now is n't going to change me," he 
 returned. "My love for you is going right on. It's the 
 biggest thing in my life ! I like my work, yes I see a 
 career ahead that I can be proud of. But if you were 
 taken out of my life, Jennie" he spoke with a tender- 
 ness that was fierce, exalted, even reckless "if you 
 were taken out of my life, I would n't give a damn for 
 any career! I would n't give a damn!" 
 
 "You're a dear romanticist, Harry you're a dear, 
 dear boy! But" she shook her head decidedly 
 "but you really don't care that much for me and 
 your dream about finally making me love you, that's 
 never coming true." 
 
 "Oh, yes, it is!" he declared dominantly. 
 
 "Oh, no, it's not!" she retorted. 
 
 Silent, they gazed in straight-eyed defiance at each 
 other, almost belligerent in their youthful confidence. 
 At that moment each believed that for him the future 
 was to be determined and controlled by his own will;
 
 1 74 *A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 each saw the future, in its general outlines, as clearly 
 denned and comparatively simple. Full of the pride and 
 confidence of youth, they never guessed that they might 
 be the playthings of, the mere clay to be shaped by, 
 forces which they did not even perceive, much less take 
 into account : the forces which existed unknown to them 
 within themselves the slow forces brought into being 
 by Black Jerry and Uncle George the forces of still 
 other wills the forces of that great complex organism, 
 life, all human life, which may stretch forth its influence 
 out of unsuspected regions, and perhaps swiftly, per- 
 haps imperceptibly, alter all man-conceived designs. 
 
 Presently the rigidity of their self-will and deter- 
 mination relaxed and they smiled at each other smiles 
 that were warmed by the coppery sun-glow thrown up 
 from the wrinkled water. They turned and strolled back 
 to the house where now, on the piazza, sat the Harri- 
 sons and all their guests; and such was their manner of 
 casual friendliness that to all, save to Slim Jackson alone, 
 they seemed no more than mere acquaintances who just 
 now had met for only the second time.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 JENNIE IS SET A TASK 
 
 THAT Sunday evening while Jennie, at the piano, 
 was softly playing old melodies to the family, 
 Kenneth and Gloria wandered out of the great 
 living-room into the library. After a time Kenneth 
 returned and whispered to his mother; one by one the 
 family quietly withdrew, until Jennie became aware 
 that she was playing to an empty room. Rather pleased 
 with this solitariness she slipped through the soft night 
 out to the end of the pier, and alone under the clear June 
 stars, her mind swung to and centered upon herself 
 and her position. 
 
 All things considered, she was satisfied. She felt that 
 she had strengthened and solidified her position, so that 
 it was the firm base for new advance movements. She 
 had a sense that some great forward action was just 
 before her ; it was a very definite sense, and she tried to 
 peer into the future and see what it was that was going 
 to befall her or what it was that she was going to do. 
 But the future would not open to her. 
 
 When she returned to the house the family was still 
 behind the closed door of the library. As she went on up 
 to bed she wondered what the council could be about. 
 But the following morning its nature was unmistakable 
 to her, for when father and son started for their train, 
 Kenneth kissed Gloria good-bye before every one, and 
 Mr. Harrison, holding her hand, and also kissing her, 
 said heartily: "I'm mighty glad about it, Gloria 
 mighty glad!"
 
 1 7 6 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Sue maneuvered Jennie over to the tennis courts and 
 drew her down upon a bench. " I suppose you can guess 
 what's happened?" she demanded. 
 
 "Having eyes I could hardly help having a guess," 
 Jennie replied. "When are they going to announce 
 it?" 
 
 " They don't want to announce it for quite a while yet 
 that is, Gloria does n't. It would n't sound very well 
 coming so soon after the breaking-off of her other en- 
 gagement." Then Sue flamed out: " Did n't I tell you she 
 was a quick worker! I never saw such nerve!" 
 
 "You don't seem to be wholly pleased with it, Sue," 
 Jennie returned calmly. 
 
 " I should say I 'm not pleased with it! Nor is mother. 
 Mother and I had a long talk about it, last night, and 
 we're both sick simply sick!" 
 
 "Why? I thought Gloria was quoted very high in the 
 marriage market." 
 
 "She is by some people. But she's selfish she 
 never thinks about anything except what she wants to 
 do and what suits her she '11 never give one minute's 
 thought to what is best for Kenneth, she'll be simply a 
 drag which will keep him from becoming the big man he 
 ought to be!" Sue was silent a moment, then she added 
 abruptly: "Besides, it is n't in her to care for one man 
 very long she's clearly proved that. I tell you, it's 
 just going to turn out an awful mess!" 
 
 " If all that is true, then how could a man who knows 
 the world as well as Kenneth get drawn into it?" 
 
 "Oh, any clever woman that tries can get around Ken- 
 neth," Sue replied contemptuously. "Besides, Kenneth 
 since he was a half-witted boy has been keen about 
 Gloria. That made it easy for her."
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 177 
 
 "But even if you and your mother are not pleased, 
 your father seems happy enough." 
 
 "Oh, father and mother have different ideas about a 
 lot of things. He's a business man, and he can't help 
 seeing this from a business point of view. And it may 
 seem all right in a business way; it will probably give 
 Kenneth control of an awful lot of additional capital. 
 But " and Sue's face set with determination " I 'm 
 not going to have it, and mother's not going to have it, 
 if we can help it ! That 's what we 're thinking about 
 how to stop it." 
 
 "I'd think your mother could do that by telling 
 Kenneth what a marriage with Gloria would mean to 
 him, and telling him she did n't want him to marry 
 Gloria." 
 
 "It wouldn't work. First, Kenneth wouldn't be- 
 lieve it. And then, telling Kenneth not to do a thing 
 is the surest way to make him do it. I Ve already told 
 you that. We've got to do something else we've got 
 to handle him indirectly." Sue regarded Jennie with 
 an imploring yet determined air. "Jennie, you've got 
 to help us!" 
 
 "I!" exclaimed Jennie. "How?" 
 
 "I don't know, but you're clever and you ought to 
 think of some way. I Ve thought of one thing, and you 
 might try that until you think of something else." 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 "Gloria has lots of money and she's pretty much of 
 somebody out in society, but in every other way you 
 outclass her. You are more clever than she is, and you 
 can do more things. Kenneth likes you a lot; if you half 
 tried you could make him like you a lot more you 
 might cool down his enthusiasm for Gloria. You wade
 
 178 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 right in and make yourself as interesting as possible. 
 That'll start something, and later we may think of 
 something else." 
 
 Jennie stared. "I say, Sue, you are not altogether 
 lacking in what you said Gloria had so much of 
 nerve!" She shook her head. "I never have hired out 
 as a flirt, and as a profession it does n't appeal to me, 
 and besides, I know I 'd make a mess of it. No, thank 
 you." 
 
 "But, Jennie," Sue urged, "mother and I are des- 
 perate about this. We Ve got to break it up somehow. 
 You 've simply got to help, Jennie you Ve simply got 
 to help!" 
 
 "Why not try to talk Gloria out of it? There she is 
 headed this way with a racket." 
 
 Sue gave a glance toward the house. Sure enough, 
 Gloria was approaching, all in white, wearing a wide 
 hat tied with a veil beneath her chin a hat strikingly 
 handsome in itself, but chosen for its distinction rather 
 than for its fitness for the active sport which her racket 
 announced. 
 
 "I can't stand to talk to her now," breathed Sue. 
 "Good-bye " 
 
 "No, you don't; you're going to stay right here." 
 And Jennie, catching her arm, drew her back to the 
 bench. 
 
 "Where are you going, Sue?" asked Gloria when she 
 had sauntered up to the pair. 
 
 Jennie was prompt to answer in Sue's behalf; she 
 spoke in a calm voice : "Sue was hurrying off to get into 
 her tennis togs to have a match with you, Gloria." 
 
 " I'm glad you kept her." Gloria sat down, an elbow 
 on the back of the bench, and regarded Jennie coolly
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 179 
 
 with more of her native arrogance than she had shown 
 thus far during her visit. " I Ve been waiting to have a 
 little talk with you." 
 
 " I appreciate your desire to give me your confidence, 
 Gloria," Jennie said evenly. 
 
 "It was n't to give you my confidence that I wanted 
 to see you!" was the sharp reply. 
 
 "I think I 'd better go." And again Sue tried to rise. 
 
 "I'd rather have you stay," said Gloria, "and know 
 just what it's about." 
 
 "Yes, please do stay." And Jennie once more drew 
 the unwilling Sue back upon the bench. 
 
 "I guess, Jennie," Gloria continued coolly, "that you 
 know about Kenneth and me." 
 
 "I guess every one does who saw the parting scene 
 this morning." 
 
 Gloria's dark eyes, straight upon Jennie, gleamed im- 
 periously. "What I wanted to say to you won't take 
 many words. You've been playing around a lot with 
 Kenneth. There's to be no more of that." 
 
 There was no longer any doubt in Jennie as to what 
 was to be her relationship with Gloria. They were to 
 fight. But she controlled herself, and spoke evenly. 
 
 "HI 've played with Kenneth, it's been because he's 
 asked me to. If you want this stopped, why don't you 
 order Kenneth to stop asking me?" 
 
 "I guess I know the way to manage this!" 
 
 "And I guess you know, then," Jennie taunted in her 
 even voice, "that if you were to order Kenneth to stop 
 asking me, he'd ask me all the more. Well, you ought 
 to know, then, that trying to order me is just about as 
 effective." 
 
 "You mean you won't do it?"
 
 1 8o A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "I'm not saying, Gloria, for I don't know. But I 
 shall do just about what happens to please me." 
 
 "I gave you your chance to keep out of this on your 
 own accord!" Gloria flamed at her. "Now you'll have 
 nothing to do with it! You'll be put out!" 
 
 "Yes?" Jennie queried. "And how?" 
 
 "I shall inform Mrs. Harrison that you are an un- 
 congenial, unendurable person to me," Gloria answered 
 furiously. "As I am her daughter-in-law to be, there'll 
 be no way out of it except for her to ask you to go." 
 
 Jennie regarded her steadily. 
 
 "Well are you going to make me do that?" Gloria 
 demanded. 
 
 "Gloria, you're a dear, sweet child but just a trifle 
 spoiled," Jennie returned. "You know you need a 
 spanking, Gloria you really do. And you know I 
 could give you a spanking, too. The only thing that re- 
 strains me is consideration for Mrs. Harrison: it might 
 humiliate her a little for her prospective daughter-in- 
 law to be spanked in public. But if I should change my 
 mind and decide to spank you, it will be a strictly high- 
 class job none better of its kind." 
 
 Gloria was speechless ; she could only glare. 
 
 "Or perhaps I might save your going to Mrs. Harri- 
 son," Jennie continued in her even voice. "I might go 
 to her myself, tell her of your objection to me, tell her 
 of your threat, and offer to remove myself. I know that 
 would make her simply adore you. Now, run along, 
 Gloria I want to be alone to think it all over. You 
 really might as well go, for Sue is n't going to play tennis 
 with you, and neither am I and, besides, my dear, 
 forgive me for saying it, you look just a bit silly with 
 that big hat flopping about your ears when you 're chas-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 181 
 
 ing shots around the court which you never get. I 'm 
 sure Kenneth must have noticed how funny you looked 
 when you were playing with him yesterday. I 'd go put 
 on something else, Gloria I really would." 
 
 Gloria was on her feet, trembling. "You you " 
 But she choked, and could get no more out. 
 
 "You little Wyoming runt," supplied Jennie pleas- 
 antly. "I'd forgotten it but I see you remember 
 all about that little debate we had in the squash court 
 at Braithewood four years ago." 
 
 Gloria whirled about, and furiously crossed the tennis 
 lawn toward the house. 
 
 "Jennie!" breathed Sue in amazement. "Jennie!" 
 And then: "Jennie I can't understand most of the 
 time you 're so gentle you seem almost afraid of every- 
 body and then sometimes you wake up and simply 
 eat people raw." 
 
 " Don't talk now, Sue," Jennie returned. " I want to 
 think." 
 
 Though she had spoken composedly enough to Gloria, 
 that had been only because she had learned the great 
 value and advantage of self-control; within she was 
 blazing as fiercely as on that day of long ago when in 
 unleashed fury she had thrown Gloria to the floor of the 
 squash court and sat upon her stomach. She wanted to 
 strike strike fiercely and hurtingly ! . . . And then 
 in her swift thinking it came upon her that nothing she 
 could do, provided she could do it, would be such effec- 
 tive and sweet revenge as balking Gloria's engagement 
 to Kenneth. That would be wonderful. 
 
 And then she saw another advantage in this revenge. 
 If she should help break the engagement, and do it in 
 an unobtrusive manner, yet so that Mrs. Harrison per-
 
 182 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 ceived that she had done it why, nothing else could 
 possibly so strengthen her position with Mrs. Harrison! 
 
 She was smiling half-humorously when she looked 
 again at Sue. " I don't especially blame you for not long- 
 ing to have Gloria as a sister-in-law. As I told you, I 've 
 never hired out as a flirt before, and I don't believe I 
 have any special gifts for that trade but if you still 
 want me to try, I'll see what I can do." 
 
 "Oh, Jennie if you only will " 
 
 "Wait a second. There's a condition. Kenneth will 
 have eyes and time for only Gloria. I can do nothing 
 if I try it all alone. You and your mother must help. 
 Whenever Kenneth is at home, you and your mother 
 must manage to occupy Gloria's attention from time to 
 time that will create a sort of vacancy and make an 
 opportunity for Kenneth to be polite to me." 
 
 Sue promised. That evening Kenneth came home; 
 he had arranged to commute by the railroad until the 
 Myra was in active service. After dinner there was in- 
 formal dancing in the living-room; Gloria danced two 
 numbers with Kenneth, and then in a most natural 
 manner Mrs. Harrison drew her into conversation. 
 
 "You two dance," Sue said to Jennie and Kenneth. 
 "It's my turn to play." 
 
 And so they began to dance. Outwardly Jennie was 
 shy, even deprecatory; inwardly she was afire with the 
 determination to make herself as attractive as possible to 
 Kenneth. She danced with all her skill, all her lithe 
 freedom yet ever trying to give Kenneth the sense 
 that he was leading her. She saw that he was delighted 
 with her as a partner, and a glance from Sue spoke 
 eloquently of the contrast between her dancing and 
 Gloria's. The one-step with their interpolated variations
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 183 
 
 at an end, Sue begged Jennie to sing; and Jennie, in her 
 warm mezzo, which the really excellent master at Braithe- 
 wood had done much to develop and bring under her 
 control, sang "Habanera" from "Carmen," after that 
 Schubert's " Ave Maria." She saw the baleful displeas- 
 ure in Gloria's face, and that was inspiration for her 
 to outdo herself. After "Ave Maria" she refused to sing 
 again, and insisted that the dancing be resumed and of- 
 fered to play in Sue's stead. 
 
 Kenneth crossed and asked Gloria to dance, but Gloria's 
 wild resentment prompted her to reply, with a fairly 
 well-managed show of indifference, that she was en- 
 gaged in conversation with his mother. So Kenneth 
 danced again with Jennie, and as the end of the dance 
 brought them to the door, wide open to the night, 
 Kenneth, with a "Let's have just a minute of fresh 
 air," swung her through and out upon the piazza, and 
 drawing her hand through his arm led her down upon 
 the walk. 
 
 "I thought you were wonderful that night on the 
 Astor roof," he enthused, "but now you seem even more 
 wonderful ! You are the best dancer I ever danced with ! " 
 
 "Oh, hardly that," she laughed. "But if I dance a 
 little better than most girls, it's just because I like it 
 a little better." 
 
 "If you like it that way, then dancing's one thing 
 we'll never disagree about." He spoke lightly, yet there 
 was real interest beneath his words. "But the way you 
 sing ! I did n't know before that you sang. You could do 
 a lot with that voice if you cared to. I know, for I 've 
 helped back one or two musical plays and, believe 
 me, no careful pawnbroker would loan more than ten 
 cents upon the voices of most of the musical comedy
 
 1 84 -A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 prima donnas. You're uncovering new marvels each 
 day. What else can you do?" 
 
 "Nothing, I guess. And what you've spoken about 
 does n't seem remarkable to me. I just happen to like 
 to do those things that's all there is about it." 
 
 They were now a considerable distance from the 
 house. "You can't explain it away you can't make 
 yourself commonplace you're simply wonderful!" 
 He halted, and laid a hand upon the hand resting on his 
 arm. "I think you are simply wonderful!" 
 
 "And do you know what I think about you?" she 
 asked in a grave voice. 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "I think you are holding my hand." 
 
 He started at this directness, then laughed softly. 
 "Why, I rather thought that same thing myself." 
 
 "Does that mean that you are about to propose to 
 me?" 
 
 Again he started . ' ' Why ? ' ' 
 
 "I just learned that you were engaged to Gloria. I 
 wondered if two engagements a day was your regular 
 allowance." 
 
 The moonlight showed him a mischievous gleam in 
 her face. "You look demure, but I always said there 
 was a little devil in you," he exclaimed in a wry but 
 pleased tone "a sharp little devil a nice clever 
 little devil." 
 
 "The little devil asks me to thank you. But before 
 you go ahead and really propose to me, I want to con- 
 gratulate you about Gloria. I hope you will both be very 
 happy." 
 
 "And I hope that you and Gloria are going to be very 
 good friends."
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 1 85 
 
 " I 'm willing to be friends with Gloria. But it all de- 
 pends upon Gloria. And whether Gloria wants to be 
 real friends, that rather depends upon whether you make 
 it known to Gloria that you'd like things that way." 
 
 "Oh, I'll make that clear to Gloria. You're Sue's 
 best friend we should all be good friends and 
 you know I like you a lot." 
 
 "There'll not be much chance of our ever being 
 friends if we stay out here any longer on the first day of 
 Gloria's engagement." She gently freed her hand. "I 
 think we'd better go in." 
 
 Inside, Kenneth advanced to Gloria. "Jennie was 
 just congratulating us," he said. "I told her that I 
 hoped that you and she all of us in fact were al- 
 ways going to be the best of friends." 
 
 Jennie seemed frank-eyed, modest, waiting for Gloria 
 to make the advance. 
 
 With a control that was attained with difficulty Gloria 
 replied : 
 
 " I 'm sure we shall be." 
 
 But later, alone on the stairway as they went to bed, 
 she glowered furiously at Jennie. 
 
 Jennie inquired in a taunting whisper: 
 
 "Did you order Mrs. Harrison to invite me to 
 leave?" 
 
 Choking, Gloria hurried by her without an answer. 
 
 The following evenings there was a similar procedure. 
 Never before had Jennie consciously tried to win the at- 
 tention of a man, and the novelty of the experience 
 added piquancy to the more serious purposes which 
 were involved in her plan. And it seemed to her that she 
 was partially succeeding; it seemed that Kenneth was 
 admiring her more and more.
 
 186 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 And then a new element entered this affair. She was 
 glad when Kenneth came home at the end of the day, 
 she gladdened at the touch of his hand, she was trem- 
 blingly happy when swinging in his arms in the dance. 
 She awoke suddenly to this uncalculated interest, and a 
 question asked itself sharply of her: was this relation- 
 ship, which she had plunged into almost as a matter of 
 cold-blooded business, was this intimacy begetting a 
 result she had never dreamed of? was she beginning 
 really to care? . . . She did not let herself answer; she 
 put the question from her. 
 
 Nevertheless, this change in her, whatever its nature 
 or degree, intensified and justified her intention. Ken- 
 neth was, indeed, altogether too fine: any course was 
 righteous that would save him. 
 
 After a few days Jennie perceived that the course 
 she had been following could not, unaided by other 
 plans, quickly end matters between an engaged couple 
 when the girl had so many substantial worldly attri- 
 butes as Gloria. There must be an additional plan. She 
 began to consider, and her mind fixed upon one remark 
 Sue had made against Gloria. In this remark her rapidly 
 working mind saw the germ of an idea. The idea grew 
 it had the potentialities of a big plan, an effective plan, 
 if she could only put it into execution. 
 
 On the following Sunday Slim Jackson came out to 
 stay over until Monday. The appearance of Slim upon 
 the scene suggested a new thought which fitted in with 
 her growing plan; and she so maneuvered that she got 
 Slim alone out upon the end of the stone pier. 
 
 "What's the big idea, Jen?" he asked. 
 
 "Of course you know about Kenneth and Gloria 
 Raymond?"
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 187 
 
 "Sure. Kenneth told me the news as a dead secret 
 the other day. What's the matter?" 
 
 "His mother does n't like the engagement, nor does 
 his sister. So I 'm trying to break it off." 
 
 "For their sakes?" demanded Slim keenly. 
 
 "Yes and for my own." Almost unconsciously 
 she dropped into the informal phraseology of the days 
 when she and Slim had had the Pekin as their habitat. 
 "Gloria and I don't love each other, and I 'd like to jar 
 her off her pedestal. Also, if I could manage to break 
 the engagement off, why, nothing else could make me so 
 solid with Mrs. Harrison and you know hardly any- 
 thing can help me so much just now as being solid with 
 Mrs. Harrison." 
 
 "You're a selfish, calculating, pretty little animal, 
 but the idea is strictly all right. Why not step in and 
 win him away from her? I've been watching you and 
 Kenneth. It's as plain as four aces that he already cares 
 a lot for you." 
 
 "I Ve been trying that; it's too slow and uncertain. 
 I Ve thought of a way that will be quick and sure-fire, 
 if it can only be put across. And it's something you 
 might help me in if you want to." 
 
 "You've got me sitting on the edge of my orchestra 
 chair and holding my breath. What happens next?" 
 
 "They say Gloria has liked an awful lot of men 
 she's been engaged four times that I know of and 
 her being engaged to one man does n't prevent her liking 
 several others at the same time. That may not be the 
 case at the present moment, but, anyhow, that's the 
 kind Gloria is. She 's crazy about men always plural." 
 
 " I get you so far. Where do I fit in?" 
 
 "Here's my idea: If she's doing now what she's done
 
 188 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 before, then while she's engaged to Kenneth, she's also 
 privately flirting with some other man. But telling 
 Kenneth this will have no effect; he's got to see things 
 with his own eyes. If I could find out who the other 
 man is, and if affairs could be so handled that Kenneth 
 could be brought in upon a scene of surreptitious love- 
 making that would smash things right then and 
 there. Now, you know a lot about the smart and gay life 
 of New York and you know its gossip; you either know, 
 or can find out, who this second man is if there is 
 such a man. And you can find out where and how they 
 meet. That's where you fit in." 
 
 He regarded her steadily for a long space. His nar- 
 row gray eyes were just now expressionless beyond 
 showing keen thought. When he finally did speak, he 
 passed over all she had said. 
 
 "Have you thought any more about the proposition 
 I made you on the Astor roof about our teaming up? " 
 
 "That's never going to happen, Slim never," she 
 answered impatiently. 
 
 He lifted his shoulders philosophically. "I guess it's 
 up to me to keep on waiting, Jennie and I 'm a good 
 waiter." 
 
 "But will you help me?" she demanded. 
 
 Again he regarded her thoughtfully for a long space; 
 and though he tried to control his expression, he could 
 not mask the air of one who is swiftly looking far, far 
 ahead, and balancing possibility against possibility. 
 
 "Sorry, Jennie wish I could," he at length said. 
 "But there's nothing I can do absolutely nothing. 
 And there's no use talking about it." 
 
 Jennie was quite taken aback and was bitterly disap- 
 pointed by this unexpected refusal. But disconcerted
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 1 89 
 
 though she was, she caught the glint of a smile which 
 suddenly broke through the sober regret of Slim's face. 
 For some reason that smile awoke in her a vague sus- 
 picion; but not until long, long after was she to learn 
 all which lay behind that brief smile on the pale, keen 
 face of Slim Jackson.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 HOW A PLAN WORKED OUT 
 
 JENNIE went quietly about, watchful, thinking, 
 planning and planning all the harder because 
 Slim Jackson, on whom she had counted for aid, or 
 at least for information, had just declared himself un- 
 able to give her either. But as the day passed, her de- 
 sign, effective though it had seemed on first contem- 
 plating it, began to seem tremendously difficult, even 
 unworkable, because of her inability to get a concrete 
 starting-point. And then circumstances very promptly 
 came to her aid, or appeared to, and simplified and 
 quickened what she had thought would be at the best 
 both slow and complicated. 
 
 That evening while all were dancing a number of 
 young people had motored over to Silver Bluffs to join 
 in this, a few to stay over the night Jennie caught a 
 covert but significant glance pass between Gloria and 
 Slim when the two seemed to believe no eyes were upon 
 them. That look fairly staggered Jennie. Was it pos- 
 sible what she had not even thought of before 
 that Slim himself was one of the men with whom Gloria 
 had flirted as far as a mere flirtation dared go? ... It 
 was indeed possible! She recalled how admired, how 
 sought after Slim was by the young women of the 
 smarter and more daring social set. And she recalled 
 Slim's unwillingness to help her against Gloria. Here 
 was full explanation of that unwillingness! 
 
 She watched them carefully, trying all the while to 
 maintain the appearance of a young girl who had noth-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 191 
 
 ing on her mind but the enjoyment of a young girl's 
 pleasure. Presently she saw Slim and Gloria withdraw 
 quietly from the rest and go out the front door. In a 
 moment she had excused herself on the plea of getting 
 a glass of water for herself, passed into the dining-room, 
 and thence through a darkened side entrance out into 
 the grounds. She darted to a corner of the house and 
 peered around it. A score of paces away Slim and Gloria 
 were strolling off into the night. 
 
 There was a possibility that they might be saying 
 something revelatory : at any rate, she had to hear. Her 
 only chance of approaching them unheard and unob- 
 served was to avoid the brick walks and cross the lawn; 
 but the lawn was dew-covered, and wet slippers would 
 look very suspicious when she returned to the party 
 within. She drew off her slippers, and carrying them 
 she swiftly made her way across the grass in stock- 
 inged feet, dodging from the cover of one dim bush or 
 clump of shrubbery to another until she saw the fig- 
 ures pause in a side path not half a dozen yards away. 
 
 "No one can hear us out here," she heard Gloria 
 remark. "Quick what did you want?" 
 
 "It's like this, Gloria. But listen! Was that some- 
 body?" And Slim moved in Jennie's direction. He 
 took but two or three steps, then paused and flashed a 
 tiny electric torch, no larger than a cigarette case, full 
 upon the bush behind which Jennie was crouching. 
 Jennie dared not move; she was palpitant with the 
 fear of immediate discovery. 
 
 But the tiny torch flashed to other bushes. Then it 
 went out, and Slim returned to Gloria. 
 
 " Did you see any one?" she whispered. 
 
 "It was all my imagination."
 
 192 *A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "Quick, then what did you want to tell me?" 
 
 His voice was the voice of flattering complaint. "I 
 wanted to tell you that you've been letting me see 
 mighty little of you of late and that I 'm missing it 
 a lot and that I think I have a real kick coming." 
 
 "Oh, you have n't missed me so much. The world 's 
 full of other women who " 
 
 "But not full of Glorias!" 
 
 "Besides, while I 'm staying out here at Silver Bluffs, 
 you know there's no chance to see each other." 
 
 "There's got to be a chance, Gloria. I want to see 
 you simply because I want to see you. Also because 
 there's something I simply must talk over with you 
 and I don't need to say that there's no time for that 
 now. We 'd be missed. But I 've got to see you." 
 
 "When, then and where and how?" 
 
 "I know Mrs. Harrison is going to try to close the 
 party down at midnight, and everybody who's staying 
 here will be in bed shortly after that. Slip down to the 
 library at two to play it safe, come at exactly two. 
 I '11 be waiting." 
 
 "But what for?" she persisted. 
 
 "Well for that " And drawing her suddenly to 
 him, he kissed her. 
 
 "Cut that out, Jackson Holt!" But there was no 
 severe displeasure in her voice. "If that's all, I'll 
 not come." 
 
 "But I said I had to talk to you, Gloria I simply 
 must." 
 
 There were two or three sentences of debate, then 
 Jennie heard Gloria say: "All right at two o'clock, 
 then. Now we'd better get right back to the house." 
 
 They moved away. The moment action seemed safe,
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 1 9 3 
 
 Jennie scurried across the lawn to the side of the house, 
 drew her slippers on her dew-soaked feet, passed through 
 the dining-room, and rejoined the party just as Slim 
 and Gloria sauntered in. Jennie did her best to seem 
 light-spirited as before, but all the while she was fever- 
 ishly thinking and planning. To her conglomerate of 
 earlier motives she now had added a new motive, and 
 she was righteously indignant. It seemed shameless 
 to her for Slim to violate the Harrisons' hospitality 
 and Kenneth's friendship, and for Gloria to treat so 
 lightly the respect due her hostess and her own position. 
 Of a certainty the pair deserved anything and every- 
 thing that might be brought to befall them. 
 
 But how should she handle this situation? She con- 
 sidered the problem all the evening while she apparently 
 had no concern other than her girlish pleasure; but it 
 was not till she was in her room, after midnight, that 
 she could give the situation her undivided mind. 
 Plainly the thing to do was so to manage that the Har- 
 risons, and most particularly Kenneth, should be wit- 
 nesses to that two o'clock rendezvous in the library. 
 Just how could that best be brought about? 
 
 Suddenly a hitherto unperceived danger to herself 
 darted into her mind. If in any way Slim should learn 
 of her part in his exposure he would be certain to strike 
 back by telling all he knew about her. A chill went 
 tingling through her. Did she dare attempt anything 
 at all? . . . 
 
 Motionless she sat in the dark, drawn up in a big 
 chair, and tensely studied this big problem, with its 
 new aspect of great risk to herself. She heard her clock 
 strike one then heard the half-hour sound. Gradu- 
 ally she began to see the plan as workable, and with
 
 1 94 ^ Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 danger to herself eliminated. She must manage the 
 affair through Sue, she herself must not in any wise 
 appear a factor in the matter. And it would be wise 
 not even to tell Sue of her suspecting the pair, of her 
 following them, of her eavesdropping; her part must 
 be made to seem simple and innocent. 
 
 The general plan decided on, the details came in 
 flashes. She switched on the shaded light at her writing- 
 desk, and with a letter of Gloria's before her, she set 
 about reproducing Gloria's handwriting on a fresh sheet 
 of Silver Bluffs note-paper. It came easy, for the large, 
 bold writing with its sprawling loops was so obvious 
 that it offered no difficulties to the copyist. This was 
 the first time Jennie had exercised her native gift as an 
 imitator of handwriting since the affair of the Morrison 
 check which had brought her into Jefferson Market 
 Court; she had never a thought that she was commit- 
 ting forgery, merely that she was using a safe device 
 to bring two persons to justice. 
 
 At a quarter to two she slipped into Sue's room, 
 turned on the lights and awakened her. 
 
 "Look here what's the matter?" demanded Sue 
 with the ill-humor of a broken first-sleep. 
 
 "Hush! Talk in a whisper, Sue. To-night I saw a 
 note slipped a man; I was n't supposed to see it. But it 
 looked very suspicious. I saw him glance at it, then 
 put it in a pocket. Afterwards, when I was dancing 
 with him, I saw that the note had worked halfway out 
 of his pocket and I know it was n't a very honorable 
 thing to do, but I could n't help myself I managed to 
 get the note without his knowing what I was about. 
 I Ve been sitting in my room all this while wondering 
 what I should do about it. And I've finally decided
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 195 
 
 that it 's none of my business, and that I should leave it 
 all to you." 
 
 "Is that the letter?" 
 
 "Yes but give it back to me." 
 
 Sue took the letter, and slowly read aloud the score 
 of words which completely covered one page: 
 
 All right two o'clock to-night in the library but 
 you've got to be a very good boy and not smoke. 
 
 Sue looked up. "It's not signed, but it's Gloria's 
 handwriting!" she exclaimed. 
 
 "It looks like it," admitted Jennie. 
 
 "And it's not addressed but it's to a man! And 
 I know it's not Kenneth!" Sue slipped out of bed. 
 "There are three or four other men here to-night 
 which is the one?" she demanded. 
 
 "I don't want to get mixed up in this any further, 
 Sue. That's for you to find out." 
 
 "But how?" 
 
 Jennie did not answer. She had planned so care- 
 fully that the answer was obvious. 
 
 "We'll slip down and surprise them the two of 
 us and mother and Kenneth." Sue's eyes gleamed. 
 "Perhaps Kenneth may see enough to wake him up!" 
 
 That was exactly as Jennie had calculated. "But 
 let me have the letter back, Sue. You don't need it." 
 
 "Kenneth is skeptical the letter may be just the 
 thing to convince him he ought to look into this." 
 
 Jennie disliked having the letter in other hands, but 
 there was now no avoiding this. Sue got into her dressing 
 gown, switched out her lights, and glided into the hall. 
 
 "I'll get mother and Kenneth we must all be 
 mighty quiet," she whispered. "You wait here."
 
 1 96 >A Daughter of Two Wo^di 
 
 She disappeared. Minutes passed. The deep-toned 
 clock in the great living-room below slowly sounded 
 two. Then three figures appeared out of the dark- 
 ness. Without words, with utmost caution, Kenneth 
 leading the way and Jennie hanging well behind, they 
 crept down the stairway like so many black ghosts. 
 And so on to the door of the library, where Kenneth's 
 suddenly stiffened arm halted them. 
 
 They could hear low voices. 
 
 "I tell you it was a pretty stiff jolt," complained a 
 voice, a man's voice whose owner Jennie alone knew 
 "your going and getting engaged to Kenneth Harrison 
 just as I was beginning to think you cared for me." 
 
 "You surely did n't think I was ever going to become 
 engaged to you?" whispered the other, with mocking 
 audacity. 
 
 "Well, so long as you were n't engaged, I had hopes. 
 And I liked it, being the sort of friends we've been." 
 
 "It might as well be Kenneth as any other man, as 
 far as you are concerned. And as for having been 
 friends, I suppose we can still be friends, can't we?" 
 
 "And see each other?" The whisper was eager. 
 "Now and then when it's safe, I mean?" 
 
 " Well, you 're seeing me now, are n't you? " 
 
 "Gloria!" breathed the man's voice. 
 
 There followed silence, which each of the rigid forms 
 at the doorway filled with a mental picture which was 
 more or less similar. Then Kenneth reached for the 
 electric switch and the room instantly became as bril- 
 liant as day. On a deep leathern couch sat Gloria in the 
 yellow gown which she had been wearing earlier in the 
 evening, and beside her sat Slim Jackson. Slim's arm 
 was about her, and her head was upon the shoulder of
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 197 
 
 his evening coat. The pair started, blinked for an 
 instant, then sprang up. 
 
 For the briefest moment there was a tableau : the pair 
 in their party clothes, and the quartette in dressing- 
 gowns, staring at each other. Then Kenneth stepped 
 forward, pale with fury. Jennie was relieved to see 
 that he was unarmed; she had feared he might have 
 come down with the conventional pistol of the insulted 
 male. 
 
 "Jackson Holt, you're a damned sneak!" he blazed 
 in a voice of controlled fury. "You've got your car 
 here. Five minutes is enough to get your things to- 
 gether. In five minutes I expect you and your car to 
 be leaving!" 
 
 Slim Jackson attempted no reply. He merely made 
 a slight bow of acquiescence but even then his bow 
 was one of rare grace. 
 
 "And, Gloria Raymond" Mrs. Harrison had 
 stepped forward and was speaking now, her kindly 
 face stern with outraged indignation "I am ashamed 
 that even for a week I had to think of you as my 
 daughter-in-law! You are without honor, or decency, 
 or shame! Your breakfast will be served you in your 
 room; a car will be at the door waiting for you; you 
 will take the earliest train away from here that you can 
 make. And neither I nor any member of my family 
 ever wish to see you or speak to you again!" 
 
 Gloria had at first been half-stunned by the impact 
 of this unexpected scene. But now her head was up 
 and she regarded them all with a sneering, almost 
 imperial defiance. There was one thing to be said for 
 Gloria she was not easily downed. 
 
 "All right, I '11 be ready for the car and you can't
 
 1 98 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 make it too early to suit me," she drawled. "I guess 
 what's happened is the best thing that could have 
 happened for me," she added coolly; "it's kept me 
 from being tied up with a second-rate family. And 
 besides, it would n't have been exactly pleasant, hav- 
 ing round me a bunch of spies." 
 
 This time it was Sue who stepped forward. And Sue 
 was angry. 
 
 "Spies!" she cried. "Who do you mean?" 
 
 "Your mother and your brother. They've evidently 
 been snooping around and watching me." 
 
 "That's a lie, Gloria Raymond!" blazed Sue, who 
 had lost herself in righteous and scornful anger. "They 
 have not been snooping around! Neither of them had 
 the least suspicion of this until ten minutes ago." 
 
 "Then how did they find out?" 
 
 "I told them that's how!" 
 
 "So, then you're the sneaking little spy that's 
 been snooping around watching me!" 
 
 " I am not! I have n't spied on you for a minute!" 
 
 "No?" Gloria's voice was insultingly skeptical. 
 "Then how did you learn?" 
 
 "Through that ! " And Sue held out the letter Jennie 
 had given her. 
 
 "Don't, Sue don't!" gasped Jennie in dismay. 
 
 But she was too late. The scene was moving too 
 swiftly for her to halt it. In fact, Sue did not even hear 
 her frantic cry. 
 
 "That's your handwriting, is n't it?" Sue demanded. 
 
 "Looks like it," Gloria coolly answered. 
 
 "Then there you are!" Sue cried triumphantly. 
 "In this note you make this very appointment with 
 Jackson Holt!"
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 1 99 
 
 Gloria seized the letter and glanced it through. "I 
 never wrote that!" she exclaimed. 
 
 "Oh, of course not!" taunted Sue. 
 
 "Did you ever receive that letter? did you ever 
 see it before?" demanded Gloria, handing it to Slim. 
 
 Jennie, very dazed, was palpitant with fear of what 
 this unexpected twist in the affair might be leading to. 
 Slim glanced at the letter, then handed it back. 
 
 "No, I never saw it before." 
 
 None of the three Harrisons spoke. They had be- 
 lieved Gloria had lied, and they now believed that Slim 
 was lying to support her. 
 
 "That's nothing but a forgery, Sue Harrison," 
 declared Gloria; "a bit of cheap work on your part!" 
 
 "It's not a forgery, and I did n't do it!" cried the 
 wrathful Sue. 
 
 "No! Then where did you get it?" 
 
 "Sue!" besought Jennie in a very sick whisper. 
 
 But Sue was utterly in the control of her wrathful 
 disbelief. "Jennie Miller saw it slipped to some man," 
 Sue rushed on. "She suspected something wrong, and 
 when a little later she danced with the man she man- 
 aged to get the note out of his pocket. Not twenty 
 minutes ago she brought the note to me she did n't 
 know what to do with it. She did n't tell me who the 
 man was, and we did n't know who he was till Kenneth 
 turned on the lights. There you are that 's how I got 
 the letter!" 
 
 Gloria wheeled about on Jennie. "So here's 
 where Jennie Miller comes into the picture!" she blazed 
 at her. 
 
 But Jennie, for that instant, was not even conscious 
 of Gloria's existence. Her eyes were fastened in feverish
 
 soo A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 fear and suspense upon Slim Jackson. She knew it was 
 Slim's nature to strike back. Tensely she awaited his 
 denunciation : her parentage the low places where she 
 had lived and whence she had come her arrest, her 
 being even now a fugitive with bond forfeited. She was 
 prepared to have the amazed Harrisons turn upon her; 
 she was prepared to be ordered out of the house even as 
 Slim and Gloria and particularly did she feel in 
 anticipation the amazement, the coldness, that would 
 come into Kenneth's face. 
 
 Slim's eyes were steadily upon her; she could not 
 loosen her gaze from his. Minutes went by, so it seemed 
 to her, though in reality hardly any time at all had 
 passed and Slim said nothing at all. 
 
 That bewildered her yet more. Why did Slim not 
 denounce her? 
 
 Dimly she heard Gloria speak to him. "This letter 
 was never in your possession, was it?" 
 
 "It was not," he replied. 
 
 "Denial is of no use," spoke up Mrs. Harrison in the 
 crisp, cold voice of finality. "The fact that we found 
 you here proves the letter's authenticity. Anyhow, the 
 only point of importance is our finding you here. There 
 is no more to be said. We wish you both good-bye." 
 
 Slim, bowing slightly, started out first. Jennie had 
 shrunk back a couple of yards behind the Harrisons, and 
 was last in the line in fact she was altogether through 
 the doorway and in the big living-room. As Slim drew 
 near her, she was sure the expected would happen ; but 
 Slim merely gave her a separate bow and passed on. 
 
 She could not understand ! 
 
 The next instant Gloria was coming through. She 
 halted squarely before Jennie, and glared at her.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 201 
 
 "You were behind all this, Jennie Miller," she 
 breathed furiously. "It may be a long time coming, 
 but I '11 get even you wait and see!" 
 
 Jennie felt no fear because of Gloria, and since the 
 Harrisons were following close, her answer was quiet and 
 without acrimony. "Very well, Gloria I'll wait." 
 
 Gloria swept by and up the stairway. Kenneth, his 
 face pale and set, passed Jennie without a word and dis- 
 appeared. But her heart leaped. Kenneth was saved. 
 
 Mrs. Harrison slipped her arms around Jennie and 
 drew her down upon a couch, and Sue, on Jennie's other 
 side, also put a tight arm about her. 
 
 "Jennie, we simply cannot thank you too much!" 
 breathed Mrs. Harrison in a quavering voice, tears upon 
 her cheeks. "You've saved us all from a terrible calam- 
 ity and especially have you saved Kenneth from a 
 ruined life. The only way Kenneth could have been 
 made to believe what we all suspected was by having 
 the thing shown before his own eyes and to you is the 
 entire credit for his being shown. My dear, I liked you 
 before but now I feel that I owe you everything! 
 Everything!" 
 
 There were more of such warm words from the soul, 
 both from Mrs. Harrison and from Sue. For the time 
 Jennie forgot the strangeness of Slim's behavior, and 
 Gloria simply did not exist. She was thrilled with 
 triumph triumph that swelled within her and swept 
 her dizzily aloft. She had won and won in every 
 detail ! And behind her exultant triumph was the sub- 
 conscious knowledge that whatever her means, and 
 however much triumph might benefit her personally, 
 she had triumphed in a righteous cause. 
 
 She was still exalted when she entered her room. She
 
 202 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 switched on her light and made for her bed. Then she 
 suddenly stopped short, for pinned to her pillow was a 
 folded piece of paper. 
 
 Her exultation was suddenly stilled, and wondering 
 she unfastened the paper and unfolded it. It was a sheet 
 of the heavy Silver Bluffs note-paper, and on it was writ- 
 ten in pencil : 
 
 I'll be waiting for you on the drive just inside the en- 
 trance to the grounds. Come as soon as it's safe. 
 P.S. This is no forgery. 
 
 There was no signature, but she instantly knew the 
 handwriting to be Slim Jackson's. What could Slim 
 want? And again came the question which had puzzled 
 her a little while before : Why had Slim not denounced 
 her when she had exposed him? 
 
 But as she stood looking at the penciled lines and 
 wondering, a relationship dawned upon her that she had 
 never before realized : When Slim Jackson called, she had 
 to come.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 A MEETING IN THE NIGHT 
 
 WHAT could Slim want with her out there upon 
 the drive? Undoubtedly to wreak upon her, in 
 the dark, alone, the retaliation which he had 
 so strangely withheld a few minutes since in the library. 
 And what form would Slim's retaliation take? Slim 
 the graceful, the polished, the cynical, and (as she now 
 shiveringly remembered) the swiftly relentless? 
 
 But whatever unguessable thing he might do to her, 
 Jennie knew she dared not disobey that summons. She 
 dressed, and making sure that the house was again 
 quiet, she slipped downstairs and out upon the drive. 
 The sky had clouded over; the night had grown so dark 
 that it was like a black bandage upon the eyes. She 
 would have been lost had she not known the grounds. 
 She crossed to the grassy border of the drive, and be- 
 neath the great elms which she could not see, but which 
 she knew arched interlacingly above her, she crept si- 
 lently toward the place Slim had appointed. 
 
 She had reached it and had stood there several mo- 
 ments, striving to mute her breath, before she disinterred 
 from the general gloom the faint outlines of a long, low 
 object. Slim's car she judged it to be. As she started 
 toward it, her feet scraping upon the blue-stone of the 
 drive, a hushed voice spoke out. 
 
 "Jennie?" 
 
 ' ' Yes , " she whispered . 
 
 "Come to the front of the car. I'm alone, in the 
 driver's seat. There you are. Now, give me your hand."
 
 2O4 *A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Jennie regarded with fear the dim shoulders and head. 
 "What for?" 
 
 "Give me your hand." 
 
 The voice was pleasant, velvety. But Slim's tone, no 
 more than his smile, was never an indication of his pur- 
 pose. Yet she dared not refuse. 
 
 His hand closed upon hers and he drew her to the 
 running-board of the car. " I simply could n't go away, 
 Jennie," said the pleasant voice, "without congratu- 
 lating you on the clever game you put across." 
 
 She was afraid of him, but she could not stand the 
 suspense. "Come to the point, Slim," she said sharply. 
 "What are you going to do to me? To congratulate 
 me was not what you got me out here for." 
 
 "Perhaps not." There came a soft laugh. "Let 's put 
 it another way, then : let 's say I could n't leave until 
 we had congratulated each other on the clever game we 
 both put across." 
 
 "We both put across?" she exclaimed. 
 
 "Of course. You're smart, Jennie, but you surely 
 don't think you could put anything of that sort over on 
 me unless I really wanted you to." 
 
 "Why why " She was too taken aback to speak. 
 
 He laughed at her dumbfoundment ; though low, it 
 was a laugh of very real and exultant amusement. 
 
 "You don't quite get it, do you, Jen and you don't 
 believe me. Well, for a starter, just listen to this. When 
 I went out on the lawn with Gloria this evening I was 
 certain you would follow. And when I pulled that flash 
 and turned it on the bushes, it was to make certain that 
 you were among those present and had an orchestra 
 chair, where you would n't miss a line of the dialogue. 
 Of course I told Gloria there was nobody." He chuckled
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 205 
 
 with self-delight. "But stooped low behind a bush I had 
 seen Miss Jennie Miller Malone, holding a pair of silver 
 slippers." 
 
 "Slim Jackson!" she breathed. 
 
 "Now, was I sitting in the game all the while, with a 
 big stack of chips, or was n't I?" he demanded with his 
 chuckle. 
 
 Everything was whirling to her ; she had as yet but a 
 faint glimmering of what must have been the truth. 
 
 " If you knew if you were in it why did n't you 
 tell me when I first spoke to you about Gloria?" 
 
 Again came his soft chuckle of self-delight. " I 
 thought of that, Jennie. But I decided I could n't trust 
 you. I was afraid you might have got some new-fangled 
 notion that would make you balk at the idea that came 
 to me. I saw that the only sure way to get you to act 
 and to put the thing across was to make you think you 
 were discovering something and that it was all on the 
 level never to let you suspect, until the thing was 
 done, that it was all a little frame-up." 
 
 "A frame-up?" breathed Jennie. 
 
 "It was, and it wasn't," answered Slim's amused 
 voice. "I'd done that sort of thing with Gloria before. 
 I just did it again, for your especial benefit, making sure 
 that you would be suspicious and would watch and 
 being dead sure just how you would act. And it worked 
 almost exactly as I figured!" 
 
 "And Gloria did she know it was a frame-up?" 
 
 "No. It was all just as real to her as it was to you." 
 
 " But but why did you do it?" 
 
 He pressed the hand he still held. "For your sake, 
 my child. I saw that what you said was true: that if 
 you could break off matters between Gloria and Ken-
 
 206 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 neth, it would be a big boost for you with Mrs. Harri- 
 son. And I wanted you to have that big boost. Honest!" 
 
 "And was that your only reason?" she demanded 
 sharply. 
 
 " Is n't that enough for little old Slim Jackson? The 
 higher an old friend goes, the better it is for me is n't 
 that so?" He laughed once more. "Oh, I'm not going 
 to lie to you, Jennie. I had other reasons, but I 'm not 
 going to tell you not now. Same as with to-night's 
 little affair, I think it 's wisest not to tell you what 's do- 
 ing until after it 's done. Yes, I had other reasons 
 big reasons and you'll know when the time comes." 
 
 She was still bewildered. "But Kenneth thinks you 
 have betrayed him. You have thrown away his friend- 
 ship." 
 
 "Kenneth feels sore at me now. But a little later 
 he '11 care less for Gloria and will be glad he escaped her 
 
 and it '11 get to him that I did what I did with the chief 
 idea of saving him and he '11 like me better than ever. 
 You just watch that's the way it's going to work 
 out!" 
 
 "And Gloria?" 
 
 "We need n't waste any good worry on Gloria. To- 
 night '11 never be talked about, and it'll not hurt her 
 any. That girl simply can't help making men make love 
 to her and that same goes for a lot of these young 
 society dames. They don't care a lot for any one man 
 
 but eacfr one wants a bunch of men making love to 
 her. They like it it flatters 'em they 're man-crazy 
 
 and each man 's a sort of souvenir. I guess I ought to 
 know! ... As for Gloria, to-night '11 not hurt me a bit 
 with her. She just thinks we were both caught together. 
 Gloria and I'll be just as good friends as ever."
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 207 
 
 Jennie was so dazed with this sudden behind-the- 
 scenes view of what she had considered to be wholly her 
 own righteous plan, so bewildered with Slim's jocular 
 and cynical self-appreciation, that she stood there be- 
 side the car utterly without words. 
 
 "And I say, Jen," the light voice went on, "that let- 
 ter was a swell forgery. You certainly are still all right 
 with the pen! That little knack will come in useful 
 some day you see!" He laughed softly once more. 
 "That's all I wanted to see you about, Jen I just 
 wanted you to know that I was sitting in this game with 
 you. And, Jennie remember my saying four years 
 ago down at the Pekin, that we were going to put a lot 
 of things across together you and I ? As yet you don't 
 see how big this stunt to-night really is, and is going 
 to be. And to-night's stunt is only the beginning for us 
 two, Jennie only a bare starter! Good-luck, Jen 
 and good-bye!" 
 
 Almost noiselessly his low car moved forward into the 
 engulfing blackness. She stood motionless for a space, 
 his chuckle of cynical delight and self-satisfaction still 
 sounding in her ears. Then she crept back into the 
 house and into her bed. All the exulting triumph which 
 had swelled within her only a brief half-hour before, 
 when Mrs. Harrison had taken her so warmly into her 
 arms and had so praised her with words from a sponta- 
 neous heart that was all gone. The glory had de- 
 parted from her achievement; and huddled in her bed, 
 she felt humiliated, and very small, and very sick. . . . 
 
 Also, that night, for the first time in her life, she felt 
 afraid of Slim Jackson. 
 
 \Yhen she came down the next morning Gloria had 
 already departed, and no mention was made of her
 
 so8 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 name. Kenneth had also gone; and when Mr. Harrison 
 came home that evening, he brought word that Ken- 
 neth had left for the West, to be gone an indefinite time. 
 The explanation made at the table was that his purpose 
 was to examine some mining properties in which Har- 
 rison and Company thought of acquiring an interest; 
 but every one knew that Kenneth had gone for quite 
 another reason. 
 
 Mrs. Harrison's gratitude and her frank affection, 
 spoken most warmly that morning and thereafter ex- 
 pressed in some way every time they met, Jennie in- 
 wardly shrank from as she also did from the sponta- 
 neous outbursts of Sue. A sense of guilt rested heavily 
 upon her ; she felt that she deserved none of this. Some- 
 how Slim seemed, as if by those adroit hands of his, to 
 have snatched away all the genuineness, the sincerity, 
 that had been in the act which they were ever declaring 
 had saved them all from misfortune. And yet Jennie dared 
 refuse or avoid none of their gratitude and none of their 
 affection. To have refused would have created surprise, 
 would have required explanation and explanation 
 might lead somehow to exposure. There was nothing 
 for it but to accept the situation. 
 
 And after all, there was this much that Slim could 
 not take away from her : she had acted in the full belief 
 that the two o'clock tryst in the library between Slim 
 and Gloria had been bonafide on both sides and if she 
 had not originated this plan and carried it out, the Har- 
 risons and Kenneth would not now be free of an unfor- 
 tunate relationship. So much was real and unsubtract- 
 able and therefore, since everything had grown 
 out of this, was this not in consequence almost every- 
 thing? . . .
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 209 
 
 She thought frequently of Kenneth. Was he, out 
 there in the solitude of the West where he had gone to 
 conceal his hurt, recovering from his heart-break and 
 disillusionment? She hoped so, for he was deserving of a 
 far finer girl than Gloria of the very finest girl ! She 
 wondered what was happening to him, and within him, 
 away out there, all alone. . . . 
 
 As the June days passed, her humiliation lost its 
 first keen edge, and she accepted matters as they were 
 with a growing composure. The days were much alike, 
 given over to bathing, going to teas, motoring about, or 
 merely quiet chats with Mrs. Harrison ; and of evenings 
 there was frequent dancing in neighboring houses. 
 With this pleasant summer routine she developed rap- 
 idly. 
 
 Her unchanging appearance of modesty made Mrs. 
 Harrison believe her unspoilable, so the generous elder 
 woman never withheld her praise. One afternoon when 
 Jennie had been at Silver Bluffs over a month, and she 
 and Mrs. Harrison were standing upon the piazza 
 gazing out at the blazing Sound, Mrs. Harrison impul- 
 sively crossed to Jennie and kissed her. 
 
 "What's the matter?" asked Jennie. 
 
 "I could n't help it I just got to looking at you." 
 
 "Looking at me?" 
 
 "Yes. And I was saying to myself," the low-pitched 
 voice went on, " 'She was beautiful when she first came 
 to us, but she is growing more beautiful every day!' 
 And that is true, my dear." 
 
 Jennie grew warm with an uprush of exultant happi- 
 ness. This was a wonderful world she had come into 
 a wonderful world indeed! And, just then, her nearing 
 place in this world seemed as glorious as the sunset that
 
 210 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 was besparkling the waters only for her the glory was 
 the glory of sunrise, and the dazzling brilliance of full 
 day was yet to come. 
 
 But even while they stood there, Jennie's other world 
 reached out to her a beckoning hand.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW 
 
 THE beckoning hand took the form of a tele- 
 
 tgram carried out to her by a maid. The message 
 bore the signature of the lawyers who managed 
 her affairs, and its ten words, to any other eyes than 
 Jennie's, would have meant nothing more than that her 
 lawyers required her presence that evening upon a 
 matter of immediate business. But the telegram was a 
 code, prearranged for use in case of extreme necessity. 
 To Jennie the routine telegram meant that Uncle George 
 wished to see her without delay. 
 
 She showed the message to Mrs. Harrison, and two 
 hours later she was in the sitting-room of a suite in that 
 great hotel-city, the Biltmore, in whose multitudinous 
 bustle persons could come and go unnoticed, and she was 
 shaking the hand of Uncle George. 
 
 "You sure are looking great, Jennie!" exclaimed the 
 old man. "You sure are looking the real goods 
 better even than I ever thought you would!" 
 
 Despite his words of admiration and approval, there 
 was a soberness in his wrinkled face that would have 
 excited Jennie's alarm even had the telegram not al- 
 ready done so. 
 
 "What's the matter, Uncle George?" she demanded. 
 
 "It's bad news, my dear" patting her hand 
 "but take it easy. It's what happens to us all, and I 
 guess some day it'll be my turn." 
 
 " Is it something about dad?" she breathed.
 
 212 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 He shook his head. "It's about your Aunt Mary. 
 She died last night." 
 
 "Aunt Mary dead ! " Jennie stood dazed ; never be- 
 fore had death touched her closely. 
 
 "Her funeral's to-morrow morning at eleven. Black 
 Jerry asked me to see you and tell you. He was afraid 
 you might learn of it some other way, and he was afraid 
 you might be impulsive and forget everything else and 
 come rushing down to the funeral where there may be a 
 bunch of people. That 's why Jerry asked me to see you ; 
 that's what Jerry gave strict orders about you are 
 not to come to the funeral." 
 
 "Aunt Mary dead!" she repeated. 
 
 "You'll do like Jerry said and not come to the fu- 
 neral?" the old man insisted. 
 
 " I'll not come if dad says so," she returned. 
 
 But back at Silver Bluffs she kept to herself, and most 
 of that night she lay awake. Her mind went back and 
 went over and over all the acts of unselfish kindness, of 
 constant thoughtfulness, of her patient Aunt Mary who 
 had mothered her through nigh a dozen years and she 
 could see the white, worn face, the frail figure, now lying 
 rigid in eternal silence in the little sitting-room above 
 the Pekin. She recalled her own impatience, her selfish- 
 ness, the advantage she so often had taken of her none- 
 too-clever aunt. Hot tears trickled down her cheeks; 
 her soul throbbed with a quivering pain that was a sense 
 of loss, of yearning, that was the call of blood to blood. 
 And so it was during most of the night. 
 
 The next morning she had made a decision. She 
 was going to slip back for a glimpse of her o\vn people. 
 She had to ! no matter what happened. And her plan 
 for securing this glimpse was based upon her remem-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 2 1 3 
 
 brance that, however largely attended a funeral in her 
 neighborhood might be, usually only a single carriage 
 followed the hearse on the far and expensive journey to 
 the outskirts of Brooklyn where are colonized the city's 
 dead. 
 
 She dressed herself in a dark, unpretentious suit, and 
 told Mrs. Harrison that she was obliged to go into New 
 York for a further conference with her lawyers. At 
 half-past ten, in a big department store, she was buying 
 the thickest mourning veil, and a few minutes later, the 
 veil on and lowered, at another doorway from the one at 
 which she had entered, she chartered a taxi and stepped 
 in. The car stopped as ordered a block away from, but 
 in full sight of, the Pekin ; and the curtains drawn, Jennie 
 sat peering at the front of her old home. Her heart beat 
 wildly; she was back once more among her old folk, in 
 her old country. It all seemed so close to her yet so 
 far, far away ! 
 
 Jennie jhad calculated time and procedure almost 
 exactly. Her taxi had been waiting at the curb only a 
 few minutes when she saw solemn, straggling little 
 groups come out of the doorway and then she saw 
 the coffin borne out and placed in the motor-hearse 
 and then she saw her father come out and, refusing the 
 company of Uncle George, enter a solitary taxicab. Pur- 
 suant to her directions her own car followed this cortege 
 of a hearse and a single carriage at a block's distance 
 uptown through East Side streets across the high- 
 swung Queensborough Bridge and then at thirty 
 miles an hour (for New York motor-hearses must earn 
 their keep and so have no time to waste) over Long 
 Island macadam. Arrived at the graveyard and the 
 open grave, the motor-hearse quickly discharged its
 
 214 "4 Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 black freight and then sped away on its next errand of 
 expressage. 
 
 Jennie, glancing about, saw a score or more of little 
 groups scattered among the slabs of marble. She had 
 the sense that here the burying of the dead was just a 
 great business so many funerals to be disposed of 
 per hour; that the graveyard was just a great freightage 
 receiving-office, where human beings were trans-shipped 
 from the present to whatever points might lie beyond. 
 
 With so much routine business going on, only the 
 day's-work attention was given to this last scene in the 
 mortal drama of Mary Graham, spinster. As soon as 
 Jennie was certain that no one was beside her aunt's 
 grave except a swiftly working stage crew and her father, 
 she slipped from her taxi to the edge of the grave. She 
 saw her father glance at her, and she was quite certain 
 he recognized her despite the disguise of the heavy veil. 
 But he gave no sign, and turned back to the grave. Thus, 
 silent, side by side, they stood watching the moist, 
 yellow clay pour from deft shovels down upon the dead : 
 Black Jerry, his derby pulled down tightly, his square 
 face set and emotionless and Jennie, behind her veil, 
 crying all the while: and thus they remained, apart, un- 
 speaking, until the workmen had slapped the earth 
 into a shapely mound, and had swung along to their 
 next task. 
 
 Black Jerry turned abruptly away toward his taxi- 
 cab. Silently Jennie slipped a hand through his arm, 
 and walked beside him. Even then he gave no sign of 
 recognizing her presence. Arrived at her taxi, she whis- 
 pered, "You're coming with me." He hesitated, then, 
 settling with the chauffeur of his own taxi, he stepped 
 into Jennie's car. Her fingers clutched his big hand
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 215 
 
 tightly and she drew up her heavy veil ; but despite the 
 privacy he sat gazing straight ahead, his heavy jaw 
 clenched, his eyes hardly winking. Jennie was suddenly 
 bereft of the power to open conversation ; the old habit 
 of childhood returned to her, not to speak to her reti- 
 cent father until he had first spoken. 
 
 It seemed to Jennie that they had gone miles before 
 he looked at her. And then his voice was abrupt and 
 gruff. 
 
 "You should n't have come here, Jennie. You 
 should n't have took such a risk." 
 
 "There was n't any risk; nobody could have told who 
 I was, and besides, there was n't anybody to see me," 
 she argued. "And, dad . . . Aunt Mary is ... I had to 
 come!" Her voice was quavering now. "And, dad 
 I I wanted to see you!" 
 
 "You should n't have took such a risk," repeated the 
 gruff voice. 
 
 "But, dad it came over me that now you are left 
 all alone except me and I ' 
 
 "Don't you think about me I'm all right." He 
 paused. "If there 's no one left but you, that just means 
 that there's only you for me to think about. And I 
 guess that'll be plenty." 
 
 Something approaching awe had come into the grim, 
 swarthy face as his gaze had taken her in. He was gloat- 
 ingly proud; and yet he was half afraid of this new 
 being who was his daughter. His voice was stiff with 
 embarrassment. 
 
 "I guess I don't need to tell you that you are looking 
 just about as fine as they come! And I seen Harry Ed- 
 wards and Slim Jackson lately; they both tell me you 
 are landing bigger every day. I wanted you to have a
 
 216 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 chance and you 're sure making good on it. You just 
 keep that up, that's all I ask for." 
 
 As abruptly as he had turned to her, he now turned 
 away, and his set face stared straight ahead. Again 
 Jennie felt descend upon her her childhood's inhibiting 
 habit of speechlessness with her father and again 
 father and daughter rode on in silence, though she still 
 clutched his hand. At the Manhattan end of the bridge, 
 where the jam of vehicles brought the pace of each down 
 to a bare crawl, and the sidewalks were crowded with 
 bustling people, Black Jerry half opened the door of 
 the moving car, and turned to her again. Once more his 
 face worked with its strange mixture of hunger and 
 gloating pride. 
 
 "Don't you take no more risks. You're going great 
 just keep it up. You won't be seeing me, but some- 
 how I '11 learn what's doing and you just remember, 
 even if I ain't around, that I '11 be backing you up in 
 every play." 
 
 He was out of the car and had closed the door be- 
 fore she could so much as say "good-bye"; and the 
 drawn curtain did not even permit her to see the deft 
 manner in which he transferred himself unnoticed from 
 the car to the milling crowd upon the sidewalk. 
 
 After a few minutes she recalled the problem of her 
 necessary transformation. Ten minutes later, her taxi 
 paid off, she stepped through one entrance of a big and 
 busy department store, a figure in deep mourning ; and 
 a few minutes afterwards she emerged from another en- 
 trance, her face a bit pale and sober, perhaps, but other- 
 wise a pretty young girl seemingly out on a midsummer 
 shopping expedition. By the middle of the afternoon 
 she was back at Silver Bluffs.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 3 1 7 
 
 Joy grief joy again: youth is so elastic of spirit 
 that it can pass from one extreme to the other of its emo- 
 tional compass almost as easily and rapidly as a trained 
 singer passes from high note to low note and then sweeps 
 thrillingly again into the upper range. The swiftness of 
 the emotional phases through which Jennie was yet to 
 pass that day, though later she privately rebuked herself 
 for instability, was but proof of her youth's great resil- 
 ience. 
 
 While she was changing into a light summer frock, a 
 maid brought her word that Sue was waiting for her on 
 the pier. But when she came out upon the great stone 
 dock, no Sue was in sight. She decided that Sue must be 
 out on the landing platform of solid masonry to which a 
 stone stairway descended, and she strolled out to the 
 end of the pier. Sure enough down on the platform there 
 was Sue. And also there was another figure Kenneth. 
 
 Of a sudden Jennie's heart began to go madly. Sue 
 saw her at once and called to her to come down. Ken- 
 neth turned, and she saw that the drawn face which she 
 had last beheld in that after-midnight scene in the li- 
 brary, over a month before, was now brown and agleam 
 with vitality. Kenneth also called to her, and with steps 
 that she strove to make steady she descended. 
 
 "Why why I did n't even know you were com- 
 ing home ! " she exclaimed as she took the hand Kenneth 
 reached up to her. 
 
 "NeitherdidI!" helaughed. "Not till four days ago." 
 
 "Then Sue must have known for four days you 
 were coming. Why did n't you tell me, Sue?" 
 
 There was no answer from Sue. Surprised at this, 
 Jennie looked about. Sue was already up the stairway ; 
 in an instant she had vanished over the top of the pier.
 
 218 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 And then life for Jennie moved with bewildering 
 swiftness. 
 
 Kenneth laid his other hand on the hand he was hold- 
 ing. "Jennie, look me straight in the eyes," he com- 
 manded in a low voice. She obeyed. "Here's what I 
 came home for: I came home to ask you whether, when 
 you were so nice to me a month or so ago, you were just 
 flirting, or whether you really cared?" 
 
 The suddenness, the complete unexpectedness, of it 
 all utterly swept away her power of speech. She could 
 only gaze at him. She could not even think. But her 
 eyes perceived how eager was his handsome face, she 
 was conscious what a graceful figure he made in his 
 white flannels. . . . There was a long moment of silence 
 down there on that platform, shut off from all but the 
 sea, with the water rhythmically plashing over the 
 edge a long moment, while they gazed eye into eye. 
 
 "Because," he said at length, "out there, all alone, 
 I could n't help remembering how nice you had been to 
 me. And whether you care or not I care!" 
 
 She had enough of woman's instinctive evasiveness to 
 reply: "But I thought that Gloria was " 
 
 "There are two things I awoke to while out there 
 in the West," he interrupted. "One was that I really 
 never cared for Gloria. The other was that I really 
 cared for you. And I Ve come home to tell you how 
 much I love you and to ask whether you care a little 
 and to ask if you will marry me." 
 
 She had known him in his earlier attitude toward her, 
 as half in earnest, as amusedly superior, but there was 
 no doubting his full earnestness at this moment. She 
 did not at once reply. She had not analyzed her feel- 
 ings for him before this; and within her was too great a
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 219 
 
 whirl for her to analyze them now. She did not know 
 whether she really loved him ; but she had been, and was 
 now more than ever, fascinated by his personal charm 
 to which was added, in her subconscious mind, the at- 
 traction of his manner of perfect ease in the great world, 
 the knowledge of his worldly success. It came to her in 
 this swift moment that though she had planned and 
 worked to get on, she had not planned for just this 
 achievement; and it also came to her, should her an- 
 swer be yes, it would open the doors to the fulfillment 
 of all her ambitions and the ambitions that others had 
 dreamed for her. 
 
 "Jennie do you care?" he huskily insisted. 
 
 Her eyes, very bright, met his; her voice was a breath- 
 less, bewildered whisper. 
 
 " I think I care for you more than for any other " 
 
 He did not let her finish. "Jennie," he cried, and took 
 her in his arms. Thrilled, gasping, she gave herself to 
 his embrace, and her head sank upon his shoulder 
 and she rested there, quivering, a chaos of amazement, 
 of half-frightened ecstatic happiness. . . . 
 
 But presently, even in these supreme moments while 
 she first rested upon the shoulder of her wonderful lover, 
 her divided soul, her habit of looking back into the 
 world she had left, asserted itself. Her mind flashed to 
 two hours before and she saw her father as he made his 
 sudden exit from her taxicab, his grim, unhandsome 
 face working with hunger and gloating pride ; and again 
 she heard his gruff unsteady whisper, "Remember 
 I '11 be backing you up in every play!" 
 
 When he learned about this, what would her father 
 think?
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 BLACK JERRY INSURES JENNIE'S HAPPINESS 
 
 AN hour later, when Jennie and Kenneth mounted 
 from the wave-washed landing of stone where 
 life for Jennie had taken such a gaspingly swift 
 upward flight, it had been decided that Kenneth's fam- 
 ily was at once to be told of the engagement. To Jen- 
 nie's bewilderment over the event itself was added the 
 suspense of how the family would take it. She was 
 suddenly and acutely conscious that in the matter of 
 her social desirability she was far, far less than they be- 
 lieved her and they believed her to be just a likable 
 girl, an orphan, without fortune and without position. 
 
 But before Kenneth was half through his first sen- 
 tence, Mrs. Harrison had grasped what had happened, 
 and Jennie's suspense instantly was gone. Mrs. Harri- 
 son took Jennie into her arms, her kindly eyes flushed 
 with sudden tears. 
 
 "It's just what I've been wishing for this long, long 
 time ! " she cried. " I 'm so happy, my dear so happy ! " 
 
 And Sue Sue found such part of the English lan- 
 guage as twenty years and Braithewood Hall had placed 
 at her command totally inadequate for her delight. 
 Her happiness could only express itself in ejaculations, 
 hugs, perfervid kisses. And when, a little later, Mr. Har- 
 rison returned upon the Myra, he accepted Jennie with 
 all the heartiness she could have expected of him. It 
 seemed that the whole family was a harmonious unit of 
 pleasure over Jennie's prospective entrance into the 
 family.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 221 
 
 But after dinner, up in Mrs. Harrison's sitting-room, 
 where Mr. Harrison had asked to see her, Mr. Harrison 
 began without preface. 
 
 "Kate, I Ve got to say I'm not exactly pleased with 
 this engagement." 
 
 "Why not?" inquired his wife. "Don't you like 
 Jennie?" 
 
 " I like her, yes I like her very much as a person. 
 But beyond what she may be in herself, she does n't 
 represent anything, and she won't bring anything to 
 Kenneth." 
 
 Mrs. Harrison spoke rather sadly. "There you go 
 being very worldly again." 
 
 " One's got to be worldly, Kate," he replied dog- 
 gedly, "to hold one's place in the world or to win a 
 higher place!" 
 
 "But why need one bother about one's place in the 
 world?" 
 
 " I know you need not you were born at the top, and 
 so it's all a matter of course to you. But I was not; and 
 I pulled you down, out of the circle of your friends. Of 
 course we've gone up a lot since then, but I've got 
 enough of a man's pride in me to want to place my fam- 
 ily on what was your level before we married and a 
 higher level if I can!" 
 
 "I am satisfied, James." 
 
 "But I am not! I don't object to Jennie as an indi- 
 vidual. With all his popularity almost any girl would 
 have said yes to Kenneth. There are plenty of other 
 girls just as pretty and nice as Jennie is and one of 
 these would have had money and position, which would 
 have helped Kenneth up a lot. And while I'm about 
 it," he went on doggedly, "I might as well say some-
 
 222 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 thing else : I 've been quiet about it because I thought 
 something just as good might develop for Kenneth. 
 Kate, I think that that Gloria Raymond affair was 
 taken altogether too seriously. I admit Gloria is head- 
 strong, and I admit what she did was n't particularly 
 admirable. But she could have settled down, and her 
 money and position would at once have put Kenneth at 
 the front of New York's foremost young men of affairs 
 and with such a start where could n't Kenneth finish ! " 
 
 Mrs. Harrison replied with a decision one might 
 not have expected in a character where graciousness 
 seemed the chief element. "Money and position are n't 
 everything! And particularly in Kenneth's case, they're 
 not what he needs most. Jennie has brains, and char- 
 acter, and strength and these things she can give will 
 in the end be of greatest help. We might as well be 
 frank with ourselves abput Kenneth : with all his abili- 
 ties, he has his strain of weakness. The real force and 
 character in Jennie may be what, if she gets time and 
 a real chance, is necessary to make Kenneth into a big, 
 substantial, human man. And to have my son a real 
 man that to me must always be the dominant con- 
 cern about Kenneth." 
 
 Mr. Harrison shrugged his shoulders. "Well, there's 
 not much use in discussing which is the better way, since 
 the matter is settled." He moved about restlessly for 
 a moment, then turned back upon his wife. "All the 
 same," he said abruptly, "it might have been better for 
 Kenneth, and for all of us, if the girl in the case had posi- 
 tion and money." 
 
 She replied to the look in his eyes rather than to his 
 words. "What 's the matter, James? Business worries? " 
 
 "Yes. And the right sort of connections might help
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 223 
 
 us out of those worries. The business relationship with 
 Mr. Conway may not prove as profitable or agreeable 
 as in the past." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "He faces trouble, and if it comes to pass we're cer- 
 tain to suffer. Back of it all is a political feud between 
 Mr. Conway and a man named Murdock, and it does n't 
 look promising for Mr. Conway. It 's partly politics 
 a fight for district leadership. You would n't under- 
 stand it; I don't understand it myself." 
 
 Mr. Harrison did not add that as a careful business 
 man, who wished to keep all his connections respecta- 
 ble, or remain ignorant of such as were not, he had 
 avoided trying to understand it; and he did not add 
 that since the Sunday several weeks back when Con 
 way had called upon him, he had used all the influence 
 he could exert through his most powerful social and 
 financial connections upon Murdock, and Murdock had 
 seemed still recalcitrant and determined. He was filled 
 with forebodings not on account of what might hap- 
 pen to Conway but on account of what Conway had 
 so clearly and truly stated might happen to the business 
 of Harrison and Company. 
 
 While Mr. and Mrs. Harrison discussed and considered, 
 Jennie, having excused herself and gone up to her room, 
 also considered. Her dominant feeling toward Kenneth 
 was still bewildered fascination ; toward herself person- 
 ally her feeling was that she was going up, up breath- 
 lessly, magically up! And she would help Kenneth 
 make a great place in the world a very great place ! 
 She felt swelling within herself the power to do this. 
 
 And then she thought again of her father her mind 
 lingered upon him. What, indeed, would he say when he
 
 224 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 learned? In her exalted spirits, a great idea was sud- 
 denly born. There was one thing she might do, after 
 she had become Kenneth's wife and had come to be the 
 person of power which she intended to be: she would 
 use her influence, indirectly of course, to have removed 
 from her father that stigma of double murder which he 
 had borne for fifteen years. Yes she would do it! . . . 
 
 She decided that she should at once tell her father 
 of her engagement. Late at night, in a disguised hand, 
 she wrote an unsigned note to him, which she sealed 
 and enclosed in a letter to Uncle George, a letter which 
 would mean nothing if it fell into the possession of the 
 wrong person, but which Uncle George would under- 
 stand. Then she slipped out of the house unobserved, 
 and out of the grounds, and dropped the letter into a 
 village post-box. 
 
 The letter was not taken up until the next morning, 
 and Uncle George did not receive it until the next 
 evening when he came back to dress for dinner to his 
 apartment on Central Park West : Uncle George, though 
 he liked the easy life of the restaurants and hotels of 
 Broadway, preferred for his hours of rest and relaxation 
 a roomy, quiet place such as he had, managed by a 
 suavely efficient Japanese servant. Uncle George could 
 not break his dinner appointment, but at nine o'clock 
 he passed through the Pekin, whose two-piece orchestra 
 had just begun its evening's work, and with Black Jerry 
 entered the little office at the rear. When the two men 
 were seated at the little table he handed Black Jerry the 
 enclosure. 
 
 Black Jerry read the note, then he lit a match and 
 burned it. When he looked up, his black eyes were 
 gleaming.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 225 
 
 "Am I to be let in on what it's all about?" demanded 
 Uncle George. "Of course I know it's news from 
 Jennie." 
 
 Black Jerry told him. There was a brief silence, the 
 two men gazing steadily at each other. 
 
 "Did n't I say my Jennie had as much right to a 
 chance as any other man's kid!" Black Jerry presently 
 exclaimed exultantly. "Did n't I say I 'd give my kid a 
 chance ! And ain't I ! And did n't I say she was clever 
 enough to make good in any chance I give her! And ain't 
 she made good!" 
 
 "She sure has, Jerry!" returned Uncle George, jubi- 
 lant yet solemn. ' ' Well, we have put the big thing across ! 
 I said it had to be a slow plan but, Jerry, we have put 
 it across!" 
 
 Jerry ordered in a split of champagne, and these two 
 shapers of life silently drank to their own success and to 
 Jennie. 
 
 "She's already won big," said Uncle George, with 
 eyes meditatively peering into the future. "And yet 
 she's only just beginning! I wonder how far she's going 
 to go." 
 
 "She's clever, my Jennie is," was Black Jerry's proud 
 response. 
 
 "Yes, she's clever," Uncle George nodded. "God 
 only knows how far she'll go!" 
 
 Once more there was silence. Then Uncle George 
 spoke on in his solemn tone: 
 
 "We've put the big thing over, Jerry. Our job is 
 done we're through. And this means, Jerry, that 
 more than ever you've got to keep out of her life. If 
 it was n't ended before between you and her, it 's ended 
 now."
 
 226 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "Sure, I understood that. But if she ever needs 
 me " 
 
 "Of course you and me '11 stand behind her, ready to 
 back her up. We'll keep our eyes open, but we've got 
 to stick behind the scenes, Jerry you bet we 've got 
 to stick behind the scenes for if we ever made any 
 slip and those swells got wise to Jennie, there 'd sure 
 be one God-awful crash!" 
 
 Jerry nodded. His dark face was fixed meditatively 
 on the old man for a space ; then he asked : 
 
 "What kind of a guy is this fellow Jennie's going to 
 marry?" 
 
 "He's one of the young swells I don't know such a 
 lot about, though we 're friends when we meet. He 's 
 around town a lot, and he likes his good time same as 
 the other young fellows of his sort." 
 
 "Girls?" 
 
 "Can't say, Jerry. In that line he's either damned 
 good or damned cautious. The worst thing I really know 
 about him is that he's tied up with Slim Jackson in a 
 show or two." 
 
 "That doesn't listen very good to me, his mixing 
 in with Slim Jackson. D' you think he '11 treat her square, 
 Uncle George?" 
 
 "Why not, Jerry? What are you thinking about?" 
 
 "Nothing." 
 
 But Black Jerry was thinking of something, and long 
 after Uncle George had gone, and all the next day, that 
 thought kept rising and mixing with his pride and exul- 
 tation in Jennie's rise, and mixing in with his fierce af- 
 fection for her. In consequence, he that evening hired a 
 touring car, and goggled as he had been on the day ol 
 Jennie's graduation, he rode out toward Silver Bluffs.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 227 
 
 At ten o'clock he left the car on the roadside a quar- 
 ter of a mile away from Silver Bluffs and crept inside 
 the grounds. He had had training neither as burglar 
 nor as spy, but he would have made a fair success at 
 the precarious trade of either. Hid among the shrub- 
 bery he watched the house, studying, listening to such 
 talk as he could overhear; and he slipped about the 
 grounds getting the location of the outbuildings, and the 
 lay of the land, and particularly noting the Myra which 
 lay at anchor in the little harbor. 
 
 The three following nights he did the same. On the 
 fourth night, at about half-past ten, he broke the lock 
 of the boathouse and, subduing his voice, he telephoned 
 up to the big house asking that Mr. Kenneth be told 
 that the captain of the Myra wished that certain or- 
 ders left for the morrow be made more clear, and that 
 the captain would be awaiting him upon the pier. 
 
 There was a turn in the path that led down from the 
 house, and at this turn there was a clump of thick shrub- 
 bery. Behind this Jerry stationed himself. Presently 
 he heard footsteps, and after a few moments a solitary 
 figure came around the turn. In the darkness he could 
 only see that the figure was a man. He stepped for- 
 ward and saluted sailor-fashion. 
 
 "Mr. Kenneth Harrison, sir?" he inquired. 
 
 "Yes," confirmed the other. "But where 's Captain 
 Graham?" 
 
 Jerry stepped closer. "That message about the cap- 
 tain was just a fake to get you out here." 
 
 "Then this is a hold-up!" cried Kenneth, and in- 
 stantly his fist shot out at his dim opponent. 
 
 But Jerry had been on the alert; and he had eyes to 
 which night was almost the same as day. Even as Ken-
 
 228 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 neth struck, both his wrists were seized; and country 
 club athlete though he was, he was helpless in those 
 twin grips. 
 
 "Listen," said Black Jerry. "I ain't going to hurt you. 
 I just want to talk to you." 
 
 "What about?" 
 
 "The girl you're going to marry Jennie Miller." 
 
 "Jennie Miller!" exclaimed Kenneth. "Who are 
 you?" 
 
 Black Jerry had given much thought to this point. 
 " I 'm a sort of cousin pretty distant have n't seen 
 Jennie since she came East I '11 never figure for any- 
 thing in her life. Jennie writes to her people out West 
 about her engagement ; no close relatives, but some peo- 
 ple who think a lot of Jennie we all do that, though 
 we 're nobody compared to her. So they wires me to look 
 over what sort of a fellow this Harrison is. You get me? " 
 
 "Yes." Kenneth had begun to recover his composure. 
 "And what sort of fellow do you think this Harrison is? " 
 
 "I don't know. And since I don't know, here's what 
 I got to say to you." Jerry's naturally heavy voice, sub- 
 dued though it was, was vibrant with menace. "Some 
 people say I 'm a tough guy, and mebbe I am. I 'm go- 
 ing to be watching you all the while but I '11 never 
 bother you and you'll never see me if you treat Jennie 
 right. But if you don't treat her square" Jerry was 
 now holding the two wrists in his big left hand, and his 
 right hand had slipped up and closed softly about the 
 other's throat "if you don't treat Jennie square, I'll 
 wring your damned neck off. So I guess you'd better 
 treat her square. Remember I '11 be watching. That's all 
 I want to say." 
 
 He drew quickly back into the shrubbery and slipped
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 229 
 
 through the heavy shadows, out of the grounds. To 
 Jerry's mind his action had been a wise precaution. 
 When there was the slightest doubt about a man, stiffen 
 him up in advance by throwing into him the fear of 
 God or the devil : that was plain common sense as Life 
 had taught it to Jerry Malone. What he had just done 
 was the only further thing he could do which would 
 guarantee the safety and happiness of Jennie's future. 
 
 Within the house, somewhat shaken, Kenneth told 
 Jennie of his experience. "He had a deep growl of a 
 voice, and though I'm no weakling he could have 
 twisted my arm right off if he had wanted to. He said he 
 was a sort of relative of yours a cousin. Who was he, 
 Jennie?" 
 
 Jennie knew well enough who the man was. So her 
 father had gone to such an extreme for her sake! But 
 though dictated by love, she saw his action for that 
 moment as ill-considered, as a terrible risk. She had a 
 feeling that Kenneth was eyeing her suspiciously. For 
 an instant she trembled inwardly lest the whole truth 
 should come out right then and there. 
 
 But she controlled herself and spoke steadily enough. 
 "Yes, I suppose the man is a sort of relative." She 
 forced a smile. "As I've always told you, I'm very 
 much of a nobody. And my people out West, or such 
 as are left, are pretty rough and direct." 
 
 Kenneth smiled though wryly and she knew 
 that her danger was over, if indeed there had been any. 
 "Your cousin was direct, all right! Even if I didn't 
 want to treat you square, as he put it, just because 
 I love you, I 'd certainly do it after having had those 
 hands about my throat. But, Jennie, do you mind calling 
 the cousin off? I never did like big dogs."
 
 230 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "I will if I can reach him," promised Jennie. 
 
 "Since mother sent out the announcement of our en- 
 gagement this afternoon," Kenneth went on, "it'll 
 probably be in to-morrow morning's papers and 
 reading it in black and white may reassure and quiet 
 him a bit." 
 
 "Yes, I think it will," Jennie agreed.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 HARRY EDWARDS LEARNS THE NEWS 
 
 NOT very far from the Pekin, and not far from 
 the Criminal Courts Building, and not far from 
 the City Hall where the formalities relative to 
 such items as public contracts are conducted, there 
 stood and still stands a grimy unpretentious brick build- 
 ing having upon the plate glass of its first floor the 
 tarnished gilt sign of 
 
 SAMUEL CONWAY 
 REAL ESTATE & INSURANCE 
 
 Always there was a group of men in the big outer 
 office sometimes a crowd ; but none came to sell or 
 buy property, or to safeguard against loss by fire, or to 
 place a little bet (odds fixed by the actuary's handbook) 
 upon the great race between Life and Death. Sam 
 Conway had long since dropped business of such a 
 sort; his quarters had become an unofficial sub-station 
 of the city government. Here many a matter was pri- 
 vately worked out and privately settled, later to be 
 submitted in City Hall to the public approval of a per- 
 functory vote. 
 
 The time was ten o'clock of the morning following 
 Black Jerry's brief scene with Kenneth Harrison; and 
 in the inner office, alone together, sat Harry Edwards 
 and Sam Conway himself, his bulk swelling over and 
 under the arms of his swivel chair. 
 
 "Glad to see you, Harry," he was saying in his hearty
 
 232 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 voice. "Everything moving along all right for you over 
 to the office?" 
 
 "My end of things is going great thanks to you, 
 Sam!" exclaimed Harry. 
 
 "Thank yourself, my boy!" with a deprecatory 
 wave of a big hand, and a genial smile on his florid face. 
 It was easy to see why men liked Sam Conway and 
 would fight for him : he never belittled them. "Of course, 
 I may be able to put you in the way of a good chance, 
 but the rest is all up to you. If you make good, it's be- 
 cause you are good. But how does it come you 're away 
 from the office in the middle of the morning?" 
 
 "There's something Mr. Harrison wanted to know. 
 Since he did n't want to telephone, I guess he felt it was 
 confidential." 
 
 "Shoot, Harry," said the big man jocularly. "I got 
 too many good friends in the Police Department for 
 them to plant any listening machines about this shop." 
 
 "Mr. Harrison seemed worried about this Murdock 
 mix-up. He wanted to know if there were any new 
 developments." 
 
 Conway's face became grave. "I guess I don't need 
 to tell you, Harry, that there's nothing to all this stuff 
 Murdock says he can prove against me. Nothing 
 crooked, I mean." 
 
 "Of course not!" Harry exclaimed. "You're square 
 as they make 'em! There's nothing to Murdock but 
 just jealousy and spite!" 
 
 " I guess you've got it sized up just about right. But 
 thanks for feeling that way about me." He paused, 
 eyes full on Harry, then spoke with deliberation. "All 
 the same, Harry, you might as well know that if he can 
 go through with all he's threatened, I'm done for
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 233 
 
 finished I 'm a has-been. And it may even mean a 
 stretch in the pen for me. Of course he's got some 
 papers ; I Ve tried to help some friends in my time, and 
 those papers can be twisted to look mighty bad." 
 
 "They're all rot!" Harry declared loyally. "And 
 Murdock'll never put it across!" 
 
 "No, I don't think Murdock will," the other said with 
 Jjuiet incisiveness. 
 
 "Shall I tell Mr. Harrison that?" 
 
 "Yes." And then, as Harry started to rise "Wait 
 a minute." Conway regarded the young man stead- 
 ily. "How much you getting now, Harry?" 
 
 "Fifty a week." 
 
 Without remark Conway reached for the desk tele- 
 phone, and after a minute he was talking with Mr. Har- 
 rison. "This is Sam Conway. I want Harry Edwards's 
 salary raised to seventy-five a week, the raise to date 
 back to the first of the month. He's to be put on some 
 things I'm specially interested in I'll tell you just 
 what when I see you. Good-bye." 
 
 "Why, Sam " began the astounded and gratified 
 Harry. 
 
 "Cut out the thanks. I take care of my friends when 
 they've proved that they are my friends and when 
 they've proved they can do the work. You're worth 
 the raise. You'll get your orders later. That 's all there 
 is to that. So let's forget it." 
 
 Harry's lips did not speak, but his soul was eloquent. 
 It was wonderful, this straightforward, big-man's method 
 Conway had of doing fair and generous things and then 
 instantly dismissing them. 
 
 "And here's another thing you might tell Mr. Harri- 
 son," Conway went on. " I think there's a good chance
 
 234 ^ Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 for this Murdock matter to blow over. Some friends 
 have arranged for us to meet to-night and we 're go- 
 ing to have dinner together; they think if we're brought 
 together we may patch things up." 
 
 "Mr. Harrison will be mighty glad to hear that," 
 said Harry. 
 
 "Then to-day ought to be a good day for him," said 
 Conway "this coming on top of the engagement in 
 his family." 
 
 1 ' What engagement ? ' ' 
 
 "His son's. Didn't you see it in the papers this 
 morning?" 
 
 " I 've hardly had a chance to look at to-day's papers. 
 I suppose it is to that Miss Raymond." 
 
 "No. That was n't the name in the paper. When I 
 read it, I had an idea it was that dark girl we met that 
 day out at Harrison's place. Here's the paper it was 
 in" taking a newspaper from his desk "and here's 
 the piece about it. Miller Jennie Miller is her name. 
 Why what's the matter, Harry?" 
 
 Harry had risen, his face suddenly white and haggard. 
 "Give me the paper, Sam!" he exclaimed huskily, and 
 seized the newspaper from Conway's hands. Yes, there 
 it was in print! His feverish eyes took in the main 
 facts: "Mrs. James Harrison announces . . . Kenneth 
 Harrison . . . Miss Jennie Miller . . . marriage at early 
 date . . ." 
 
 "What's the matter, Harry?" repeated Conway. 
 
 Harry swayed so that he caught hold of the desk to 
 save himself. "It's it's I just suddenly feel sick, 
 Sam. Will you get those messages over to Mr. Harrison 
 somehow and and tell him I 'm sick. Good-bye." 
 
 "See here, Harry "
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 235 
 
 But Harry was already swaying toward the door, and 
 did not pause. Out on the sidewalk he lurched along 
 like a man in liquor, save that his head was up and his 
 eyes were wildly staring. For several minutes he did 
 not know what he was doing, or where he was his 
 walk was wild, purposeless. His brain, his soul, was 
 fiery, agonizing chaos. So Jennie was to be married ! . . , 
 
 His throbbing chaos did not lessen, but presently out 
 of it emerged a purpose. At eleven o'clock he entered 
 the apartment house on Central Park West, pushed by 
 the Japanese valet-butler who answered his ring and 
 strode into Uncle George's bedroom, closing the door 
 behind him. The old man, propped up in bed with many 
 pillows, was having his morning coffee. 
 
 "I say, Harry what's broke loose?" cried the old 
 man, staring at the frantic figure that had stormed hia 
 bedroom. 
 
 "You know about Jennie Malone's engagement to 
 Kenneth Harrison?" 
 
 "Why, I suppose I do, Harry." Uncle George set his 
 cup on his breakfast tray. "But what's that got to do 
 with this calling out of the fire department?" 
 
 "I've always loved her! I've always expected to 
 marry her! and I 've simply got to see her!" 
 
 Uncle George blinked his lashless eyes at this passion- 
 ate outbreak. He spoke drawlingly, with purpose in his 
 deliberation. 
 
 "All that being so, why do you burst in here like this, 
 making me spill coffee on the handsomest pajamas in 
 New York not owned by a woman? " 
 
 " Because I know you Ve got some safe way of getting 
 quick word to Jennie. I 've got to see her, and it 's up to 
 you to arrange it."
 
 236 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 ''Sorry, Harry, but you've spoiled a first-class cup 
 of coffee and ruined some ne plus ultra pajamas all for 
 nothing. There 's not a thing I " 
 
 "Oh, yes, you can and you will ! I don't want to do 
 anything that'll hurt Jennie God knows I don't! 
 but unless you fix matters and give me a chance to see 
 her and argue my side of this case, I'll smash every- 
 thing. I '11 tell all I know! That may be a rotten thing 
 to do but I 'm crazy over this and I '11 do it, Uncle 
 George I '11 do it!" 
 
 Uncle George perceived that mere words, however 
 adroit, would not avert this danger that this grief- 
 maddened young man would certainly act, if not 
 properly handled. Only a few nights before, down in 
 the Pekin, he and Black Jerry had said that their great 
 plan had been brought to a triumphant finish, that 
 henceforth they were to be out of Jennie's life. But 
 there had been a proviso that they were to come to 
 Jennie's aid if she should need them. Well, she cer- 
 tainly was now in danger. And this was not a situation 
 where Black Jerry could help; Uncle George perceived 
 that he must play the cards for both Black Jerry and 
 himself. 
 
 "Suppose you have a talk with Jennie, and suppose 
 she still says no what then? " demanded Uncle George. 
 
 "If she still says no, I'll swallow my medicine and 
 never say a word." 
 
 "Remember, Harry, that's a promise." 
 
 Silently Uncle George reached for the telephone be- 
 side his bed and called a Long Island number. There 
 was a long wait it seemed interminable to Harry; 
 then Uncle George said in precise, business-like voice- 
 totally unlike his own:
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 237 
 
 "The office of Taylor and Johnson wishes to speak to 
 Miss Miller, please." There was another long wait; then 
 Uncle George's voice of a chief clerk spoke again. 
 "Hello Is this Miss Miller? . . .This is Mr. Har- 
 per, of Taylor and Johnson. The firm finds it necessary 
 to ask you to come in to the office some time this after- 
 noon. . . ." 
 
 A minute passed with Uncle George listening. "Hold 
 the wire one moment, please," requested Uncle George's 
 clerical voice. He looked up at Harry, covering the 
 mouth-piece with his hand. 
 
 "She says Mrs. Harrison has arranged a party this 
 afternoon especially for some people to meet her; she 
 cannot possibly break that engagement. And this eve- 
 ning she was going to be in town with Sue Harrison to 
 have dinner with Kenneth and " 
 
 "Let her get out of that engagement with Kenneth 
 Harrison!" cried Harry. "And I don't care how she 
 gets out of it!" 
 
 Uncle George considered; then spoke into the tele- 
 phone again. "The firm requests me to ask you to call 
 up Mr. Taylor at the Biltmore at eight-fifteen. He may 
 have news for you. . . . Thank you. Good-bye." 
 
 "Well?" demanded Harry as Uncle George hung up. 
 
 "She'll meet us. Now, you go into my front room, 
 and let an old man think about our end of the how and 
 where." 
 
 While Harry strode restlessly up and down the living- 
 room, pausing now and then to gaze with unseeing eyes 
 out upon the midsummer greenness of Central Park, 
 Uncle George lay considering. Where should he arrange 
 this meeting? which at the best would be dangerous. 
 He could smuggle the pair into his apartment for an
 
 238 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 hour. But, no; for them to meet any place where they 
 were not seen or observed might remove all restraint 
 from Harry; in his present frenzied mood, despite his 
 promise, he might lose control of himself, he might do 
 almost any desperate act. If they could meet in a public 
 place, the very presence of others would impose self-con- 
 trol upon Harry. But that also was dangerous; such a 
 public meeting might lead to recognition. And thus on 
 and on Uncle George thought, measuring danger against 
 danger, advantage against advantage . . . until an idea 
 came to him that combined the good qualities of both 
 privacy and publicity though even in this there was 
 risk. He thought of the little alcove on the Grantham 
 roof garden, a part of the big roof and yet screened off 
 from it. It could be privately reached, he remembered, 
 by a tiny elevator which had been installed by the former 
 owner of the Grantham for his exclusive use when he 
 had made his home in a small tower that reached two 
 stories above the roof. Uncle George knew all men 
 along Broadway; therefore he knew the manager of the 
 roof garden of the Grantham, and after two minutes 
 on the telephone the screened alcove was his for that 
 evening. 
 
 Arrayed in a purple dressing-gown, he told Harry 
 where the meeting was to be and how the alcove was to 
 be reached. "Be there at eight-thirty, son, and wait; 
 no telling just when Jennie can show up. And wear your 
 evening gown." 
 
 " How '11 Jennie get there?'* 
 
 "It won't be easy. But you leave it to her; she'll 
 manage it. And also leave it to your Uncle George." 
 
 The afternoon was a period of burning suspense and 
 searing misery to Harry. But at half-past eight, using
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 239 
 
 an almost unnoticeable doorway in a side street he en- 
 tered a small hallway of the Grantham, and was shot 
 upward in the little elevator, run by a wrinkled little 
 man with the quick, furtive look of one who has been 
 schooled to see everything and tell nothing. On step- 
 ping out he found himself in the secluded corner Uncle 
 George had described to him. There was a table set for 
 three. Through the barrier of foliage at his shoulder, he 
 could see the big roof beyond filling with early dancers. 
 Hardly conscious of the light-hearted world curtained 
 off from him by only a few leaves, he sat at the little 
 table, tensely waiting, and striving to gather his forces 
 for the approaching scene, which was to be the supreme 
 crisis, the greatest fight, of his life.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE GREAT CROSS-ROADS 
 
 IT was nine o'clock when the private door through 
 which he had entered opened again and Jennie ap- 
 peared, Uncle George behind her. Uncle George 
 immediately stepped back through the door, it closed, 
 and Jennie came forward alone. She was a bit pale that 
 first moment, but she crossed easily and gave her hand 
 to Harry, who had risen unsteadily. 
 
 "Good-evening, Harry. Shall we sit down? Sorry to 
 be so late. But I was with a party of people, and it was 
 hard to get away. I managed so that we did n't go to a 
 theater; they're all at another roof garden. I went out 
 as if to answer a telephone call I 'd fixed that up with 
 Uncle George and I sent back word that I 'd had a 
 message from a friend and had to see the friend at once 
 for a little while, and they were to wait for me. So here 
 I am, Harry." 
 
 She was speaking almost against time ; she washed to 
 get control both of the situation and of herself. "Uncle 
 George said you wanted to talk to me," she went on. 
 " Be as quick as you can about it, for I Ve got to hurry 
 back." 
 
 She seemed more beautiful, more desirable than ever, 
 to Harry's eyes : with a filmy scarf of red and gold over 
 her black hair, with her coat falling back from her white 
 shoulders. He could not speak for looking at her. 
 
 "What is it, Harry?" she prompted him. 
 
 "That announcement of your engagement to Ken- 
 neth Harrison is it true?"
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 241 
 
 "It is." 
 
 "Jennie!" he cried, and drew a sharp quivering 
 breath. "Jennie, don't! For my sake, for your sake, 
 don't!" 
 
 "That's no reason, Harry." 
 
 "Well, here is a reason, Jennie; down in your heart 
 I'm the man you really love!" 
 
 Uncle George had told her of the danger; had told her 
 that she must be calm and patient, and she tried so to 
 be. "You've said that before, Harry. But it is n't so. 
 I like you I like you very much, for you 're a nice 
 boy. And I hope you are going to behave so that I may 
 always like you. But it will never be anything else, 
 Harry never! And now I think I 'd better be going." 
 
 Harry's hand shot across the little table as she started 
 to rise and caught her wrist. "You can't leave yet!" he 
 cried with all his heart's desperate eagerness. "You've 
 got to hear me through! Can't you see what this means 
 to me? It's my last chance you Ve got to give me my 
 chance, Jennie! And whatever your decision may be, 
 I '11 never bother you again I swear I '11 never bother 
 you! if only you'll listen to me now!" 
 
 She sank back into her chair. His words rushed on. 
 "Jennie, listen to your own heart! Be your own self! 
 I know you love me we've always loved each other! " 
 And then he went back and pictured their childhood 
 pictured it in detail the experiences they had shared 
 the dreams they had dreamt together. "And that 
 night when you were arrested, and you disappeared, I 
 loved you ' and later when I found out what you were 
 doing, I loved you, and I determined that I was going to 
 work hard and develop and be somebody big. And all 
 these years I 've been doing that, Jennie. I Ve built
 
 242 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 my whole life on you, Jennie! You are not really going 
 to throw me down, Jennie spoil your happiness 
 spoil my happiness spoil everything that might be 
 you 're not going to do that, Jennie! When I 'm will- 
 ing to keep on waiting, when I'm willing to fight my 
 way to the top for your sake. Listen here's some- 
 thing that'll show you: I've just been raised from fifty 
 to seventy-five a week, and that 's only the beginning ! I 
 know that, compared to Kenneth Harrison in a worldly 
 sense, I'm nobody; he's got money and he's a swell 
 to boot. But I '11 work, Jennie I '11 wait just break 
 off this engagement and give me a chance to prove what 
 I can do!" 
 
 Jennie was, indeed, strangely moved by the torrent 
 of words that had rushed up from his heart she 
 felt a strange ache in his behalf. But she shook her 
 head. 
 
 "I'm sorry, Harry. But it's no use. I like you, I like 
 you a lot but I don't like you that way." 
 
 He returned to the charge desperately, and went over 
 it all again. In the midst of his plea, Uncle George, who 
 had given them three quarters of an hour alone, took the 
 third chair. When Harry ended, Jennie again shook her 
 head. 
 
 "Now, let me have my little say, Harry, since Jennie 
 has given you her answer," put in Uncle George. "And 
 what I say, I say not so much for myself as I say for 
 Black Jerry. Years ago he saw that, with his bad name, 
 the only way for Jennie to have a chance was for her to 
 cut entirely loose from him and be somebody else. 
 She's done that, and she now is certainly somebody. 
 If you were to marry her, it would naturally come out 
 that she's Black Jerry's daughter and Black Jerry,
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 24.* 
 
 after all he 's done, would never stand for that happen- 
 ing to her." 
 
 "I don't care whose daughter she is," cried Harry. 
 "It's all the same to me!" 
 
 "We don't even need to discuss that, Harry," Jennie 
 spoke up. "The only points that count are that I don't 
 love you, and that my mind is made up." 
 
 "Then you really think you are going to marry Ken- 
 neth Harrison?" he demanded. 
 
 "I am," she declared. 
 
 " By God, you 're not ! " he exploded. " He may have 
 money and be a swell, but he's not fit " 
 
 "Shut up!" she cried as sharply as ever in the old 
 Pekin days. Her dark eyes were blazing at him. " If 
 you change to the course of running another man down, 
 it'll merely show you up as a cheap cad! And I won't 
 believe it! And what's more, I '11 ask Kenneth to marry 
 me to-morrow!" 
 
 They glared at each other. For a moment they sat 
 silent, their gazes defiant. Then a low, pleasant voice 
 said: 
 
 4 ' Good-evening, everybody. ' ' 
 
 They looked up with a start. In the narrow entrance 
 from the roof to this arbor stood Slim Jackson. He ad- 
 vanced toward them, smiling. 
 
 "How are you, Jennie. How 're you, Uncle George. 
 How 're you, Harry." Standing beside the table, a light 
 graceful figure, he glowed good-fellowship down upon 
 them. "Well, well, think of our all meeting together 
 like this! If only Black Jerry were here, it'd be the 
 regular old-time crowd." 
 
 "How did you know we were here?" demanded 
 Uncle George.
 
 244 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "Accident," he answered lightly. "Was dancing by 
 here a minute ago and thought I recognized Harry's 
 voice, a little excited, talking about God and such de- 
 tails; so when the dance was over I just peeped in." 
 
 He now addressed himself to Jennie. " I 'm here with 
 a little party, Gloria Raymond among them." 
 
 "Then you've made up with Gloria?" queried 
 Jennie. 
 
 "There was never anything to make up. I told you 
 there would n't be. I'm sure she'll be glad to see you 
 again, Jennie. Suppose I just bring her in." 
 
 With a smile Slim disappeared through the leafy en- 
 trance. For the moment Jennie forgot the matter of 
 her errand here. If Slim, the unaccountable, the artful, 
 who at times seemingly acted against his obvious inter- 
 ests, were to bring Gloria in here, and the vindictive 
 Gloria were to discover her with Harry Edwards 
 
 "Who is this Gloria?" asked Uncle George, breaking 
 in upon her thought. 
 
 "A girl I went to school with; very rich. We never 
 got on together." 
 
 Slim's voice sounded again close to her ear. There he 
 was standing hardly more than a yard away, on the 
 other side of the greenery, and beside him was Gloria 
 Raymond. 
 
 "Just saw a friend of mine I want you to meet, 
 Gloria." Jennie knew his voice was for her ears; and 
 despite her efforts at self-control she shivered. 
 
 After a few moments Slim gave a chuckling laugh. 
 "Don't seem to place her just now; come on, let's finish 
 this dance" and then Jennie knew that he had been 
 merely playing with her, teasing her, taking delight in 
 hinting at his obvious powers.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 245 
 
 "He's sure a clever guy, Slim Jackson," observed 
 Uncle George, with a sober shake of his head. "What 
 he's done is sure a wonder. But that Gloria person, 
 and any other dame he smiles at, they'd better take 
 out the right sort of insurance policy." 
 
 "Let's forget him," Harry said brusquely. "I'm 
 here to see Jennie, and this is the final show-down!" 
 
 He and Jennie looked at each other across the little 
 table, as fixedly as before Slim's entrance, though there 
 was not now the angry challenge and defiance that there 
 had then been in their gaze. Harry's face was pale and 
 strained. His hand, on top of the table, slowly clenched 
 the cloth into a tight roll. 
 
 "Jennie," he breathed at length, "this is the last 
 time. What is it to be?" 
 
 "I've already told you, Harry." 
 
 "You're going to marry him?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Then . . . this is final?" 
 
 " This is final, Harry." 
 
 She, too, had gone pale as she gazed into the white 
 suffering of her old friend. " I 'm awfully sorry, Harry," 
 and she laid a hand upon the hand that was so tightly 
 gripping the cloth. 
 
 "It wasn't your pity I asked for, Jennie," and he 
 drew his hand from within hers. 
 
 They gazed silently across at each other for several 
 moments. Through the privet trees gayly sounded the 
 strains of a fox trot . . . Jennie drew a long quivering 
 breath. 
 
 "What time is it, Uncle George?" 
 
 "Ten o'clock." 
 
 "That late!" she breathed. " I must be leaving. And
 
 246 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 I I want to go right home. Silver Bluffs, I mean. 
 We were all going to motor back there to-night. If 
 I asked Kenneth to drive over here, do you suppose I 
 could get out the main entrance without you know 
 our being seen together?" 
 
 "Easy," replied Uncle George. 
 
 There was a little wall telephone, all finished in green, 
 in the alcove, and into this Jennie spoke for a minute 
 or so. 
 
 "He said they'd all be waiting down in front in five 
 minutes," she announced when she turned back to the 
 others. 
 
 Uncle George rang the bell of the private elevator. 
 The shriveled little elevator-man with the keen eyes 
 and the closed-seeming face the old man had been 
 picked for this job because of his reticence was a 
 long time in appearing. Neither Jennie nor Harry 
 spoke, and in an attempt to lessen the strain between 
 the two, Uncle George talked with great discernment 
 about nothing in particular and continued his flow 
 of unheeded wisdom down the long descent of the ele- 
 vator. When they were discharged into the tiny hall- 
 way, Uncle George tipped the old man with a dollar; 
 and the old man, giving a glance with his keen eyes at 
 the faces of the silent, distraught young pair, stepped 
 into his cage and disappeared. 
 
 Uncle George pointed to a door. "Jennie, through 
 there is the way to the main lobby. You'd better go 
 alone." 
 
 "All right." She held out her hand to Harry. She 
 had grown yet more pale, and her voice was merely a 
 whisper. "Good-bye, Harry . . . and I know there'll 
 sometime ... be a better girl."
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 247 
 
 He managed to keep himself erect, and gazed straight 
 into her eyes: in his own was the infinite agony of a 
 world that is lost. "Good-bye, Jennie ... I wish you 
 the best of luck." And then again: " I wish you the best 
 of luck!" 
 
 She withdrew her hand and moved down the lit- 
 tle hallway and, slightly bowed, passed through the 
 door Uncle George had indicated. Harry, motionless, 
 watched her to the last. Then silently he and Uncle 
 George stepped from the hallway into the side street. 
 
 The night was raucous with the voices of newsboys 
 shouting an extra. "Sounds like a murder," remarked 
 Uncle George; and bought an "Evening Telegram" 
 from a bellowing vendor. The next instant, his eyes 
 on the huge headline, he clutched Harry's arm. 
 
 "Great God!" he gasped, "Larry Murdock's just 
 been killed!" 
 
 But all Harry's senses were so definitely fixed else- 
 where that he did not even hear Uncle George. He 
 walked on toward the Avenue. 
 
 "And it says they don't know yet who killed him!'* 
 exclaimed Uncle George. 
 
 Harry kept mechanically on. At the corner he paused, 
 and his gaze, turned up the Avenue, fixed upon the front 
 of the hotel. He was not even conscious of Uncle George, 
 at his side, staring with loose face at the "Telegram's" 
 four-line story of the murder. He saw only a low-built 
 touring car in its tonneau two figures, Sue Harrison 
 and Billy Grayson, though he did not then know who 
 they were and in the driver's seat Kenneth Harrison^ 
 Then he saw Kenneth spring out of the car saw Jen- 
 nie come out of the Grantham's main entrance and cross 
 the sidewalk saw Kenneth with a smile on his hand-
 
 248 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 some face, and with the manner of proud ownership, 
 help her in, and place himself at her side and then 
 saw the car move away. 
 
 It was at that moment that to Harry Edwards the 
 world seemed to come to a definite end.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 HOW HARRY USED A USELESS LIFE 
 
 HOW he got there, or why he came there, Harry 
 Edwards never knew; but at twelve o'clock 
 that same night he sank down at a solitary 
 table in Black Jerry's cafe. Perhaps he had been guided 
 by the subconscious urge to get back to the scene of 
 Jennie's early life back where there had been no bar- 
 riers between them. He afterwards remembered only 
 wandering in a wild daze, keeping away from main 
 streets, having no purpose, conscious only of the pain 
 he bore within him; and he remembered slipping once, 
 twice, several times, through doorways in these obscure 
 streets and swallowing the raw stuff they set forth as 
 anodyne for that vast agony which seemed now alone 
 to constitute his being. 
 
 At Black Jerry's he again ordered whiskey and it was 
 brought him. He gulped it down. 
 
 "Telephone call for you a little while ago, Harry," 
 said the waiter. 
 
 "A' ri'," Harry replied indifferently. "Bring 'nother 
 whiskey." 
 
 He noted, very dimly, that the regular habitu6s of the 
 Pekin, those from the neighborhood, were drawn close 
 together in little groups, and were talking in excited 
 undertones. He dimly sensed that there was something 
 out of the usual in their behavior, but he was not con- 
 scious enough to wonder what it might mean. 
 
 He had another drink and another and another. 
 But as yet one more was being brought him, Black
 
 250 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Jerry appeared beside his table and motioned the waiter 
 away. 
 
 "Take back that drink, Sid," Jerry ordered. " Harry 
 don't want it." 
 
 "Wha's tha'?" demanded Harry, angrily trying to 
 rise. "I ordered tha' drink I got money to pay 
 I got ri' to drink it!" 
 
 "Sit down, Harry," and Jerry firmly pushed him back 
 into his chair and sat down beside him. "You ain't 
 used to booze, and you've got more 'n you can carry 
 now. See here, Harry," with gruff kindliness, "I 
 been watching you. Something must have happened to 
 start you off like this. What's wrong?" 
 
 Harry's blood-shot eyes glowered defiantly. "None 
 your damn' business!" 
 
 "Oh, yes, it is. I 've known you since you was a kid. 
 You know I 'm your friend. Come across what 's 
 eating you?" 
 
 Harry pondered this. Then he leaned over the table 
 and whispered: "Jerry, I've jus' seen her!" 
 
 Black Jerry needed no explanation. He glanced about. 
 Their table was in a rear corner, and no one was within 
 hearing distance. 
 
 "You stiff," he whispered, half savagely. "Don't 
 you know that's dangerous! Did anybody see you with 
 her?" 
 
 "Think not. Jus' Jennie Uncle George m'self. 
 Yes, Slim Jackson saw us." 
 
 "Slim Jackson!" A groan sounded deep down in 
 Jerry's chest. " If Slim Jackson starts anything, I '11 at- 
 tend to him. What'd you see her for?" 
 
 "You know her engagement Kenneth Harri- 
 son?"
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 251 
 
 ''Yes." 
 
 Harry's blood-shot gaze became defiant again. 
 "Guess you know I'd always banked on her marrying 
 me. Had to see her to put up fight for my own case 
 my last chance. Well she turned me down. Tha 's 
 wha's matter with me!" 
 
 " You better forget all about it." Black Jerry nodded. 
 "We 're in the same boat, Harry. I Ve give her up, too." 
 
 "You!" flared Harry. "You're only her father!" 
 
 Black Jerry was tolerantly silent. 
 
 "She's turned me down!" Harry repeated wildly. 
 "My God, Jerry, she's turned me down! And me" 
 clutching his crumpled shirt "I don't care now what 
 happens to me! I'm through!" 
 
 Jerry perceived the dangerous recklessness of the 
 other's mood; perceived that Harry should be both 
 humored and handled with firmness. "You're a bit 
 off your bean, Harry you've had too much booze. 
 Come on, I 'm going to take you home." 
 
 "Won't go home!" declared Harry. 
 
 "Now, Harry," persuaded Jerry, "we're pals, you 
 and me. Ain't we both had to give her up? That makes 
 us pals, don't it? There's nothing I would n't do for 
 you. So let your old pal take you home." 
 
 "Won't go home!" And Harry settled stubbornly 
 in his chair. 
 
 Black Jerry recognized that he had to change to a 
 new tack. He had to keep Harry engaged until his mood 
 changed, and he chose the topic of interest closest at 
 hand. 
 
 "Who do you think shot him, Harry?" 
 
 "Shot who?" 
 
 Jerry stared. "You mean you ain't heard! If you'd
 
 252 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 been alive you'd have learned right here it's all 
 that the bunch in this joint have talked about. I mean 
 the murder of Larry Murdock. Ain't you heard?" 
 
 Harry recalled exclamations, unheeded at the time, 
 of Uncle George over the extra bought outside the 
 Grantham. And he began to apprehend that this matter 
 had connection with the life that had been his in that far- 
 away time before he had learned of Jennie's engagement. 
 
 "Yes, I heard," he answered. 
 
 "Who do you think shot Murdock?" 
 
 Harry shook his head. "Don' know nothing about 
 it. Who you think?" 
 
 "The talk in here all runs that that big fight between 
 Murdock and Conway was behind it. They think that 
 some one who was strong for Conway must have done 
 it. Guess that's the way the coppers '11 size it up, too. 
 We 're all sure something big is about to break down in 
 this part of town. All that this crowd in here is doing is 
 wondering what 's going to happen next, and wondering 
 who the guy is that croaked Murdock, and wondering if 
 the coppers '11 grab him." 
 
 For the moment Black Jerry forgot Harry's troubles. 
 This was a world-event to him, and another was impend- 
 ing. Harry, too, his faculties quickened a bit, sensed 
 something of the situation's importance. 
 
 Before either spoke again, the waiter who had served 
 Harry laid a hand on the young fellow's shoulder. 
 "Telephone call for you again," he said. 
 
 Harry swayed into a booth and closed the door. 
 "Hello," he called. 
 
 "Is that Harry Edwards?" asked the voice on the 
 wire. 
 
 "Yes."
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 253 
 
 "Don't mention any names, but do you know who 
 this is?" 
 
 Next to Jennie's that voice was the one he would have 
 most quickly recognized anywhere. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 '" I Ve got to see you, Harry quick. Can you meet 
 me at the office in ten minutes?" 
 
 "Sure." 
 
 "Then I'll go right over to the office. If things are 
 dark, come right in anyhow. The door '11 be unlocked. 
 And, Harry, better not let anybody see you come." 
 
 "All right." There were a few more sentences, then 
 Harry hung up. That friendly voice, anxious, coaxing, 
 yet imperative, had cleared his murky brain yet a little 
 more. He had been asked to come alone. Through the 
 glass door of the booth he eyed Black Jerry, and planned 
 with befuddled cunning. Then he stepped out, and 
 moved to Jerry's side. 
 
 "That was just a crazy fellow I know wants me to 
 meet him uptown," he explained. "But you're right, 
 Jerry. Thing for me to do is to go home." 
 
 "Glad you see it that way, Harry. I '11 just go with 
 you like I said." 
 
 "I'm all right. Don't need any one." 
 
 "Of course you don't," replied Jerry placatingly. 
 " I '11 just go along for the air." 
 
 "That's not so," returned Harry with shrewd bellig- 
 erence. "You don't trust me. All right. You don't 
 trust me to go alone, then I stay here." 
 
 He started to sit down. Black Jerry was acquainted 
 with the vagaries and obstinacies of men in liquor, and 
 knew that often the only way to manage them was to 
 yield to them.
 
 254 -A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "All right. Go home alone, then, Harry. And go 
 right to bed. Good-night." 
 
 "Good-night," said Harry. 
 
 He made a fairly even course past the energetic two- 
 piece orchestra, and out into the street, where he turned 
 southward. Drawing up the collar of his summer over- 
 coat so that all the white of his evening dress was 
 blotted out, he furtively slipped through block after 
 block, till he came to the building across whose ground- 
 floor window one could read in daylight 
 
 SAMUEL CONWAY 
 REAL ESTATE & INSURANCE 
 
 That window was now dark, but the door, as Harry 
 had been told, was unlocked. Harry entered, closed the 
 door, crossed the big outer room, and opened the door 
 of the private office. Here, likewise, all was blackness. 
 Harry closed this inner door, then called in a low whis- 
 per: 
 
 "Sam!" 
 
 "All right, Harry." 
 
 The room suddenly filled with light. If one desired 
 perfect privacy, there was no risk once the door was 
 closed; the room had no window, hence no betraying 
 gleams could filter out into the night. 
 
 "Good boy, Harry you were prompt all right!" 
 
 "Sure, Sam. I beat it straight down here." 
 
 Even to Harry, blinking at the sudden brightness, and 
 though only half-master of his faculties, the Sam Conway 
 he now saw was a startling contrast. The big, florid, 
 hearty man of such genial assurance, was pasty, flaccid 
 tense. 
 
 "What's the matter, Sam?" exclaimed Harry.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 255 
 
 ''I'm sure up against it, Harry." He tried to laugh, 
 but the laugh was thin, shaky; it was nothing like the 
 laugh that had helped make him the personage he had 
 become. "Of all the mistakes that ever happened 
 of all the crazy breaks a man ever got But let's sit 
 down, Harry." And when they had done so: "Of course 
 you Ve heard about what happened to Larry Murdock? " 
 
 "Yes. But what I want to know, Sam, is, what's the 
 matter with you?" 
 
 "Why, there's nothing the matter with me, Harry," 
 Conway laughed his thin, unnatural laugh "noth- 
 ing the matter at all, except the little item that the 
 police think I croaked Murdock and are after me." 
 
 "You!" cried Harry. 
 
 "Did n't I tell you that this thing was crazy enough 
 to be funny if it was n't so serious?" 
 
 "But how do you know the police think you did it?" 
 
 "An inspector, a pal of mine, tipped me off so I'd 
 have a chance to make a get-away. That was really 
 how I learned Murdock had been croaked. On the face 
 of it, it looks a bad case for me, Harry there's no 
 denying that. I knew the last place the wise coppers 
 would ever expect me to be was my office, so I beat it for 
 here to think the mess over." 
 
 "But, Sam," ejaculated Harry, "how did it ever 
 happen?" 
 
 "Part of it I can tell you, part I can only guess at. 
 You know I was to have dinner with Murdock to-night 
 it was at Halloran's off Third Avenue. We were to 
 see if, by getting together, we could n't straighten out 
 all this mess. But Murdock would n't give an inch. We 
 both got hot; Murdock said he was going to the District 
 Attorney to-morrow morning with his evidence. I guess
 
 256 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 1 lost my temper at that, and said some things yes, 
 I know]! did, and who would n't? I left Halloran's right 
 after that, and that's everything that I know at first 
 hand." 
 
 "But what did the inspector tell you?" breathed 
 Harry. 
 
 "When Murdock came out later, somebody waiting 
 in the street let him have it. In my opinion it was some- 
 body that had a private grudge against him he 's 
 always been a trouble-maker and has got a world of 
 enemies. But because of my losing my temper and 
 saying what I did in the restaurant, the police are go- 
 ing to try to fasten the job on me at least that's the 
 tip my inspector friend got to me. Now, Harry, I 'm not 
 the best man alive, but I don't need to swear to you that 
 I don't try to settle arguments by croaking the other 
 guy in the dark." 
 
 "I should say you don't, Sam!" Harry cried hotly. 
 "You're always on the level out in the open! The 
 coppers are crazy they 're always pulling bone-head 
 plays and getting shown up. There 's nothing for you 
 to worry about, Sam!" 
 
 "I wish you were right but there's an awful lot 
 for me to worry about." Sam Conway spoke distinctly, 
 looking Harry directly into the eyes. "I 'm strictly up 
 against it, even though I 'm innocent. I 'd be a fool if 
 I did n't see the whole situation. I 'm due to be pinched 
 to-night. And with me arrested on a murder charge, I '11 
 lose out in the coming election all the connections I 've 
 built up will go to smash the people I Ve helped 
 into good positions and good businesses will lose them. 
 Everything will go. And when I 'm cleared, as I will 
 be, everything will have passed out of my hands. And
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 257 
 
 Harry I'm an old man I'm sixty years old ; if I lose 
 hold now, I 'm through. I 'm too old to begin the fight 
 all over. So you see what I 'm up against what hun- 
 dreds and thousands of people will be up against if I 'm 
 arrested to-night." 
 
 "I see!" exclaimed Harry. "God! is n't there some 
 way out?" 
 
 "That's what I sent for you to talk about, Harry." 
 Sam Conway's full lips were hanging loose and twitch- 
 ing nervously. He spoke with febrile eagerness, yet with 
 restraint. "There is a way out. If " He paused in a 
 way to magnify a hundred times the importance of that 
 "if." 
 
 "If what, Sam? Tell me!" 
 
 "If you would be willing to do something for me, 
 Harry the biggest sort of thing." 
 
 "Sarn, you've been my best friend I owe every- 
 thing to you. I'll do anything you say. What is it?" 
 
 "Harry will you stand to be pinched in my place? " 
 
 "You mean for the Murdock murder?" breathed 
 Harry. 
 
 "Yes. Listen, Harry I've got it all thought out." 
 The great Conway reached across and seized Harry's 
 knees in a grasp that partook partly of the quality of 
 an imploring caress and partly of a convulsive clutch. 
 His words came with a rush. "It's like this, Harry. If 
 I'm pinched, there's a tremendous smash-up for every- 
 body, and no come-back for me, since I 'm an old man. 
 I 'm in public life that 's why the smash will be so 
 big. If you're pinched, it's not going to hurt you so 
 much; you're in private life, and you're young. You'll 
 get out in a little while, and nobody '11 ever even re- 
 member it except me and what I Ve helped you to in
 
 258 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 the past won't be a two-spot compared to what I '11 do 
 in the future!" 
 
 "But, Sam," gasped the dazed Harry, "can it be 
 done?" 
 
 "Easy! All they've got to connect me up with the 
 murder, so I understand, are the threats I made in the 
 restaurant. It seems nobody saw the actual shooting. 
 Harry, if you are pinched for the murder before the 
 coppers get to me, and if two or three guys turn up to 
 say they saw you shoot Murdock don't you see that 
 that leaves me out of it clean, and leaves me in a shape 
 to go right on with the big things I 'm doing? And you, 
 Harry when the case comes to trial, there'll be no 
 one to testify against you I' 11 attend to all that 
 and your case will be dismissed, and all you '11 be out will 
 be the weeks or few months you've been locked up in 
 the Tombs. You'll be in just as good shape as ever! 
 Better! for I '11 not forget what you Ve done for me! 
 
 " And, Harry," he argued on rapidly, as if to forestall 
 and overcome possible scruples, "there's nothing new 
 in this proposition of getting a guy that the police 
 can't fix anything on to stand for an arrest to help out 
 a friend who's in trouble. You know it's done every 
 day down here. Only I guess there's never been a cast' 
 before where a guy could help his friend so much ! Quick, 
 Harry will you do it? There's hardly a second to 
 waste and we Ve got to frame things for the coppers ! " 
 
 Whatever else his circumstances might have been, 
 Harry Edwards's decision might have been the same. 
 But just now he was bitter and reckless partly from 
 alcohol more from what had induced the drinking, 
 the agony, the sense of life's emptiness, that the final 
 loss of Jennie had brought upon him.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 He gripped Conway's hand. "Sam, you're the best 
 friend I Ve got. I '11 stand for the arrest, and anything 
 else you want of me. And I 'm glad to do it, Sam" 
 his voice was husky "it's the best thing that there's 
 left for me to do!" 
 
 But already Conway had his telephone receiver off 
 the hook. An instant later he was talking rapidly. 
 
 "That you, Tim? . . . Harry Edwards is the man 
 you want for that Murdock shooting. Better send out 
 a general alarm for him. Be quick and you '11 have the 
 pinch made in time for the morning papers. Joe Graves 
 and Jack Pearson saw him do the shooting; you know 
 where to find them. . . . Motive? . . . Why, I guess he'd 
 been drinking a bit and was excitable ; and Conway was 
 his friend and he knew about Murdock's threats against 
 Conway, and so when he saw his chance he just let Mur- 
 dock have it. That ought to explain things." 
 
 Conway hung up, rose, and fairly drew Harry to his 
 feet. "In five minutes every copper and plain-clothes- 
 man in town '11 be after you better beat it, quick, so 
 as not to get pinched down here near me." 
 
 He reached for a switch, and the next instant his 
 twitching, loose-hanging features were a part of the dark- 
 ness. He guided Harry to the outer door. 
 
 "Try to make Fourteenth Street before you're ar- 
 rested," he whispered rapidly. "The farther away 
 from here, the better. Remember, this is going to be 
 for only a few months and that I '11 never forget it 
 and that there will be nothing I won't do for you! 
 Good-bye!" 
 
 With that Harry was thrust out and the door was 
 closed. Automatically he started through the dark, quiet 
 streets for the brighter regions of the city. But even as
 
 260 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 he walked toward arrest, all this business was of minor 
 consequence : his mind did not reach forward and vision 
 some one halting him and snapping bracelets of steel 
 upon his wrists. What he saw was Jennie crossing from 
 the Grantham to Kenneth Harrison's car . . . was Ken- 
 neth's possessive manner as he helped her into a seat 
 . . . was Jennie sitting by Kenneth's side as she rode 
 away out of his life.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 THE WEB OF LIFE 
 
 THE breakfast-room at Silver Bluffs the next 
 morning was as softly radiant as if the air were 
 an impalpable solution of luminous gold. A 
 gentle eastern breeze, sauntering across the Sound 
 from its birthplace out upon the wide ocean, bore sea- 
 fragrance and a broad exhilaration through open doors 
 and windows. Nature did not know how to bring out 
 of the night a more gracious summer morning. 
 
 But when Jennie came in to breakfast a trifle late 
 at Silver Bluffs the family breakfast was served at 
 seven-forty-five for the sake of the city-going men 
 she did not so much as note the rare splendor of the day. 
 Most of the night she had kept going through again 
 and again that scene with Harry on the Grantham roof, 
 and she had kept seeing the despairing yet quiet look 
 which he had given her at parting. Her decision had 
 been wise and proper she knew that ; but the approval 
 of her judgment had not brought her that calm which 
 is the necessary prelude to sleep. So she was worn this 
 morning, and nervous, though her habit of self-control 
 enabled her to seem the usual Jennie. 
 
 She had just said good-morning to the others and had 
 attacked her grape-fruit, when a sharp exclamation 
 from Mr. Harrison caused her to raise her eyes. Mr. 
 Harrison was staring, mouth loosely open, at the morn- 
 ing paper he had just taken from beside his plate. 
 "God!" he gasped "God!" 
 "What is it?" cried the startled Mrs. Harrison.
 
 262 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 He did not even look at her. Instead he addressed 
 his son. 
 
 "Kenneth Murdock's dead!" 
 
 "Dead!" ejaculated Kenneth. 
 
 "Murdered shot last night!" 
 
 This Murdock was barely more than a name to Jennie; 
 his fate had so little interest to her that only her outer 
 consciousness was aware of what had been said. But 
 she did notice that a look of vast relief had come into 
 the face Mr. Harrison held upon his son, and that a 
 similar, if lesser, relief was in Kenneth's face. 
 
 For a moment, in the significance and the surprise of 
 the event, the two men forgot that they were not alone. 
 
 "Kenneth, that clears up our situation entirely!" 
 exclaimed the older man in a marveling tone. "Under- 
 stand what it means to our business?" 
 
 "Of course! We're in better shape than ever!" 
 
 "And the very day we thought matters were going to 
 explode for us!" 
 
 "We're certainly playing in luck! And so is Sam 
 Conway!" A quick, keen look came into Kenneth's 
 face. "Who killed Murdock Conway?" 
 
 "I don't know. I've only just seen the headlines." 
 
 Mr. Harrison glanced back at the paper and skimmed 
 the text. The next moment he was looking up, new 
 astoundment in his face. 
 
 "Murdock was killed by that young man in our office 
 you know, Harry Edwards!" 
 
 Out of her apathy Jennie came staringly to her feet. 
 "Killed by Harry Edwards?" she cried. 
 
 "That's what the paper says." 
 
 "Killed by Harry Edwards!" she repeated with a 
 shivering gasp. Only her hands, one of which clutched
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 263 
 
 her chair's back and the other the edge of the table, 
 prevented her toppling over. 
 
 "Why, Jennie what's the matter?" cried Ken- 
 neth, springing up to her side and seizing her in his 
 arms. 
 
 She saw that all were gazing at her in amazement. 
 Fighting for self-control, she managed a smile, though 
 it was a very white one. " I 'm all right now. I guess it 
 was just the shock. You know the shock of a man 
 I'd met in this house, and once had danced with, ac- 
 tually doing such a thing." 
 
 "I understand perfectly," said Mrs. Harrison in her 
 soft, sympathetic voice. "Perhaps you'd better lie 
 down in your room, and I '11 have breakfast brought up 
 to you a little later." 
 
 "Thanks. I will. But don't bother about breakfast 
 
 I shan't care for any. And don't come along, please" 
 
 this last smilingly to Kenneth who was supporting 
 her with an encircling arm as she started out " I 'm all 
 right, I tell you. Please go back and finish your break- 
 fast." 
 
 He relinquished her, and she walked out steadily 
 enough. But instead of going up to her bed, she sank 
 upon the great leather couch in the living-room. She lay 
 tense, hardly breathing watching for them to come 
 out from breakfast. She remembered that only one 
 morning paper was delivered to the family at Silver 
 Bluffs; that Mr. Harrison glanced it through perfunc- 
 torily, and left it behind for the family to read when he 
 started for the city. 
 
 When they came out she sprang up and declared her- 
 self to be thoroughly recovered from her flurry of nerves. 
 She watched for Mr. Harrison to toss aside the paper as
 
 264 *A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 was his wont. But this once Mr. Harrison held on to it, 
 and when the Myra began its swift thrust through the 
 waters, a white blossom of spray springing into sudden 
 bloom at its bow, she saw him in the shelter of the after- 
 deck again reading the front page. 
 
 For a space Jennie was foiled sick with suspense. 
 Just what was it that Harry had done? What had hap- 
 pened to him? She recalled that William, the butler, had 
 his own favorite paper brought him every morning. She 
 went into the dining-room, away from Sue and her 
 mother, on the excuse that after all she would have her 
 breakfast there ; then told William that she had changed 
 her mind and would eat nothing, borrowed his paper, 
 and slipped out the side entrance and down the bluff to 
 that bit of silvery beach where a few weeks since she 
 had talked with Harry. Seated behind the big boulder 
 she began to read. 
 
 For one brief day Larry Murdock, comparatively un- 
 important though he may have been in his life, in his 
 death forced European events, then hurrying toward the 
 outbreak of the Great War, to let him share with them 
 the front page upon terms of equality for big local 
 politics were involved. The story, as the paper gave it, 
 and as it came from the police, Jennie at once saw to be 
 an appallingly perfect case against Harry. Inspector 
 Timothy Dixon, interviewed, had his evidence convinc- 
 ingly arrayed ; the account praised him for the amazing 
 celerity and completeness with which he had handled the 
 affair. Two witnesses, Joseph Graves and John Pearson, 
 had seen Edwards shoot Alurdock as the latter came out 
 of Halloran's cafe, and had then seen Edwards vanish 
 around a corner. Edwards had managed to evade the 
 police for a time, but had been arrested by Detectives
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 265 
 
 O'Brien and Casey as he was trying to enter a taxicab 
 on Fourteenth Street. His motive for the murder (still 
 according to Inspector Timothy Dixon) was very sim- 
 ple : Edwards was a partisan of Alderman Samuel Con- 
 way there was a bitter political feud between Con- 
 way and Murdock, and young Edwards had thought 
 to serve his patron and gain greater favor by eliminat- 
 ing Conway's antagonist. 
 
 Conway, interviewed, had said with the solemnity of 
 one awed by sudden death: " Boys, no one can be more 
 sorry over this than I am! Murdock and I had our 
 differences, yes but they were personal and could 
 have been smoothed over. Harry Edwards must have 
 got an exaggerated idea of their danger to me and 
 being impetuous he must have thought he could help 
 me this way. In spite of what he's done, I want to 
 tell you that he's a good, square chap." Which was 
 a fine, generous, upstanding statement, the account 
 declared. 
 
 Edwards, interviewed, had maintained a stolid silence 
 the usual stolidity, so the paper characterized it, of 
 the murderer who knows that his least words may in- 
 criminate him. 
 
 Jennie was dazed. She believed every word of the ac- 
 count it was so simple, so convincing, so in keeping 
 with just what Harry would do. He was guilty yes 
 but she in a degree was also responsible. Her refusal had 
 driven him to it. For a space she sat staring out at the 
 Sound, shivering, a wild tearing within her. He was a 
 nice boy, she liked him she really liked him. And 
 she had driven him to this! And for such a deed, with 
 his guilt so obvious, she knew well what the penalty 
 would be! .
 
 266 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Trembling all through, she took up the paper and 
 with a fearful fascination read the story again, and 
 again, and again. It was not until the fourth reading 
 that her brain caught a fragment of a sentence that her 
 frantic eyes had thus far skimmed over without seeing: 
 " The victim, leaving Halloran's cafe at 9.15 . . ." 
 
 She straightened up with a jerk and a gasp. At 
 9.15! Why, at 9.15 Harry had been with her on the roof 
 of theGrantham! 
 
 Then Harry had not done it ! ... 
 
 What, then, did it all mean? What was behind it? ... 
 
 But even during her first minutes of astounded relief, 
 even while she first began to try to peer behind the event 
 for its meaning, she perceived a fresh aspect to the af- 
 fair, and she sank back, sickened and terrified anew. 
 For whatever it might mean, her life, her dreams, were 
 enmeshed in it all. The more she examined the impli- 
 cations of the situation, the more she looked Jorward 
 upon its possible developments, the more sickened did 
 she become. . . . 
 
 At length she could stand it no longer. She had to 
 know! She sprang up, dominated by a desperate de- 
 termination. She used caution, she used methods she 
 had previously used, and at twelve o'clock she was 
 waiting in a sitting-room at the Plaza when Uncle 
 George entered. There was a rapid talk with the old 
 man, and then she declared: 
 
 "You see how it is. I simply must see Harry 
 somehow ! I Ve simply got to know at first hand what 
 his situation is and mine!" 
 
 " But don't you see the danger of your going down to 
 the Tombs?" demanded Uncle George. 
 
 "It's no greater than what I'm in now, not under-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 267 
 
 standing what 's going to happen. Can't you manage it, 
 Uncle George, please?" 
 
 "If I can't, then there are a lot of used-to-be friends 
 down there who are n't my friends any longer. Come 
 on." 
 
 Inside the taxi Jennie veiled herself; the veil was the 
 same that she had worn to her Aunt Mary's burial, and 
 the plain dark suit she had changed into was the same 
 she had then worn. Uncle George discussed ways and 
 means with her all the ride down to the dingy granite 
 building with its heavily grilled windows which has been 
 the stage for an act in so many of the city's dramas. 
 
 "Wait here till I get everything fixed up," Uncle 
 George whispered as he got out. 
 
 She drew back into the corner of the taxi, and gazed 
 out at the grimy building, so familiar a sight of her 
 earlier girlhood. Harry was in there somewhere. And 
 it came to her that long, long ago her father had lain 
 within those same gray, implacable walls for a year and 
 more. 
 
 Presently Uncle George opened the door. "It's all 
 right come on." And as they crossed the sidewalk: 
 "I think I Ve got it fixed so we'll not meet with any 
 of the newspaper boys, who'd jump out of their skins 
 to mix up a 'mysterious pretty girl ' in this business." 
 
 The outer door of the Tombs was opened to them, 
 and they were admitted into a big, dingy anteroom 
 where uniformed clerks scribbled at desks and keepers 
 kept in line the huddled, strained-faced folk who had 
 come to make brief visits upon relatives or friends 
 confined within. All her senses quickened to abnormal 
 perception, Jennie took in everything those clerks 
 forever scratching down details about prisoners, these
 
 268 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 silent, huddling visitors, the brusque, herding keepers: 
 but even so, she had no slightest prevision of that 
 time, in the unfolding of life, when she was to look 
 upon this same scene with very different eyes and un- 
 der circumstances strangely different. 
 
 Just as passes to the inner prison were handed them, 
 Jennie became conscious of a figure immediately behind 
 her that wore a derby hat, and had a heavy, impassive 
 face. Her brain flashed back four years; a yet further 
 fear clutched her. 
 
 "Hello, Uncle George," said the man. 
 
 "Hello, Casey," replied Uncle George. "That was 
 some little pinch you made of Edwards last night." 
 
 "My side partner really picked Edwards off; just 
 called me in to help him," replied Casey. 
 
 Here in this great jail and that Casey beside her! 
 With her every sharp breath Jennie expected the detec- 
 tive's hand to fall heavily upon her shoulder. But Casey 
 allowed them to pass on; apparently he had not even 
 seen her. 
 
 She was searched by two matrons, was admitted 
 through a little wicket, was guided through a corridor 
 that smelled of damp darkness and ten thousand pris- 
 oners, and was ushered into the bare counsel's room 
 and the grilled door was locked behind her. And there 
 was Harry, still in the evening clothes, now grimy and 
 disarrayed, in which she had seen him hardly more than 
 a dozen hours before. 
 
 "You ! " he exclaimed, startled. And then, straighten- 
 ing up stiffly, he demanded : "Well, what do you want?" 
 
 Now that she was here, Jennie hardly knew why: she 
 was such a chaos of reasons and emotions. 
 
 "Well, what do you want?" he repeated brusquely.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 269 
 
 She glanced behind her at the grilled door. But a bill 
 slipped to the keeper by Uncle George had induced that 
 official to stroll down the corridor and give the pair a 
 brief privacy. She drew nearer Harry, and said in a whis- 
 per that could not carry beyond the door of steel: 
 "Harry you never did it!" 
 His expression was blank. "Oh, I did n't?" 
 "No. When it was done you were with me!" 
 His face was still blank. "Oh, was I?" 
 Her words, the thought she had been brooding over 
 since she had read the butler's paper down on the little 
 beach, now came out with a rush. "Don't you see the 
 whole situation, Harry? " she cried. " I believed you were 
 guilty when I first read the newspaper. It 's so complete 
 and convincing ! And everybody else will believe it and 
 the judge will believe it and the jury will believe it. 
 And, Harry, you were with me I can alibi you and 
 I'm the only person who can alibi you!" 
 
 He seemed to her strangely grim and inflexible for 
 Harry. "Goon," he said. " That 's not all that 's in your 
 mind." 
 
 "No." Her voice was now not merely low, it was 
 weak. "There's my side of it all. If I go into court and 
 alibi you, they'll cross-question me and it'll all come 
 out who I really am about my being arrested for that 
 old forgery about my running away from Casey. 
 Don't you see what a story the papers would make of it! 
 And I '11 lose everything dad 's worked for and wanted 
 me to be everything I 've everything Don't you 
 see it all, Harry? " 
 
 He regarded her keenly for a long space. Then he 
 spoke calmly, in an even voice. 
 
 "Yes, I think I see it all as you see it in your mind.
 
 270 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 It's a big predicament for Jennie Malone; it's one of 
 two things. Either you don't come forward and alibi 
 me, and you keep your place up in the big world. Or else 
 you do alibi me, and all you and Black Jerry have done, 
 and all you 've won, goes to smash for you. There are 
 the two sides to your situation yes?" 
 
 "Yes. Only if I don't alibi you, the jury will find 
 you guilty and the judge will oh, Harry! ... I 
 don't understand it at all! I don't know what to do!" 
 
 A swift hope leaped into the face he had kept so com- 
 posed, and he seized her hand. "Perhaps we can sim- 
 plify your situation, Jennie" his voice was eager, 
 vibrant with suspense "if you were to alibi me, and 
 you were to lose everything, would you marry me?" 
 
 "Harry!" she said faintly; "I thought we'd talked 
 that all out." 
 
 The eagerness died out of his face. He loosed her hand 
 and drew himself up squarely. 
 
 "I knew you would n't. Then" very deliberately 
 " the thing for you to do is to go back to the Harrisons 
 and live your life exactly as you had planned." 
 
 "But you, Harry?" 
 
 He glanced at the barred door to be sure that the 
 keeper was not listening. "I'm in no danger," he 
 whispered; "real danger, I mean." 
 
 " I knew there was something strange about all this! " 
 she whispered back. "What does it all mean?" 
 
 He considered for a moment. "I'll tell you a little. 
 It's like this: another man's in danger, and I'm going 
 to stand trial in his place. They can't prove anything 
 against me when the case comes to trial you see, the 
 witnesses will have disappeared and I' 11 go free, hav- 
 ing helped the other man. See?"
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 271 
 
 "I see!" She had comprehended it in a flash. Such 
 arrangements, "frame-ups" against the police and 
 courts, had been common in the life which had been hers 
 until four years before. "Harry you are doing it to 
 save Sam Conway!" 
 
 "We'll not mention any names, Jennie. All you 
 need to know is that I'm not in any danger. And I 
 would n't have told you this much, only well, if 
 I 'm not to have you, I don't want you to have any 
 worries on my account. I want you to be just as happy 
 as you can be. And as for me, this is the best job I could 
 do and I'm not going to mind it so much, and it's 
 going to come out all right for me." 
 
 The keeper appeared without and announced that the 
 allotted time was ended. Harry took her hand. 
 
 "I guess this is where we part company forever," he 
 said quietly. "You'll be going your way, and I'll be 
 going mine. I guess it 's up to all of us to live our lives 
 in our own way. Well, here's wishing you the best of 
 luck. Good-bye." 
 
 "Good-bye," she said. 
 
 The door closed behind her. She glanced back. De- 
 spite the cell, despite his disordered, incongruous eve- 
 ning clothes, her last glimpse of Harry gave her an 
 impression of an older, a more manly and characterful 
 figure than he had ever been in her mind. 
 
 As she hurried through the corridors the clang of each 
 steel door behind her was a direct impact upon her raw 
 nerves. But the sharpest impact of all came out in the 
 street, when Uncle George was helping her into the taxi. 
 And that impact was merely the quietest of whispers 
 sounding close against her ear : 
 
 "I'm still hoping you make good, Jennie. But, re-
 
 272 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 member, if the breaks ever go against you, the pinch 
 belongs to me." 
 
 She went chill. That voice she knew only too well. 
 With a great effort she turned about. But, his back 
 toward her, Detective Sergeant Casey was moving 
 in his slow-footed manner toward the Criminal Courts 
 Building. 
 
 Even when she was safely back in the luxury and 
 seclusion of Silver Bluffs, that low, even voice of Casey 
 kept whispering its message in her ears.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 THE GREAT STEP 
 
 HARRY'S assurance that he was a willing party 
 to a frame-up brought Jennie relief. But a 
 restlessness of soul developed, though she con- 
 trolled all external manifestations of it. She had won 
 much, very much but she was not satisfied with her- 
 self; and a sense of uncertainty, of insecurity, began to 
 fill her with shadows. She was finding Life, which she 
 had believed could be easily managed if one only took 
 the proper thought, becoming very complex and show- 
 ing hints of instability. 
 
 So it was that when Kenneth began to urge a very 
 early marriage, she consented. Marriage would bring 
 order and security out of all this complexity. They 
 at once began the business of house-hunting: rather 
 Kenneth did it all through a broker, and Jennie had 
 nothing to do but choose between the two apartments 
 to which the selection had already been sifted down 
 and even between these two Kenneth had already es- 
 tablished his preference before she had seen either. 
 
 She was rather appalled by the magnificence of his 
 choice the afternoon Kenneth took her to see it. De- 
 spite herself, as she stood in the living-room, there 
 flashed upon her the contrast between this large room 
 and the room where she had seen Harry but a few days 
 before. 
 
 "Kenneth fifteen rooms and six baths ! I never saw 
 an apartment like it!" 
 
 "I should say not," he laughed. "There are not
 
 274 ^ Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 many more like it on Park Avenue or in New York, 
 either." 
 
 "But we don't need anything so large the first year." 
 
 "Oh, yes, we do!" He put his arm about her. "Mr. 
 and Mrs. Kenneth Harrison will be doing a lot of enter- 
 taining this winter and we can't be having the best 
 people of New York at any cheap-John place. We're 
 going to be the real people don't you forget that!" 
 
 The best people of New York ! Yes, that was where she 
 was now among the best people of New York. And 
 once she was away from the friendly and experienced 
 guidance of Mrs. Harrison and in her own home, she 
 would have to face the great brilliant world all alone. 
 She caught a sharp breath. Could she do it? ... 
 
 When he told her the yearly rental she was again 
 taken aback. "Nine thousand dollars!" she breathed. 
 "Kenneth, can we you, I mean afford that much 
 just for rent?" 
 
 He laughed, delighted at the effect of it all upon her. 
 "The rent's nothing!" And then he explained: "I'm 
 not going to bother you much about business, Jennie, 
 but it 's like this : I guess you know that things looked 
 pretty bad for the firm because of some trouble which 
 threatened Mr. Conway from that Mr. Murdock Ed- 
 wards killed. But now since Conway is out of danger 
 the firm 's in better shape than it ever was before. 
 And besides, I 'm carrying a lot of stock in several com- 
 panies making steel and the stock 's booming and 
 there's going to be a tremendous clean-up." He ended 
 with his light, half-humorous laugh at himself. "I 
 ought to be arrested ; it 's simply scandalous the way 
 I 'm making money and the way I 'm going to make 
 more money!"
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 275. 
 
 She had winced at his reference to Harry as Mur- 
 dock's slayer; but that feeling she had instantly sup- 
 pressed. After all, Kenneth had spoken only out of ig- 
 norance. . . . And as she gazed upon him, standing there 
 by the great Italian fireplace, his naturally pale face a 
 little flushed by his recital of business success, her admi- 
 ration of him so mounted that she was almost dizzy with 
 it. He was so handsome so at his ease so thoroughly 
 a man of the great world and so marvelously success- 
 ful ! And with it all, he was still only twenty-nine! 
 
 The apartment was to be ready for occupancy in 
 October. The weeks that followed were largely filled for 
 Jennie with visits to the city to supervise, with Ken- 
 neth and his mother, the decoration and to purchase 
 furnishings. It was a thrilling experience, this making 
 such a wonderful home so thrilling, so consuming, that 
 she was hardly aware these late summer days of 1914 
 that war had just then lighted its giant conflagration 
 over all Europe. . . . 
 
 When Kenneth had pressed an early marriage, Jennie 
 had made only one definite request. This was that the 
 marriage should be as quiet as a marriage could be. She 
 gave her reasons of course not her real ones. She had 
 had no pictures taken since she had left the Pekin ; and 
 she knew that at a show-wedding there would be re- 
 porters and also unfoilable men snapping their cameras. 
 She felt safe after so many years; but all the same she 
 did not want her face appearing in millions of New York 
 papers not just yet. 
 
 There was no trouble over this request for a quiet 
 wedding. Kenneth consented and Mrs. Harrison 
 thought the idea most sensible, and it increased her es- 
 teem for Jennie. Jennie, planning with utmost caution
 
 276 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 these final details of her transformation, made another 
 suggestion to Kenneth. It seemed to him a mere whim, 
 but at the same time he saw no reason why he should 
 not gratify it: so one September day the two of them 
 motored into the interior of New York to a county seat 
 where records are not too closely watched over by re- 
 porters and their data telegraphed to the great city. 
 
 Jennie had thought over one last item very care- 
 fully, and as they stood before the license clerk she re- 
 marked : 
 
 "Oh, there's one thing, Kenneth, I'd almost for- 
 gotten. Miller was my uncle's name and I was always 
 -called that, but he never really adopted me. My 
 father's name was Malone so I suppose my legal 
 name is Jennie Malone." 
 
 "Lucky you remembered to mention it," said Ken- 
 neth and after the next few minutes it had passed 
 out of his mind as a matter of no consequence. 
 
 And so on the records she was married as "Jennie 
 Malone." The announcements, however, which had 
 been prepared by Mrs. Harrison gave her name as 
 "Jennie Miller" and the next day the marriage of 
 Jennie Miller and Kenneth Harrison filled consider- 
 able space in the New York papers, though unfortu- 
 nately there were no pictures of the young bride.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 THE SUPREME PLAN 
 
 EARLY in November Jennie and Kenneth were 
 settled in their apartment on Park Avenue and 
 had begun to take part in the preliminary ac- 
 tivities of the social season. But already the wonder of 
 the apartment, which had so overwhelmed Jennie when 
 she first had seen it in August, and of all the apartment 
 symbolized, had almost abated. With Jennie it was as 
 it ever is with those who are ambitious, who are ener- 
 getic, who quickly adapt themselves ; the daring aspira- 
 tion, once it is achieved, swiftly settles into an accepted 
 and almost commonplace fact of life, and becomes in its 
 turn merely the taking-off point for another flight into 
 yet higher realms. By the day she began living in 
 it Jennie was accustomed almost, that is to her 
 wondrously lofty home, and within the privacy of her 
 smooth, girlish forehead she already had plans look- 
 ing far into the future. 
 
 Even during the bewildering days following her un- 
 expected engagement, she had dimly perceived a cer- 
 tain distant contingency, and she had reached a cer- 
 tain conclusion; and after her marriage all her thinking 
 along this line had made that conclusion seem more wise 
 and necessary. Her conclusion was that as a wife she 
 had to be the most successful wife possible : to be less 
 might be failure. She knew that Kenneth was infatu- 
 ated with her just then; but she had enough of a mature 
 woman's wisdom in her case it was as much precocity 
 as it was the remembrance of the roughly direct human
 
 278 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 nature of her early youth to know that after a year, 
 or even less, the thrill and glamour of the initial infatu- 
 ation may begin to subside and the man inevitably may 
 begin to reckon the material consequence of what he has 
 done. She realized that Kenneth, in marrying her in 
 stead of Gloria, or Gloria's equivalent, had sacrificed 
 both wealth and assured social position which such a 
 wife would have brought as dowry. And she realized, 
 should Kenneth's ardor once begin to cool, that he 
 would inevitably recognize this sacrifice. 
 
 Well she was going to make up to Kenneth in some 
 other form for the wealth and the social position she had 
 not brought him. She was more than going to makd up 
 for it! and she was going to do it quickly! Kenneth 
 should never have a chance to regret ! 
 
 Theirs had been an unusual honeymoon, considering 
 their great resources for leisure and luxurious journey- 
 ing. When the time of the marriage had been decided 
 on, Kenneth had begun to suggest alluring retreats for 
 their bridal seclusion ; but Jennie had said that she pre- 
 ferred to stay right there at Silver Bluffs, provided, of 
 course, his mother was willing. Kenneth had demurred, 
 and then had yielded. Since she wished it thus, the ar- 
 rangement secretly pleased him. Business America was 
 in a turmoil consequent upon the vast furnishing of 
 supplies to the Allies : there were great contracts to be 
 let commissions the building of new factories, and 
 the remodeling of old ones, for munition making the 
 wild jumps in war stocks limitless speculation 
 great fortunes made in a week some wiped out in a 
 day. In view of his many interests, Kenneth consid- 
 ered it fortunate that he was placed where he could act 
 upon the instant.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 279 
 
 The days of her engagement and her honeymoon 
 Jennie spent in unostentatiously working at her unan- 
 nounced plan to become a brilliantly successful wife. 
 The work was tedious and tiresome at times, since it 
 dealt with fundamentals which would render her compe- 
 tent, but which in themselves would never be scintillant 
 perhaps they might even be taken for granted and 
 never be noticed at all. But she never wavered in her 
 plan, and at the same time she never let it interfere with 
 Kenneth's being constantly with her when he was at 
 home. While he was away she went to school to Mrs. 
 Harrison, who was her delighted teacher. She studied 
 Mrs. Harrison's method of managing servants; Mrs. 
 Harrison, thoughtful and considerate and yet never 
 relaxing her pleasant authority, had rendered non- 
 existent the servant problem in her household. Jennie 
 studied buying, and all the details of household manage- 
 ment; and most important of all, from the standpoint of 
 its direct influence upon Kenneth, she was constantly 
 with Mrs. Harrison and her housekeeper when they 
 were planning and arranging for week-end parties and 
 other social affairs. In brief, Jennie took a concen- 
 trated course in domestic science domestic science, 
 that is, as it pertains to the households of the rich. 
 
 And this was not all. The decorating and furnishing 
 of the Park Avenue apartment had been placed in the 
 hands of a well-known woman interior decorator. Jen- 
 nie came to a business understanding with Miss How- 
 ard, involving the private payment of a special pro- 
 fessional fee; and as often as she could get away from 
 Silver Bluffs she was in the city with Miss Howard. 
 She was told about materials and their art signifi- 
 cance, and she was inducted into the mysteries of color
 
 2 8 o A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 relationships; and also she was told in detail about 
 the furniture as it came in. In the end her knowledge 
 was neither wide nor deep ; but nevertheless, she knew 
 more about how to keep her home in good taste, and to 
 make it seem even distinguished to the critical and cul- 
 tured guest, than do ninety-nine per cent of young 
 brides whom the marriage vow makes mistresses of pre- 
 tentious establishments. 
 
 All this was the hardest kind of routine work; nothing 
 could have been in itself less spectacular. But she never 
 lost her energy, and never showed lack of spirit or fresh- 
 ness before Kenneth. What kept her going was the be- 
 lief that she was building solidly for the future ; that 
 though the preparations were difficult and obscure, the 
 structure was to be glorious. 
 
 She had some reward for her period of surreptitious 
 labor when the last guest had gone after the ordeal of 
 their first dinner-party in the new apartment. 
 
 "I say, Jennie, you were simply splendid!" cried 
 Kenneth, with an excitement unusual in him, taking her 
 in his arms. "Why, mother at forty-five never ran off 
 a dinner more smoothly and this is your first dinner 
 and you 're hardly twenty-one. And the way you kept 
 things going ! everybody interested in each other, I 
 mean. I say, where did you get on to such a lot of 
 things?" 
 
 She laughed. "Oh, I was born with one of those Uni- 
 versal Compendiums of Drawing-Room Manners and 
 Dinner- Party Conversation in my mouth." 
 
 He ignored her banter; after all, he was primarily in- 
 terested not in where and how she had learned how to 
 do it, but in the fact that she could do it. "You were 
 simply splendid! 1 ' he repeated. "I had no idea you
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 281 
 
 would be able to handle things so well at the very start. 
 Why," he went on enthusiastically, "with your being so 
 clever, there's no reason why we should n't get right 
 into the biggest sort of things. Jennie, I can't tell you 
 how proud I am of you!" 
 
 He kissed her. Jennie sensed that his infatuation for 
 her was just as high as when on that afternoon down 
 on the end of the stone pier at Silver Bluffs he had 
 proposed to her. 
 
 Yes, this was reward for her patient, surreptitious 
 labor this was triumph. But this was little, indeed, 
 compared to the triumphs that would result from yet 
 further plans which but recently had been taking more 
 definite shape. 
 
 Since her marriage, and more concretely during the 
 weeks since they had actively entered the social life of 
 New York, the alert brain of Jennie, which permitted no 
 values to escape it and not even slight differentiations of 
 value, had perceived that though the social position of 
 the Harrisons was undeniably lofty lofty even be- 
 yond her possible attainment, it once had seemed to 
 her yet above the Harrisons there was a stratum or 
 two of the especially elect. Even the popular Kenneth, 
 though when a bachelor admitted to these strata, did 
 not really belong. And she had so far penetrated the ex- 
 terior of smiling nonchalance of her husband to know 
 that one of his ambitions was to be a recognized citizen 
 of this highest realm. 
 
 Well somehow she was going to win her way to a 
 place among the loftiest of the elect. How she was going 
 to do it she did not yet know ; but she was going to do it 
 she was sure of that ! And she was going to do it 
 quickly. And in going to the very top she was going to
 
 28s A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 carry Kenneth with her. This was to be another thing 
 she was going to do for him. No Kenneth was never 
 going to have reason for once thinking of what another 
 girl might have brought him. 
 
 And at about this time her general campaign devel- 
 oped yet another major operation. Now that her rela- 
 tionship with Kenneth was more intimate, she began to 
 detect in him signs of dissatisfaction. They were little 
 things, what she saw but they might have a great 
 meaning. She wondered what that meaning might be. 
 Was he, after all, beginning thus early to be dissatisfied 
 with her? She studied the signs, she tried him with deft 
 questions but the mystery remained a mystery, and 
 grew, and a suspense which had crept into her grew 
 with it. 
 
 And then this mystery was discovered to her in its 
 full and sharply defined outlines after a Belgian Relief 
 Ball : this was the period when society had just begun 
 its flurry of dancing pleasantly for the benefit of foreign 
 widows and orphans. At this ball Jennie had danced 
 twice with a square-shouldered, square-chinned man 
 whose name she had merely caught as Shipman and 
 whose chief impression on Jennie at the time had been 
 of a remarkable vigor for a man of his obvious middle 
 years. On the homeward ride Kenneth's mind was 
 turned inward and he hardly spoke, but during the 
 brief period in which they usually relaxed in front of the 
 open fire before going to bed, he emerged from his ab- 
 sorbed brooding and abruptly asked : 
 
 ' ' What did Shipman say while you were dancing with 
 him?" 
 
 "Nothing that I remember," she answered carelessly, 
 
 "What did you say to him?"
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 283 
 
 "The usual dance talk I really don't remember." 
 
 She covered a little yawn. 
 
 The careless matter-of-factness with which she re- 
 garded his inquiries caused him to lean sharply forward 
 and stare. "Do you mean to say that you did n't know 
 whom you were dancing with?" 
 
 "Only that he was Mr. Shipman." 
 
 "Only Mr. Shipman!" Kenneth exclaimed incredu- 
 lously. "Well, your 'only Mr. Shipman' is Daniel Ship- 
 man, the real head of Phillips, Everson and Company 
 the biggest bankers in America. And Phillips, Ever- 
 son and Company are handling practically all the loans 
 the Allies are trying to float in this country and they 
 are the chief purchasing agents of the Allies in America. 
 And Daniel Shipman is really the firm. He's only just 
 about everybody that's all that Daniel Shipman is!" 
 
 "Why, Kenneth," she breathed, "I had no idea he 
 was such a great man!" 
 
 He ignored her remark perhaps he did not really 
 hear it. The flood of excited words about Shipman 
 broke down the invisible dam of insouciant reserve he 
 had builded to hold back his soul, and what he had been 
 silently brooding upon this last half-hour rushed past 
 his lips. 
 
 "Why, if in some way I could get into Shipman's 
 crowd, especially in these times, there 'd be nothing too 
 big for me to hope for!" 
 
 It was Jennie's turn to stare. "Kenneth why 
 why I thought you and your father were doing won- 
 derful business!" 
 
 "We are!" he exclaimed impatiently. He was not 
 so much speaking to her as giving freedom to his secret 
 thoughts. "But we're in the construction business.
 
 284 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 That's all right in its way. But even if a man works his 
 head off, and reaches the top, reaches the very limits 
 of the possibilities in the business, why, even then he 's 
 only a big man in the second or third rank of business 
 men. By no chance can he become one of the big men 
 of the first rank of big men. The financial game is the 
 only game in which a man has a chance to do that. God ! 
 if somehow I could only get connected up with Ship- 
 man then I 'd show you all ! " 
 
 He was now striding excitedly up and down in front 
 of the great Italianesque fireplace, with its bed of glow- 
 ing hickory embers and for the moment Jennie was 
 almost forgotten. She gazed at him in amazement. 
 What he had said about the limitations of Harrison and 
 Company was entirely new to her, though doubtless it 
 was true, and this sudden revelation of the man who 
 lived within her husband was even more amazing. 
 Why, he was the very passion of ambition which per- 
 ceived no place of rest or contentment lower than the 
 crest of the topmost peak. Kenneth saw her look, and 
 it caused him to check his excited pacing. He smiled and 
 laughed lightly; but both smile and laugh were forced. 
 
 " I guess my tongue must have gone out of its mind," 
 he said. " Be good, Jennie, and forget my chatter; even 
 wise people run off the track sometimes and talk non- 
 sense." And then he dismissed the matter casually with : 
 "It's hall-past two time country people like us were 
 getting to bed." 
 
 She replied with an equally casual remark; but she 
 knew that the real soul or part of it of her hus- 
 band had been laid bare to her. Alone in her bedroom 
 they had separate sleeping-rooms she lay recon- 
 sidering and readjusting her great plans. She was going
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 285 
 
 to get Kenneth connected with Mr. Shipman ! How she 
 did not then consider but she could find a way. She 
 had achieved many things that, viewed from the stand- 
 point of a few years hack, would have seemed impos- 
 sible; and now in her youthful confidence nothing 
 seemed beyond her. 
 
 No, of a certainty, Kenneth would never have cause 
 for regret!
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 JENNIE CONSOLIDATES HER GAINS 
 
 IT is doubtful if Jennie, in any other American 
 epoch, could have achieved with such rapidity the 
 social success she was to win that winter. Her 
 young life was launched into a period and a condition 
 without a parallel that period of hectic activity in 
 both social affairs and in business, which will forever re- 
 main one of the remarkable phases in the history of 
 America's connection with the Great War. The social 
 and the financial speculator were sweeping upward on 
 the wave of golden promise. America had not yet awak- 
 ened to her moral responsibilities and her stakes in the 
 war, as she later was to do. To be sure, some few of the 
 younger Americans were driving ambulances behind the 
 lines in France, a fewer were begging to be fighters in 
 the air, and a few were enlisted with the French, English, 
 and Canadian forces. But on the whole, the war was 
 still regarded as none of America's affair except to the 
 extent that, as a business proposition, we tried to supply 
 war's business needs, and except as its victims were ap- 
 pealing subjects for our charity. Otherwise, we were 
 more diligent in business, and the easy dollar piled up 
 more rapidly, than in the memory of living man and 
 dance orchestras and caterers never before so nearly 
 approached millionairedom and nervous prostration. 
 
 Society, while it had not as yet adopted relief of Eu- 
 ropean war victims as the sole purpose of its functions, 
 was giving an increasing proportion of its more preten- 
 tious affairs in the name of stricken Europe. The re-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 287 
 
 suit of this was that society had to go outside its very 
 select and limited numbers to secure assistance; men 
 and women, particularly women, had to be enlisted who 
 had the willingness to undertake tasks and the tenacity 
 to see them through, and who, moreover, had initiative 
 and ideas. To an extent, the barriers were lowered; the 
 first and second cousins of society were admitted, and 
 even outsiders; and in this enlarged group, where effi- 
 cient activity was in such demand, the person who could 
 do things was the person who won attention and who 
 advanced. 
 
 This is not primarily a history of Jennie's social 
 achievements. Therefore this history cannot concern it- 
 self with the many details of Jennie's rise during that 
 winter; nor can it concern itself with each of the many 
 figures of her great world whom she was now meeting 
 daily and with whom this phase of her life was intricately 
 involved. Given the chance, Jennie was bound to rise 
 and Jennie had the chance. She could dance, she 
 could sing, she could manage booths, she had a ready 
 mind which enabled her to meet those unexpected situa- 
 tions which are always arising and despite her will- 
 ingness she seemed personally unaggressive, always 
 good-humored, always reliable, always patient. She be- 
 gan to be regarded as a "find." 
 
 Among those who led in society, Jennie particularly 
 was aware of the eminence of Mrs. Shipman, the wife 
 of the banker, and particularly did she set about to gain 
 that lady's recognition. Two or three times Mrs. Ship- 
 man spoke pleasantly if briefly to her. But the first sign 
 of success was that lady's asking her to be a figure in 
 one of the tableaus in the War Bazaar she was giving in 
 a few weeks. To be sure, the figure suggested to her was
 
 288 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 not important but she was getting on! She met Mr. 
 Shipman occasionally at balls and at dinners ; and not 
 again did she carelessly throw away her opportunities as 
 she had done at their first meeting. She studied him, and 
 studied to please him. She decided to be good-naturedly, 
 girlishly serious with him; and she knew she acted the 
 part well. She thought he was beginning to like her 
 a little, at any rate. She was getting on there, too! 
 if only in the preliminary stages. 
 
 By the middle of that winter, people began to talk 
 about "those young Harrisons," and particularly about 
 "that pretty, clever, and unspoiled Mrs. Harrison." In 
 speaking of her some of the discerning older women 
 compared her to this or that highly important woman 
 who had first appeared on society's fringes as an ob- 
 scure figure from the outland. Mark their word, this 
 young Mrs. Harrison was some day also going to be an 
 important person. 
 
 Jennie was exultant chiefly on Kenneth's account: 
 because of the bearing success had had upon her re- 
 lationship with him. She knew that he was pleased, 
 though only occasionally did he speak freely and fully 
 of what she was achieving. But if Kenneth did not give 
 full acknowledgment, his mother did. One evening 
 when she and Kenneth had had family dinner at the 
 house in the East Seventies, the older woman, up in 
 her sitting-room, had exclaimed, her blue eyes warm 
 with enthusiasm and affection: 
 
 "Jennie, I believed you were going to make a remark- 
 able wife for Kenneth but you 've been even more 
 remarkable than I dreamed. Oh, I've been watching 
 you closely, my dear every mother is a born spy. 
 You manage your house amazingly well for so young a
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 289 
 
 wife and a home he can be proud of will always be 
 effective with Kenneth. And the way you are getting 
 on in society! I don't care a great deal for society my- 
 self but I know, for all his indifference, it means a 
 great deal to Kenneth. Just as I thought you would, 
 you are proving to be exactly the right wife for him." 
 And then she added reminiscently : "I might possibly 
 once have become somebody in society if I had cared 
 but I never could possibly have become what you are 
 going to become. Never, my dear!" 
 
 "I'm sore at her," grumbled Sue, who soon was to 
 become Mrs. William Grayson. "Nobody pays any 
 attention to me at all when Jennie is in the same hemi- 
 sphere." The warm hug with which Sue ended this 
 complaint was proof that jealousy did not exist in Sue's 
 generous nature. 
 
 "I'm more sure than ever, Jennie," Mrs. Harrison 
 declared, "that you are going to make a fine big man 
 out of Kenneth and help him to the sort of success 
 his heart desires!" 
 
 Jennie glowed at the praise and affection of these two 
 sincere women. She had long since discounted the de- 
 ception which had been practiced, so she now felt no 
 twinges of guilt. Whatever might have been in the long 
 ago, she now was trying to build solidly ; she was trying 
 to do her very best for Kenneth ; and the words of Ken- 
 neth's mother and sister were the highest recognition 
 that her achievements were solid and of a truly helpful 
 character. 
 
 During this swift-mounting period there was so much 
 in Jennie's life that its single events lost their identity 
 in a blurred but glorious whole. But there was one in- 
 cident rather, a few scenes which did remain in her
 
 290 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 mind. This was on the occasion of the first time, since 
 that night at Silver Bluffs, that she had seen Ken- 
 neth and Slim Jackson in the same company. Slim was 
 not a member of the original party a little supper 
 dance at Sherry's but at midnight Jennie noted that 
 he was present : debonair, gracefully at ease as always, 
 and welcomed too. A little later, apart from the milling 
 of the dance, she saw Kenneth with an arm on Slim's 
 shoulder, talking with intimate earnestness. 
 
 Presently she was dancing with Slim. "I saw you 
 talking to Kenneth just as though you were old friends," 
 she whispered. "What does it mean?" 
 
 There was an amused, provoking smile in his gray 
 eyes. "Oh, Kenneth and I are better friends than ever 
 didn't you know?" Then he added, in a guarded 
 voice, "This part of it also has worked out exactly as 
 I told you it would that night last summer. I said to 
 you then that though Kenneth hated me at the time, 
 after a while he 'd come to realize that I 'd really done 
 him a great service. He has n't said this in so many 
 words, but that 's exactly the way he feels. So I 'm ace- 
 high with Kenneth, and we're back together on those 
 business stunts I once mentioned to you, and one or 
 two besides." 
 
 His lean face was smiling, triumphant teasing. 
 At this particular moment she felt no personal fear of 
 him as she had done before ; but she did catch her breath 
 a bit at his astute power, and at the exactitude with 
 which his plans came to pass. 
 
 "And the other things you said were going to come 
 about, the things you did n't want to specify have 
 they happened too?" she whispered. 
 
 "Some of them but not all," he replied, a bit myg-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 291 
 
 teriously. "All are not due to happen yet the time's 
 not come but all will happen." He bent closer to 
 her ear, and whispered admiringly. "But one thing 
 has happened even bigger than I thought, Jen and 
 that's you. The way you've put yourself across is sim- 
 ply a marvel!" He chuckled. "We've sure come along 
 a bit, Jennie you and I. God! if Black Jerry and the 
 old bunch down at the Pekin could only see us now!" 
 
 She did not answer. When the music ceased, there 
 at her shoulder stood Gloria, who must have entered 
 during the dance; and Gloria was looking directly at 
 her. This was also the first time she had seen Gloria 
 since that historic night at Silver Bluffs. Jennie looked 
 back at Gloria, remembering Gloria's threat and won- 
 dering what Gloria was going to do. The pause while 
 their looks held was only for a moment ; then Gloria said 
 in as friendly a voice as she ever used : 
 
 "Hello, Jennie. Been out of town for several months 
 Adirondacks Asheville Florida and this is 
 the first chance I 've had to congratulate you face to 
 face. Never write letters, you know. But I do con- 
 gratulate you. And I hear that of the new wives of the 
 season, you're getting all the blue ribbons. So I con- 
 gratulate you again." 
 
 "Thank you." If Gloria was easy and self-possessed, 
 Jennie was no less so. 
 
 "By the way, Jennie, I've been asked by Mrs. Ship- 
 man to put on a little act at the bazaar she's giving. 
 I wish you'd join in and help me." 
 
 "I can't, Gloria. I have already promised to help 
 her in something else." 
 
 "That's good. Then we'll be seeing each other just 
 the same."
 
 292 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 They chatted on about inconsequent matters for a 
 few moments, Gloria as striking a figure, in her bold 
 fashion, as in other days. Slim stood beside them with 
 a sober but satirical face. And all this brief while Jennie 
 was studying her old antagonist, and wondering what 
 was behind her manner of good fellowship. This much 
 she knew that Gloria, when she could control her tem- 
 per and suppress her ego (which occasionally she did), 
 had a fair portion of what the sophisticated world con- 
 siders good sense and was a moderately good actress ; 
 and Jennie also knew Gloria realized that their worlds 
 were now the same and that Jennie could no longer be 
 snubbed or patronized. So much Jennie knew; beyond 
 that she could only guess. 
 
 While they chatted Kenneth came up. Gloria con- 
 gratulated him on his marriage just as though there 
 had never been anything between them. Kenneth, after 
 an instant of stiffness, responded politely. 
 
 The music started up. Without a word Slim swept 
 Jennie away, and she saw Kenneth and Gloria fall into 
 step. After a moment Slim chuckled softly in Jen- 
 nie's ear. 
 
 ' ' That was a fine piece of drawing-room comedy acting 
 between you two young dames." 
 
 "I was n't acting," returned Jennie. 
 
 "No?" There was irony in Slim's soft laugh. "Well, 
 if you were not, Gloria was. And listen to an old play- 
 mate, Jen: Gloria will smile just like that and talk just 
 like that, so long as you are on top. You 're too much 
 of a hit for her not to be nice to you. But that darling 
 child has n't forgotten a thing and she carries a gun 
 in her kick and she's just waiting for her chance. So 
 look out, my dear!"
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 293 
 
 Abruptly, teasingly there was always something 
 of the imp in Slim he changed the subject. "Look 
 over there at Gloria and Kenneth. They do make a 
 fine-looking couple, yes? Do you wonder at it if, beneath 
 it all, Gloria should be a bit sore?" 
 
 Jennie looked. She had to admit that Gloria and 
 Kenneth were a striking pair. And it did seem to her 
 that Kenneth was just a little less formal than the cir- 
 cumstances should have made him. But she made no 
 reply to Slim's comment. 
 
 In their car on the ride home Kenneth brought 
 up the subject of that evening's meetings. "Funny, 
 was n't it, our running into Gloria Raymond and Jack- 
 son Holt." And then he added apologetically: "I can't 
 very well be sore at Jackson Holt over that night last 
 summer, since what he did has turned out to be a favor. 
 And Gloria since we 've got to be meeting her we 
 might as well be polite, particularly when the fight 
 is over and has come out our way." 
 
 "Of course," agreed Jennie. 
 
 But she spoke absently. Just then her mind was 
 filled with Slim Jackson's half-jesting words of warn- 
 ing about Gloria ; and also was it the germ of jealousy 
 on her part? with Slim's remark about Gloria and 
 Kenneth being a fine-looking couple.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 OPPORTUNITY PRESENTS ITSELF 
 
 JENNIE'S big chance came sooner than she ex- 
 pected, and in a way she did not expect and 
 it came with unexpected complications and un- 
 dreamed-of risks; yet she was ready for it when it did 
 come. 
 
 When the participants in Mrs. Shipman's coming 
 bazaar began to meet in that lady's big house on upper 
 Fifth Avenue, first to talk things over and then to re- 
 hearse, Jennie had opportunity for intensive study of 
 the woman whom it was part of her great plan to win. 
 Since the passing of that older order of grand dames 
 who, a decade or two before, had truly ruled society 
 with imperial might and hauteur, Mrs. Shipman more 
 nearly approached being the leader of society than any 
 of her contemporaries. She was more tactful, more 
 considerate of others, than had been the great ladies 
 of her own young womanhood. Jennie perceived that 
 she ruled more by the good-will of her subjects than by 
 the imposition of her might ; in keeping with the political 
 trend of her time, she was more of a democratic queen. 
 But though her methods were different, Jennie sensed 
 that her desire for dominance was no less than in the 
 leaders of old. And to maintain her leadership she had 
 to be always active, and every affair with which she was 
 concerned had to be at least a success, if it did not actu- 
 ally stand above every similar enterprise. She dared not 
 fail; at least she dared not fail often. 
 
 And yet, for all her adroit democratic imperialism,
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 295 
 
 for all her pleasantly hidden determination to hold her 
 own, Jennie perceived that she was at bottom a good- 
 hearted and generous woman perfectly willing, so 
 long as the main glory was hers, to give full credit to 
 others. 
 
 Jennie, studying quietly, decided on the traits of 
 Mrs. Shipman which offered her her best chance to win : 
 the older woman's desire for success and continued suc- 
 cess, and her willingness to render credit. These traits 
 Jennie must use. 
 
 Mrs. Shipman had decided upon a programme of 
 emotional and dramatic tableaus the "Woes of the 
 Allies" the figures of which were to be portrayed by 
 the younger women of society. And since she really 
 liked a certain young Percy Farwell, and everybody 
 thought him extremely clever, she had decided to close 
 her programme with a one-act musical comedy written 
 and composed by him, and played by amateurs. This 
 would lighten the end of the programme and prepare the 
 guests for the dancing which was to follow, and also put 
 them in the right mood to buy freely at the booths 
 which were to be the real source of revenue. All together 
 it would be a well-rounded entertainment. And her 
 printed programmes would give only the bare titles of 
 the various numbers, thus creating expectancy and 
 speculation as to what each number was to be and as to 
 the identity of the performers. 
 
 Jennie's allotted part in the programme was a com- 
 paratively minor one : merely a figure in a tableau that 
 was to be called "Daughters of Belgium" though 
 after the tableau had been rehearsed many times she 
 became the stricken daughter around whom the others 
 were grouped. But in the bustle of preparation she paid
 
 296 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 more attention to young Farwell's operetta than she 
 did to her own act. Gloria, with that swift, possessive 
 instinct which few ever combated, had seized upon 
 Percy Farwell's work even while Mrs. Shipman's plans 
 were forming; she gave time to it, she privately spent 
 her own money, she got the prettiest girls who were not 
 otherwise engaged for her chorus, and she secured Slim 
 Jackson as coach. Of course Gloria had the chief femi- 
 nine part, with Percy Farwell himself playing the roman- 
 tic lover. It really looked very good to Jennie in re- 
 hearsal, with Slim whipping it into shape. Gloria had 
 enough assurance to be a fair actress, and she had a 
 fair voice altogether quite adequate for an amateur 
 performance. Gloria plainly intended to register the 
 personal success of the evening, and she would un- 
 doubtedly do so, for she had the superior vehicle. 
 
 Jennie could not wholly repress bitter feelings. But 
 then, oh, well, let Gloria have her success! Some 
 day, somehow, her own great time would come. 
 
 At length the night of Mrs. Shipman's bazaar arrived. 
 The affair was held in the big ballroom at Sherry's, the 
 ballroom in her Fifth Avenue house being altogether too 
 small; for Mrs. Shipman was bent on making money, 
 and tickets had been sold widely and somewhat indis- 
 criminately in order to insure a large crowd. A tempo- 
 rary stage had been erected at one end of the room, 
 with draw-curtains, and with curtained-in dressing- 
 rooms for the participants. 
 
 From the standpoint of attracting an audience the 
 bazaar was a success from the outset. Every one of 
 the gilded chairs was occupied and men stood packed 
 to the very walls. Peeping between the curtains just be- 
 fore they parted for the beginning of the performance,
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 29 / 
 
 Jennie had two sharp surprises. Standing near the door, 
 rather uncomfortable in evening clothes, stood Officer 
 Casey. She caught her breath. What was he doing 
 there? Then she relaxed partially; this was a mixed 
 crowd, and police protection had seemed advisable 
 that was probably the explanation of Casey's presence. 
 
 And then her eyes lighted on another man, a man 
 with a luminous bald head, and she experienced a more 
 severe shock. He seemed familiar, and yet at first she 
 could not place him. Then suddenly she remembered. 
 He was that judge before whom she had been tried in the 
 Women's Night Court years before. She recalled how 
 piercing his eyes had been, how merciless they had 
 seemed. 
 
 She had a frantic impulse to tell Mrs. Shipman that 
 she was suddenly indisposed and could not appear. But 
 that impulse she quickly controlled. In the plain black 
 costume which she wore as one of the daughters of Bel- 
 gium she looked very little like her real self; and besides, 
 so many years had passed that the judge had probably 
 forgotten the incident of the young girl forger who had 
 been before him and had that same night disappeared. 
 
 The programme moved along smoothly. The tab- 
 leaus had been well thought out, and carefully re- 
 hearsed, and since they had the added value of being 
 presented by the prettiest of young society women , they 
 were well received. The last of the tableaus was Jen- 
 nie's a group of young women all in black, represent- 
 ing the girlhood of a devastated land, faces white and 
 fixed with terror, and arms stretched out imploringly. 
 When the curtains swung together, there was continued 
 applause. Not a tumult, but quite as much as Jennie 
 had expected.
 
 298 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Jennie saw that Mrs. Shipman, sitting in the impro- 
 vised wings, was thoroughly satisfied. Thus far all had 
 gone as well as she had counted. It was to be Percy 
 Farwell's little opera that was to give distinction to her 
 programme, which was to make her evening stand out 
 above the affairs conducted by other women. 
 
 Jennie paused near Mrs. Shipman to watch the per- 
 formance. Slim Jackson had hurried over from his the- 
 ater where the last curtain had fallen a few minutes 
 before, and was giving final direction to Gloria and 
 Farwell. Beyond the velvet curtains a small orchestra, 
 recruited from the musicians at Slim's theater, were be- 
 ginning the brief overture. A minute or two later and 
 the curtain parted, and the chorus danced on. 
 
 The plots of all musical comedies, in their outlines, 
 are much the same and seem unbelievably stupid, and 
 Percy Farwell's broke with no traditions. The chorus 
 seemed to be friends of the heroine, though naturally 
 it was not made clear what they were doing on the 
 premises. They sang their appointed melody, and sang 
 it well, then danced off. Immediately thereafter Gloria 
 and young Farwell appeared on the stage. 
 
 The dialogue acquainted the audience with the facts 
 that the stage was Gloria's drawing-room and that 
 Gloria was a young widow whose fortune had been tied 
 up in a way to prevent her remarrying, by one of those 
 wills which dead husbands are forever leaving behind 
 them in musical comedies. Also this will had attached 
 to her for life a maid and a butler spies upon her hap- 
 piness both spies ! But fortunately, by a trick, she 
 had got the pair out of the house, and for once she and 
 her lover could talk freely. Whereupon the young hero 
 nobly declared that he did not love her for her fortune,
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 299 
 
 only for herself ; and besought her to forfeit her foi tune 
 and join him in penniless happiness. There was much 
 romantic talk about this and he sang to her, in a 
 pleasing light baritone, about the spell of her wonderful 
 eyes and she sang back (a very neat melody) in a 
 passable soprano something about if only one dwelt in 
 love's kingdom where Cupid made all the laws. This 
 cooing at each other done with, she proceeded to declare 
 that she could come to no man and be to him merely 
 a burden there must be some way out of the will. 
 
 Thus far all had gone excellently. Absurd as the 
 foregoing synopsis may seem, Farwell's lines had been 
 clever or agreeably sentimental, the music had always 
 been adequate and in spots highly pleasing, and the au- 
 dience had been in a .most cordial mood. At this point 
 in the dialogue, Gloria was supposed to have an in- 
 spired plan. But at this point Gloria had nothing at all. 
 She began to flounder in her lines then she lost them 
 altogether. Young Farwell began to talk rapidly, im- 
 provising, slipping her her cue repeatedly in his dis- 
 cursive speech. From the wings Slim whispered her 
 lines loud enough for her to hear. But she heard nothing. 
 For once her self-possession failed her. She stared wildly 
 at Farwell for a moment, then she fairly ran off into the 
 wings. No other course was left to Farwell except to 
 follow her, leaving an audience that blinked its eyes at 
 an empty stage. 
 
 Slim Jackson swore one of those oaths such as he had 
 used in the long ago down in the Pekin, but such as he 
 had never before permitted himself in such company as 
 this. "Draw those curtains!" he snapped. 
 
 Jennie's attention during these moments was on Mrs. 
 Shipman, She sat in her chair, stricken with the sudden-
 
 goo A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 ness of the disaster, as the curtains swished together. 
 "My heavens! My heavens!" gasped the great lady. 
 And then her magnificent eyes suddenly blazed at Gloria. 
 "You you " she choked. But Gloria, trembling, 
 yet at the same time defiant, walked by without answer 
 into her dressing-room. 
 
 Beyond the curtains was that dead hush which is 
 more sickening to the soul of performers and managers 
 than hisses and cat-calls can ever be. Jennie saw that 
 Mrs. Shipman, though slumped down in her chair, had 
 grown tense with the realization that this failure was so 
 utterly complete as to negative the pleasant effects of 
 the preceding numbers to make of all that had gone 
 before, and all that was to come after, the ball, the pi- 
 ratical but charming business of the booths, a hollow 
 and dismal ruin. And for the great Mrs. Shipman to fail 
 in public and fail so colossally ! Jennie could guess the 
 agonizing thoughts which were horrifying that appalled 
 and stricken lady. 
 
 Less than a minute had passed since Slim had ordered 
 the curtains to be drawn. Jennie's mind worked so 
 swiftly that she can hardly be said to have thought at 
 all. Back of the operations of her mind, though not then 
 consciously remembered, was her acquaintance with the 
 old stage fact, acquired from going to all sorts of theaters 
 from the Bowery to Broadway in her Pekin days, that 
 a thing which is pretentious and a failure needs only to 
 be exaggerated and made consciously and solemnly bad 
 in order to become effective with an audience. 
 
 She excitedly caught Slim's arm. "Come on let's 
 go on and burlesque it!" 
 
 "What's in your head, Jen?" was Slim's quick, whis- 
 pered question.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 301 
 
 "I'll be Nannette, the maid you'll be Thompson, 
 the butler," she answered rapidly. "We're the servants, 
 just come back, and we play exactly the same scenes 
 as our masters only we burlesque it making it as 
 broad as the old Bowery things. We remember some of 
 the lines, and we can fake the rest. It's the only way 
 to save this. Come on!" 
 
 Slim's eyes were gleaming with excitement. "Jennie, 
 you're all there! Sure come on!" 
 
 Jennie caught up a tiny apron which had been used 
 in an earlier tableau, swiftly tied it on and in her 
 severe black dress which she had worn as a mourning 
 daughter of Belgium, she was transformed into the 
 most desirable of maids. She hurried on to the stage, 
 Slim behind her, Slim at the same time ordering the 
 curtains drawn. When the curtains parted the still 
 dazed audience beheld Jennie, sitting in the same atti- 
 tude Gloria had assumed shortly after her entrance, fan- 
 ning herself affectedly with the fan Gloria had dropped. 
 Slim was posed adoringly over her chair. 
 
 "Thompson," said Jennie, looking up at him, "I hope 
 your days of being a butler will soon be over. It is for- 
 tunate that my mistress is away so that we can at last 
 talk things over freely." 
 
 "Nannette," cried Slim, with hoarse emotion, "this 
 chance has been my dream for months! " 
 
 This bit told the audience who they were. At once 
 Jennie spoke of the horrid will her late husband had 
 made, and within half a minute the audience grasped 
 the fact that they were witnessing the same scene they 
 had just beheld, only now it was being played by the 
 servants, and being played as a joke. They began to 
 titter. Jennie and Slim went on about the will, in high-
 
 302 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 flown language, with grandiose emotion, with melo- 
 dramatic gesture, with an occasional "My God! My 
 God!" and an occasional frantic hand in the hair. 
 
 They used in their improvisation all the stock phrases 
 and the well-known cues their minds could seize upon. 
 The audience was now in full laughter. At length they 
 reached the point where Farwell and Gloria had sung at 
 each other. Slim could do many things, but he could not 
 sing. However, he was ready with words which should 
 lead up to Jennie's singing and these words he made 
 a burlesque upon that most wearisome of theatrical 
 devices, the "song cue." 
 
 "Ah, your face, dear your face!" he cried in high 
 ecstasy. ' ' That reminds me of a song you used to sing 
 about a face a sweet and simple song that was the 
 tender speech of the heart. Come, sing it again!" 
 
 He led the way to the piano and seated himself. Jen- 
 nie had no idea what he was going to play, but she was 
 ready for anything or thought she was. But when 
 Slim, after a few preliminary chords, struck into a melody 
 which he played very slowly, and when she recognized 
 what the song was, her courage almost left her. She 
 glanced at the judge; could that song send his mind 
 back, and possibly connect her in his memory with the 
 missing Jennie M alone he once had tried? 
 
 Slim had twice played the introduction before she had 
 recovered herself. Then she stepped forward, clasped 
 her hands, raised her eyes toward heaven, and slowly, 
 pathetically, she sang a Bowery ballad which had been 
 familiar to her as a child "The Face on the Bar- 
 Room Floor." The combination of her charming, plain- 
 tive figure, the grisly pathos of the words, and this being 
 Mrs, Shipman's most ambitious social function the
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 303 
 
 incongruity of it all tripled the effect. The audience 
 simply roared its delight when the song was finished, 
 and split gloves and bruised palms in its demand for 
 more. 
 
 Slim's nod informed them that there was to be an 
 encore. He played chords for a few moments until there 
 was comparative silence, and then he spoke again in his 
 previous voice of exaggerated emotion: 
 
 ' ' That face that face ! Another song you used to 
 sing about a face! Dear mother's face it was. A sweet 
 and simple song that was the tender speech of the heart. 
 Come, sing it again!" 
 
 Once more, while Slim played aimless chords, Jennie 
 wondered what was coming. And once more she was 
 horror-stricken when he switched into the melody. But 
 once more she clasped her hands, raised her eyes, and 
 slowly, pathetically, holding long upon notes which 
 she could make dolorous, she sang another gem from her 
 memory's collection of Bowery ballads " Don't Drive 
 a Nail in Mother's Face." 
 
 The applause which followed this was even more tu- 
 multuous. But Jennie was suddenly rather frightened. 
 Perhaps Mrs. Shipman's bazaar was being saved, but, 
 by throwing herself into the breach, had she not endan- 
 gered her own standing her prestige with those 
 people among whom she was determined to win a greater 
 place? 
 
 While the applause was still thundering, she whis- 
 pered rapidly to Slim : 
 
 "I don't want the final impression these people have 
 of me to be rough-house. Let's switch into something 
 different say end off with a dance." 
 
 Slim closed the piano in a manner to indicate that a
 
 304 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 change was coming, shot a few low words to the con- 
 ductor of his orchestra, and the orchestra immediately 
 began softly to play a modern waltz. At once their man- 
 ner of burlesque fell from Jennie and Slim, he slipped an 
 arm about her and they swung away into the dance. All 
 New York declared that Jackson Holt was the greatest 
 of all male dancers who specialized in the ballroom 
 dances; and in the whole of his life Slim Jackson had 
 never danced better for money than he now danced for 
 nothing. And Jennie, trying to superimpose upon the 
 burlesque impression an impression of herself that 
 would be more graciously remembered, danced the best 
 that was in her. Into the slow grace of the old-time 
 waltz they interwove the intricate steps of the waltz 
 of their own day. They were a well-nigh perfect pair. 
 There was silence out in the audience where before there 
 had been unrestrained hilarity until they swung off 
 the stage and the curtains drew together. Then there 
 was applause that out-thundered the previous thunder. 
 
 Jennie and Slim acknowledged this by slipping through 
 the curtains and bowing to the audience and then to 
 each other. But the applause did not diminish when 
 they were again back through the curtains. 
 
 "You take this call alone, Jennie," Slim said. "It's 
 really your crowd, not mine the crowd you want to 
 get solid with." 
 
 Jennie's excitement w r as too high for her to notice the 
 sensation which had been created in the wings ; but she 
 did see Percy Farwell standing with loose, bewildered 
 face fixed on her and Slim. She seized his limp hand, 
 and before he knew what she was doing he was through 
 the curtains with her, blinking at the audience, and she 
 was saying :
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 305 
 
 "Mr. Farwell wishes me to tell you how grateful he 
 is to you for your appreciation of his burlesque. All of 
 us who had a part in it think his idea was extremely 
 clever to embody in the same play an apparently 
 serious scene and then a burlesque upon it. In behalf 
 of all of us who have had a share in Mr. Farwell's 
 burlesque, I wish to thank you." 
 
 Even when she had drawn him back to safety be- 
 hind the curtains, the dazed Mr. Farwell was still inar- 
 ticulate. Every one else, however, crowding up, had 
 much to say. But the showman that was in Slim Jack- 
 son dominated them all. 
 
 "Hear that audience out there? They're not satis- 
 fied yet, and are n't going to be satisfied with mere bows 
 before the curtain. Mrs. Harrison is the one they're 
 most interested in. Mrs. Harrison, can you give them 
 an encore?" 
 
 Jennie was quite willing to be the star, and more than 
 willing that the effect of her burlesque performance 
 should be indubitably superseded by another impres- 
 sion. So she said, "Yes." 
 
 "Clear the stage, everybody," ordered Slim, and 
 when all were off he ordered the curtains once more 
 drawn. "Now, go to it, Jennie," he whispered "any- 
 thing you like." 
 
 Jennie walked out upon the stage, opened the piano, 
 and very simply she seated herself much in the man- 
 ner that one Galli-Curci was to win her most popular 
 triumphs a year or so later. Then slowly, softly, she 
 sang, "The Last Rose of Summer." The utter simplicity 
 and charm with which she did the old song, by its con- 
 trast with what she had been doing these last few min- 
 utes, kept the audience hushed until after she had risen
 
 $o6 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 and the curtains were swinging together. Then the ap- 
 plause rose again and now it was not that of those 
 who have been made to laugh, but those who have been 
 made to admire. Two three half a dozen times 
 Jennie had to step between the curtains and bow. She 
 smilingly shook her head with finality at the clamor for 
 more and did not take another call. She had gained her 
 effect. That was enough. 
 
 "Swell, Jennie simply swell!" Slim whispered into 
 her ear. 
 
 But the first great reward for what she had done 
 came when Mrs. Shipman, her face now glowing, and 
 tears in her eyes, took Jennie into her arms. " My dear, 
 you Ve simply saved me ! ' ' cried that great lady. ' ' You ' ve 
 saved me personally and you Ve prevented the 
 bazaar from being a financial failure. The people are 
 ready to buy anything. And, my dear, if there is any- 
 thing in the world I can do for you it 's already done ! 
 Won't you please lunch with me to-morrow?" 
 
 Jennie promised, and exultantly escaped through the 
 performers toward her dressing-room. On the way she 
 met Gloria, in a cloak, a dark look upon her face. 
 Jennie could not refrain from saying: 
 
 "What, leaving just as the dancing is about to begin! 
 Where are you going?" 
 
 "Home if that's any of your business!" snapped 
 Gloria. 
 
 Changed into an evening gown and out among those 
 who had so lately been her audience, Jennie was a more 
 direct target for praise. It all sounded sweet to her; 
 it was the crowd's acclaim which meant that she was 
 getting on. She did not miss a word of it, although 
 her ears were expert enough also to hear Percy Farwell
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 307 
 
 being clamorously told that his burlesque was the best 
 thing he had ever done. A glance in his direction showed 
 her that he was red-faced and embarrassed and thor- 
 oughly at a loss how to take his success. 
 
 A little later when the current of humanity had car- 
 ried her to near the main entrance, some one at her side 
 said, "Mrs. Harrison, I want the pleasure of presenting 
 to you Judge Gilbert." 
 
 She turned. Facing her was the luminous-domed 
 magistrate who had tried her those long years ago. 
 In the instant that followed there was one of those 
 periods there had been several such in Jennie's life 
 in which a moment seems to have the length of 
 hours. Did he recognize her? Was she in her moment 
 of high victory about to go down into abysmal defeat? 
 ... A few yards away her quick eyes saw the uncom- 
 fortable Casey. Was Casey there to act? . . . 
 
 The suspense was for but a moment. Then she heard 
 the judge who on that other occasion had been so 
 brusque with her, saying : 
 
 "This is a pleasure a privilege I assure you, 
 Mrs. Harrison." 
 
 His voice and manner were cringing. He did not know 
 her! She had passed upward into a realm toward which 
 he gazed with reverent eyes. 
 
 Very calmly she gave him her hand to touch, and 
 the meeting was over. But her fate having been tested 
 thus far, she wished to test it yet a little further. So 
 she walked toward Casey, and as she was passing him 
 she looked straight into his face. His eyes met hers; 
 they were blank, unrecognizing. 
 
 She dropped her handkerchief, as if by accident, at 
 his feet. As he bent to pick it up, she leaned toward him.
 
 308 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "Well?" she whispered. 
 
 He struck the handkerchief two or three times against 
 his sleeve as if to beat out any possible dust. His head 
 was bent over his task, and for that moment their heads 
 were close together. 
 
 "You're putting it over grand, Jennie," he replied in 
 the most guarded of whispers. 
 
 He handed her the bit of linen with an awkward bow. 
 Again his eyes met hers, and again they were blank, 
 unrecognizing. 
 
 And yet a little later Jennie had her second great 
 reward. This was when she was dancing with Mr. 
 Daniel Shipman or rather when she was not dancing 
 with him, for he had said he preferred to sit out the 
 number he had won from her. 
 
 "Mrs. Harrison," the great financier said to her 
 quizzically, " I wonder if you realize what a tremendous 
 fraud you are? No, I don't mean tremendous - I mean 
 just a pleasant-sized fraud." 
 
 "Fraud?" exclaimed Jennie, startled. 
 
 "Yes, fraud. Mrs. Shipman has told me privately 
 that you have deceived us all abominably. That is, she 
 told me the truth about that play: that you turned it 
 into a burlesque in order to save the evening and 
 then gave young Farwell the credit for having written 
 it that way in order to save everybody else. Is that 
 correct?" 
 
 "If Mrs. Shipman said that I can't deny it. But 
 please don't tell any one." 
 
 "Pardon my being personal, Mrs. Harrison," the 
 great financier went on and Jennie thought she saw 
 a gleam in his keen eyes that was very personal indeed 
 "but a woman who can do what you have done must
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 309 
 
 have quickness of wit and nerve and brains. She must be 
 a woman very much out of the ordinary the kind of 
 woman any man would count it a high favor to have as 
 one of his friends." His voice became abrupt. "Mrs. 
 Harrison, I would like to know you better have 
 real talks with you. Could n't you ah we have 
 lunch or something together? Other persons, if you 
 like, and all that. Or you might ah like to see 
 my collection of emeralds. Your husband could call 
 for you." 
 
 His invitations, or suggestions, had been vague. 
 But to Jennie's mind there had been much, very much, 
 implied by them. Jennie felt dizzy. She did not want 
 complications with Mrs. Shipman, and perhaps injure 
 her chances there. But here she was suddenly at the 
 gate of new opportunities. And perhaps of new 
 dangers. 
 
 "Why why, yes," she answered. 
 
 "Soon?" he asked. 
 
 "Yes soon." 
 
 "That's a bargain." His keen eyes flashed again. 
 "And I shall hold you to it soon." 
 
 On the way home Jennie had to go over the whole 
 business of the night with Kenneth. 
 
 "You were great, Jennie nothing less than great!" 
 Kenneth declared. "And Mrs. Shipman asking you to 
 lunch with her why, that's the surest sign that you 
 have reached the very top!" 
 
 Jennie thought she had, too; and she had carried 
 Kenneth up with her. She was no less exultant than 
 Kenneth, but she was silent while he talked on excitedly. 
 She was wondering if she should tell Kenneth about Mr. 
 Shipman. She finally decided not to do so. She did not
 
 3 1 o A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 know just what was going to happen when she met 
 Mr. Shipman. Almost anything might happen and 
 then again perhaps nothing. Better to wait until she 
 could say to Kenneth, "Here, this also I have won 
 for you."
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 HOW JENNIE MANAGED A GREAT MAN 
 
 THE luncheon at Mrs. Shipman's, which placed 
 Jennie openly and definitely among the highest 
 few, was an ever-memorable event for her. And 
 the days that immediately followed that luncheon the 
 opening days of that golden epoch when she really "be- 
 longed" to society's topmost stratum were days of 
 unforgettable rapture. It was marvelous, dazzling, 
 breath-taking, to be here, poised at the very top! But 
 she managed up here, as for years past in lowlier places, 
 to maintain an unpretentious manner. It seemed to her 
 to be as bad a policy, even in these lofty realms, to ex- 
 cite jealousy or antagonism, as she had deemed it when 
 she had been a crude young girl back in those far-gone 
 first months at Braithewood Hall. 
 
 And Kenneth daily he seemed to expand, and take 
 on confidence, with their new social greatness. Busy as 
 Jennie now was with social affairs, and thrilled as she 
 was with her own exaltation, she had time and faculties 
 enough to watch the effect of all this upon Kenneth. Of 
 a certainty her great campaign had succeeded thus 
 far! Of a certainty Kenneth had no reason for regret! 
 At Mrs. Shipman's luncheon Jennie had seen an open- 
 ing and had acted instantly. Mrs. Shipman had asked 
 Jennie if there was not some way in which she could 
 serve her. Jennie, daring greatly, had spoken of Ken- 
 neth's rare ability, his equipment for a financial career, 
 and had then said that Mrs. Shipman could do her no 
 higher service than use her influence to get Kenneth
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 into Mr. Shipman's firm. Mrs. Shipman had slowly 
 shaken her head. 
 
 " I 'm very sorry. I 'm afraid I can't serve you in that. 
 I do not interfere in Mr. Shipman's business affairs; 
 especially not in the matter of recommending people 
 to him he's very particular about making his own 
 choices and using his own judgment. Is n't there some- 
 thing else I can do, my dear?" 
 
 Jennie had felt sharp disappointment; but it had not 
 lasted long, for this particular hope had flashed into 
 existence only the minute before. After all, she had 
 to reach Mr. Shipman through Mr. Shipman himself. 
 Though her life was now bewilderingly crowded, how 
 she should reach Mr. Shipman was her dominating 
 thought. To gratify Kenneth's ambition by getting 
 him connected with Mr. Shipman, that was now 
 the remaining great objective in her dizzy upward 
 climb. 
 
 A few days after her success at the bazaar, there came 
 a note from Mr. Shipman stating that unfortunately 
 his wife would be away, but asking Jennie to see his 
 emeralds the next afternoon at four, hinting that there 
 would be a chaperon upon the premises, and stating that 
 her husband might call for her at any time after five. 
 Jennie drove up to the Shipman house at the appointed 
 hour, pulsing with wonderment over what was going to 
 happen. She was doing a daring thing, she knew, for 
 ugly rumors were whispered around concerning Mr. 
 Shipman's relations with women but one only got on 
 by being daring, and she felt she could meet any situa- 
 tion that might arise. And of course she might avoid 
 complications by writing Mrs. Shipman of her visit to 
 see the emeralds.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 She had no more than been admitted to the house 
 when Mr. Shipman appeared and led her straight to the 
 wing of the house where were the rooms containing his fa- 
 mous collections. Jennie's instant impression of his pre- 
 cious stone room was that it was very quiet and remote 
 and that there were no signs of a chaperon. For her 
 life, she could not help shivering as the great man un- 
 locked his cases. And as he picked up the precious bits 
 of green fire for her better inspection, and put some of 
 them into her own hand, talking all the while, she had, 
 although she managed to keep up her end of the con- 
 versation, only one definite thought and that thought 
 was, what was going to happen? Again and again he 
 gave her direct looks from his keen, heavily lashed eyes; 
 she thought he was about to switch to personal mat- 
 ters, but always he went on talking about the jewels. 
 Presently he locked the last case, and they sat down in 
 the formal chairs with which the room was furnished, 
 and he began to talk to her about herself. She thought 
 that at last it was coming whatever it might be. She 
 braced herself; she tried to recall some of the phrases 
 she had prepared in Kenneth's favor. 
 
 But nothing came at all nothing at all happened. 
 Except that when Kenneth was announced as waiting, 
 he took her hand in parting, his eyes gazing straight into 
 her face, and said in lowered voice: 
 
 "This is only the beginning, Mrs. Harrison, I hope. 
 May I not see you again soon?" 
 
 "Why yes," she answered nervously. 
 
 She was still dazed when she was out in the car with 
 Kenneth. She could not understand Mr. Shipman. 
 Well, perhaps these men of big affairs were just well, 
 just very different.
 
 314 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 She had to tell Kenneth all about her hour with Mr. 
 Shipman. Kenneth was silent a space. 
 
 "It's certain he likes you," said Kenneth. "They 
 say Mr. Shipman's weakness is young and pretty 
 women. They say that a pretty woman, if she is clever, 
 can get almost anything out of him." 
 
 A week later Jennie and Kenneth were members of 
 a large theater-party. In the crush in the lobby after- 
 wards, when every one was talking to every one else, 
 Jennie became separated from Kenneth and was borne 
 onward by the slow current. At the door a hand slipped 
 beneath her elbow, and a voice said in her ear: 
 
 "You 're my prisoner. Come on." 
 
 She turned. "Mr. Shipman!" she cried. 
 
 " I Ve arranged for a little supper-party," he went on. 
 "I've spoken to your husband. You and I are going 
 to slip away to it together. My car is waiting down the 
 line out of this crush." 
 
 While he had spoken he had edged her along the outer 
 wall of the theater where the crowd was thinnest, 
 and almost before she knew what had happened she 
 had been swiftly guided down the street and was with 
 Mr. Shipman in a moving car. The suddenness of the 
 episode had startled her so that it required the sum- 
 moning of all her self-command to bear her part in the 
 conversation Mr. Shipman started about the play. She 
 did not even think about where they might be going, 
 nor did she once look out. But when presently the car 
 stopped and Mr. Shipman helped her out, she did have 
 a fleeting impression that the street was unusually quiet 
 to be the goal of a party of after-theater morry-makers. 
 Mr. Shipman led her into a well-appointed hallway and 
 thence into an elevator, to whose conductor he did not
 
 A Daughter of Two PTorlds 315 
 
 say a word. Half a minute later they were out of the 
 car and before a door. Mr. Shipman did not ring; 
 instead he slipped a key into the lock, opened the door, 
 and guided her in before him and pressed her forward a 
 few paces through the darkness. 
 
 Then from above her and beside her lights flashed on, 
 and Jennie saw she was in a large room whose character 
 her swift glance could not determine. But there were no 
 tables ashine with white napery as she had expected. 
 Instead there was a large table of dark wood, which 
 had something of the appearance of a desk, and a few 
 chairs and two couches for the rest, all she gathered 
 in that startled first glance was that the room was 
 large and richly furnished. 
 
 "We've beaten the others here," said Mr. Shipman, 
 with a bit of a laugh. "But they'll soon follow." He 
 helped her off with her cloak, and slipped out of his 
 own coat. "We might as well rest till the others come. 
 You '11 find this a first-class chair." He pushed one of the 
 chairs up beside the dark table, and after hesitating 
 a second, Jennie sat down. "I feel a bit thirsty. We 
 might as well have a sip of something while we wait. 
 Just excuse me, please." 
 
 He passed through a door. She glanced about her. 
 There were other doors, but what they led into she could 
 not guess. She listened with held breath. The deep 
 silence of the place the absence of servants, proved 
 first by his not ringing, and again by his going out to do 
 service himself a growing fear seized upon her. What 
 could it mean? 
 
 Mr. Shipman reentered. For all the smile on his 
 square face, he looked to her more powerful, more 
 dominant, than ever; and bits of hinted stories she had
 
 3 1 6 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 heard about him flashed through her brain. He was 
 bearing a tray which held a bottle and two glasses. 
 This he placed upon the table, and then poured the 
 softly hissing champagne and held out to her one glass. 
 With a hand that she managed to keep from shaking 
 too much she accepted the simmering goblet. What- 
 ever might be just before her, she was going to play her 
 part to the limit of her ability. 
 
 "Here's to our becoming very much better friends," 
 he smiled at her, "and to our always being the best 
 of friends!" 
 
 He raised his glass and drained it. She hardly touched 
 hers to her lips, then set it on the tray. As she did so, 
 her rapid gaze took in, just beyond the tray, a shining 
 revolver lying upon a few sheets of paper. 
 
 Still smiling Mr. Shipman drew up a chair to face her 
 and sat down. "I see you are wondering about me, 
 Mrs. Harrison. Well, what do you think of me?" 
 
 "I I hardly know what to think of you," she 
 breathed. 
 
 "Then just suppose I'm one of those genii, such as 
 you used to read about in the fairy stories, and wanted 
 to make you a present. What present could I give you 
 that would please you most?" 
 
 She was too much aquiver with fear and suspense to 
 frame a new idea; so what had been the original plan in 
 regard to Mr. Shipman automatically found utterance. 
 
 " I'd like your present to me to be something you can 
 do for my husband." 
 
 "And what is that?" 
 
 " I 'd like to have you take him into your firm. Oh, he 's 
 clever he's fully able to do whatever might be re- 
 quired!"
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 317 
 
 There she had got it out ! She waited breathlessly. 
 The utter silence, the complete isolation of the place, 
 pressed upon her heart. For a moment he gazed at her 
 without speaking. 
 
 "So that's what would please you most. But before 
 we talk about it further, let's have some more wine." 
 
 "None for me please!" 
 
 "Then you make me wait until you are ready. Very 
 well." Again he gazed at her steadily. Then he said, 
 in a soft voice: "Of course what you ask is a favor I 
 can grant. But when a man at least such a man as I 
 am grants a favor of that sort to a pretty woman, he 
 rather naturally wants a favor in return from the pretty 
 woman. I don't need to say what that favor is; I 'm sure 
 you understand." 
 
 She did. But she did not speak; she could not. She 
 now clearly understood the whole of the situation she 
 was in. She had seen too many modern plays, read too 
 many modern novels, not to understand. And she now 
 also understood what manner of place this was that she 
 was in for she had read of such places ; it was one of 
 those secret establishments that some very rich men 
 maintain for their extremely private pleasures. 
 
 "Whether I grant your favor depends wholly on you," 
 his soft urgent voice went on. "I say yes, if you say 
 yes." 
 
 Still she could not speak. She had thought that some- 
 how she could manage this man and how terrifyingly 
 she had miscalculated ! White-faced, she sat unnerved 
 by her situation familiar situation though it was. 
 
 He leaned nearer. "Listen, Mrs. Harrison Jen- 
 nie," he said rapidly; "I know a woman has always got 
 to think of her reputation. And I know you must think
 
 3 1 8 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 of yours. Everything will be perfectly safe. I know how 
 to manage things so they are never even whispered 
 about. So dismiss the fear of ever being found out. I 
 can manage so that things will be even safer and more 
 quiet than to-night." 
 
 Her gaze held to his powerful face, his eyes urgently 
 agleam, with terrified fascination. "The others are 
 they not coming?" she managed to breathe. 
 
 "The others? Of course not." 
 
 "Then then you lied to me!" 
 
 "How could I lie to you, Jennie, when of course you 
 understood?" 
 
 She had no answer. Her soul was suddenly inundated 
 with loathing for this man she had looked up to and 
 sought after. But she was trapped in this soundless 
 chamber she had to use her wits. 
 
 She rose, and tried to speak naturally. "Perhaps it 
 may be safe but I 'm sure the others will miss us. 
 Let's go." 
 
 He had risen with her and he now caught her hand. 
 "We're perfectly safe! And, Jennie, I can do not only 
 what you asked I '11 do anything else you may ever 
 desire! I'll give you anything everything! I'll see 
 that your husband has the highest place in the land. 
 I can do it for I have the power. And you and I, 
 Jennie I tell you it will be perfectly safe! Perfectly 
 safe." 
 
 "Please please!" cried Jennie, trying to wring 
 free her hand. 
 
 "Jennie Jennie I love you!" He swept her into 
 his arms. "Jennie, you can't leave me!" 
 
 The time had passed for the use of mere wits to escape. 
 As she struggled with him, her eyes were caught by the
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 319 
 
 glitter of the revolver lying on the table. She seized it 
 and thrust it hard against Mr. Shipman's chest. 
 
 "Stop!" she gasped; "stop, or I'll shoot you!" 
 
 He loosed her and staggered back, and glared at her. 
 Her hand trembled, but she held the pistol full upon him. 
 
 "What 's this mean?" he demanded. 
 
 "I'll kill you if you don't keep your hands off of 
 me and let me go away from this place ! I loathe you ! " 
 
 His square face clenched; his look became a glower. 
 "So, then, you've just been playing with me! Playing 
 with me all these weeks ! Do you suppose I 'd have done 
 this to-night if you had n't made me think you were 
 leading me on?" 
 
 She perceived the element of truth in what he had 
 said, but it did not cause her to lower her weapon. "You 
 may be right to an extent," she admitted. "I did try 
 to make you interested in me, but that was only because 
 I thought that in that way I might help my husband. 
 I see now that I was a fool but I want you to know 
 that I was thinking of my husband, and never of you. 
 As for you, I loathe you!" 
 
 "This, then, is your answer?" he demanded. 
 
 1 ' That 's my answer ! " 
 
 He abruptly turned his back upon her, and she 
 thought she saw a tremor go through his body. She 
 picked up her cloak and started to back toward the 
 door of this strange apartment. 
 
 "Good-night," she said briefly. 
 
 "Wait!" 
 
 He wheeled about. Jennie was startled at the swift 
 change that had taken place in the man. The passion- 
 wrought figure had relaxed, and he was smiling al- 
 most laughing.
 
 320 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "Rather a good bit of acting, don't you think?" he 
 inquired. 
 
 "Acting?" Jennie gasped. 
 
 "On my part. Though I hope you'll forgive my 
 familiarity in calling you Jennie. Don't you think I did 
 the he- vampire pretty well for an amateur? Not such 
 an inexperienced amateur, for they used to think me 
 pretty good long ago when I was in Harvard and 
 since I go to the movies whenever I get a chance, of 
 course I know just exactly how a bad rich man is sup- 
 posed to behave." 
 
 "You mean this whole business was planned 
 has been just acting?" breathed Jennie. 
 
 "Yes. And it has come out just the way I expected 
 it would and hoped it would." 
 
 "I don't believe you!" cried Jennie with sudden in- 
 tensity. "I don't believe it was acting!" 
 
 "No?" he said pleasantly. "Let's consider just one 
 detail that revolver you are so earnestly pointing at 
 me. I put it on my desk this afternoon with the belief 
 that you would see it and threaten to shoot me with it. 
 Naturally I did n't want to get killed. You can test how 
 dangerous it is by pulling the trigger and seeing what 
 happens to me. Or else you can break the revolver and 
 see what's inside if you know how to work it." 
 
 Jennie stared at him for a moment, then her eyes 
 went waveringly down to the pistol. She broke it. 
 The chamber was empty. 
 
 " But but I don't understand," she said blankly. 
 "This this place here?" 
 
 "I know what you thought it was. Despite my secre- 
 taries, people won't let me have peace either at my 
 office or my home. I 've got to have quiet to think out
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 321 
 
 some things, so this den of vice is just a study I keep to 
 slip away to and hide myself in. No one knows of this 
 place except Mrs. Shipman and myself." 
 
 Whether he was telling the truth or not, Jennie could 
 not resist belief in what he said. "But but why did 
 you do this?" 
 
 "To make sure about you. I like young people. You 
 attracted me the first time I saw you. You seemed un- 
 usual. And you attracted me even more by what you 
 did the night you saved Mrs. Shipman's affair. Also I 
 was perfectly aware that you were making up to me, 
 and I was very frankly curious. When Mrs. Shipman 
 told me of your request to use her influence to get your 
 husband " 
 
 "She told you that, after all?" cried Jennie. 
 
 "Yes. Then I realized that you wanted to push your 
 husband along." Mr. Shipman was now talking very 
 gravely. "Mrs. Harrison, there is no one I admire so 
 much, or detest so much, as the 'pushing wife' it de- 
 pends upon the sort she is. It has been my experience 
 in business that hardly anything can help a man so 
 much as the right sort of wife. Some wives will go to 
 any limit ; even the limit I suggested to you a few min- 
 utes ago. There are plenty who have been willing to go 
 to that limit with me which is not boasting, but 
 merely acquainting you with a commonplace experience 
 of many men who are considered important. I don't 
 want a man connected with me who has that sort of 
 wife and the only way to find out about a wife who 
 may be that sort is to test her. 
 
 "Now, of course, I have heard of your husband," 
 Mr. Shipman continued, "but I had never given him 
 much thought until after I met you, and I had never
 
 322 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 considered him in a business way at all until after Mrs. 
 Shipman made known to me your desire. I then thought 
 of him. Just now all great banking concerns are looking 
 for men who are capable of filling or who can be devel- 
 oped to fill big positions. I was not certain about your 
 husband ; I Ve had varying reports. But if you were the 
 right sort of wife, the sound sort, I knew there would 
 be no doubt about his turning out to be what my house 
 needs. Mrs. Harrison, you are the sort of wife who 
 makes a man a big man. And chiefly because of you, 
 and my belief in you, I am going to ask your husband 
 to call to talk over with me the matter of coming into 
 our firm." 
 
 "Mr. Shipman!" Jennie breathed. 
 
 "Incidentally," smiled Mr. Shipman, "if I am a big 
 man, it is largely because of Mrs. Shipman. Also inci- 
 dentally though this is entirely contrary to the story 
 books I am one rich man who is still in love with his 
 own wife." 
 
 He glanced at his watch. "Come on or we'll keep 
 the others waiting too long. For there really is a little 
 supper it's at the Plaza."
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 SHADOWS FROM THE PAST 
 
 TWO days later Kenneth came home flushed 
 with the great news. He was going into Mr. 
 Shipman's firm, and in a very responsible rela- 
 tionship. It was almost too good to be true. But now 
 that he was in, he'd show them! 
 
 "And, Jennie," he cried, holding tight her hands, 
 "it's all because of you! Mr. Shipman told me, and he 
 was plain about it. He said he was doing it chiefly be- 
 cause of his and Mrs. Shipman's belief in you, and be- 
 cause you had come right out and asked for it. He said 
 that, of course, he would n't have done it if he did not 
 believe I had ability. But he was very plain about 
 having done it chiefly because of you and he said 
 straight out that I had a wife that could make anything 
 out of me. Oh, Jennie, Jennie what a marvelous 
 little manager you are!" 
 
 Jennie glowed at his praise, at his happiness, at their 
 joint success. Kenneth rapidly sketched his plans. He 
 was to enter Mr. Shipman's firm at once, but with Mr. 
 Shipman's consent he was to retain his interest in Har- 
 rison and Company and was to remain an officer of the 
 business. His position with his father's company would 
 be practically unchanged only, of course, some man 
 would be secured for the routine work which he had 
 done. 
 
 Jennie very frankly acknowledged to herself that luck 
 had been with her in her wonderful upward climb. Cer- 
 tainly her two most recent great successes that at
 
 324 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Mrs. Shipman's bazaar and the winning of Mr. Ship- 
 man's favor had not been the direct results of plans 
 which she had calculated would develop thus and so. 
 But she credited herself with this: that her luck had 
 been the luck of those who prepare themselves, who 
 work hard, and who bide their time. 
 
 Golden days followed; days that apparently could 
 give birth only to other days of gold. Everywhere that 
 charming, clever, simple Mrs. Harrison was wanted. 
 She was now on Life's highest crest; there might be yet 
 higher pinnacles in days to come, but they would not 
 have to be climbed they would be elevations of her 
 own building. 
 
 During this period of the freshness of her success, 
 before the miracle of her having won so much could have 
 been diminished or made to seem somewhat common- 
 place by time, she one afternoon had a telephone mes- 
 sage from Slim. Slim wanted very much to see her at 
 once and alone. She tried to put him off by telling him 
 she had an engagement for tea at Mrs. Shipman's, but 
 Slim was not to be denied. He declared she could cancel 
 the engagement for tea; he had something of great 
 interest, something new and rather important, to tell 
 her. Experience reminded her that when Slim insisted, 
 it would be policy to comply; so she telephoned Mrs. 
 Shipman about a headache which was going to delay 
 her and might even compel her to remain at home ; and 
 then she awaited Slim's arrival with a growing curiosity 
 as to the nature of his news. 
 
 She received him in the drawing-room. He was in as 
 smart and correct afternoon dress as could be seen in 
 New York, and he advanced upon her smiling his 
 friendly smile and holding out his hand. She took the
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 325 
 
 hand. It was not her nature, when they were alone, to 
 waste time on conversation which should work around 
 indirectly to the point. 
 
 "Well, what is it, Slim?" she demanded. 
 
 "What's the hurry, Jennie?" he objected. "Give me 
 a chance to say how-do-you-do and how's your health." 
 
 " I want to finish and get around to Mrs. Shipman's. 
 What is it?" 
 
 His eyes wandered about the large room with its wide 
 doorways, then came back to her. " It's a bit personal, 
 something we'd both rather keep private oh, 
 nothing to be worried about. Could n't we talk it over 
 where we might not have an unexpected audience?" 
 
 She led him into her sitting-room, and he closed the 
 door. "Well?" she demanded when they were seated. 
 
 "May I smoke?" he inquired. 
 
 "You know you may." 
 
 He took from an inner coat pocket a thin gold case 
 delicately shaped to fit the chest unbulgingly, and held 
 it opened to her. She shook her head. With easy delib- 
 eration he helped himself, returned the case and lighted 
 the cigarette. His graceful deliberation was provoking 
 to her perhaps was intended so to be. 
 
 "Well?" she demanded once more. 
 
 He regarded her with the frank, open smile of old 
 friends. Then he nodded. "Well, Jennie, you've cer- 
 tainly reached the very top are settled there solidly 
 up where only the big people grow." 
 
 "It wasn't to tell me that that you asked me to 
 break an engagement," she returned. "Please begin 
 with whatever you're here about." 
 
 "It's because I realized that you were so solidly at 
 the top that I thought I 'd better come." He was still
 
 326 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 smiling his friendly imperturbable smile at her. "But 
 if you want me to begin, perhaps the way to begin is to 
 go back six or eight months. You remember the little 
 chat we had late that night out on the drive at Silver 
 Bluffs the night you showed up Gloria Raymond, 
 and Gloria and I were ordered off the premises?" 
 
 "Of course." She instantly sensed that, pleasant 
 though his manner was, Slim was playing with her. 
 "Out with it, Slim what are you here for?" 
 
 "And you will recall," he went on, ignoring her im- 
 perative question, "that you asked why I helped you 
 stage that little domestic drama that showed me up in 
 the last scene as the villain of the piece. You will recall 
 that I said I did it to help you appear the heroine and 
 reap the heroine's reward. And you will recall that I 
 said I also had other reasons for doing it big reasons 
 reasons pertaining to the general well-being of Mr. 
 Slim Jackson but that I could n't tell you what 
 they were until the time had come. The time has come 
 for me to tell you those other reasons or a part of 
 them. That's why I 'm here." 
 
 "Go on," she ordered. 
 
 He still smiled; his voice was even, bland confiden- 
 tially friendly. "One of the reasons was that I saw it 
 would n't have been to my particular advantage for 
 Gloria Raymond to have married Kenneth. It would n't 
 have helped me at all, since I should n't have figured in 
 it in any way and neither party would have been under 
 any obligation to me. I suppose that's clear enough, 
 Jennie?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "I had sized up the situation, and I saw that with 
 Gloria out of the game, you 'd be certain to land Ken-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 327 
 
 neth. Since you would n't join up with me, the next best 
 proposition for me was to help marry you to Kenneth. 
 See how honest I'm being with you, Jennie? I figured 
 that if through my help you married Kenneth, and made 
 a success of it, why, you 'd always feel under some sort 
 of obligation to me. And it 's all worked out exactly as 
 I figured except that you 've gone even higher than 
 I counted." 
 
 Jennie recognized that what he spoke was the truth, 
 even though he was telling her only part of the truth. 
 She was Kenneth's wife partly because Slim had so 
 willed it. She began to fill with sickness, with humilia- 
 tion, as on that night when he had told her an earlier 
 installment of the part that he had played, and when 
 the glory of personal achievement had gone from her. 
 But she controlled her faculties. 
 
 "I understand all that," she said calmly. "But that 
 concerns the past. I 'm more interested in the present." 
 
 "So am I. But I had to tell about the past in order to 
 explain, give a reasonable basis to, the present. It's like 
 this: My show's taking in a lot at the box, but it's 
 an awfully expensive production, and I 'm really losing 
 money every week. You know I Ve had to keep Doris 
 Dorraine on as my dancing partner; and she's the 
 same as when I saw you last summer not up to the 
 level. Besides, I've guessed wrong on some stocks. 
 I 'm up against it, Jennie : I need a loan. Do I make 
 myself clear?" 
 
 "Perfectly clear," she said with unflinching eyes. 
 "This seems to be a little case of blackmail. I wonder 
 how many women you've held up, and in how many 
 different ways? It 's a grand little game blackmail ! ' ' 
 
 "Old friends shouldn't use such an unpleasant word,"
 
 328 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 he replied, his amiable tone unchanged by her sharp 
 directness. "I merely said 'loan.' Naturally, I cannot 
 promise when I will repay the loan. Of course, instead 
 of calling it a loan, I might very legitimately regard it 
 as a straight commission on business transacted." 
 
 "It's blackmail!" she exclaimed. 
 
 "It's a loan, or a commission," he corrected amiably. 
 
 "It's blackmail!" she repeated. 
 
 "Let's not waste time, Jennie, arguing over such 
 minor details as the color of a person's eyes or the exact 
 word to be applied to a set of circumstances. Whatever 
 the word may be, that does n't alter the character of my 
 need. I need money." 
 
 "And if I say I can't give you any money what 
 then?" 
 
 They gazed at each other steadily and in silence for 
 a long moment. Then Slim remarked gravely : 
 
 " It would be too bad, would n't it, if it became known 
 that Mrs. Kenneth Harrison, the great social favorite 
 and protegee of Mrs. Shipman, was in reality the daugh- 
 ter of Black Jerry Malone and was the Jennie Malone 
 who was wanted by the police as a forger." 
 
 She had sensed that he was headed toward this; 
 nevertheless his cool level statement came as a definite 
 shock. She realized how far-seeing he had been; how 
 craftily he had waited until she had reached a place 
 which he thought she would pay any price rather than 
 lose. And it came upon her that his cleverness and her 
 own ambition and the working-out of events had placed 
 her entirely in his power. He could destroy her with a 
 word, if he so wished. 
 
 "So it is sure-enough blackmail," she breathed 
 "backed up with a threat of exposure."
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 329 
 
 "Let's not talk that way, Jennie," he protested in 
 his pleasant, velvety voice. "You know I don't want 
 to expose you ; I'd a lot rather have you stay up where 
 you are. I just need some money that's all there is 
 to it." 
 
 She recognized her helplessness and the futility of 
 argument. "How much?" 
 
 " I ought to have ten thousand. In cash, of course." 
 
 "Ten thousand! I have no money of my own 
 dad 's stopped sending me any. Even if I agreed, there 's 
 no way I could get ten thousand." 
 
 "You have no end of ways, my dear," he assured her 
 evenly. "There's Kenneth." 
 
 " I could n't ask Kenneth for any such sum as that!" 
 she exclaimed. "There's nothing plausible I could ask 
 it for." 
 
 "Oh, yes, there is. You could say you wanted to buy 
 a necklace jewels. He would loosen up. You could 
 give me most of it, and with the balance you could buy 
 some decent-looking fakes; thev'd only cost a few 
 hundreds. Don't give me any credit for this idea, Jennie; 
 it's an old one that lots of women have used on their 
 husbands." 
 
 She shook her head. "I couldn't do that not 
 with Kenneth." 
 
 "All right, we'll pass up Kenneth. But you can 
 easily get the money in another quarter. Handle him 
 right, and Mr. Shipman will pass it right over to you." 
 
 She colored. "Mr. Shipman! What do you mean, 
 Slim Jackson?" she demanded. 
 
 " Is n't my meaning perfectly obvious?" 
 
 "Say what it is that you mean!" 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders. "When a man like Mr.
 
 33O A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Shipman, and with a reputation such as his, confers 
 such a great advantage upon the husband of a pretty 
 young woman, the said man has usually made a pleasant 
 little arrangement with the said pretty young wife 
 but why say more, Jennie?" 
 
 "You you believe that?" she gasped. 
 
 "It happens that I can't believe anything else, 
 Jennie. And if he's done that much for you, he'll cer- 
 tainly do a lot more." 
 
 "It's a lie!" she flamed at him. "And you cut out 
 that kind of talk, Slim Jackson ! That 's not my kind of 
 business!" 
 
 "All right all right it was only a suggestion." 
 His manner and voice were unperturbed. "There are 
 still other ways you may prefer. That phony letter of 
 Gloria Raymond's you put across remember, that 
 night out at Silver Bluffs that showed you are still 
 as clever with the pen as ever. You always were a 
 natural-born wonder, you know. You can easily fix up 
 a check, and take it out of some party that '11 never miss 
 the dough." 
 
 "I'm not going to do that either!" she replied 
 sharply. 
 
 "All right. These are only suggestions to you, you 
 know. We'll pass on. Now, there's Black Jerry. He's 
 spent a lot of coin, and worked hard, to get you up here. 
 Rather than have everything go to smash, I think Jerry 
 would rustle around and dig up the necessary coin." 
 
 She blazed at him. "After all dad has done for me, 
 do you think I 'd ask him to stand for a hold-up like 
 this?" 
 
 "All right all right just another suggestion 
 let's forget it," he continued blandly. He recrossed his
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 331 
 
 legs. "But, Jennie, I can't help you out with any more 
 ideas; that's all I'd thought of. It's up to you now 
 to think of a way. How you do it is all the same to 
 me. My only concern is, I Ve simply got to have the 
 money." 
 
 For all his pleasant manner she realized that he in- 
 tended having it. So she fell to bargaining over the 
 amount; and finally she got him down to where he 
 admitted that three thousand might pull him through 
 what he termed his "emergency." 
 
 " But, keep this in mind, Jennie: however you get the 
 money, you are not even to hint that you are getting it 
 for me," he said as he was leaving, menace showing 
 through his voice. "I've got things fixed so that if 
 anything happens to me, the whole business about you 
 will come out automatically. You're a wise child, 
 Jennie and I guess you understand." 
 
 The next instant his tone had its previous blandness. 
 " I'm sure you 're not going to have any trouble. Believe 
 me, I would n't have bothered you like this if I had n't 
 been suddenly right up against it. And remember this: 
 we're going right on being the same good friends as 
 before." 
 
 After Slim's departure she still had time to have gone 
 to Mrs. Shipman's tea, but she had forgotten all about 
 it. In a panic she sat considering this new turn in her 
 affairs. As she reviewed the situation she acknowledged 
 that Slim, from Slim's standpoint, had played his cards 
 with amazing cleverness. He had swung to her side 
 when he had seen this course to be to his advantage, 
 he had helped make her marriage possible; and he had 
 held back until he thought she dared not refuse. What 
 an unguessed number of women might he not have
 
 332 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 trapped with his fertile ingenuity women who dared 
 not speak! 
 
 And if she should rebel, try to break free, Slim would 
 surely topple her from her lofty place; she would lose 
 this great wonderful world which with such patience and 
 daring she had conquered. And Kenneth! What would 
 Kenneth do when he learned the truth? 
 
 She dared not think of these things; she averted her 
 mind from them. She must first of all satisfy Slim's 
 demand; and so she forced her mind to consider ways 
 and means for meeting her present crisis.
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 JENNIE FINDS A WAY 
 
 JENNIE had a personal bank account, but the de- 
 posits in it had never represented more than her 
 spending money, and now it held almost nothing. 
 She had few jewels; this once she regretted her quiet 
 wedding, which naturally had reduced to insignificance 
 the giving of valuable presents ; and the sale or pledg- 
 ing of her few jewels, besides being an inadequate pro- 
 cedure, might cause embarrassing questions when their 
 absence was noticed. Yes, Slim had listed every possible 
 method. 
 
 That evening, on the way to a dinner-party, she be- 
 gan to work upon Kenneth, her idea being exactly 
 what Slim had suggested, to secure a considerable sum 
 for the purchase of jewels and then spend a small part 
 of it in purchasing passable imitations. She had never 
 before directly asked him for money, and she found it 
 hard. 
 
 "Kenneth, do you think I wear too many jewels?" 
 
 "I should say not!" he declared. It had been a good 
 day for him ; on the books he had made a great deal of 
 money and he was in a generous humor. "I wish you 
 had a lot more jewels you'd do them honor!" 
 
 Encouraged by this she went on-: "I saw a wonder- 
 ful pearl necklace to-day at " mentioning a famous 
 
 jeweler's, "and I tried it on, and I simply fell in love 
 with it." 
 
 "Go ahead and buy it." 
 
 "Thanks, dear!" She held his arm close for a mo-
 
 334 *A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 ment. "But they told me that it had been ordered 
 reserved by another woman practically sold to her. 
 They said they really did n't care to risk selling it over 
 the other customer's head unless they sold it for cash. 
 It 's four thousand dollars." 
 
 " Four thousand dollars cash !" He laughed. "Why, 
 Jennie, I have n't seen four thousand dollars all at once 
 since we've been married. My own money, I mean 
 I Ve been making a lot, of course, but it 's all tied up 
 I 'm putting it up as margin on new stocks. We 're due 
 for a big clean-up, Jennie. Ready money now there 
 isn't any such thing! That's no reason, though, why 
 you should n't have a necklace," he consoled her. " Find 
 another that suits you and get it only buy in a place 
 where I have credit. And, I say, Jennie, after you have 
 looked things over, I '11 come along and help you make 
 the final choice." 
 
 Jennie saw that this way of raising money was closed 
 to her. "You're awfully good, Kenneth. But I don't 
 really need the necklace, and if money is so tight now, 
 I'd rather wait until it's easier again." 
 
 Jennie considered other possibilities. Slim's sugges- 
 tion that she resort to her natural gift for forgery did 
 not occupy her mind for a moment. And his suggestion, 
 based upon his cynical conception of her relation with 
 Mr. Shipman, that she ask help from the financier, took 
 no more of her time for a negative decision to be reached. 
 This elimination narrowed her possibilities down to her 
 father. When she considered approaching him, she felt 
 guilty; during these last few months of her rapid rise, 
 she had hardly thought of him at all; and her once 
 sharply defined purpose of having his name cleared when 
 she had gained place and influence, she had been putting
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 335 
 
 off until now it was almost forgotten. But there was no 
 other way out of her situation ; she had to see her father ; 
 and on the morning following her talk with Kenneth 
 about jewels, she transmitted a message to her father 
 through the medium of Uncle George. 
 
 That evening she dined out alone ; she had known in 
 advance that press of business was going to keep Ken- 
 neth downtown until late. On arriving at her hostess's 
 house in the East Sixties, she dismissed her chauffeur 
 for the night saying that a friend had promised to drive 
 her home. At ten o'clock she excused herself to her host- 
 ess, saying she had promised to be back early. The 
 night was raw, and a blustering wind swirled through 
 the street. This gave her plausible reason for wrapping 
 her scarf around hair and face and holding her cloak 
 closely beneath her chin, so that she was completely 
 muffled except for her eyes. Only one who knew her well 
 could have identified her. She slipped around the cor- 
 ner, and southward through Madison Avenue, and then 
 west through Sixtieth Street to the New Netherland 
 Hotel where she secured a taxicab. Ten minutes later 
 she was ringing the bell of Uncle George's apartment. 
 
 Uncle George himself admitted her and gripped her 
 hand. "Sent my Jap out to-night: he's safe enough 
 when he knows everything, but he 's still safer when he 
 does n't know anything." He helped her out of her coat 
 and scarf, and then motioned up the hallway. "Jerry's 
 waiting in my sitting-room." 
 
 Black Jerry was already on his feet when she entered. 
 She came to a hesitating pause. He gazed at her in em- 
 barrassed wonderment. For the first time in his life he 
 was seeing his daughter in an evening gown and a 
 gown whose shimmering elegance was a symbol of the
 
 336 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 unbelievable place which she had attained. Four times 
 he had seen her since he had sent her away from the 
 Pekin that far-gone night in a cheap serge suit and 
 now here she was, this dazzling creature! It did not 
 seem possible! 
 
 Before he had recovered she had crossed and kissed 
 him. He was incapable of returning her kiss. His emo- 
 tion self-defensively sought refuge in gruff rebuke. 
 
 "I told you you wasn't to see me again, and you 
 promised you would n't! You know what an awful risk 
 it is!" 
 
 " I know, dad. But something 's happened that makes 
 it a bigger risk for me not to see you than for me to see 
 you. I simply had to see you." 
 
 "What's the matter?" 
 
 She told them all Uncle George had entered just 
 behind her holding back only the identity of Slim 
 Jackson. "I can't get the money from Kenneth," she 
 ended, "and if I don't pay I'll be pretty certain to be 
 exposed and that will end things. Since your money 
 and your work and your thinking yours and Uncle 
 George's have put me where I am, and since what I 
 have become belongs in a way to you, I felt I had to see 
 you and ask what you wanted me to do." 
 
 Black Jerry ignored all the latter part of her state- 
 ment. "Who's the guy that's holding you up?" he de- 
 manded grimly. And then sharply : " Is it Slim Jackson? " 
 
 She remembered the soft menace in Slim's parting 
 words. "No, it's not Slim Jackson," she replied in a 
 convincing tone. And in that instant memory performed 
 one of its odd tricks : it flashed upon her that long ago she 
 had lied to save Slim Jackson from his share of blame 
 for that forged Morrison check which had brought her
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 337 
 
 into the Women's Night Court and now here again 
 she was lying to save him. 
 
 ''Was it Casey?" demanded Jerry. 
 
 "No," Jennie answered. 
 
 "Sure not," agreed Uncle George. "Casey is one 
 square cop." 
 
 "Was it the judge who tried you that night? you 
 remember?" 
 
 "No, it was not the judge." 
 
 "Then who is the guy?" Jerry asked, almost explo- 
 sively. 
 
 "I'd better not tell you in fact, he's fixed it so I 
 don't dare tell you that is, unless you want every- 
 thing to end right now. Whether you want things to 
 end, that's what you've got to decide first." 
 
 There was a moment of silence. "Jerry," Uncle 
 George said presently, "we overlooked one little bet 
 when we planned this business years ago. It never came 
 into our thick old heads that, after we 'd landed Jennie 
 big, some pleasant son-of-a-gun might tumble to it all 
 and put the screws on Jennie. And yet that was exactly 
 what was bound to happen sometime. Well, there's 
 no use crying over spilled ideas we never had to spill. 
 The main question is, as Jennie says, what are we going 
 to do about it?" 
 
 " Well, I 'm not going to have Jennie lose at this stage 
 of the game," said Black Jerry promptly. "I'll raise 
 the money to-morrow you ain't been costing me any- 
 thing lately, Jennie and I '11 get it around to you in 
 the afternoon." 
 
 "But, dad," exclaimed Jennie, strangely moved by 
 the look of mixed awe and pride and affection and harsh 
 determination in the face of her big, unhandsome father
 
 338 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "dad, it's awfully good of you! But I'm not really 
 asking it of you. You have already done so much for 
 me can you really afford it? " 
 
 "It's my business, what I can afford and what I can't 
 afford," he responded, almost roughly, though his eyes 
 were still ashine with awe and pride. "After your get- 
 ting 'way up where you are, I 'm not going to let some 
 crook upset you you bet not ! You '11 get the money 
 to-morrow like I said." Then he added grimly: "But 
 if I ever find out who that guy is, his health ain't going 
 to be what it once was!" 
 
 "Dad you'd better be careful what you do!" 
 
 " I '11 be careful of just one thing and that is not to 
 give you away," was the grim reply. 
 
 After that there was a moment of silence among them. 
 Being back among these dominant figures of her earlier 
 life brought to her mind another figure of that period 
 a figure that in the gayety and success and general rush 
 of events she had thought of too infrequently of late 
 and she asked them if they had any news of Harry 
 Edwards. 
 
 "Yes, I visited him in the Tombs just a few days 
 ago," Uncle George informed her. "There's been a lot 
 of delay about his trial that he did n't quite understand, 
 but he expects his case to be heard in a month or so. 
 He was as sure as ever about getting off and he said 
 Conway was ready to take care of him in a business way 
 as soon as he was discharged. He was restless, naturally, 
 but there is nothing at all for you to worry about, 
 Jennie." 
 
 When Jennie had thought of Harry during the past 
 few months, her thoughts had contained an element of 
 worry on her own account the possibility of her being
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 339 
 
 dragged into the case. That element was now reassured 
 by Uncle George's statement. 
 
 "You better be getting on home," Black Jerry spoke 
 up gruffly. "Your staying around where I am is taking 
 an unnecessary chance. You remember what I said to 
 you: I don't want to see you again unless there's an 
 awful bad break in your luck. So-long." 
 
 "Good-night, dad." 
 
 Almost timidly she held out her hand. He took it, 
 and involuntarily their clasps tightened. The pride 
 which had smoldered in his eyes burst into flame in this 
 last moment that he looked upon this gorgeous figure 
 from another world his own daughter. 
 
 "You sure are all right Jennie!" he exulted 
 huskily. 
 
 She threw her bare arms around his great neck and 
 kissed his dark cheek. He caught her to him and kissed 
 her passionately in return and for a moment held 
 her close in his great arms. Then he pushed her from 
 him almost roughly. 
 
 "You get out of this and get home. Good-night." 
 And he turned his back upon her and stood beside the 
 open coal fire, and did not look at her again. 
 
 Uncle George helped her on with her things, and two 
 minutes later she was speeding away in a taxicab. And 
 all the time she was driving, and later on during the 
 night, she was thinking rapidly. Though Slim had 
 spoken of his present need, she knew he would probably 
 try to go on bleeding her to the very end. But she felt 
 that, during the breathing-space provided by her father's 
 money, she could devise some means of handling the 
 menace represented by Slim. Of course, it was going to 
 be difficult, and it would require self-restraint and cool
 
 340 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 nerves on her part so that Slim might not guess that 
 she was undertaking plans of self-defense. But without 
 a doubt, she could do it! 
 
 But one fear, one doubt, one source of wonder, she 
 could not master and put out of her mind. Suppose, 
 after all, in some way, Kenneth should find out? And 
 if Kenneth should find out, then what would Kenneth 
 do?
 
 CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 HOW SLIM PLAYED HIS CARDS 
 
 BUT Jennie's very success, its constant and insist- 
 ent demands upon her, worked against this pur- 
 pose to make her success more secure. There 
 followed now a period of days and nights so filled with 
 notable social events that Jennie really had no time for 
 the thinking she had promised herself to do concerning 
 Slim Jackson. 
 
 Jennie was riding at the very top now, and despite 
 flurries of fear and dizziness, she felt secure in her 
 place. Kenneth she had certainly made good for him ; 
 he certainly 1 ad no reason to regret his choice! In 
 the excitement which was the substance of her life, she 
 believed except when fears did break in and torment 
 her that she had won magnificently. She feared no 
 recognition from the public of her childhood : if there was 
 to be recognition and unintentional betrayal from that 
 source, it would have come long ago. And as for the 
 judge who had berated her in the Night Court all those 
 years ago, how he had fawned before her at Mrs. Ship- 
 man's bazaar, never guessing who she was! As for 
 Harry Edwards she kept Harry from her mind. And 
 as for Gloria Raymond, Gloria's hatred for her was 
 without limit, and Gloria would rejoice to strike her to 
 the heart, but Gloria had no weapon. Of them all, Slim 
 Jackson was the only source of uneasiness. And Slim 
 she would checkmate somehow but she still had not 
 found the "how." 
 
 March passed in this brilliant excitement, in which
 
 342 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 period Jennie seemed to have to herself only the time 
 she spent in sleeping and in changing from one gown to 
 another and "that young Mrs. Kenneth Harrison" 
 became more of a figure than ever. But because she had 
 not taken the time to work out a counter-plan against 
 Slim Jackson, she twice in this period suffered the pen- 
 alty. Twice he had made demands upon her and 
 there had been nothing for her but twice again to accept 
 aid from her father. 
 
 At the end of a chill afternoon early in April, when 
 she came out of Mrs. Shipman's house where there had 
 been a very exalted tea, she looked about for her car 
 which she had ordered to wait. But her big English- 
 built machine did not wheel slowly to the curb, and, 
 moreover, it was not among the line of waiting motors. 
 Instead, a car of long lines and small coupe body drew 
 up to the curb, and out of this stepped a figure in a 
 heavy motor coat. 
 
 "I'm taking you home to-night, Jennie," said the 
 figure in a low voice. 
 
 "Slim Jackson!" she breathed. 
 
 "I sent your car away and waited," he explained. 
 "I wanted to have a little visit with you." 
 
 He took her arm to assist her into the machine, but 
 she stood still and gazed into his eyes. His lean, hand- 
 some face, all but muffled in his high collar, was smiling 
 amiably but a smile on Slim's face never had been 
 an index to his purpose. Her instinct, rather than con- 
 scious thought, reminded her that it was not wisdom 
 to oppose Slim's wishes unnecessarily; so she stepped 
 into Slim's closed machine. It's tiny body was low- 
 slung and had seats only for two. 
 
 "Sweet little car," Slim remarked pleasantly as he
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 343 
 
 guided the machine away. "Just the thing for a tete-cb- 
 tete that 's what I bought it for. A man often wants 
 to take a pleasant lady out when he does n't want the 
 long ears of a chauffeur reaching out to scoop up every 
 word that 's above a whisper. 1 1 's mighty handy and 
 I sure do love this bit of junk." 
 
 They had turned into the Park and had swung south- 
 ward. "But I thought you were taking me home!" 
 exclaimed Jennie. 
 
 "I am only not directly, Jen. I want you to see 
 how swell this little car behaves." 
 
 He chattered on, his words flowing readily. Jennie 
 suspected some purpose behind his amiable, light-man- 
 nered exterior, but she did not become actively suspi- 
 cious until the car passed Twenty-third Street and still 
 kept going southward. 
 
 "Where are you going?" she demanded. 
 
 "Down to Washington Square," he replied. 
 
 But at Washington Square he turned the car east- 
 ward and began twisting among the broken cross- 
 streets that lie across Broadway to the east and south 
 of the Square. She caught the wrist of one of the hands 
 at the wheel. 
 
 "Turn this car right back!" she breathed sharply. 
 
 " I will in a few n'nut -," he chuckled softly, with 
 a low laugh. "It 1 :- b.eii a long time since you and I 
 have visited our part f America. Let 's have a look at 
 what the old place is like. It's all right, Jen" no- 
 foody down here would ever connect us up, the Jennie 
 Ivlalone and the Slim Jackson that used to be, with a 
 smart little go-cart like this; and, anyhow, they'd 
 never dream of us being down here; and besides, if 
 anybody really saw you, why done up in furs as you
 
 344 ^ Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 are, nobody would ever think of you except as a nose 
 and a bunch of awfully swell clothes." 
 
 They shot through the edge of Jennie's old country 
 and on downtown. Presently Slim slowed his car till 
 it hardly moved. He nodded through the window at 
 his right. 
 
 "Never did care much for that type of architecture 
 did you, Jen?" 
 
 She glanced out. Through the faintly illumined dusk 
 she saw a high wall, and above it rows of grated win- 
 dows. With a leap of the heart she recognized the 
 place. It was the Tombs. 
 
 "Our good old pal, Harry Edwards, is sure up against 
 it." said Slim in what sounded a voice of sober sym- 
 pathy. And then, in a tone of curiosity, his eyes on hei : 
 " That's always seemed a funny case to me, Jen 
 almost phony. Remember that I saw you and Harry up 
 on the Grantham roof that night at about the time 
 Harry is said to have croaked Murdock. Never have 
 been just able to figure out just how Harry could be at 
 two places so far apart at times that were so close 
 together. Could you ? ' ' 
 
 The overhead light in the car had not been switched 
 on, but the tiny lamps over the clock and the mileage 
 dial gave enough illumination for her to make out his 
 f?ce. It was smiling with mockery. She was suddenly 
 tense; breathlessly she waited for him to go on she 
 expected the worst. But his next words were in them- 
 selves almost casual. 
 
 "Sometimes hard to know just how to play the cards, 
 isn't it?" 
 
 But despite the casual tone, she was sure that Slim 
 guessed, or knew, something of the truth of Harry's
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 34,5 
 
 connection with the Murdock murder and guessed, or 
 knew, something of her connection with Harry's 
 imprisonment. But how much did he know? And if he 
 knew, how would he use it? 
 
 She was so engrossed with these questions that when 
 the car stopped, she did not know for the first instant 
 where they were. Then she again glanced out the 
 window. 
 
 "Slim Jackson the Pekin!" she breathed. 
 
 "Yes," he said evenly. "You remember I told you 
 I was going to bring you home." 
 
 For the moment her faculties were paralyzed. Very 
 coolly Slim drew out a key, slipped it into a slot in the 
 steering-wheel, and locked the car. 
 
 "This is where we get out, Jen." 
 
 "But we'll be recognized!" she exclaimed. "And 
 and there's father!" 
 
 "No, father isn't there." He grinned at her, with 
 just a flash of his old-time appreciation of his own 
 cleverness. "Uncle George does n't know it but Uncle 
 George sent Black Jerry a message to wait for him at the 
 Astor Hotel grill between six and six-thirty. Jerry has 
 just about now reached the Astor Hotel. It 's lucky 
 people are used to seeing all kinds of cars waiting in 
 front of J .rry's joint so this won't attract any atten- 
 tion. We ii have your old home all to ourselves. Come 
 on my dear!" 
 
 ' I chall not!" breathed Jennie. 
 
 "No? Do just as you plea,se. But if you don't ask 
 me up to your old home whil^ I smoke a cigarette or 
 two, I '11 invite the people in the Pekin out here to meet 
 an old friend. This is c dead hour in the Pekin, but 
 there'll be half a dozen or so in there who remember
 
 346 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 you and who will be delighted to meet you and also 
 surprised." 
 
 He stepped out of the car and made for the Pekin's 
 entrance. She recalled in a flash that although he had 
 adopted "Jackson Holt" as a stage name, he had never 
 tried to hide his identity, and that therefore he had 
 nothing to fear. Instantly she was out of the car. 
 
 "Slim!" she called huskily; "Slim!" 
 
 He turned back and closed the door of the car. "I 
 knew you wouldn't deny me so slight a request," he 
 said graciously, and guided her across the sidewalk. 
 Fortunately this was the hour when the Pekin's neigh- 
 borhood was at its evening meal, so the street was 
 empty, but nevertheless Jennie pressed her furs up to 
 her very eyes. Inside the tiny hallway, its gas as yet 
 unlighted, Slim halted her. 
 
 "Remember the last time we stood here, Jen?" he 
 whispered in good-humored reminiscence. "Five years 
 ago. I was a bum actor pulling down fifteen a week 
 from Black Jerry and you were just Jennie Malone. 
 And I tried to kiss you and you came back with a 
 peach of an upper-cut. You sure had the pep in the 
 old days, Jen same as you've got it now!" 
 
 He chuckled softly and directed her up the black 
 stairway. At its top he spoke again. 
 
 "Guess you and Jerry never knew it, but I got hold 
 of a key hi the good old times and I still have it." 
 
 He unlocked the door, pressed her through, locked it, 
 and lighted the gas. For all her throbbing wonder as to 
 Slim's purpose, she glanced around her girlhood's home. 
 She had not seen it since that midnight years ago w T hen 
 her heart had driven her down here from the fresh won- 
 ders of the Harrisons' house, and Casey had come in
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 347 
 
 unexpectedly upon his escaped prisoner with her family 
 and had given her her chance to escape back to her great 
 life. The little sitting-room was furnished just as of old, 
 only to her new eyes it seemed unbelievably dingy and 
 shabby. With the eyes of the trained housekeeper she 
 saw everywhere the careless work of the charwoman, 
 and a sharp pang cut her through that her father had 
 to live his lonely life amid such dirt and inattention. 
 And then she noted her piano; it seemed a poor, battered 
 cripple, indeed. And as she looked, a far-gone scene 
 came back : she at the piano, Harry standing beside her, 
 the two of them softly singing the Barcarolle from the 
 "Tales of Hoffmann" when Black Jerry and Uncle 
 George had entered, Casey behind them to arrest her 
 for that Morrison forgery . . . 
 
 She was brought out of her swift retrospect by 
 Slim's voice beginning to hum, "Be it ever so humble." 
 
 She turned upon him quickly. "Why did you bring 
 me down here?" she demanded. 
 
 "Why?" He was again smiling amiably. "Isn't it 
 plain enough? I thought we both might enjoy a tabloid 
 version of Old Home Week." 
 
 She faced him squarely. "Cut out your funny lines. 
 What 'sit for?" 
 
 His look was still bland. "Well, it's a bit like Lhis, 
 Jen," he drawled. " I 've been wanting to come to a real 
 understanding with you this long while, but you have n't 
 given me . fair chance. It struck me that you and I 
 might get down to business a little better if both of us 
 came back to the spot we both started from. We might 
 then appreciate a little better the place we've reached, 
 and how unpleasant it would feel to return to what we 
 used to be. Just a well-tried stage device, my dear
 
 348 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 to bring two extremes into immediate contrast. The 
 Park Avenue apartment and Mrs. Shipman's swell tea 
 on the one hand on the other hand, the old home 
 above the Pekin. Always an effective bit of business, 
 Jennie one of the first things I learned about the 
 stage." 
 
 She regarded him steadily. "I suppose," she finally 
 said, her voice calm enough, "that this is an attempt to 
 blackmail me with the help of a new setting?" 
 
 "You always were quick to get the point," he an- 
 swered cheerfully. "That 's one reason I always thought 
 it such a pleasure to work with you. I sure do need some 
 money, Jen and need it bad and quick." 
 
 Jennie did some quick thinking. She realized in a 
 flash that all her resources would some day fail her, 
 and on that basis she would then have to face him. 
 She pulled herself quickly together. 
 
 "I have been fooling with you long enough, Slim," 
 she returned, regarding him squarely. "We might as 
 well come to a real show-down right here." 
 
 "A show-down that's just what I've been want- 
 ing, Jen. A real sure-enough show-down that's why 
 I brought you here." 
 
 "I'm here, and I say you'll get nothing more out of 
 me," she replied sharply. "There are my cards, face up." 
 
 "That's sure a n ; fty place you and Kenneth have 
 uptown," he reminded her softly, his narrowed gray 
 eyes very bland. "And Mrs. Kenneth Harrison has sure 
 become one of the regular swells. And I have an idea 
 it seems a bit nice, having a dame like Mrs. Shipman 
 as a pal. And so on and so on you can finish the 
 picture." He glanced about the shabby, neglected 
 little sitting-room. "As I remarked before, Jennie, I
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 349 
 
 brought you from Mrs. Shipman's down here in order 
 to make it you know concrete It would n't be 
 pleasant, would it, to come back here and be just Jennie 
 Malone, the daughter of Black Jerry Malone?" 
 
 "You could have made your threat more direct, Slim. 
 In spite of it all, my answer is the same. You get nothing 
 more out of me." 
 
 His bland expression did not change. "Mind telling 
 me why not, Jen?" 
 
 "It's not necessary to pay you," she said. Now that 
 she had decided to defy him, she felt more substance to 
 an argument her hurried mind had more than once 
 urged upon her. "And it's only because my nerve left 
 me that I Ve paid you what I have. As Jennie Malone, 
 back down here, I'd not be worth a cent to you. As 
 Mrs. Kenneth Harrison I may be of some value to you. 
 By exposing me, you 'd be throwing away a good thing 
 
 by your own act you 'd turn me into a dead loss for 
 yourself. I know you 're too wise a crook actually to do 
 that. There, Slim Jackson that's my hand!" 
 
 She waited. He did not speak for a moment or more 
 
 and when he did it was with the same bland drawl. 
 "And a good hand it is, too, Jen. I had an idea 
 
 that some day you 'd call me. In fact, I Ve rather been 
 wanting you to call me. I have only a dinky two pairs. 
 You take the pot." 
 
 She managed to control the relief she felt. "Since 
 you admit that to be the case, then I 'm going home 
 whether you take me or not." 
 
 He caught her arm. "Just a minute, Jen. We're 
 going to open a fresh deck, and there 's going to be a 
 new deal." 
 
 "What's the idea?" she demanded.
 
 35 o A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 He was now smiling. " I Ve already told you part of 
 the idea. But th^t never was the real thing. When I 
 helped stage that little scene that ended in your marry- 
 ing Kenneth, why, of course, I saw the chance of get- 
 ting a bit of change by holding you up after you'd 
 really become somebody. I've picked up the change, 
 and that part of the show is over. Now for the second 
 act, now for the fresh deck!" 
 
 His voice, no longer soft, became suddenly vibrant 
 with intensity, and his words rushed from him with an 
 earnestness that had in it nothing of acting. "Jennie, 
 that dancing partner of mine, Doris Dorraine, is getting 
 so damned rotten that every night I 'd like to chuck her 
 over the footlights into the bunch in the first rows she 's 
 always showing her damned teeth at in what she thinks 
 is a smile. Jennie, you Ve got to ready yourself for the 
 part and come into the show. What with the wads of 
 publicity you 'd bring, and what with the things you can 
 actually do, the piece will make a killing! And we'll 
 keep on making killings you and I !" 
 
 "Slim!" she broke in, gasping at his passionate 
 words. "Slim!" 
 
 He was such a Slim now as she had never known him 
 to be, trembling, eyes ablaze with eagerness. "Jennie," 
 his words tumbled out, "I've played a long game! I 
 was willing to wait, for I saw that to do it in a big way 
 took time. But the time's over. You're at the top, 
 Jennie! There 's no use my waiting any longer. Jennie, 
 I love you ! all the while I Ve loved you ! And now 
 we're going to team up on stage and off like I 
 said to you downstairs long ago! Jennie you're 
 coming with me!" 
 
 She was so amazed by this quivering, passion-shaken
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 351 
 
 Slim that for a space she could command no words 
 at all. 
 
 "Well? "he cried. "Well?" 
 
 "Slim Jackson!" she breathed. "You suggest such a 
 thing to me! Why, I thought you were a friend of 
 Kenneth?" 
 
 "So I am!" he returned, with a half-savage laugh. 
 " I 'm a friend of everybody. But the man whose best 
 friend I am is called Slim Jackson!" 
 
 "You're actually proposing that I run away with 
 you desert my husband?" she cried incredulously. 
 Then with vehemence: "Slim, I'll never do it!" 
 
 The shock of her vehement declaration partially re- 
 stored his control, but his eyes still glittered with excite- 
 ment, and his words still came rapidly. "You don't 
 like the idea of the scandal? Well, after all, there 
 need n't be any scandal. I '11 wait a little longer. You 
 can get a divorce and come to me straight. And you 
 need n't worry about being exposed as Jennie Malone 
 at a public trial. The case can be tried by a referee 
 sealed papers, you understand and you '11 get big 
 alimony. And there '11 be no difficulty at all about get- 
 ting a decree. There's plenty of evidence, and I can 
 slip it right into your hand!" 
 
 She was now looking at his excited, lean face, her 
 soul suddenly sick. ' ' Evidence of of that kind ? " she 
 whispered. "Since since we were married? " 
 
 "What's wrong Jen? You 're not trying to make me 
 think you really c*re for Kenneth? Say, don't try to 
 put that over I know better!" 
 
 "You mean he 's you mean evidence of that kind? " 
 she repeated. 
 
 "God, Jen, are you such a sweet innocent little boob
 
 352 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 as all that!" His incredulity was so great that his face 
 relaxed into a smile. "Honest, Jen, I didn't think 
 you'd ever show yourself such a country kid as that. 
 What's wrong with you? beginning to believe in 
 that ancient junk the pulpit ballyhoo artists try to put 
 across? Wake up, kid! Come back to America and the 
 twentieth century. Listen it's up to you to get wise 
 to your husband. Kenneth was sure gone on you the 
 first few months, and he's mighty proud of you now 
 he sure ought to be, the way you 're putting yourself 
 and him across. But when it comes to the girl propo- 
 sition well, he's a smooth article, Kenneth is, and 
 has never used a press agent but there were a lot of 
 girls in Kenneth's life before his marriage, and there 
 have been one or two since. I guess you get me. W r hy, 
 if you want evidence, Doris Dorraine herself 
 
 "I don't believe you!" Jennie flared at him. "You 
 always were a liar, Slim Jackson, and you still are a liar! 
 You Ve tried to frighten me by bringing me back here. 
 Well, do anything you like! I won't go with you in the 
 way you propose ! I would n't go with you even if I were 
 free! I would n't go with you even if you were the last 
 man alive ! I hate you loathe you you crook, you 
 schemer " 
 
 He caught her into a fierce embrace. "That makes us 
 two of a kind. Oh, yes, you are coming along with me! 
 You may not believe it, but you are! I've waited for 
 you long enough ! You 're mine mine ! ' ' 
 
 She struggled silently to free herself. She dared not 
 cry out for fear of bringing up a crowd from the Pekin; 
 and the thick old rug muted the movements of their 
 swaying bodies. But she could not break the clasp of 
 those wiry arms. Then she leaned back as far in his em-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 353 
 
 brace as she could, and hammered at his face just as 
 she had done that other time he had tried to kiss her 
 ages ago down in the hallway. He accepted the blows 
 with unaverted face, laughing; the range was too short 
 for her fists to gain a really paining drive. 
 
 "Keep it up, Jen!" he taunted her. "I love it! For 
 every time you land, I'm going to collect a kiss. So 
 the more, the better!" 
 
 Pantingly, wordlessly, she fought him off. But his 
 arms tightened, his face approached hers inch by inch. 
 "I see I've got to break you in, Jen," he exclaimed, 
 "and here's where I do it! " 
 
 She did not know that she could hate with such fury as 
 she hated that smiling, nearing, eager face. She fought 
 until she felt that she was about to burst with her 
 breathing: fought not so much out of fear of anything 
 Slim might then intend doing her, as she fought out of a 
 boundless loathing. And yet, struggle as she would, 
 nearer came the eager, smiling, confident face ever 
 nearer. 
 
 And then, in her frantic fighting, she remembered 
 that there was once a button which rang a bell down 
 in Jerry's office, a signal that he was wanted above. She 
 slowly maneuvered toward it reached out a hand to 
 the spot where it used to be it was still there ! and 
 pressed it. The next moment she was struggling again 
 struggling with only faint hope in that bell, for 
 Slim had tricked her father away on a fool's errand 
 struggling against a strength that outmatched hers 
 a strength that slowly, steadily, was breaking her down. 
 
 And then, just as it seemed that her last strength 
 had gone and that Slim's hated lips would inevitably 
 collect a kiss as his first token of victory, there were
 
 354 ^ Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 sounds at the door. The next instant she almost col- 
 lapsed, so suddenly was she freed from the support of 
 Slim's taut arms; and there was Slim, yanked back- 
 ward by the great hand of her father clutching his col- 
 lar, and there was her father's dark face glowering con- 
 vulsively upon him, and there closing the door was 
 Uncle George.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 LIFE SETS A PROBLEM 
 
 BLACK JERRY shook Slim as though he were but 
 a straw's weight. "What 're you doing here? 
 and to my daughter?" he gritted. 
 
 Whatever else he might be, Slim Jackson was no 
 physical coward. Yet he paled at the fierce look in the 
 dark face, at the tremulous, unleashed power in the big 
 body, of the man he thought he had got safely out of 
 the way. He knew his life hung in the balance. Never- 
 theless, Slim kept his wits. He realized instantly that 
 he had to stake his all upon a bold play upon a pos- 
 sibility that might no longer exist. 
 
 "Slow down, Jerry; you're seeing this thing all 
 wrong," he said. "Jennie and I were waiting for you 
 and while we waited we just got into one of our old- 
 time scraps." 
 
 "Don't try any bunk on me!" Jerry warned him. 
 " Don't feel too confident just because I 'm holding you 
 by your collar instead of by your throat. I may want 
 to kill you, and if I held you by the throat the finger- 
 prints would show and if I ever kill you nothing's 
 going to show. So you'd better change your nature, 
 Slim, and spill out a little truth!" 
 
 There was, indeed, Slim saw, nothing for him but to 
 continue to play what might be a long chance. "Hon- 
 est, Jerry, it's just like I said. Jennie and I simply got 
 to scrapping the way we used to do. Ask Jennie." 
 
 " It did n't look much like it ! " retorted Jerry. But he 
 turned to his daughter. "How about it, Jennie?"
 
 356 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Jennie hesitated. Slim watched her breathlessly. At 
 that instant Jennie felt not so much fear on her own be- 
 half as fear of what her father might do and its conse- 
 quences to him. 
 
 "It's just as Slim said," she managed to say. "We 
 we forgot ourselves and began scrapping just as 
 though we were kids again." 
 
 "Are you sure about that?" Jerry demanded of 
 Jennie in his tense gruffness. "You know I've some- 
 times thought he's the guy that's been blackmailing 
 you. If he is, say the word and he'll never trouble you 
 no more. Uncle George will first help you make your 
 get-away back uptown where you belong. After you're 
 gone, I '11 twist Slim's neck and then let him slide down 
 the stairway. Nobody can ever prove but what it was 
 an accidental fall down the stairway that broke his neck. 
 How about it, Jennie? I know he's a crook, and has 
 always been a crook but is he the man?" 
 
 Again Slim held his breath. And again Jennie did 
 not answer for an instant. She saw relief, instant re- 
 lief, from all the danger to herself that Slim personified. 
 
 But again she thought chiefly of her father. She re- 
 membered how the charge of a double murder of which 
 he was innocent had darkened all his life. With such 
 a character as he already bore, and the charge of 
 another murder which might be made against him, 
 why 
 
 ''No, Slim is not the man," she interrupted her swift 
 thoughts to say. 
 
 "You're sure about that?" 
 
 "I'm sure, dad." 
 
 "Well, I'm not so sure," grunted Jerry. He turned 
 again on Slim. "What did you come up here for?"
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 357 
 
 Slim's courage was now well in hand. "That 's simple, 
 Jerry. I came because Jennie asked me to. She said 
 she wanted to see you again, and the old place. She 
 asked me because she wanted company and I was the 
 only one of her present friends who knew who she 
 really was. That's all there is to it." 
 
 "Is that so, Jennie?" Black Jerry demanded. 
 
 "Yes, dad," she answered. 
 
 "I'm not so sure about that either," he returned. 
 "I guess you remember how many times I've ordered 
 you not to take the risk of coming around me." 
 
 It made her sick, this lying to save Slim Jackson. But 
 then she was really lying to save her father. " I remem- 
 ber, dad but I I just wanted to see you." 
 
 There was something Slim had been wondering about 
 since Black Jerry's unexpected entrance that mes- 
 sage of his which should have kept Jerry uptown. "But 
 there's one thing I don't just get, Jerry. Jennie said 
 you 'd be sure to be in at this time, but we Ve been hang- 
 ing around here half an hour. Where the devil have you 
 been? that's what Jennie does n't understand." 
 
 "Been downstairs in my office with Uncle George here 
 all the time till that bell rang except for a few min- 
 utes." 
 
 Slim tried to make his query seem casual. "Except 
 for a few minutes?" 
 
 Jerry addressed Uncle George, his tone meditative. 
 "That message I got from you saying you wanted me 
 to meet you uptown still seems mighty strange when 
 you never sent it, and yet when you actually did want 
 to see me." 
 
 "It certainly is some coincidence," agreed Uncle 
 George.
 
 358 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "Those few minutes you were out must have been 
 when we came in," remarked Slim. "When was that?" 
 
 "About an hour ago," replied Jerry. "I had just 
 started uptown to meet Uncle George like the message 
 said, when I bumped into Uncle George coming down 
 to see me." 
 
 "Just got an idea, Jerry," said Uncle George. "That 
 message may have been sent by some friend of Harry 
 Edwards who did n't dare show his hand." 
 
 "Harry Edwards!" Jennie exclaimed. 
 
 "Yes, Harry Edwards is what we've been talking 
 about," the old man answered slowly. "And we'd de- 
 cided that I was to manage to meet you somewhere 
 and put the situation up to you. But since you're here, 
 I guess we might as well talk the situation over now." 
 
 "What situation, Uncle George?" she breathed. 
 
 "Wait a minute," interposed Black Jerry. "Want to 
 talk with Slim around?" 
 
 "I guess there can't be much Slim does n't know al- 
 ready or won't know soon," replied the old man with a 
 gaze of disfavor on Slim. "But it helps my eyes when I 
 don't have to look on him, and the breathing seems 
 easier. Suppose you just shove him into one of the bed- 
 rooms it does n't matter much if he does hear ; he may 
 be handy to take Jennie home when we 're through." 
 
 Black Jerry gripped Slim's arm and started him to- 
 ward a door. ' ' Come along ! ' ' 
 
 "Needn't use force, Jerry," Slim protested pleas- 
 antly. "Glad to be your guest as long as you like." 
 Drawing out a thin cigarette case of filigreed silver, he 
 passed into what had been Jennie's room in the years 
 gone by. Jerry closed the door, locked it, and pocketed 
 the key.
 
 A Daughter of Tzvo Worlds 359 
 
 "We'd better all have a chair," suggested Uncle 
 George. "There's quite a bit to say." 
 
 They all sat down, and Jennie waited tensely. There 
 was a moment or two of silence, the two men regarding 
 Jennie steadily. 
 
 Uncle George broke the silence. "It sure is one hell 
 of a proposition," he said in a slow, grave voice. 
 
 "But you have n't told me yet what the proposition 
 is!" cried Jennie. 
 
 "Years ago," Uncle George went on as if she had not 
 spoken, "Jerry and I tried to manage your life for you. 
 You were only a kid then, so our butting in was all right. 
 But you're a grown woman now, and we feel you've 
 got to decide the business for yourself. It 's about Harry 
 Edwards I 'm talking. You know how things stand with 
 him?" 
 
 "Only that he expects to get off when his case comes 
 to trial." 
 
 "Well, it's not going to turn out like that," Uncle 
 George announced with quiet solemnity. 
 
 "No?" she cried, half starting from her chair. "Why 
 not?" 
 
 "For several reasons. We'll come to them. But first, 
 you and I know he did n't kill Murdock and we know 
 he went to the Tombs and let some evidence be piled 
 up against him in order to shield another man. We 
 know that, too, don't we?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And I guess we know who Harry went to jail to pro- 
 tect and I guess we have a guess as to who really 
 killed Larry Murdock." 
 
 "Sam Conway!" 
 
 "Exactly. Sam Conway. I haven't a doubt that
 
 360 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Sam Conway himself shot Murdock. I don't know 
 whether Conway was in earnest, and honestly thought 
 he could really do it, when he promised to get Harry 
 off if Harry would draw attention away from Conway 
 by standing for the Murdock murder. As I say, I don't 
 know what was in Conway's mind then. But I know 
 what 's in his mind now. A lot of things have happened 
 since last summer. For one thing, the death of Murdock 
 has made Conway a much bigger political figure in this 
 town, and a lot of things go exactly the way Conway 
 wants them to go. In the second place, that Murdock 
 affair has just taken such a twist that there has got to 
 be a conviction. The way things stand now, Conway 
 could n't help Harry even if he wanted to not unless 
 he was willing to do more than Sam Conway will ever 
 be w r illing to do. In short, it's got to be either Conway 
 or Harry and it's not going to be Conway." 
 
 "Uncle George!" gasped Jennie. 
 
 "Conway is going to use all his power to save him- 
 self," the old man went on. "Those witnesses who 
 gave testimony against Harry at the preliminary hear- 
 ing are not going to disappear as promised, but are going 
 to take the stand against Harry and there w r ill be 
 other witnesses. Harry's case comes up for trial in a 
 month or so whenever the District Attorney feels 
 like it. No story Harry can tell now about Conway's 
 asking him to stand for the trial, and nothing else he 
 can say, will be believed. It will sound mighty cheap. 
 The way things are fixed, the verdict is the same as 
 rendered and the sentence the same as pronounced. And 
 I don't need to tell you what the sentence is going to be. 
 There that 's how the case stands. We thought you 
 ought to know."
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 361 
 
 "My God!" she breathed, appalled. "And Harry 
 was so sure Sam Conway would get him off!" 
 
 "Sam Conway, to save himself, is doing his damned- 
 est to get Harry sent up. Harry does n't have a chance. 
 That is, unless " 
 
 He paused, his old eyes fixed on her steadily. Sud- 
 denly sick, dizzy, as never before, she knew the uncom- 
 pleted part of Uncle George's sentence. But none the 
 less her dry lips asked : 
 
 "Unless what, Uncle George?" 
 
 " Unless you were to state that you were with him on 
 the Grantham roof at the very time the murder was 
 committed over near Third Avenue." 
 
 " But but Uncle George!" she breathed. 
 
 "Of course, I could help alibi him," the old man con- 
 tinued. "And I could get that little elevator man to 
 help out with the alibi. But that would be certain 
 to drag you in somehow, Jennie; and I 'm not going to 
 make a move without your O.K. Now it's all up 
 to you, Jennie. Are we going to do anything to help 
 Harry?" 
 
 Terror seized upon her as her swift mind visualized 
 herself on the witness-stand down in the Criminal Courts 
 Building. "But but if I went on the stand the 
 District Attorney " She could get out no more. 
 
 "That's exactly it," Uncle George said gravely. "Of 
 course, you'd clear Harry, but the District Attorney 
 would cross-examine you until he 'd found out every last 
 word about you. And what he'd learn would give New 
 York the biggest jolt it 's had for years." 
 
 She did not speak: her tense faculties were all en- 
 grossed in considering the consequences. Certainly it 
 would all come out who she was the bold and
 
 362 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 successful pretense she had practiced upon the great 
 world even that far-distant incident of her running 
 away to escape sentence for forgery. Her whole being 
 was in violent revulsion. It was n't fair! Why, oh, why, 
 had Fate played such a trick upon her, just when every- 
 thing was going at its best? . . . 
 
 Uncle George had seen the struggle going on within 
 her, and he had waited. But at length he spoke. 
 
 "Well, how about it, Jennie?" 
 
 But her father spoke before Jennie could reply. He 
 had not said a word during all this talk. But now as he 
 spoke, his face was defiant, dogged. 
 
 "After all the hard work there's been to get Jennie 
 'way up where she is, I don't see where we're called on 
 to make a mess of it all just because one guy has got in 
 bad." 
 
 " I don't say we have," returned Uncle George. " It 's 
 just a matter of which of two ways will make Jennie 
 happiest. Deciding which is her business, Jerry; we 
 don't knew which will suit her best; that's why we de- 
 cided it was best to tell her. Now, Jennie, it 's all up to 
 you. Jerry and I stand by whatever you want." 
 
 "But but " she breathed desperately "surely 
 there's some other way!" 
 
 "I've been over it with Harry's lawyer; cleverest 
 lawyer that we could hire. He does n't think Harry has 
 a chance in a million. But he does n't know the cards 
 we hold if we want to play them." 
 
 "And Harry? Have you seen him? What is Harry 
 going to do?" 
 
 "He'll keep you out of it unless you come in of your 
 own choice. He's going to say he'd been drinking that 
 evening does n't remember much about that night
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 363 
 
 is sure he did n't kill Murdock. But with all the testi- 
 mony against him, that sort of talk can't help him a 
 nickel's worth in a first-degree murder charge." Uncle 
 George slowly shook his head. "No, there's only those 
 two ways I said no others. But you need n't make 
 up your mind to-night, Jennie. Take your time to think 
 it all over, and then send us word." 
 
 Jennie turned to her father. "Which shall I do, 
 dad?" 
 
 " It 's up to you to say what you want. Harry Edwards 
 and all the others can go to hell. You're the only one 
 who counts for anything in this business with me." 
 
 And then he added brusquely. "Do your thinking 
 at home. You 'd better make your get-away from here 
 before too many people begin to trail into my joint. 
 Some one might see you." He crossed and opened the 
 door of Jennie's old room. "Come on, Slim; time for 
 you to be hitting the trail uptown with Jennie." 
 
 Slim stepped jauntily forth, hiding a well-acted yawn. 
 "Had a nice little nap, Jerry. Thanks for putting me 
 up. Shall I tip the chambermaid?" 
 
 "Better cut out your comedy stuff," growled Jerry, 
 glaring at him. Just then Black Jerry was filled with 
 impotent rage against Fate just as Jennie was; and 
 Slim was the nearest target for his wrath. "You think 
 you've traveled a long ways since you used to sling 
 your limber legs down here for a few bones a week. But 
 I don't trust you and I 'm going to watch you and 
 you have n't gone up so far that I can't reach up and 
 twist off your damned neck any time I think you're 
 trying to put any queer business across on my Jennie. 
 Now, you get out of here, quick, and no funny lines as 
 you go off the stage!"
 
 364 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Grimly Jerry pushed Slim toward the door. Slim was 
 still smiling, but he said nothing; he had gained a con- 
 siderable amount of wisdom, had Slim. Jerry pushed him 
 through and turned on Jennie. 
 
 "In making up your mind, don't you think about 
 anybody but yourself," he ordered gruffly. "Good- 
 night." 
 
 His manner was forbiddingly peremptory and gruff. 
 
 "Good-night," Jennie said in a faint voice, and to 
 Uncle George she nodded, then she slipped through the 
 door without even so much as a farewell glance at her 
 old home. She knew her father loved her, but she could 
 not know the trouble and concern and worry and the 
 will for desperate deeds she left on the other side of the 
 closed door in Black Jerry's heart. 
 
 At the foot of the darkened stairway Slim's shadowy 
 form awaited her. He slipped a hand through her arm, 
 and laid hold of the knob of the side door through which 
 she used to steal into the Pekin. 
 
 "Remember our last dance in there, Jen?" he whis- 
 pered. "How about it? Let 's go in and show the old 
 dump how we used to dance." 
 
 She knew he was only trying to provoke her, that he 
 had no more desire than herself to enter; yet so high- 
 strung was she at that moment that she could not refrain 
 from jerking him forward and exclaiming, "Come on!" 
 
 "Somehow, Jennie, you're losing your old pep," he 
 grumbled at her on the way to the front door. 
 
 The street was clear, and a few minutes later they 
 were out of the neighborhood and out of danger. But 
 Jennie had too much to think of to have anything to 
 say, and she allowed Slim's many attempts at opening 
 a conversation to go unnoticed until he remarked :
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 365 
 
 "I say, Jennie, tell an old friend just what is that 
 business between you and Harry Edwards?" 
 
 "That business is none of your business!" she re- 
 turned sharply. 
 
 "Ouch ! " he said with a soft laugh. By this time they 
 were nearing Jennie's home. "Look at me, Jennie." 
 She did so ; he spoke quietly, with none of his previous 
 taunting, teasing tone. "Here is something that is my 
 business. And this is the last call for the dining-room 
 for me, at any rate. Was that final, what you said 
 before your father came in that you are not going 
 to team up with me later?" 
 
 Here was one matter that had no two sides for Jennie. 
 "That was and is final!" she said emphatically, as the 
 car slowed down. "And what's more, I've learned I 
 don't have to pay you blackmail any more. So we're 
 through, Slim Jackson!" 
 
 He regarded her steadily, thoughtfully. "So!" His 
 gray eyes narrowed and for an instant flashed with a 
 strange look then they were the same as before. 
 
 "So, we're through, are we, Jennie?" he murmured 
 in an even tone as he helped her out. "All right. 
 Good-bye."
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 JENNIE THINKS IT OVER 
 
 IN the days that followed in the wonderful home 
 that was hers as she hurried about other homes 
 yet more wonderful in which she was always wel- 
 come Jennie was feverishly thinking thinking! 
 This world was hers she had worked for it she 
 had won it. Never before had it seemed to her so bril- 
 liant, so desirable. 
 
 But always she was thinking of what she should do 
 about Harry what should be the answer she had 
 promised to send back to Uncle George and her father. 
 This was the beginning of the period when the soul of 
 Jennie went through its sorest trial that young soul 
 as it was moulded and directed by her long childhood 
 down at the Pekin, by her years of transformation at 
 Braithewood Hall, by her father's point of view and 
 his rough love of her, by her own ambitions, and lately 
 by the life on this upper level where she now lived. But 
 she took no time for the searching of her own soul, for 
 a careful study of the fundamental materials of her own 
 being. Had she done so, a decision might have been 
 simpler. 
 
 Her thoughts were forever swerving around to Ken- 
 neth, and were forever repeating themselves. If she 
 went to Harry's rescue, Kenneth would, of course, find 
 out; and if she did not, he might find out anyway. Ken- 
 neth, in his relation with her fate, was inextricably con- 
 nected with Harry's case and yet to her he was also 
 an entirely separate problem.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 367 
 
 She had been strong, she had kept her nerve, she had 
 managed life and yet, despite all her present efforts 
 at self-control, her fear kept on mounting and mounting 
 until within herself there was a never-subsiding panic. 
 And the heart of it all remained ever the same: Suppose 
 Kenneth should find out? And what would Kenneth do? 
 
 Her concern was so acute not because she loved him : 
 she knew no more now whether she really loved Kenneth 
 than she had known when he had proposed to her down 
 on the landing-platform at Silver Bluffs she had been 
 far too busy to turn an analytical eye upon her affec- 
 tions: but she admired him as she had then, and they 
 had had the excitement of a dazzling rise together. The 
 great central cause of her fear was, that though she 
 had builded for herself so wonderful a career, she had 
 builded it entirely upon Kenneth. She was now reap- 
 ing the consequences of the fundamental idea by which 
 she had thought to hold him to herself her plan to 
 push him to the top of the business world, her plan to 
 win to the social crest and carry him with her. Despite 
 her personal ambition, she had been careful to make 
 herself "Mrs. Kenneth Harrison." Yes, all the splendid 
 structure of her life was builded on Kenneth ! 
 
 Her highly excited mind was forever visualizing the 
 moment of exposure. She could see his horrified amaze- 
 ment could see his face tighten with wrath. 
 
 This became an obsession with her. She waited with 
 sickened apprehension every home-coming of Kenneth, 
 and her nerves jumped at every unexpected noise. Per- 
 haps this growing apprehension was incited to some 
 degree by a change she noted in Kenneth himself. On 
 the very evening when Slim had carried her off down to 
 the Pekin, she had noticed the beginning of a different
 
 368 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Kenneth. He came home late that night, and was dis- 
 traught, nervous; once or twice she caught his eyes on 
 her with a narrowed, fixed look. Her heart jumped 
 wildly: did he suspect? had some hint been given 
 him? or did he already know? Again and again in 
 the next day or so she caught him eyeing her with that 
 same strange, questioning look; always, when so caught, 
 he was quick to start a conversation upon some matter 
 of no consequence. 
 
 One evening when she surprised such a look upon his 
 face, she determined to have an end to the suspense. 
 She gripped what remained of her old courage in her 
 two hands, and squarely asked him : 
 
 "What's the matter, Kenneth?" 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "You were looking at me so queerly." 
 
 He laughed; it was rather a forced laugh. "If I 
 looked queer, I guess it was just the result of uncon- 
 sciously carrying business in my head after business 
 hours. Have you noticed the market lately? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 "It's in an awful mess. Prices jumping in every direc- 
 tion. Nobody knows where he stands. So if I seem to 
 worry, that's all there is to it." 
 
 "Are you sure, Kenneth?" 
 
 "That's absolutely all there is to it, Jennie. Honest." 
 
 She believed him because she wanted to believe him 
 though she was not at all certain' that she did believe 
 him. However, whatever of belief she did have was 
 enough to sway her fluctuating soul to a decision in 
 regard to Harry Edwards. She could not give up all 
 this brilliance she had worked so hard to win! She 
 simply could not ! Something would turn up before his
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 369 
 
 trial that would save Harry; of course it would it 
 simply had to! 
 
 And that same evening, disguising her handwriting, 
 but using the code which Uncle George would know, 
 she feverishly wrote him her decision it was final. 
 And the next morning Uncle George went down to the 
 Pekin and showed it to Black Jerry. 
 
 " I 'm glad that's the way she's come to see it," Jerry 
 said gruffly. "No sense in her smashing everything just 
 because Harry Edwards was a fool." 
 
 "I suppose so I suppose so," Uncle George re- 
 sponded gravely. And from the Pekin he went on down 
 to the Tombs and told Jennie's decision to Harry. 
 
 Pallid though the long months of prison had made 
 him, Harry bleached to a more bloodless hue. However, 
 he did not lose his composure. 
 
 "You know, Uncle George, I never asked you to put 
 this up to her," he said. 
 
 "I know you didn't, son. It was my idea. I just 
 thought she ought to know and decide for herself." 
 
 Harry's gray eyes regarded Uncle George steadily 
 through the bars. For a moment there was silence 
 except for those low, shuffling sounds which abide in 
 prisons. Then Harry spoke, his voice quiet and with 
 the composure which is fitting last words: 
 . "Of course, that means my finish. You and Jerry 
 know how I feel about her. Since she does n't care for 
 me, I don't blame her, and I want her to stick on up 
 where she is." 
 
 When Uncle George turned from that erect figure on 
 the other side of the bars, with its white face and steady 
 eyes, he brushed something away from his own old eyes. 
 Life was queer! yes, life was certainly queer.
 
 CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 HOW KENNETH TOOK THE NEWS 
 
 THE end of April arrived ; within a few days they 
 were to move out to Silver Bluffs for the sum- 
 mer; and then there came a morning when 
 Kenneth's behavior at leave-taking was unusually dis- 
 turbing. He said good-bye, started out of the great 
 living-room, then turned at the door and gazed at Jennie 
 with questioning eyes. 
 
 "Jennie " he said abruptly. "Jennie ' 
 
 Her heart leaped chokingly into her throat, but she 
 forced herself to speak calmly. "Yes, Kenneth. What 
 is it?" 
 
 "I wonder, Jennie I wonder " and again he 
 stopped. 
 
 "Go on. What is it, Kenneth?" 
 
 "Oh, nothing," he replied with an abrupt change of 
 manner. "Just take good care of your cold; and much 
 as Mrs. Shipman's friendship means to us, don't wear 
 yourself out at that luncheon of hers." 
 
 Kenneth said good-bye again, and this time went out. 
 Jennie knew well that to give her that advice about her 
 cold, which was hardly a cold at all, was not what had. 
 been in Kenneth's mind. Something was brooding 
 she was more certain than ever of this. The panic in 
 which she had lived these many days grew suddenly 
 more intense. There rushed into her a resistless need of 
 talking her situation over with some one at once ; 
 mere words would be a relief, even if her way was not 
 cleared.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 371 
 
 And then she realized that of all her many friends 
 of the great world there were none with whom she 
 dared talk over such a matter as this: certainly not 
 with Mrs. Shipman, and not even with Sue and Mrs. 
 Harrison. Amid all the glory she had won she felt com- 
 pletely isolated ; and thus cut off, her mind went homing 
 back to the person who was most concerned in her suc- 
 cess her father. 
 
 Yes, she had to see her father ! She considered when 
 and how and where she should meet him. There was 
 the luncheon ,-her last affair of the season, Mrs. Shipman 
 was giving to the brides of the past year; that would 
 last until three at least. And then at half-past three 
 Mrs. Harrison and Sue were coming in to talk over 
 summer plans. She liked them too well, and too much 
 was builded upon them, for her to cancel that engage- 
 ment; they would stay until probably five. From five 
 until half-past six half-past six was Kenneth's regu- 
 lar time for coming home that was the period for 
 seeing her father. 
 
 But where? A daring inspiration came to her: why 
 not have him visit her here? Wherever she saw him 
 there would be the element of risk always attending 
 their meetings, and that risk would be hardly greater 
 here than elsewhere. It could be easily managed. After 
 thinking a few minutes she had Uncle George on the 
 wire and, talking to him in code, arranged that Black 
 Jerry was to come at five that afternoon in the guise 
 of a cabinet-maker, to mend a refractory drawer of a 
 writing-desk in her private sitting-room. 
 
 Mrs. Shipman's "brides' luncheon" was a very splen- 
 did affair ; it had the distinction which characterized all 
 of Mrs. Shipman's functions. And Jennie, despite her
 
 372 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 long mental strain, was at her best ; perhaps the feverish 
 tensity under which she had been living was respon- 
 sible for her high spirits that afternoon. 
 
 At the end of the affair Mrs. Shipman whispered in 
 the half-humorous, yet serious tone which was charac- 
 teristic of that lady when she was with those whom she 
 liked: 
 
 "My dear, I envy you. Of all the younger gen- 
 eration of women you are the one born to do things. 
 I hope I shall be alive a few years from now, a nice, 
 retired old lady, to watch you managing affairs." 
 
 "Oh, Mrs. Shipman," exclaimed Jennie, "you can't 
 really mean that!" 
 
 "But I do, my dear," and there was undeniable 
 conviction in Mrs. Shipman's voice. "You are going 
 to do great things. Good-bye until we meet in the 
 country." 
 
 As Jennie went away dazed by this approval a foot- 
 man handed her a box. This she opened in her car. It 
 contained a few deep-red roses in money value they 
 meant almost nothing and an unsealed envelope. 
 From the last she drew a sheet of paper on which was 
 written these few lines: 
 
 Let me say good-bye, too. You have done all I thought 
 you might possibly do. You have proved that you are the 
 sort of wife I talked about that night the wife who can 
 make her husband a great man. You are doing that to your 
 husband. I congratulate you, and I am glad that it is my 
 privilege to be 
 
 Your friend 
 
 DANIEL SHIPMAN 
 
 Mrs. Shipman's parting words, this note from Mr. 
 Shipman, so thrilled Jennie that for the time she forgot
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 373 
 
 other matters. Never did this world seem so desirable, 
 never did her pathway seem to be leading forward to 
 such a glorious and widening future. There would have 
 to be maneuverings, jugglings, struggles but she 
 would hold on to it! 
 
 Afterwards, when she was at home with Mrs. Harri- 
 son and Sue, it seemed that their whole-hearted affection 
 for her would not permit them to leave. Jennie furtively 
 glanced at her watch. The hands crept around toward 
 five; her uneasiness grew, but she could hardly send 
 them away; and they w r ere still there when the butler 
 announced the arrival of the cabinet-maker. 
 
 She hesitated; then said with forced calm: "Send 
 him in, Martin. I '11 show him what the work is." 
 
 A moment later Black Jerry was ushered in by the 
 English butler. Black Jerry's dress was the usual one 
 of artisans he wore the common celluloid collar with 
 a buttoned-on bow tie; and he held the usual scuffed 
 leather bag in which skilled workmen carry their tools. 
 His dark face was impassive. 
 
 "This way, please," Jennie ordered. Black Jerry, 
 sidling along the great Italianesque fireplace, crossed 
 the big living-room to the door which Jennie opened. 
 "It's the lower left drawer to that desk which you are 
 to fix," she continued in her even voice; and closing the 
 door she returned to her guests. 
 
 "Did you really notice him, Jennie?" whispered Sue. 
 "What a grim, shuddery-looking man!" 
 
 "Just so he does the work, I don't care what he looks 
 like," Jennie returned carelessly. 
 
 Fifteen minutes later her visitors finally did depart, 
 and Jennie slipped into the sitting-room. Her father 
 rose from the chair in which he had been waiting.
 
 374 ^ Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 " Dad ! " she breathed. " Dad ! " 
 
 "Jennie," he gulped; and then: "There's no danger 
 of your husband coming in on us?" he asked. 
 
 "No. Kenneth never comes home before half-pas* 
 six." 
 
 Black Jerry glanced about the sitting-room. " I never 
 saw your home before. You Ve sure got a swell place, 
 Jennie" exultingly "the swellest home I've ever 
 been in!" 
 
 Then his tone changed. "Well, I'm here, Jennie. 
 What's the trouble?" 
 
 The elation which had sustained her during and after 
 Mrs. Shipman's luncheon, had now left her. "Every- 
 thing, perhaps nothing, perhaps. I felt I just had to 
 see you. I don't know what's the matter, dad I was 
 never nervous like this before." 
 
 "It's not about Harry Edwards?" 
 
 "No, dad." 
 
 "That's right. What you decided was O.K. it 
 made me glad. If Harry Edwards wanted to make a 
 fool out of himself and throw away his chance, that 's 
 his business. It ain't your business to throw away your 
 chance." 
 
 " Dad this is n't what I asked you here for but 
 is there anything new in Harry's case?" 
 
 "It still stands just like Uncle George said. It's all 
 his own fault, though. But if it ain't because of Harry 
 Edwards that you sent for me, then what is it?" 
 
 "I'm just plain nervous, dad. I I seem to have 
 gone to pieces. I simply had to talk to some one!" It 
 had always been difficult for these two to be outspoken 
 in their feeling, but the strain of her situation compelled 
 an unhesitating directness. "From what you've done
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 375 
 
 for me, dad, I know I mean more to you than any one 
 else and you 're the closest person to me in the world. 
 Since I had to talk with some one, I simply had to talk 
 with you. It's it's about Kenneth, dad." 
 
 " Kenneth? " His voice, though a whisper, was a men- 
 acing growl. "What's he been doing?" 
 
 "Nothing. Only for some time he's been acting 
 well very queer." 
 
 "In what way?" 
 
 "All I know is the way he has looked at me when 
 he thought I was n't looking. His face was strained ; 
 his eyes were penetrating, questioning. I Ve thought 
 that he half suspected perhaps actually knew." 
 
 "Jennie you're not really serious?" 
 
 " I'm serious in the way I feel though I can't tell 
 what he suspects or knows. But that has always been 
 the danger, that he might sometime find out." 
 
 "And if he did find out," demanded Jerry, "what 
 would he do?" 
 
 "He's very proud, dad, and very ambitious. I'm 
 sure it would be the end of things between us. He'd 
 throw me out. I can't tell you how sick I am thinking 
 of that. And if he does, what am I ever to do?" 
 
 " If he does," Jerry's big chest heaved and he ven- 
 tured to take her hand, "if he does, I '11 still be back- 
 ing you ! But the chances are you 're all wrong. You 're 
 going to stick right to the job, and keep on playing the 
 game to the finish!" 
 
 "Of course I am, dad!" 
 
 "That's right. And this nervousness of yours will 
 wear off, you see!" 
 
 He spoke on reassuringly, his dark, hungry eyes on 
 her face, still holding the hand he had dared take. His
 
 316 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 gruff, definite words were deeply comforting to her ; for 
 a few moments her spirit rested against the rugged 
 strength of his; such support and comfort were what she 
 had hungered for in the mood which had possessed her 
 these many days. In these moments there was a strong 
 refluence of her courage and confidence; once more she 
 began to feel her accustomed strength to meet and 
 handle any situation. 
 
 And then she heard a noise at the door, which was 
 behind her, but which her father faced. She turned 
 quickly; and as she turned she felt something wrenched 
 from her wrist. Halted in the doorway was Kenneth. 
 
 For that instant Jennie was aghast as never before. 
 She seemed to swirl downward dizzily downward. 
 
 The hush was sickeningly long to Jennie as she gazed 
 at the staring Kenneth, but in reality it lasted for only 
 the briefest instant. Black Jerry broke the silence. 
 
 "Well, you think you've got me, don't you?" he 
 snarled defiantly at Kenneth. He reached for his hip 
 pocket, but his hand came back empty. "Hell I for- 
 got my gat! I suppose you really have got me, then. 
 This is all I've pinched so far." He tossed upon the 
 table the jeweled watch he had just torn from Jennie's 
 wrist. "Well," he demanded, "what 're you going to do 
 with me?" 
 
 While he spoke, lost though she was, Jennie grasped 
 her father's swiftly conceived purpose. To save her he 
 was trying to explain his presence here by passing him- 
 self off as a burglar. His reaching for a pistol she recog- 
 nized as merely a bit of stage-play to add color and 
 plausibility to his impersonation; she knew her father 
 always went unarmed. 
 
 "How did he get in here, Jennie?" asked Kenneth.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 377 
 
 "As a cabinet-maker, to fix my desk," Jennie ex- 
 plained, falling in with her father's ruse, though still 
 in a daze. Her father, passing himself off as a thief to 
 save her in this desperate crisis! she could not let him 
 suffer for it. Her love for him rushed to the rescue 
 as far as it dared. "But that watch is really all he got 
 thus far. I wish you would n't send him to jail, Ken- 
 neth, if you can feel that you don't have to." 
 
 "Why not?" asked Kenneth. 
 
 She had been in tight situations before, but none 
 quite so tight as this. She \vas taut with suspense, but 
 she managed to speak with no more than the quick 
 breathing and the nervousness natural to one who has 
 just been the victim of a burglarious assault. 
 
 "If he were arrested," she replied, " there 'd be a 
 police-court trial and I 'd have to be in it and, 
 Kenneth, I 'd rather not be mixed up in a messy police- 
 court affair. I 'm sure if you gave him a sharp talking 
 to and then let him go, it would be better for us." 
 
 "What have you got to say?" Kenneth asked Black 
 Jerry. 
 
 "What's the use of my saying anything?" Jerry 
 responded gruffly. "What you say is all that counts." 
 
 "I yield to my wife's request," said Kenneth. "I'll 
 let you off." 
 
 Jennie's relief was as vast and sudden as had been her 
 suspense. They were safe! They had saved the situa- 
 tion! 
 
 And then 
 
 And then Kenneth closed the door, and stepped into 
 the room. He faced Black Jerry : 
 
 "Your voice seemed familiar. But I did n't place it 
 at first."
 
 378 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "My voice?" queried Jerry. 
 
 "I place it now," said Kenneth. "Remember that 
 night out at Silver Bluffs when you played with my 
 windpipe? You said you were Jennie's cousin." 
 
 "Don't remember anything about any such time. 
 But I 'm not her cousin." 
 
 The strange, drawn look Jennie had worried over in 
 Kenneth's face was now no longer there; his face was 
 working. His next words came out as a sharp explosion. 
 
 "I know you're not! You're her father!" 
 
 "I'm not!" Jerry cried huskily. 
 
 "My father!" breathed Jennie. 
 
 Kenneth turned upon Jennie. And then the possible 
 danger that had been hidden in the heart of all these 
 years the fear that had eaten her soul all these weeks 
 and days suddenly burst into all the terrors of actual- 
 ity. The heavens opened, and all they sustained and 
 contained, crashed down upon her. 
 
 "Yes, your father Black Jerry Malone!" Kenneth 
 said rapidly, his words fairly snapping into her very 
 face with feverish distinctness. "And you're Jennie 
 Malone you were never anybody else ! And I know 
 you used to be clever at forging and I know about 
 your trial and that you ran away to escape sentence 
 for forgery!" 
 
 Jennie swayed and would have fallen had not a 
 blindly outstretched hand gripped the back of a chair. 
 She stared with wide eyes at Kenneth. So the very 
 end had come ! The end to all her years of striving to 
 her dreams and her father's dreams and she was 
 falling dizzily down down down from her bril- 
 liant pinnacle! All, all was over! 
 
 She did not speak. Dazedly, limply, she waited for
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 379 
 
 the furious denunciation which she had known would 
 be her portion if ever this moment came. 
 
 But there came no tongue-lashing there fell no 
 furious blow. Jennie caught her breath. Bewildered, 
 she gazed at Kenneth ; he gazed back at her, panting a 
 bit, his eyes agleam with a new excitement of which she 
 now for the first time became aware. 
 
 For a moment there was complete silence. Then Black 
 Jerry pushed squarely up in front of Kenneth. 
 
 "If you try anything on my Jennie," he growled, 
 "I'll twist that neck of yours the same as I said I 
 would!" 
 
 "Father, don't!" breathed Jennie. "What's the 
 use?" And then to Kenneth: "Yes, I've known fora 
 long time that you either knew or else suspected." 
 
 "But I have not!" he exclaimed. 
 
 "No?" she cried incredulously. "But the strange 
 way you looked at me these weeks " 
 
 "Ask your father to go, Jennie," Kenneth inter- 
 rupted. "There's a lot I want to say to you." 
 
 "Since you know who Jennie is, and all that's all over, 
 I stick right here so long as she needs me," Black Jerry 
 replied. 
 
 "All right, then," said Kenneth in a hurried, eager 
 tone, turning away from Black Jerry. "Jennie, I never 
 dreamed that you were anything except what I'd al- 
 ways supposed not until to-day." 
 
 "No! But but the strange looks I saw 
 
 "Listen, Jennie!" He spoke with a rapidity and a 
 feverish agitation she had never in all her acquaintance 
 with him known the self-controlled Kenneth to show. 
 "If you saw a strange look, it was because I was won- 
 dering what you'd do when you learned the truth!"
 
 38o A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "What I'd do! 11 she exclaimed. 
 
 "Jennie, I've been living in hell!" he went on rap- 
 idly, heedless of Black Jerry and what was now 
 amazing her most was a pleading tone that had come 
 into his voice. "You know a little about my fooling 
 with war stocks, but you have no idea how deep I 've 
 gone into them. I 've put in everything I had and 
 more! It was the chance of a lifetime to make a big 
 killing to come out of it established forever as one 
 of the big men who count. I w r ent into it on margins, 
 Jennie and once started I had to keep on or I 'd have 
 been wiped out. Besides, I'm sure to clean up big in 
 the end. Sure! So when my money was all gone I 
 began to use Shipman's money to cover my margins. 
 But the market did n't rise, and I was every day afraid 
 that I 'd be found out that 's why I looked that way 
 at you." 
 
 "Oh!" Jennie breathed faintly. 
 
 "And to-day I got a tip that the bank examiners 
 would probably be around to-morrow," he went on with 
 mounting excitement. " I 'm up against it, Jennie! I Ve 
 got to make good by to-morrow what I Ve used or 
 or you understand! You're the only person who 
 can save me!" 
 
 "I?" she cried in amazement. 
 
 "Yes, only you, Jennie! The idea came to me this 
 afternoon after I had learned who you really were." 
 He drew several slips of paper from an inner pocket, and 
 his words tumbled on. "These are Harrison and Com- 
 pany checks the extra ones for use in case any are 
 spoiled. We're holding a lot of money in our bank that 
 we won't have to use for a month or two. I Ve made out 
 one of these checks for fifty thousand and signed it as
 
 A Daughter of Two World* 381 
 
 treasurer you know, I 'm still treasurer there but 
 it 's got to be countersigned by my father as president. 
 If that check has my father's signature, I can get the 
 money to straighten out my accounts in the morning 
 over at Shipman's. And then I '11 make my clean-up 
 the market is absolutely sure to turn right in a few days 
 or a week or two ! and then I '11 deposit the fifty 
 thousand back into the account of Harrison and Com- 
 pany before it 's missed and everything will be all right ! 
 Al] I ask of you, Jennie, is just to sign my father's name. 
 Here's a sample of his signature. It looks hard I 
 could n't do it but for you it will be easy! Jennie, 
 you'll do it for me, won't you?" 
 
 Tense, eyes agleam with suspense, he awaited her 
 answer. 
 
 "Kenneth!" she breathed, staring. She was utterly 
 dumbfounded by this turn of events. She had feared so 
 long this day and its denunciation. And now, exposure 
 had come and instead of denunciation, of being cast 
 into outer darkness, here was Kenneth pleading that 
 she should forge for his sake! The contrast was too 
 astounding; for the moment her brain could not 
 function. 
 
 " Don't you see, Jennie," he argued feverishly "all 
 that it amounts to is that I have borrowed from Ship- 
 man, and that I '11 just be borrowing from my own firm 
 to pay Shipman, and that in a short time I can square 
 things with my own firm. That's all there is to it 
 just borrowing ! " He pushed her, unresisting, down into 
 the chair at her writing-table, and laid the checks before 
 her. "And here I brought along one of the pens my 
 father always uses. And here's some blank paper; just 
 practice his signature a few times."
 
 382 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Black Jerry, who had remained silent and aside dur- 
 ing all this, now stepped forward. 
 
 "Hold on, Jennie," he ordered. He fixed his dark 
 eyes on Kenneth. "You, young man, you ain't said yet 
 what you 're going to do about Jennie. Before Jennie 
 goes ahead, we want a few words from you on that point. 
 I ain't just got your number yet. Are you going to tell 
 what you learned about her and throw Jennie down? 
 Or are you going to keep still and stand by her?" 
 
 "Stand by her, of course!" cried Kenneth. "To ex- 
 pose her and start talk I guess you can see that 
 would n't help me a lot. Hurry up, Jennie!" 
 
 "Hold on," Black Jerry repeated, his dark eyes still 
 on Kenneth. He considered an instant. In Black Jerry's 
 mind, true product of his world, there was little concern 
 over those details of human conduct which laws denom- 
 inate as crimes though Jerry, as conduct went among 
 his fellows, had really been a very law-abiding citizen. 
 A more important consideration than law, according to 
 Jerry's code, was doing what was right and square by 
 one's friends. 
 
 "You'd better understand what's behind this busi- 
 ness," he said with his grim, ferocious pride. "I felt 
 my Jennie had a right to as big a chance as any other 
 girl. So I fixed things to give her that chance. And she's 
 made good all right; woman to woman, there's no 
 woman in her class. She deserves to be up where she is. 
 So if you don't stand by her, I '11 get you don't you 
 forget that! Go ahead, Jennie." 
 
 Jennie's chief sense was that of escape when escape 
 had seemed impossible. Her relief was too vast for her 
 to have thought of what she had been asked to do or 
 <?f its consequences. She took the pen from Kenneth
 
 A Daugh ter of Two Worlds 383 
 
 and mechanically began to copy the signature of the 
 elder Harrison upon the practice sheet. Kenneth 
 watched her, wiping his face, in his manner the nerv- 
 ous relief of one who has won salvation; Jerry eyed, 
 now Kenneth, now her. The room was still save for the 
 breathing of the three. Jennie's hand grew more steady ; 
 the natural skill which had been hers when long ago 
 she had forged that Morrison check, and which had been 
 hers more recently when she had successfully imitated 
 Gloria's handwriting, now returned to her. When Ken- 
 neth placed before her the check already filled out and 
 signed by him, she wrote "James Harrison" as well as 
 Kenneth's father could have done it himself. 
 
 "There!" she breathed, pushing the check toward 
 Kenneth. 
 
 He seized it. "Thank God!" he cried. "Jennie 
 you'll never know w T hat you've done for me!" 
 
 "You 'd better remember, and keep on remembering ! " 
 put in Black Jerry, his dark, lowering face clenched 
 with menace. "And also you'd better remember to 
 treat my Jennie square or you'll get what's coming 
 to you." Abruptly he picked up his cabinet-maker's 
 bag. "So-long," he said, and walked out of the room. 
 
 Jennie had swayed to her feet, unconsciously holding 
 on to the pen. Kenneth caught her other hand. 
 
 "You'll never know what you've done for me, Jen- 
 nie!" he repeated excitedly this strange new Ken- 
 neth. "You've saved me! And everything's coming 
 out all right there '11 be no trouble and I '11 clean 
 up a fortune and we '11 keep on going up and up ! And 
 it'll all be your doing, Jennie all your doing!" 
 
 "You really think so?" Her words were me- 
 chanical.
 
 384 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 " You've done it all you Ve saved everything! . . . 
 But but Jennie, don't think I don't appreciate it if 
 I run away and leave you. I promised to see my broker 
 this evening before dinner, and I've simply got to go." 
 
 The next moment she was alone. She sank weakly 
 into a chair, still holding the pen, almost in a state of 
 collapse. She had escaped! She was safe! The future 
 was still her own !
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI 
 
 WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE 
 
 OUT at Silver Bluffs she and Kenneth had 
 gone there two days later there followed a 
 breathing space for Jennie, in which she strove 
 to readjust herself to the new conditions, to the new 
 possibilities, of her life. Kenneth knew and she was 
 still not cast out : the danger was over ! Even after days 
 this hardly seemed a reality. 
 
 She thought very little of her act of signing "James 
 Harrison" to that check. Even if she had, enough of 
 the cynical attitude of her girlhood lingered in her to 
 have caused her conscience to consider it as a deed that 
 was not particularly wrong. But as matters stood, in 
 the emotional tumult in which she was hourly living, 
 that act was an almost forgotten detail of a scene whose 
 all-important fact was that Kenneth had not cast her 
 from her lofty height. 
 
 But there were two matters about which she did think 
 and wonder at least a little. One of these was Ken- 
 neth himself: of the strangely different figure from the 
 insouciantly competent Kenneth which he had in a 
 flash revealed himself to be : of his feverish eagerness in 
 asking her to forge to save him of his financial en- 
 tanglements. Somehow, though still Kenneth, he was 
 not quite the wonderful Kenneth he had seemed to her 
 school-girl eyes not quite the same Kenneth he had 
 seemed that summer's afternoon when, out on the 
 landing here at Silver Bluffs, his proposal had burst 
 upon her as a sudden and up-sweeping glory. She had
 
 386 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 flitting moments of uneasiness. More than once there 
 returned to her snatches of Slim Jackson's phrases. . . . 
 "No difficulty about getting divorce . . . plenty of evi- 
 dence ... I myself can slip it right into your hand." 
 
 She did not believe what had been said and implied 
 by Slim; for she knew Slim would stop at no lie that 
 would serve him. But in flashes she was ever wondering 
 about Kenneth . . . wondering very much. 
 
 And the second matter to which she gave real thought 
 was, who had told Kenneth her secret? She surmised 
 that it had been Slim Jackson. One evening at Silver 
 Bluffs she put the question to Kenneth point-blank. 
 
 "I can't say who told me," he answered. "There 
 were circumstances well, I promised not to tell." 
 
 "Was it Jackson Holt?" she demanded. 
 
 " It was not Jackson Holt; that much I can definitely 
 answer you," he replied. "Jackson Holt has never let 
 fall a single word that would make me suspect that you 
 were anybody except just exactly who I thought you 
 were. But don't worry your head about that, Jennie. 
 It 's all the same to me, and you ought to be able to see 
 that I '11 do everything I can to keep the matter secret 
 that I don't want it to become public any more than 
 you do." 
 
 She believed what he said about Slim Jackson. But 
 if Slim had not told, then who was the person? 
 
 Aside from the effects of her shock, and aside from 
 her secret thoughts, that May was a wonderful May to 
 Jennie. Mrs. Shipman had a summer place not far from 
 Silver Bluffs, and she, and those of the summer colony 
 who circled about that great lady, had never been more 
 cordial. And so it came about that Jennie's old-time 
 confidence, so disturbed with fear for many weeks, re-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 387 
 
 turned to her and returned to her stronger than ever. 
 She now had no secrets from Kenneth. She had passed 
 the crisis she was indeed going up, up, solidly up 
 no doubt of it ! 
 
 Early in June she went into the city one afternoon 
 with Mrs. Shipman to attend a meeting of women, some 
 of whom lived up in Westchester County, to discuss a 
 proposed open-air carnival and pageant to be given for 
 Allied war relief upon the grounds of whatever summer 
 home seemed most suitable. This conference ended, 
 Jennie went to her empty apartment to wait for Ken- 
 neth, who was to meet her there and take her out to 
 dinner. 
 
 She had an hour or more to herself something 
 which she had not really had for many, many weeks. 
 The silence of the apartment, the covered furniture, 
 infected her with loneliness. Sitting at a window giving 
 upon the broad Avenue, her relaxed mind began to 
 wander then it drifted back and considered the long, 
 long way she had traveled, the heights she had so pa- 
 tiently and daringly and brilliantly climbed then it 
 dwelt upon those who had been so close to her, in her 
 other world. 
 
 Obeying an impulse there was nothing to stay her, 
 since she was alone she called up Uncle George. He 
 was at home. 
 
 "How's dad?" she asked. 
 
 ''Jerry? Jerry's the same as ever. Going great," was 
 the old man's hearty response. 
 
 "And and Harry?" 
 
 "Same as ever. Not batting an eyelash." 
 
 They talked of other matters briefly ; then she 
 hung up. Yes, the old life was somehow far, far away.
 
 388 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 And yet she felt it was somehow very near to her and 
 some elements very, very dear . . . 
 
 She had changed into an evening gown and was ab- 
 sently examining her slender, rounded lines in one of 
 the two tall mirrors which, set into the wall, flanked 
 either side of the great fireplace of the living-room, 
 when Kenneth entered. 
 
 "I say, Jennie, you're looking stunning!" he called 
 at sight of her. "You'll show 'em all up as second- 
 raters at that little dinner to-night!" 
 
 Jennie was fully aware how well she looked. "It's 
 half-past six, Kenneth; you'd better get dressed," was 
 her only response. 
 
 "All right. Only I 'm hot and fagged I Ve got to 
 have a high-ball before I can lift my hand to tie a neck- 
 tie." In the doorway which led back to the kitchen and 
 the pantry he paused. " By the way, just as I was leaving 
 father called up and said he had to see me at once, so I 
 told him to show up here before seven." 
 
 "What does he want?" 
 
 " He did n't say except that it was important. He '11 
 be along almost any minute." 
 
 Kenneth passed out and went about the business of 
 mixing his drink. Presently the apartment bell rang, 
 and Jennie admitted her father-in-law. He kissed her, 
 but she sensed instantly that it was a mechanical kiss. 
 
 "Where's Kenneth?" he asked. 
 
 "He'll be right out," she answered. 
 
 By this time they were in the big living-room where 
 the light was better. She gave a quick look at her 
 father-in-law's face. That set, square, masklike, rather 
 heavy face, which from the time she had first seen him 
 had struck her as being a sort of composite face of all
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 389 
 
 the pictures she had seen in the magazines of the men 
 who direct large affairs, was now plainly controlling 
 some feeling or purpose only by a very great effort. 
 
 "It's very warm can't I get you something to 
 drink?" she asked. 
 
 "Don't want anything to drink! " he snapped at her. 
 And then: "I beg pardon, Jennie I did n't mean to 
 be rough. It's just that something's on my mind." 
 
 He kissed her again, and this time his kiss was not 
 perfunctory. Though he had disapproved of Kenneth's 
 marriage, he had since admitted, at least to his very 
 private self, that his wife had been right, that Jennie 
 had, indeed, been just the wife for Kenneth. He had 
 observed; and the way Jennie had carried Kenneth up 
 had wrought this complete reversal in his attitude. 
 
 Kenneth came in carrying a tall, cool-looking glass. 
 "Hello, father. Can I mix one for you?" 
 
 "Have n't time for a drink." 
 
 "All right. Excuse me while I say a few kind words 
 to my stomach." 
 
 He had the glass at his lips and was tilting down its 
 contents when the elder Harrison exploded. He jerked 
 a paper from out his inside coat pocket and flung it upon 
 the great carved table. 
 
 " Look at that, damn you ! " he cried. "Look at that, 
 and then let's hear what's your explanation!" 
 
 Kenneth's glass slipped away from his lips so abruptly 
 that some of the icy mixture splashed down upon his 
 collar. "Hello, what's wrong?" 
 
 The elder Harrison held a blunt forefinger on the 
 paper and glared at his son. "Look at that! " he almost 
 shouted. 
 
 Kenneth looked at what had been flung so furiously
 
 390 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 upon the table. His handsome face suddenly went white. 
 With an effort he raised his eyes to his father's. 
 
 "Well well " And there his husky voice stopped. 
 
 "Well go on!" the older man roared. 
 
 But Kenneth did not go on; seemingly he was unable 
 to go on. For the first instant Jennie was quite be- 
 wildered by this swift outburst of father upon son, by 
 the furious glare of the one and the pale, twitching face 
 of the other; but as the moments passed and the gaze 
 of each gripped the other in a tense silence, she dropped 
 her eyes to what was beneath Mr. Harrison's forefinger. 
 At first the paper had no meaning to her. Then dimly 
 she began to remember then she drew a sharp breath. 
 
 The paper was that check to which, a few weeks since, 
 Kenneth had asked her to forge his father's signature 
 in order to save him. 
 
 "Go on speak out!" the older Harrison shouted 
 at Kenneth. And as Kenneth still did not speak, Mr. 
 Harrison went on himself and his words were molten 
 fury. "You know what it is! And you know I know 
 what it is! It is a damnable forgery! You know I did n't 
 sign my name to that!" 
 
 The older man's fury was now almost beyond all con- 
 trol. "God you crook, you! Have n't you tried to 
 put across enough slippery tricks? Have n't I pulled 
 you out of enough trouble for you to learn any sense? 
 And yet you try still another stunt forgery ! I 
 did n't know you could forge but I should have known 
 that you 'd have your try at every crooked stunt there 
 is. You you " He ended with a gasping choke. 
 
 Jennie, eyes wide, stared at her husband. She did not 
 consciously remember what Slim had said about him, 
 but the substance of Slim's words must have been re-
 
 A Daughter oj Two Worlds 391 
 
 uttering themselves in the ears of her subconscious self. 
 She felt dizzy sick. 
 
 "But but I don't know anything about that 
 check," Kenneth responded in a thin, dry whisper. 
 
 "You lie! That other signature is your signature all 
 right. But I know I never signed that check though 
 if I had n't been so certain I had not, I might have be- 
 lieved I did, for that forgery is a wonder. It's no use 
 to lie and try tc squirm out of it I Ve had to cover 
 you up too often to believe any of your lies!" 
 
 Kenneth wet his twitching, white lips. ' ' The amount 
 is n't really so big. Only fifty thousand. Take care of 
 it for a little while, father and I '11 square it up. I 
 promise. I Ve got big chances ! Square it up and and 
 keep it quiet!" 
 
 "You don't get this situation at all, you young fool!" 
 raged the father. "I might square it. Fifty thousand 
 is a lot of money, still I could manage it. But I can't 
 keep it quiet. There's the big point: I can't keep it 
 quiet!" 
 
 "You can't keep it quiet? " exclaimed Kenneth. " You 
 can't keep it quiet? Why?" 
 
 " I did n't discover it. The audit company discovered 
 this morning there was just fifty thousand dollars dif- 
 ference between our figures in our balance and the bank's 
 figures, and they dug up this check. And they happened 
 to tell three other men in the firm about it before they 
 told me and one of them is Mortimer. And Mortimer 
 hates me worse than poison he would n't pass by this 
 chance to get a knife into me for a million dollars ! Keep 
 it quiet? The best I could get out of them was the loan 
 of this check, under a guarantee, while I had the affair 
 out with you. Keep it quiet? Young man, you've at
 
 392 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 last mixed yourself in something that no human power 
 can keep quiet!" 
 
 Kenneth was now supporting himself by leaning 
 heavily on the table and clenching its edges with both 
 hands. His terrified eyes were blinkingly on his father, 
 but he did not speak. Jennie, a little to one side, 
 watched the two men, waiting in a sickened amazement 
 of soul. 
 
 The father burst out again in a fury that swept on- 
 ward in a ferocious wave of passion concentrated 
 energy of a lifetime, unloosed in a moment. "Keep it 
 quiet! When you say that, you are thinking only of 
 what it may mean to you. Well, it can't be kept quiet! 
 Do you know what that means to me ? Do you know 
 that I lowered your mother's social position by letting 
 her marry me? Do you know that for thirty years and 
 more I Ve been working day and night to win a place in 
 business and out in life that would put me and my 
 family on a level with the top people your mother used 
 to mix with? God! how I Ve worked, and thought, and 
 waited to establish myself and my family! And I've 
 won out or almost won out! And now, just as I Ve 
 won in a big way, my son commits forgery there '11 
 be a big trial it 's a plain case and he '11 go to Sing 
 Sing. You see now what that means to me? The idea 
 of my whole life is smashed." He ripped out a terrible 
 oath; Jennie had never heard her father, even in his 
 most furious moment, swear with such driving, uncon- 
 trolled violence. "You slippery, worthless hound, that 
 I Ve tried so hard to make a man of I ought to beat 
 your head in!" 
 
 Still, Kenneth, pale, gripping the table, eyes on his 
 father, made no response.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 393 
 
 Mr. Harrison's fury raged on. "A few years in Sing 
 Sing might be a good thing for you, if that was all there 
 was to it. But think of what it means to my life-work 
 think of what it means to my family ! And you Ve 
 had every chance in the world that we could give you. 
 And your wife she 's developed into a wonder for 
 you!" He turned upon Jennie. "Jennie, I guess you 
 know I objected to you at first, but I want to apologize. 
 What you've done to put him forward is a miracle! If 
 he 'd had the right stuff in him there 's no place so high 
 that you could n't have landed him in it. But as it is, 
 you're just one more he's dragged down, Jennie!" 
 
 Jennie, though she had heard, did not reply. When 
 Mr. Harrison had turned to her and spoken her name, 
 she had seen Kenneth's gaze, which all the while had 
 been fearfully upon his father, shift to her face. He was 
 now staring at her and a curious look was dawning in 
 his eyes. Jennie perceived this; she could not antici- 
 pate what this look could mean; but a new quiver went 
 through her weakened body. 
 
 "Well, isn't there anything you can say for your- 
 self?" the frenzied father demanded. 
 
 "I I perhaps you see " Kenneth's incoher- 
 ent words were barely audible whispers. ' ' You say it 
 can't be kept quiet? and I '11 go to Sing Sing?" 
 
 "I certainly said so! But your going to Sing Sing 
 won't pain me much!" 
 
 Kenneth's strange gaze was still on Jennie; only now 
 there was purpose in it. He ran his tongue between his 
 dry lips. . 
 
 "Since the situation is is as desperate as you say 
 it is, then, perhaps, for your sake, for mother's and 
 Sue's sake, if not for my own, I ought to tell you some-
 
 394 ~4 Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 thing I Ve known for several weeks. But something I 
 I hoped I 'd never have to tell." 
 
 "Out with it if you have anything to say!" his father 
 snapped. 
 
 " It 's it 's about Jennie." 
 
 "About Jennie!" exclaimed Mr. Harrison. 
 
 "About about me?" whispered Jennie. 
 
 Kenneth had. now turned his eyes back to his father. 
 "About Jennie, yes. I only learned it a few weeks ago, 
 and I never intended to breathe it to a soul but 
 but this changes things. Her name never was Jennie 
 Miller she never lived in the West she never was 
 an orphan. Her name was Jennie Malone her father 
 is a well-known figure in the tough part of downtown 
 and he was once on trial for a double murder you 've 
 heard of him, he's Black Jerry Malone and Jennie 
 disappeared from her old life following her arrest on 
 the charge of forgery, and she is now a fugitive from 
 justice. For years, her whole life has been just make- 
 believe." 
 
 Mr. Harrison had wheeled upon Jennie during this 
 speech and had noted the change in her face. "My 
 God ! " he breathed . ' ' Jennie is this true ? ' ' 
 
 Jennie had no words. 
 
 "If it is true, Kenneth," demanded the older man, 
 "how did you find it out?" 
 
 "Gloria Raymond telephoned me one day that she 
 wanted to see me about an investment and came down 
 to the office. She really wanted to see me about Jennie. 
 She and Jennie have been enemies since they first met, 
 and Gloria made it her business to look into Jennie's 
 past. She did so, and she told me what I 've just told 
 you."
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 395 
 
 For all her dizziness, her sense of a whirling, crashing 
 world, Jennie was sharply conscious of one thing. Gloria 
 Raymond had made good on her threat! 
 
 " Is that true, Jennie?" Mr. Harrison demanded once 
 more. 
 
 Whatever else she might do, denial was futile. So 
 Jennie slowly nodded her head. 
 
 "My God!" Mr. Harrison breathed again. 
 
 "And about that check," Kenneth continued "it 
 is exactly as I said. I know nothing at all about it. But 
 I have a surmise. You know we are careful of the 
 Harrison and Company blank checks, but quite by ac- 
 cident a few loose checks were among some papers I 
 brought home several weeks ago for careful examina- 
 tion and which I kept here for some days. Jennie is 
 an expert forger; she is now a fugitive from justice for 
 forgery. It is plain she must have abstracted one of those 
 checks, forged your name, and mine also. What she did 
 with the money I cannot say; my opinion, though, 
 is that some one may have been blackmailing her. 
 This is the only possible explanation I can see of the 
 affair." 
 
 Jennie's eyes, as she swayed against the table, grew 
 yet more wide as Kenneth made this statement. Almost 
 unconsciously to herself during the past weeks she had 
 been undergoing a disillusionment in regard to Ken- 
 neth; but now her disillusionment was conscious and 
 complete. His soul was revealed starkly. The hand- 
 some, popular Kenneth, who had so fascinated her by 
 his distinguished exterior, was a coward, a sneak, a 
 traitor. 
 
 "It's a lie, Mr. Harrison," whispered Jennie. "That 
 part is a lie!"
 
 396 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "You 're a damned dog, Kenneth ! " his father blurted 
 out. "I don't believe a word of it!" 
 
 "Yes, it's a lie, Mr. Harrison," Jennie went on 
 rapidly, brokenly. "I did forge your name that 
 much is true. But Kenneth told me he was in terrible 
 trouble that he was about to be found out and dis- 
 graced he said I alone could save him he had to 
 have money he begged me to forge your name. He 
 had already signed his name. And I did what he 
 asked because he begged me because he said 
 that would save him! That's the God's truth, Mr. 
 Harrison!" 
 
 Kenneth's white face, though it twitched, was tense 
 with purpose. "That's Jennie's story, father. It's for 
 you to decide whether you want to believe her story, 
 and have me disgraced, which does n't count for so 
 much but to have the work and ambition of your 
 lifetime ruined, and to have our family destroyed. Or 
 whether you want to accept my explanation, which will 
 save you, the family, all of us, and which will place the 
 blame where it belongs upon an adventuress who 
 has unfortunately imposed upon all of us, and who 
 already has a record as a forger." 
 
 "Why why my God, Kenneth!" she breathed. 
 
 She was appalled. It was so clever, so cunning, 
 so plausible, this swiftly and desperately invented ex- 
 planation of Kenneth's. She had been weak before, 
 but now her strength entirely left her, and she sank 
 into a chair beside the table and gazed whitely at 
 son and father, hardly able to think in this chaos which 
 had so suddenly enveloped her. The two men were 
 looking at each other fixedly, the older man's heavy 
 eyebrows drawn down, his eyes piercing. His eyes
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 397 
 
 shifted to Jennie, then back to Kenneth, then rested on 
 Jennie. 
 
 "You have just two hours in which to try to escape," 
 he announced. 
 
 Galvanically she came to her feet. "What! You 
 don't believe Kenneth!" 
 
 "Of course I believe Kenneth," he said. 
 
 Jennie saw that Kenneth's adroit appeal to his father's 
 essential worldliness had been in every way a success; 
 she saw that Mr. Harrison did not believe it, but that 
 he perceived in Kenneth's explanation that chance to 
 save himself and his family which Kenneth had so 
 cunningly pointed out. His gray eyes grew hard and 
 regarded her with indomitable purpose, his voice be- 
 came crisp and harsh. 
 
 "You'd better hurry," he advised. " I 'd rather have 
 you escape than for us all to be dragged through a trial. 
 And to make you hurry I '11 tell you exactly what our 
 course will be. I shall notify police headquarters of my 
 discovery in just two hours. I shall tell them, and we 
 shall tell in court, if it ever gets to court, exactly what 
 Kenneth has told me and you, with a charge of 
 forgery already hanging over you; won't have a chance. 
 Every detail of your past will substantiate our state- 
 ments. And to-morrow I shall further clear ourselves 
 of you by beginning suit for the annulment of Kenneth's 
 marriage on the grounds of deception practiced upon 
 him. And we'll get that decree. I tell you you don't 
 have a chance. So get away from here quick!" 
 
 "You you would n't do that?" whispered Jennie. 
 
 "I shall and I can put it all through!" was the 
 dominant reply. "You've got just two hours!" 
 
 For a moment Jennie's eyes rested upon the two
 
 398 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 men upon the granite face of Mr. Harrison, who had 
 seen a way out, and upon the greenish-white face 
 of Kenneth, who was again nervously licking his thin 
 lips a face that now, stripped of its fascination, 
 seemed only selfish and weak and treacherous. She 
 might have struck back at them with contemptuous 
 words but words of any kind she knew would neither 
 change them nor help her. She knew that exactly what 
 Mr. Harrison said, that he could and would do; she 
 was trapped completely and trapped all the more 
 hopelessly because she had helped trap herself. For the 
 moment all the spirit of fight, which had been so essen- 
 tial an element of the Jennie who used to be, was gone 
 utterly out of her. 
 
 In silence she passed the two men and entered her 
 suite and thence passed into her dressing-room. With 
 weak hands she removed her few jewels, then she un- 
 fastened her gown of thinnest chiffon in which 
 smoldered fires which would flame brilliantly out as she 
 walked and as suddenly recede into a soft glow. The 
 gown slipped from her figure to the floor, and she stepped 
 outside its filmy circle. For a moment she gazed down 
 upon its deflated beauty; she had admired it more than 
 any evening gown she had ever owned. It was to her 
 the concrete symbol of all she had fought for, and won, 
 and lost. Looking down upon those few ounces of silk, 
 she realized, even more poignantly than a few moments 
 earlier when face to face with those two determined 
 men, that the end had come. Yes, at last the end had 
 come the end to all glory, all dreams, all hopes . . . 
 
 She changed quickly into a plain suit, of a finer texture 
 and a better make, but otherwise not very different 
 from the serge suit in which five years before she had
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 399 
 
 fled out of her old world. Snatching a veil, she passed 
 out through the living-room; the men were no longer 
 there ; and two minutes later she was down in the street. 
 And thus in her simple dark suit she hurried away out 
 of her glorious new world to She did not know to 
 where. She had no plans. She had only the instinct to 
 escape.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII 
 
 JENNIE SEEKS SANCTUARY 
 
 BUT presently as she hurried on, avoiding police- 
 men whenever she saw one idly swinging his 
 night-stick, Jennie began to think of what she 
 should do. She needed help advice refuge. 
 
 At first her impulse was to fly back to her father to 
 the Pekin back to her other world. But almost in- 
 stantly she recognized that that procedure would not 
 be a wise one: the police, searching for Black Jerry's 
 daughter, would first of all search Black Jerry's home; 
 further, she would be merely walking into danger were 
 she to ask her father to come to her aid. She turned 
 next to the other person who had tried to plan her des- 
 tiny Uncle George. 
 
 It was still only a little past seven. She remembered 
 that Uncle George usually dined late, and alv/ays 
 dressed elaborately for dinner. She slipped into a tele- 
 phone booth in a Madison Avenue drug-store and called 
 his apartment. As she had calculated, he was in. Using 
 the code they had developed she told him she needed 
 him desperately, and if he could help her he should come 
 to her instantly dressed in inconspicuous garments. 
 He promptly replied that she should be waiting for him 
 in fifteen minutes at the northern end of the Mall in 
 Central Park. 
 
 She had been standing for hardly a minute at the 
 head of the broad flight of stone steps that lead down 
 to the fountain and the lake, when a closed car halted 
 at the curb and the door swung open. Inside she saw
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 401 
 
 Uncle George, in sober garb, and she quickly stepped 
 in and closed the door. "Around the Park, Jack," 
 Uncle George said to the chauffeur; and then to Jennie: 
 "What's the trouble, Jennie? Speak right out; no 
 danger if the chauffeur does hear a word or two. He 's 
 safe; same one who drove us away from the Pekin all 
 those years ago. Remember?" 
 
 Jennie glanced forward. Yes, the driver was the same 
 man who had been at the wheel on that far-gone night 
 when she had fled the world of her childhood. 
 
 Briefly she told Uncle George the situation. She told 
 him everything even that Slim had been the person 
 who had been blackmailing her even told of Slim's 
 part in that Morrison check business of long ago. 
 
 Uncle George cursed her husband and her father-in- 
 law with a sulphurous ferocity; it was rather startling 
 to Jennie, for Uncle George was not given to swearing. 
 "And to think," he raged, "that this has happened after 
 you ' ve climbed so high after you 'd done so much for 
 your husband after you seemed to have everything ! " 
 
 With an effort he controlled himself. "No time to 
 waste talking about that now, though. We've got to 
 talk about what you're going to do. They certainly 
 have got you for fair, Jennie! Nothing you or your 
 father can say will count for a nickel; it won't be be- 
 lieved. They can put you away on that charge no 
 doubt of it. Well, it would be crazy to try to make a 
 get-away now, for there'll be a general alarm out for 
 you, all over town, all over the country, before you 
 could even get fairly started. The thing to do is to hide 
 until the thing blows over a bit, and they 've given you 
 up and then try to get out of the country, say across 
 into Canada."
 
 402 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 They discussed ways and means with the result 
 that Jennie found herself following almost the same 
 grooves in escaping her great world that she had followed 
 in entering it. Uncle George, who instinctively prepared 
 for emergencies, had brought a traveling-bag in the car. 
 Half an hour later Jennie, her veil down, and looking 
 just a limp, inconspicuous child, was standing once 
 again at the desk of that most irreproachable hostelry 
 for manless women, the Martha Washington, and Uncle 
 George, again in his kindly voice which denoted the 
 deacon, was saying: 
 
 "My niece is n't feeling at all well, and a doctor I took 
 her to when we reached town ordered her to stay in 
 bed for several days. I 've got to be going on to Boston 
 
 so that's why I brought her here where I knew she'll 
 get the best of attention. I '11 send her around some more 
 clothes to-morrow. From what I Ve heard, you always 
 give the best of care to strangers." 
 
 They did and would. But despite that care, Jennie 
 slept not at all that night. She lay gazing into the dark- 
 ness of her austere room, thinking, wondering, fearing. 
 What heights she had reached ! And what a miserable 
 ending her glory had come to ! She wondered what was 
 going to happen next how it was all coming out . . . 
 
 The next morning, just as on her first morning here 
 five years before, she looked with sickened eagerness at 
 the papers which the maid brought her. There it all was ! 
 
 forcing the war to share the first-page headlines with 
 her. It was a sensation such as disillusioned and sensa- 
 tion-weary reporters get a chance at only once in every 
 five years or so, and their typewriters had made the 
 most of it. Jennie gasped when she read all the details 
 set down in order and perpetuated in print. Nothing
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 403 
 
 was missed. The daughter of the notorious Black Jerry 
 
 the flight to escape punishment for forgery her 
 long and carefully planned residence as a student among 
 the exclusive girls of Braithewood Hall her marriage 
 
 her amazing social success her complete deception 
 of the socially supreme and then in the end the truth 
 of the old phrase that blood will tell, with her new incur- 
 sion into the field of forgery, with the inevitable expo- 
 sure and now her second flight to escape justice. It 
 was a wonderful romance ! particularly with the color 
 and interpretation which she knew had emanated through 
 careful suggestion from Kenneth and Mr. Harrison. 
 
 Why, all New York knew about her now and were 
 talking about her! What were her high friends saying 
 as they read this story Mrs. Shipman and the others? 
 
 And Sue and Mrs. Harrison? She felt much more 
 sick than Uncle George had represented her to be when 
 she thought about them. They had always been so 
 true and loyal and frank ! so genuine in their affec- 
 tion! But what were they thinking now? 
 
 And she thought of her father, dragged again from 
 his sought-for obscurity into first-page prominence. He 
 had tried so hard to help her, and this was the end of it all ! 
 
 And the police? She shivered at every sound approach- 
 ing her room. More and more such of her mind as was 
 not possessed by fear, was concerned in Uncle George's 
 plan to get her across into Canada. If she could only 
 get into Canada! 
 
 She was thoroughly unnerved and frightened, and 
 she became truly a sick young woman, as much so as 
 if she had been prostrated with brain fever; sick with 
 that unnerving and exhausting illness which is a combi- 
 nation of fear, suspense, and enforced inactivity.
 
 404 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 In feverish flashes she looked back upon her glorious 
 past, and what stood out most clearly in it was the 
 figure of Kenneth. Cynical, bitter, and frightened, she 
 raved into her pillow against him and against all those 
 in the world he and she had inhabited. She recalled that 
 Kenneth had said that Gloria was the one who had 
 exposed her. But how had Gloria learned? From Slim 
 Jackson, undoubtedly. She tried to reason out Slim's 
 motives but her surmises never satisfied her, and not 
 till long after, and under very different circumstances, 
 did she learn the truth. 
 
 The truth was really far from complex if one fully 
 understood Slim's nature. That young gentleman, 
 tingling to make Jennie suffer for her rebuff of him, had 
 with peculiar cunning considered how he could gratify 
 his desire for revenge and also make a profit by the same 
 act. He had thought of telling Kenneth directly. That 
 plan he had dismissed; it might injure Jennie, but it 
 would not help him. Also such direct procedure might 
 lead to unhappy eventualities with Black Jerry. He 
 then had what he considered one of his inspirations. 
 Gloria Raymond! He remembered how Gloria hated 
 Jennie how Jennie had been the instrument of ending 
 Kenneth's infatuation for Gloria. By telling Gloria, 
 making her swear to keep secret the source of her infor- 
 mation, and allowing her to have the credit of exposing 
 Jennie to Kenneth, he would be the winner on every 
 count and he would place Gloria under eternal obliga- 
 tion to him. And after Gloria had acted, who knew what 
 might not happen? One thing, though, seemed definite: 
 sometime, somehow, he could collect upon that obliga- 
 tion. 
 
 And as Slim had planned, so had he done.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 405 
 
 Uncle George had said that Jennie would not hear 
 from him again until his plans were made and it was 
 safe to try to execute them ; this might possibly mean 
 weeks. There now followed slow days and nights of 
 this shivering illness which possessed her. During these 
 days while Jennie waited, tossing about her bed, and 
 ignorant of everything except that which she gathered 
 from the daily papers, much was going on out in that 
 great world which so lately had been her own. The 
 proceedings for the annulment of her marriage to Ken- 
 neth had been formally instituted. Kenneth went about 
 with the subdued, retiring manner of one who is 
 stricken with public shame. He received much sym- 
 pathy for his misfortune. There was a quiet meeting 
 between him and Gloria, deftly arranged by Slim Jack- 
 son. Gloria was more than willing to see Kenneth; 
 despite the notoriety brought upon him by his wife, 
 he was a far more important and promising personage 
 than he had been the summer before when she had so 
 boldly gone man-hunting for him. At this meeting she 
 easily convinced him that the letter which had caused 
 the breach between them had been just another sample 
 of Jennie's ability as a forger, and that the affair with 
 Slim Jackson had been no more than a bit of a foolish 
 girl's summer nonsense. It became understood between 
 them that as soon as Kenneth was legally free, they 
 were to be married. 
 
 Kenneth was mightily pleased at this prospect; de- 
 spite his father having helped him out of his recent pre- 
 dicament, he saw that he was going to need money, and 
 need it badly. Likewise, when Slim Jackson learned of 
 this understanding, he was also mightily pleased. Mat- 
 ters were working out as he had hoped they would.
 
 406 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 There was no doubt that he would be able to collect 
 and big! for Gloria had endless money of her own. 
 
 As for Mrs. Harrison and Sue, this generous-hearted 
 mother and daughter were bewildered and subdued; a 
 hush had settled upon their lives. Naturally they were 
 not told the truth, and they had to accept what every- 
 body was accepting. And yet, remembering the un- 
 aggressive stages by which Jennie had risen, remember- 
 ing how she had worked, remembering how simple she 
 had always seemed, they could hardly believe what was 
 being circulated as common knowledge. It could hardly 
 seem possible of the Jennie they had known and yet 
 there were the facts ! 
 
 And during these days while the town still talked of 
 Jennie's story, and while the police were combing the 
 city and the whole country for her, Black Jerry wore a 
 blacker look than ever. He knew such facts as Uncle 
 George had communicated to him, which, of course, 
 were not all. He could hardly hold himself in check. 
 In fact, all that restrained him from violent action was 
 Uncle George's warning that unless Jerry exercised the 
 greatest control, he would certainly ruin their chance of 
 getting Jennie across into Canada which was now 
 the one hope for her that remained to them. 
 
 Early in these days of Jennie's hiding, an incident 
 took place which, though it was not directly to influence 
 Jennie's action, nevertheless was to intensify the mo- 
 tives of at least one person directly identified with her 
 destiny. The day before Jennie had disappeared, Slim 
 Jackson had closed his regular New York season, though 
 prior to that he had announced that three weeks after 
 closing he would put on a "revue " for the summer. Two 
 days after the closing, Black Jerry had received by the
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 407 
 
 hand of a messenger a letter written upon the paper of 
 a smart uptown hotel. The letter was written in a large, 
 sprawling hand, and requested Jerry to call upon the 
 writer at once. It was signed " Doris Dorraine." Jerry 
 was well enough acquainted with stage affairs to know 
 who "Doris Dorraine" was. He decided to go, but not 
 knowing what might be afoot he decided it would be 
 well to have a witness. So Uncle George went with him. 
 
 Doris Dorraine received them in her pink sitting- 
 room, herself in a pink summer gown of imported linen. 
 She was a slender, lissome blonde, with rings around her 
 eyes looking rather more tired and hard and sophis- 
 ticated than a woman who was only twenty-five should 
 look. 
 
 "I read what happened to your daughter," she said 
 to Jerry, "and I think I can tell you some things that 
 will interest you." Her grayish-green eyes, whose 
 archly coquettish glance she had counted such an asset 
 on the stage, were now alight with fury. She went 
 straight to the heart of what she had to say, not bother- 
 ing to give an explanation of why she was saying it. But 
 for all her sophistication, she was a simple type and her 
 motives were simple. When Slim Jackson, in his passion- 
 ate appeal to Jennie to come with him, had said that 
 he himself could get her the evidence necessary for a 
 divorce, Slim was speaking the truth. One source from 
 which he knew he could have secured it was his dancing 
 partner. There had recently been an artfully concealed 
 affair between Kenneth and Doris Dorraine, which Ken- 
 neth had abruptly broken off. And when Slim Jackson 
 had ended his season, and she had asked about re- 
 hearsals for the "revue," Slim had told her that they 
 were through as a dancing team, that she no longer had
 
 40 8 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 the necessary class. Her vanity, her pride, knew only 
 one desire to strike back at both men as hard as she 
 could ; and she was using the method of striking natural 
 to a woman of her type. 
 
 The sentences which poured from the unembarrassed 
 lips of this widely advertised young beauty dealt with 
 matters which are never set down in print intended for 
 the public eye, and they shall not be recorded here. 
 They had to do with the profligacies, the abandon, the 
 inhumanities, which are hinted at in the newspapers 
 when some celebrated murder or scandal makes the 
 public shudderingly wonder just what does go on behind 
 and beneath the brilliant surface of Broadway life : 
 that under life where bonds are loosed, where pleasure 
 rules with unchallenged sovereignty, and where the 
 sharers of pleasure (if they become tiresome, or incon- 
 venient, or perhaps a menace) are made to vanish or 
 meet inexplicable ends : thus at least the papers hint. 
 
 But this very young woman did not hint; she spoke 
 the unspeakable ; and she spoke out of her own knowl- 
 edge. What she said concerned chiefly Kenneth and 
 Slim, and what each had done. And in connection with 
 Kenneth she spoke specifically of a girl named Myrtle 
 Freeman, whose disappearance four months back was 
 still a police -mystery. If what she said was the truth, 
 then there was nothing at which Kenneth had stopped 
 in his pursuit of self-gratification and nothing at which 
 he had halted to avoid the consequences of exposure 
 and, despite her venomous hate, there was no doubting 
 Doris Dorraine's credibility. 
 
 As for Slim Jackson, his secret record was just as 
 dark; the chief difference being that Slim, while also 
 a participant, had made great sums as entrepreneur and
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 409 
 
 business manager for this secret pleasure. Many a nice 
 girl and pretty girl had Slim first fascinated by dancing 
 with her in a public ballroom and had then in the 
 course of time introduced into the cast of his unadver- 
 tised performances. . . . 
 
 "God!" breathed Uncle George when they were ou( 
 of the scented boudoir and down in the fresh air of tht 
 street; "that handsome son-in-law of yours is just 
 about as rotten as they make 'em even on Broadway! 
 He ought to be sent to the chair about twelve separate 
 times!" 
 
 "Oh, I'll get him!" gritted Black Jerry, his dark 
 eyes glittering with terrible purpose. 
 
 Uncle George understood. He put a quieting hand on 
 Jerry's arm. " No, you don't, Jerry. Not that he does n't 
 deserve what you're thinking about. But that would 
 interfere with all our chances for getting Jennie away. 
 We've got to think first of Jennie." 
 
 "Jennie my God!" Jerry said huskily. "All right 
 I '11 behave. But to think we thought we were doing 
 fine by Jennie when our plans worked out so she mar- 
 ried that!" 
 
 "Jerry," Uncle George said meditatively, "it strikes 
 me that there must have been something wrong with 
 our plan from the start. But I can't just see what it 
 was." 
 
 Black Jerry did not even hear this last remark. 
 "Jennie!" he said with heaving chest. "Yes, I'll hold 
 back but I 'm going to put Casey wise to all the other 
 things this young dame upstairs has told me that pair 
 has been doing. Mebbe Casey can fasten something 
 on them. Yes, I '11 hold back on Kenneth Harrison for 
 Jennie's sake. And I '11 hold back on Slim Jackson, too."
 
 41 o A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Doris Dorraine had somehow learned that it had been 
 Slim who had betrayed Jennie's secret to Gloria Ray- 
 mond, and this fact had been one of the many items she 
 had just recounted to the two men. "Slim Jackson 
 slipping Jennie the double-cross!" He swore. "Oh, I '11 
 get Slim Jackson, too!" 
 
 "But Jennie first," insisted Uncle George soothingly. 
 "Remember, we started this mess we're responsible 
 it's up to you and me to get Jennie out. Give me 
 your hand on it, Jerry it's got to be Jennie first!" 
 
 They had turned into a side street and had halted 
 and were facing each other. Jerry's eyes were glowering 
 balefully, his great chest was heaving mightily. But 
 instantly he put his big hand into Uncle George's to 
 seal the promise. 
 
 "Sure Jennie first!" he agreed huskily.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII 
 
 IN WHICH JENNIE AWAKES 
 
 THE days wore on. And silently the diverse ele- 
 ments of life which had affected and were still 
 to affect the destiny of Jennie M alone, and the 
 destinies of many other persons, went on gathering 
 intensity for one of those supreme moments of energy 
 which we, with our trained sense for theatricalism, term 
 climaxes: though the only visible evidences of this 
 activity were the continued search for Jennie, the pro- 
 ceedings for the annulment of her marriage, and a now 
 open though subdued courtship between Gloria and 
 Kenneth which every one understood was merely wait- 
 ing for a deferred consummation. 
 
 These further days were for Jennie, up in her nun's 
 room, just a repetition of the many days that had gone 
 before. Her girlish face and figure lost some of their 
 young roundness under the continued strain. She grew 
 more sick with that sickness which arises chiefly from a 
 festering soul. And even less was she able to think of 
 any one else except as that person concerned her fate; 
 and even less was she able to think of anything except 
 what was to become of her. But before selfishness be 
 urged too strongly against her, it must be remembered 
 in her behalf that all the circumstances of her career had 
 combined to make her self-centered, it must be remem- 
 bered that she was still very young, and that Life 
 Life which she had thought she could manage so easily 
 that Life was not yet done with her. . . . 
 
 At last, when July had arrived, there came a break
 
 412 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 in her solitude. Uncle George, again looking very much 
 the kindly deacon, called upon her in her room a 
 privilege which was gained him in this semi-nunnery by 
 his elderly years, his benevolent demeanor, and the 
 understanding that Jennie was his niece. After the 
 maid was gone and he had closed the door, he lost no 
 word in coming to his business. 
 
 "Jennie, it's all settled. Things have quieted down 
 in New York ; the police have practically given you up. 
 To-night we make your get-away." 
 
 "Oh, Uncle George!" she breathed. 
 
 "Here's how it's all doped out, Jennie and every- 
 thing is ready and waiting. This afternoon I call to 
 take you out to a country sanitarium; an easy closed 
 car; Jack will be driving, and you know how safe he is. 
 But we 're not going to run the risk of taking a train at 
 any New York station; too many plain-clothes men 
 watching them on general principles. We shoot you 
 out of town to a place where I turn you over to an old 
 lady named Ferguson she 's safe, and she '11 be good 
 to you, and you 're to call her your aunt and then 
 Jack shoots you across the State line, and over into 
 Connecticut. There you and Mrs. Ferguson catch the 
 New England night express for Canada, and to-morrow 
 morning you '11 be eating a fine breakfast in Montreal. 
 How's that?" 
 
 "Uncle George safe in Canada!" was all she could 
 say. " It's it's simply wonderful, Uncle George!" 
 
 "Then pull yourself together and get ready. I've 
 already told the jailer of this convent that I'm taking 
 you away this afternoon. So I '11 be showing up again 
 in a couple of hours." 
 
 When he had gone, though she had nothing to do ex-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 413 
 
 cept get dressed and she had two hours for that, Jennie 
 nevertheless slipped out of bed and dressed with fren- 
 zied haste. After doing this, she had nothing to occupy 
 her but her own thoughts, and her thoughts inevitably 
 were all upon her immediate future. In less than twenty- 
 four hours she would be safe out of it all ! The mere 
 realization of this partially restored her strength, and 
 partially restored that balance of mind which she had 
 been lacking all the days she had been here. 
 
 Her fear, her nervousness, were almost entirely gone. 
 Suspense she felt, of course. But she considered herself 
 already safe. She knew Uncle George knew that any- 
 thing he put his brain to, and said he would achieve, 
 was in reality already achieved. Yes, she was safe! 
 
 And then, while she was in the midst of her swift, 
 exultant joy, she quite mechanically picked up a news- 
 paper which Uncle George, not knowing that he had 
 done it, had left behind. For a long time now ever 
 since her own story had first begun to fade in the pa- 
 pers and then had vanished from them altogether Jen- 
 nie had had no interest in newspapers, and had given 
 the maid no further orders to bring them up to her. In 
 consequence this paper Uncle George had forgotten was 
 the first she had seen in almost two weeks. 
 
 She glanced at the front page, and suddenly halted 
 at two words which comprised part of a black headline. 
 The two words were "Harry Edwards." During the 
 many days since she had fled from Kenneth and his 
 father, in her egomaniacal, feverish fear, in her very 
 real illness, her mind had merely touched Harry 
 Edwards and then glanced off. But it was quite other 
 now: she read with staring eyes, with sharp gasps. 
 
 The story did not tell her all, for it was the account
 
 414 "4 Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 of what seemed to be the last day of Harry's trial. But 
 what the paper did not tell, the previous installments of 
 this murder serial, Jennie's mind easily supplied. Joseph 
 Graves and John Pearson, those witnesses who were to 
 have disappeared, had taken the stand and testified 
 how Harry had killed Larry Murdock. Cross-examina- 
 tion by the defendant's counsel had only served to 
 strengthen the credibility of these two witnesses. Sam 
 Conway had taken the stand and had testified to having 
 parted with Murdock on the fatal night after they had 
 threshed out their differences and had become recon- 
 ciled. About the murder he knew nothing at all. As 
 for Harry, he had always liked him for his father's sake 
 and had tried to help him ; he grudgingly admitted that 
 Harry was a bit hot-tempered and reckless in fact, 
 Conway's attitude was that of one who was trying to 
 shield Harry, which was the most damaging attitude 
 in its effect upon the jury that he could have taken. 
 Harry's testimony had consisted chiefly of denial, un- 
 supported by evidence, and he had been unable to ex- 
 plain or prove his whereabouts at the time the murder 
 was committed. The reporter very skillfully conveyed 
 the impression as definite and conclusive as would 
 have been a direct statement that there was no 
 doubt what the jury's verdict would be, and no doubt 
 what would be the judge's sentence. The judge's at- 
 titude was well known; he was in favor of stamping 
 out the thuggery, and all the gangster and gunman 
 methods, which had crept into New York city politics ; 
 he would undoubtedly seize this chance of giving a 
 clear warning to all evil elements by inflicting the ex- 
 treme penalty. 
 
 Jennie slowly wilted down into a denim-covered mor-
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 415 
 
 ris chair, and sat there shivering, staring. There had 
 been dramatic episodes in her career, she had played 
 her part successfully in many a brilliant and trying 
 scene. But the tensest drama of her life had been re- 
 served for these present moments and that great 
 drama was to be enacted solely between the two per- 
 sons she was, with no sensational setting and no breath- 
 less audience just herself, all alone, huddled in a 
 faded and worn hotel chair. 
 
 Safety was hers. To-morrow, and all would be well. 
 And yet, if she chose safety, Harry . . . The alternatives 
 were now much more sharply defined than when the 
 case had been put before her weeks ago by her father 
 and Uncle George. Then Harry's case had not been so 
 desperate; at least, she had repeated to herself that 
 something would develop, that somehow the matter 
 would straighten itself out. And at that time her case 
 had not been so desperate either. True, there was her 
 brilliant career which then had been at stake but 
 great as that had seemed, it was not so important as 
 her present safety. 
 
 It was a bitter fight that was fought out, in that little 
 room, upon the stage of Jennie's soul. The issues were 
 clear-cut. Either she went away to her certain safety 
 and Harry went to his certain doom, or else she cleared 
 Harry, and went shamefully to prison upon the forgery 
 charge her husband and her father-in-law had made 
 against her and she knew she could expect no mercy 
 from these two. There was no possible compromise 
 no halfway measure no chance for bargaining. It 
 was either definitely the one, or definitely the other. 
 
 Jennie never knew, and perhaps never will know, 
 what was the thought or consideration that tilted her
 
 4 1 6 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 wavering, struggling soul toward what was finally its 
 decision. Perhaps it was the unconscious remembrance 
 of Harry's frank, loyal blue eyes that day she had paid 
 the stolen visit to him in the Tombs, when he had told 
 her, since she did not love him, to live out her life in her 
 own way, and had wished her the best of luck. But 
 whatever it was that swayed her, long before Uncle 
 George reappeared she suddenly crumpled up in the 
 big chair and cried with a frantic, throaty sob: 
 
 "I'm going to give myself up I'm going to help 
 Harry! I I don't care what happens to me!"
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX 
 
 IN WHICH JENNIE'S DRAMA REACHES AN 
 ANTI-CLIMAX 
 
 SHE kept on sobbing out her purpose while she 
 waited for Uncle George to come. As she sobbed 
 on, her determination became more fixed; an exal- 
 tation began to swell in her as in one who goes forth to 
 sacrifice. And then she thought of something she might 
 have done and that thought pricked her bubble of exal- 
 tation and made her suddenly view herself as small and 
 shameful. 
 
 The sudden thought was that many weeks ago, when 
 Uncle George and her father had first broached the 
 matter of Harry's extremity, she might of her own 
 accord, while still in a high station, have gone to the 
 District Attorney's office, told the truth, exposed herself, 
 and have established Harry's alibi. That would have 
 been a fine thing to do heroic and magnificent to 
 have given up voluntarily position and honor in order 
 that justice might be done a man. That had been her 
 big chance. Yes, that would have been a splendid thing 
 to have done! Whatever else people might then have 
 said about her, they would at least have said that she 
 was a woman of courage and honor something of a 
 heroine in a way. But now exposed hunted 
 what a pitiable figure she would seem in all the world's 
 eyes even if she did go to Harry's rescue! 
 
 Yes, she had missed her big chance. She was going to 
 do in a poor way what she might have done in a big way. 
 That proved that she was not a big woman. She cried
 
 4 1 8 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 yet further as her mind dwelt upon this. But her tears 
 were not tears of self-pity. They were tears of abase- 
 ment. She felt herself so poignantly smaller than she 
 had always considered herself to be. 
 
 When Uncle George finally did come, she changed 
 from self-accusation to fury. 
 
 "Why didn't you tell me about Harry Edwards's 
 trial about what is about to happen to him?" she 
 demanded. 
 
 "Why why," stammered the old man, taken aback 
 for a moment. Then he recovered himself. "For one 
 reason, Jennie, this is the first day I have seen you since 
 you ran away. And another is, I supposed you knew 
 all about it from the papers and knew just what you 
 wanted to do in that matter." 
 
 Her sudden indignation very obviously had no case 
 against Uncle George, so the flare of her temper died 
 down. 
 
 "Hurry up, Jennie just slip on that veil," Uncle 
 George went on. "The car's waiting below and every- 
 thing is all fixed for the get-away." 
 
 "There 's not going to be any get-away, Uncle George. 
 I 'm going to give myself up." 
 
 "Give yourself up!" exclaimed the old man, staring 
 at her. ' ' Now, what in thunder are you thinking about? 
 
 "Don't you see, Uncle George? It 's because of Harry. 
 Harry's in a much worse fix than I am." And she went 
 on, rather breathlessly, and covered the ground her 
 mind had covered since she had read the story in the 
 paper he had left behind. Uncle George protested 
 argued but finally, sighing deeply, he gave in. 
 
 "It's going to be just as you say, Jennie. After all, 
 it's your own life Jerry and I have been monkeying
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 419 
 
 with, and I guess you Ve got a right to do with it as you 
 please. But, my God," he groaned, "after all the big 
 things we thought we'd done, to have it all end up like 
 this! Jerry it will 'most kill Jerry!" 
 
 He put his hands upon her shoulders and steadily 
 regarded her with lashless, affectionate eyes. His next 
 words were soft, and rather husky. "But after all, 
 Jennie you're a mighty square little guy!" 
 
 "No, I 'm not. I Ve been a a coward." Her tone 
 changed to almost breathless eagerness. "I want to go 
 down right now and I want to see Harry the first 
 thing so he won't have to worry an extra minute!" 
 
 "Not so fast, dear. We've got to tell Jerry. And if 
 you want to see Harry first, before the grand blow- 
 off, there's some things that have got to be fixed up. 
 And if you 're going to do this you might as well clean 
 up the whole business." 
 
 Uncle George picked up the telephone and spoke in 
 succession to many numbers. If the very proper young 
 lady at the switchboard below had had any idea of who 
 these persons were she was getting on the wire for the 
 kindly old uncle of the sick girl above, that proper young 
 lady would have been seized with shivers and would have 
 had matter for amazed conversation for months to come. 
 
 "It's all fixed as far as I can fix it," said Uncle George, 
 turning from the telephone. "Your father will meet us 
 down in front of the Tombs. I guess we'd better be 
 beating it." 
 
 And then another thing which she had long forgotten 
 flashed upon Jennie. "Wait a minute! There's Casey!" 
 
 "Casey? You mean Officer Casey? How does Casey 
 figure in this?" 
 
 "Long ago, he caught me, and he let me off, but he
 
 420 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 made me promise that if anything ever went wrong with 
 me, I was to let him have the arrest." Briefly she told 
 Uncle George the circumstances. 
 
 "Casey is still a Central Office man," said Uncle 
 George, "and is likely to be hanging around Headquar- 
 ters at this hour. You might try for him there." 
 
 Jennie did, and presently, in the crisp, polite tone 
 which an improved police administration had established 
 as the manner for answering a telephone call, she heard 
 a heavy voice in her ear: 
 
 "Officer Casey speaking." 
 
 "Mr. Casey, you may not recognize my voice. But 
 you want very much to see me. Please be waiting for 
 me in front of the Tombs in fifteen minutes." 
 
 She hung up, and presently, veiled, she was down in 
 the closed car, the "safe" Jack at the wheel. Her imag- 
 ination worked feverishly as she sped back to the region 
 which had given her her being; it pictured sensational 
 scenes in which she dramatized herself scenes that 
 might have been. In her mind she saw herself, as the 
 solemn-voiced judge was pronouncing, "Harry Edwards, 
 I sentence you to " rising in the startled court-room, 
 dramatically throwing aside her veil, and calling out, 
 "Harry Edwards is an innocent man, and I am here to 
 prove it!" She thought of other such big moments, such 
 tremendous climaxes, as there had always been in the 
 old plays of the Bowery, and as still appeared in some 
 of the great successes of Broadway. But then : such 
 big scenes were not to be hers. What she was doing she 
 was doing in a very commonplace way extremely 
 undramatic as a discredited woman, who is also a 
 fugitive, can only do them. . . . 
 
 As the car drew up beside the Tombs, she saw, on the
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 421 
 
 sidewalk, Casey and her father. Uncle George pressed 
 her back into her seat and stepped out first. 
 
 "You're not to make any scene, Jerry not now, 
 anyhow," said Uncle George. "Get me?" 
 
 Black Jerry nodded, his dark face lined and set. 
 
 "And, Casey, she's your prisoner all right she's 
 given herself up to you but don't make the actual 
 pinch for a few minutes. You can string along behind 
 us you and Jerry." 
 
 Uncle George then helped her out of the carriage. 
 Black Jerry looked at her, showed no signs of recogni- 
 tion, and glanced away. But Officer Casey, as she 
 passed him, said in a low voice: 
 
 " I'm awfully sorry things broke this way, Jennie 
 awfully sorry." 
 
 She entered the Tombs on Uncle George's arm, her 
 father and Casey behind them. For a moment she stood 
 alone, watching the herd of silent, strained-faced visi- 
 tors waiting to see prisoners, and watching the brusque, 
 domineering keepers and she thought of the time 
 when she had been here on her furtive visit to Harry: 
 only now what a difference! After a few minutes she 
 would be one of those in the blocks of cells whom people 
 would seek passes to see. 
 
 But this scene was brief. In a minute, Black Jerry 
 and Casey still behind her, she was being guided through 
 a dark corridor, heavy with the damp odor of tens of 
 thousands of prisoners who had come and gone, and at 
 length she was ushered with her little party into that 
 same bare counsel's room where she had before seen 
 Harry, and the grilled doors clanged behind her. 
 
 And there again, as on that other occasion, stood 
 Harry Edwards. She lifted her veil, moved toward him
 
 422 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 then from sheer weakness could go no farther. As he 
 recognized her, his wasted face sagged with amazement. 
 
 "Jennie!" he cried. "Jennie Malone! My God I 
 thought you'd made your get-away!" 
 
 Her voice could not function for a moment, but her 
 eyes did. She took in every detail of him, seeing behind 
 his momentary amazement. He was worn and thin and 
 haggard, and despite his only being in his mid- twenties 
 there were a few gray hairs for Harry Edwards had 
 lived long with the knowledge of what was to be his fate. 
 And yet he was erect and palely defiant. 
 
 "Jennie," he repeated, "I thought you'd made your 
 get-away! My God what are you doing here?" 
 
 "I've given myself up," she whispered. 
 
 " Given yourself up ! What for?" 
 
 "She could have made her get-away," Uncle George 
 put in from the background. " Everything was all ready 
 
 there would n't have been a slip." 
 
 "But, Jennie what for?" repeated Harry. 
 
 "I just just learned to-day," her thin voice an- 
 swered, "what was about to happen to you and 
 and, Harry, I could n't let that happen to you." 
 
 "You mean you've given yourself up to save me?" 
 
 She did not answer. 
 
 "I won't have it!" he cried fiercely. "I won't have 
 you do that for me. For God's sake" to the others 
 "get her out of this somehow quick!" 
 
 "It's too late," returned Jennie, a little more body 
 coming into her tone. "I'm already Officer Casey's 
 prisoner." 
 
 She moved a step nearer him. " I Ve come to see you, 
 Harry, because I wanted you to know straight oft" that 
 everything was going to be all right with you and
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 423 
 
 because this was the only way I 'd probably ever have 
 of seeing you alone." 
 
 "Jennie!" he breathed huskily. 
 
 "And I wanted to see you because I wanted to tell 
 you that I know now that you were right in everything 
 you've said in the past. Right about me, and right 
 about about other people. Right in everything ex- 
 cept about Conway." 
 
 "Heaven knows I was wrong about Sam Conway!" 
 And then explosively: "But, Jennie, why did you ever 
 forge that check that got you into this trouble?" 
 
 "That did n't happen at all, Harry, the way it's been 
 told to the public. But then I can never prove anything 
 else. They have everything on their side." 
 
 "You mean Kenneth Harrison has double-crossed 
 you in some way?" 
 
 " What's the use saying anything, Harry? I can never 
 prove anything." 
 
 "Then he has the damned hound!" Harry cried 
 furiously. 
 
 She did not speak again for a moment. Then she held 
 out her hand. "That's all, Harry. I Ve got to go with 
 Mr. Casey now. And if I don't see you again, Harry 
 I'll always be wishing you the best of luck!" 
 
 "Jennie!" he cried huskily, "Jennie!" 
 
 For a moment they held hands, eyes into eyes. Per- 
 haps the eyes of Jennie's soul had, without her knowl- 
 edge, really been opening ere this but, at any rate, 
 they were open now. And she saw Harry as she had 
 never truly seen him before: as fine and sincere and 
 courageous and high-minded and steadfast perhaps 
 reckless at times but always steadfast. And for an in- 
 stant she thought of the man she had married : she saw
 
 424 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 him in that last scene, his handsome face white, twitch- 
 ing, weak, as he had cast her overboard with lies that 
 he might remain afloat. What a contrast! 
 
 It was then that Jennie realized the vastness of the 
 mistake she had made that her heart had always been 
 more with Harry than with any other man. And yet 
 she had deliberately cast Harry aside for for that 
 which she had got! Her soul cried out in its hopeless 
 agony, but her eyes held only a few very quiet tears. 
 
 "Good-bye, Harry," she whispered again. 
 
 "Good-bye, Jennie!" he breathed. 
 
 She withdrew her hand and went slowly out of the 
 room. 
 
 She had supposed that, of course, she would be put 
 immediately into a cell but Uncle George had ar- 
 ranged many things over the telephone at the Martha 
 Washington which she had not understood. Their 
 course led them through an enclosed passage high-swung 
 above the street not till afterwards did she know 
 that she had passed through the Bridge of Sighs and 
 finally brought them out upon a stone-paved balcony of 
 a big building which had a wide rotunda reaching up 
 from the marble-paved first floor to the sky-lit roof : the 
 Criminal Courts Building she was later to remember it 
 to be. The little party was shot up a few floors in an 
 elevator, and after a minute she was in a comfortably 
 furnished office, on a leather-covered couch with her 
 father's arm about her, talking to a tired-looking man 
 introduced to her as the District Attorney. 
 
 She was just a little surprised not knowing how 
 thorough Uncle George had been in his telephoning 
 to find two other persons waiting in the District At- 
 torney's office: the little, wizened, furtive elevator-mar
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 425 
 
 who had carried her to that secluded bower on the 
 Grantham roof the night she had met Harry there, and 
 also the waiter who had served them. She answered the 
 District Attorney's questions with feverish eagerness 
 she had no greater desire just now than to clear 
 Harry; and she did not spare herself in exposing the 
 selfish reasons which had kept her silent all this while. 
 And after she had finished, her statements were corrob- 
 orated and supplemented by the little elevator-man, 
 by the waiter, and by Uncle George, who at last had 
 been freed to tell what he knew. 
 
 The District Attorney gave an order to an attend- 
 ant, then closed his eyes in thought, and there was a 
 long hush then Harry Edwards was brought in under 
 guard. There were no longer reasons for his silence, 
 and he likewise told of being on the Grantham roof, 
 and he also told of Sam Conway's frenzied appeal to 
 him that far-gone night of the murder and of their secret 
 meeting in Conway's inner office. 
 
 The District Attorney was a relentless prosecutor in 
 the court-room, but he was a very human being out 
 of it. 
 
 "Edwards," he said briefly, "it seems pretty thor- 
 oughly established that you were on the Grantham 
 roof at the time Murdock was killed it seems that you 
 have a perfect alibi. If this stands up under further 
 examination, and I think it will, I shall ask for your 
 dismissal in court to-morrow morning. That's all, 
 Edwards." 
 
 As Harry was led out, the District Attorney said in 
 a crisp voice to an attendant: "Get out papers for the 
 arrest of Sam Conway for the Murdock murder, and 
 get him at once."
 
 426 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Then he turned to Jennie: his voice, though not un- 
 kind, was firm with official decision. 
 
 "Of course you understand, Mrs. Harrison" 
 Jennie shivered a little at the use of her married name 
 "that you are under arrest for this Harrison forgery." 
 
 Jennie nodded. Then she let her head slip upon her 
 father's shoulder. Black Jerry held her to him in a 
 fierce, defiant love. She felt his great chest heaving 
 again ; but she had no sense of what was going on within 
 his soul other than a feeling that he loved her. She felt 
 herself a weak, broken creature so unheroic, so un- 
 splendid so pitifully different from all the confident 
 dreams she had had. How she had fallen! how she 
 had disappointed all those who had loved her! For 
 herself she did not care very much. This was the end. 
 
 Presently Casey touched her shoulder. She rose sub- 
 missively, and followed him back across the Bridge of 
 Sighs.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 HOW BLACK JERRY SET RIGHT THE WORLD 
 
 BLACK JERRY had kept in the background of 
 the various scenes since Jennie had driven up to 
 the Tombs, not merely because this had been ad- 
 visable, but because the chaos in his soul knew no pur- 
 pose, because he was inarticulate. And now that he had 
 a few moments with her in the Tombs, and a plan was 
 beginning to grow into a dim shape out of the chaos, he 
 still was almost wordless. 
 
 "Dad I'm so sorry after all you've done for 
 me to have disappointed you like this!" Jennie 
 wept. 
 
 "You'd have been all right if it had n't been for me!" 
 he said huskily. And despite the presence of Casey and 
 Uncle George and guards, he swept her against his chest 
 and held her in an embrace which trembled despite its 
 power. "You're all right, anyhow you're my kid 
 just the same!" 
 
 After that he pushed her from him, but still held her 
 two hands. "Whatever happens, Jennie, just you re- 
 member that your father at least tried to give you a 
 chance. Good-bye!" 
 
 His eyes, with a brilliant strange look, clung to her 
 face in fierce pain and love as though he would keep 
 her with him always. Then he pressed a swift, crushing 
 kiss upon her lips and abruptly walked away. " Dad 
 dad!" Jennie called after him, but he did not so much 
 as look back upon her. And when Uncle George started 
 to leave with him, Jerry roughly told his old friend he
 
 428 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 wanted nobody's company, and he strode out of the 
 Tombs alone. 
 
 Fifteen minutes later Black Jerry was in the little 
 room at the rear of the Pekin, his office, where so many 
 phases of Jennie's life had been determined. The door 
 was locked, his elbows were on the table, and his hands 
 were gripping his thick dark hair. Grief, love, a sense 
 of complete failure, hatred, revenge, surged in a wild 
 tumult in his soul. He had always been a primitive ele- 
 mental man, and never in all his life not even in the 
 long ago when Jennie's mother had left him had his 
 few elements dominated him so violently as in this soli- 
 tary hour. 
 
 He had dreamed great dreams for Jennie and they 
 had failed utterly failed. In his present dark mood, 
 in which he could not see values in their right propor- 
 tions, he did not spare himself. Jennie had come to her 
 present pass largely because of him, his position in life, 
 the name he had borne. He recalled with electric vivid- 
 ness the words of the judge that night when the girlish 
 Jennie had been on trial how the judge had said that 
 a girl could have no chance in life who had a man like 
 the notorious Black Jerry for a father. And that was 
 true every word of it true ! He had tried to help her, 
 but he had been to her only a fatal burden. Except for 
 him, and the heritage of his dark name, it would never 
 have been necessary for her to have assumed a new per- 
 sonality. And even so, except for him, she would not 
 now be in her extreme predicament : the charges against 
 her would probably count for little, might indeed never 
 have been made, had the Harrisons not been able to 
 point to her record that she was the daughter of the 
 notorious Black Jerry Malone, that she had once before
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 429 
 
 been on trial for forgery. And for all her early misdeeds 
 Jerry held himself blamable: through all her childhood 
 he had never given her right care. 
 
 Yes, he had always been a handicap upon her. It 
 would have been far, far better for her if she had never 
 had him for a father or, at least, with his being her 
 father, better that she might have grown up and lived 
 without ever being under the ignominy of his name. 
 And he saw himself in the future whatever her future 
 might be as being a handicap. So long as he lived, 
 so long as his name was remembered, she would be 
 known as "Black Jerry's daughter," and forever he 
 would be dragging her down ! 
 
 Black Jerry may not have been judging truly, but in 
 this dark orgasm of his soul this is how he reasoned, 
 how his whole being reacted and functioned. . . . 
 
 And Slim Jackson, who had betrayed her, and Ken- 
 neth Harrison, who had begged her to commit this for- 
 gery to save him and then had thrown the whole blame 
 upon her his whole being was clenched with an over- 
 mastering desire for vengeance upon these two! For 
 vengeance and something more. . . . His passions 
 did not subside, but his brain became more composed 
 and began to work carefully, constructively, remorse- 
 lessly. 
 
 For an hour he sat thinking thinking with a care 
 and an intensity with which he had never thought be- 
 fore. For this plan he was shaping was the supreme 
 plan of Black Jerry's life. 
 
 Shortly after six he relaxed. He had thought out 
 everything. He carefully WTOte out three brief messages. 
 Then he wrote a short note to Jennie, stepped out to his 
 bar, and handed it to his bar-tender. "Bill," he said,
 
 430 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 in an even voice, " I 'm going out and may not be back 
 for a day or so. Get word to Uncle George to come by 
 this way in the morning and ask him to take this to 
 Jennie down at the Tombs." 
 
 He mounted to his apartment, in which he had lived 
 the solitary life of a bachelor these many years, and 
 locked the door. Then very carefully he drew down 
 every blind. After that he took off his suit, so old that 
 it was familiar to all his friends ; he removed every gar- 
 ment in which he had been seen that afternoon ; even 
 the socks and shoes. These he made into a flat, compact 
 parcel. Then he dressed very lightly in quite other 
 clothes, omitting coat and vest, and slipped on a long 
 raincoat for fortunate for his purpose a drizzling rain 
 had begun to fall. And then, last of all, he shoved an 
 automatic into his hip pocket. This last act he did some- 
 what awkwardly, for this was the first time in over fif- 
 teen years that Black Jerry had had arms upon his 
 person. 
 
 With the flat parcel under his raincoat he went down 
 into the street. Since he wore the black derby he had 
 worn all day, none who knew him and saw him w r ould 
 suspect that he was dressed in other than the blue serge 
 which was his invariable wear. First he went to a drug- 
 store in which there was a public telephone in a booth. 
 He was certain both Kenneth and Slim Jackson were 
 then in the city, and he was almost certain where each 
 was to be located at this hour; but this knowledge he 
 verified by the discreet use of the telephone. 
 
 Black Jerry had these many, many years been law- 
 abiding, at least in the technical sense of the laws and 
 as he understood them; but he had many friends in 
 what is called the underworld, who were loyal to him
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 431 
 
 and who had profound reason to be. He made his way 
 to a pawnshop ; it was an indubitable pawnshop but 
 also it was other things. 
 
 "Joe," he said to the old proprietor when they were 
 safe in the latter's back room, " I want you to send out 
 one message and two telegrams for me. It's up to you 
 to get 'em out so they can never afterwards be traced 
 as being anything except perfectly straight. It's part 
 of your business to know how to do such things so 
 I 'm not going to give you any advice. Take a pencil 
 and I '11 read the stuff off to you." 
 
 The first was a message to the captain of the Myra, 
 the Harrisons' yacht, which Jerry knew to be now at 
 anchor in the Hudson River. From the vindictive Doris 
 Dorraine he had learned that there were frequent and 
 very private sessions of merriment on board the Myra 
 of nights and that prior to such events the captain 
 and all the crew w r ere given shore leave. So this first 
 message was an order, in Kenneth's name, to the cap- 
 tain for all on board to absent themselves at once. 
 
 The second message was a telegram to Slim Jackson, 
 so worded as to be of such veiled importance as would 
 make certain Slim's obedience, asking him to be on the 
 Myra at nine that evening. This telegram bore Ken- 
 neth's name. 
 
 The third message was to Kenneth, bore the signa- 
 ture of Slim Jackson and was in substance a duplicate 
 of the other. Jerry had made the hour as early as nine 
 so that there would hardly be time for the two to com- 
 municate with each other. He believed, moreover, that 
 the veiled importance he had put into the messages 
 would bring about the unsuspecting compliance of both 
 men.
 
 432 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 This task attended to (and he knew the business 
 would be done well), Jerry went out of the pawnshop. 
 The July rain was now falling steadily. This kept 
 the people off the streets which was also fortunate; 
 further, the heavy sky made the streets darker than 
 they otherwise would have been which again was 
 fortunate. Jerry strode through the deserted gloom 
 until he came to the East River. He had selected in his 
 mind a certain pier for his purpose; and watching his 
 chance he got out upon it without attracting attention. 
 At the extreme end he paused and drew the packet from 
 beneath his raincoat. The cord and paper he threw 
 down into the rain-hissing water; the clothes he ar- 
 ranged in careful disarray behind four huge stanchions 
 where they would not be found until morning. 
 
 Three quarters of an hour later he was uptown on the 
 opposite side of the city, close to the Manhattan Yacht 
 Club. He waited in the darkness, for he knew that the 
 men from the Myra would land here. 
 
 He had not been there more than five minutes when 
 a boat drew up alongside the end of the club float near- 
 est him, and four figures stepped out, made the boat fast 
 and disappeared. He was sure that these were the 
 Myra's crew, but he waited until the stern of the boat 
 swung around toward him; the light from the club- 
 house was dim, but he could clearly spell out M-Y-R-A. 
 He now had no doubt, and he carefully pushed out from 
 shore in a small rowboat he had commandeered. 
 
 Ten minutes later he stepped on the deck of the Myra, 
 and made fast his boat to the ladder. He made a cau- 
 tious and swift round of the yacht. Not a soul was on 
 board just as he had counted. Returning, he untied 
 the painter of his stolen boat and cast it loose upon the
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 433 
 
 outgoing tide; then he took off his shoes, and dropped 
 them overboard. After that he crouched in the black 
 shadows of the port of the cabin and waited. 
 
 Another ten minutes passed, and then a rowboat 
 softly bumped the Myra's side, and Slim Jackson 
 stepped upon the deck. At once the boat pushed off 
 and slipped back toward the shore. Slim went down the 
 companionway into the cabin, called for the steward, 
 and getting no answer, threw off his raincoat and van- 
 ished into the galley, reappearing a moment later with 
 a half-bottle of champagne. He drew the cork, seated 
 himself at the cabin table, and drank leisurely. 
 
 Presently another boat bumped the yacht's side, dis- 
 charged a passenger, and made back for the shore. The 
 instant Kenneth went down the companionway, Black 
 Jerry threw his derby hat far out into the water, and 
 slipped off his raincoat and tossed it likewise over into 
 the tide, which might carry it a dozen miles perhaps 
 a hundred from where the Myra lay at anchor. He 
 now stood in shirt and belted trousers. While he had 
 waited he had drawn on a pair of delicately thin rubber 
 gloves such as surgeons wear; they had his finger prints 
 down at Police Headquarters, and he wished to leave 
 behind no slightest proof that he had been on board 
 that night. 
 
 "Hello, Kenneth," he heard Slim drawl as Kenneth 
 threw off his raincoat. "That was a queer stunt, Jen- 
 nie's giving herself up to-day." 
 
 "It certainly was," replied Kenneth. "I thought she 
 was out of the country." 
 
 "Do you think it may get us in bad? I suppose you 
 wanted a business talk that 's why you sent that tele- 
 gram to me?"
 
 434 *A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "What are you talking about?" exclaimed Kenneth. 
 "I never sent any telegram to you. I'm here because 
 of one you sent me." 
 
 "One I sent you!" Slim sprang to his feet. "I never 
 sent you one you never sent me one Kenneth, 
 there's something crooked here!" 
 
 "There sure is," agreed Jerry's heavy voice as he 
 stepped through the cabin doonvay. 
 
 The two men whirled about upon him. "Black 
 Jerry!" ejaculated Slim Jackson. 
 
 Black Jerry closed the cabin door, and bareheaded, 
 open- throated, huge and menacing, he stood motionless 
 glaring at the two men. They had drawn back a pace 
 at his sudden entrance. 
 
 "Well, Jerry, what's the great idea?" Slim tried to 
 speak with his usual nonchalance. 
 
 Jerry's emotions did not allow him to answer at once. 
 When he spoke, he spoke with husky savageness. "The 
 great idea is that us three have something to talk over. 
 And first thing, you two guys are to sit down at that 
 table." 
 
 The two men did not at once comply. "Sit down! " 
 growled Jerry, advancing toward them. At his glower- 
 ing approach, Slim Jackson whipped from somewhere 
 within his perfect evening dress a small automatic. But 
 before he could level it, Black Jerry had sprung, for 
 Jerry had foreseen the possibility of this action. Jerry's 
 great hand clutched Slim's wrist, there was an in- 
 stant's struggle, then the automatic was Jerry's, and 
 as he sent Slim spinning across the cabin he turned on 
 Kenneth. 
 
 "Put up your hands you sweet son-in-law of 
 mine!" he commanded with his guttural fierceness.
 
 A Daughter of Tivo Worlds 435 
 
 Very pale, Kenneth put them up. Jerry slapped his 
 pockets, and drew out another pistol. 
 
 "So you were expecting trouble," Jerry com- 
 mented. ' ' Sit down, both of you ! " 
 
 Black Jerry took a chair across the table from the two, 
 and fixed them with his blazing eyes. 
 
 "Now we're going to have a little talk, us three 
 quiet; out here no one can hear us or disturb us. And 
 what we're going to talk about is this: you two got my 
 Jennie into this mess it 's up to you to get her out 
 clean." 
 
 "But I have n't done anything, Jerry, to get Jennie 
 into a mess," objected Slim. 
 
 "You lie! You haven't done just what my sweet 
 son-in-law has done, but you're guilty as hell!" He 
 shifted his glittering eyes back to Kenneth. "You there 
 you get some of this ship's fancy writing-paper from 
 that rack over there, and bring ink and a pen." 
 
 Kenneth hesitated. But Jerry's gaze was compelling. 
 Kenneth obeyed and came back to his chair with pen, 
 ink, and thick paper embossed with the emblem of the 
 Manhattan Yacht Club and with the Myra's name. 
 
 "Now, write," Jerry commanded. "I am going to 
 tell you what to say, but it's up to you to put it into 
 good language. You write that the two of you realize 
 that the police are closing in on you " 
 
 Kenneth, who had started to write, looked up. 
 "Police closing in on us? What for?" 
 
 "For that Myrtle Freeman disappearance." Ken- 
 neth's blanched lips twitched at this. "You see," Jerry 
 explained grimly, "Doris Dorraine has spilled every- 
 thing she knows about you two, and I Ve handed it on 
 to a copper friend of mine. You may not understand
 
 43 1> A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 that sentence about the coppers closing in on you but 
 the coppers will understand. So you get busy with 
 your pen." 
 
 Black Jerry continued, with pauses to permit the 
 writing. "You put that down about you two realizing 
 that the police are closing in on you . . . you say that 
 you know you have no chance and you realize what 
 is before you . . . that you can't stand this thing any 
 longer . . . but that before you do what you intend to 
 do ..." 
 
 This time it was Slim who interrupted. "What we 
 intend to do! What's that? " 
 
 "You let him write ahead!" Jerry ordered fiercely. 
 
 "I'll not do it!" cried Kenneth, flinging down his 
 pen. "I get your idea! This is a confession you are 
 forcing out of us a confession you'll take charge 
 of!" 
 
 " You bet I '11 take charge of it! And you '11 write just 
 what I say!" 
 
 One of the automatics came up and directed itself 
 straight into Kenneth's eyes. His eyes wavered, turned 
 for aid to Slim Jackson, and caught a swift, meaning 
 look. Jerry also caught that look and knew what it 
 conveyed: that it would be easy enough for them to 
 repudiate the confession as a document forced out of 
 them by threats, even if Jerry finally did obtain posses- 
 sion of it that their word would count as everything 
 against the discredited Black Jerry M alone. 
 
 Kenneth picked up his pen. "What else is there to 
 it?" 
 
 "You write this: 'Under these conditions, we want 
 at least to clear all innocent parties. ... I, Kenneth 
 Harrison, declare that I have lied about my wife. . . .
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 437 
 
 That I stole money from the Shipman firm, that I was 
 about to be found out, that I begged my wife to forge 
 that check to save me. . . . She forged it only because 
 I asked her to, in order to save me, and she never got 
 a penny of the money. ... I am really the only guilty 
 person. ... My father knows these to be the facts, and 
 I ask him to testify to them.' That's all you need to 
 say, Harrison. Now, just sign your name on the dotted 
 line." 
 
 Kenneth did as ordered. With the barrel of his auto- 
 matic Jerry pushed the sheet over in front of Slim Jack- 
 son. 
 
 "Your turn, Slim. There won't be much for you to 
 write, so there will be room on the .same sheet of paper. 
 Get ready." 
 
 Slim dipped the pen. 
 
 "You write that you always were a crook even long 
 ago when you used to work in Jerry Malone's joint. . . . 
 Write that you learned that Jennie M alone was clever 
 with her pen, and that you put her up to forging, you man- 
 aging everything except the signing of the checks. . . . 
 Write that that Morrison check, for which she was ar- 
 rested five or six years ago, was the same as the others 
 that you, besides putting her up to it, did all the 
 crooked work except signing the check. . . . Write that 
 you asked her to take all the blame in court, so's you'd 
 be kept out of it, and write that she done just what 
 you asked. . . . That's all for you, Slim Jackson, except 
 signing on the dotted line." 
 
 Slim attached his signature. He clearly saw a way of 
 making all this worth less than nothing. 
 
 Keeping the pair covered with his automatic, Black 
 Jerry, with his rubber-gloved hand, picked up the
 
 438 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 confession and read it carefully. Then he pushed it 
 back to Kenneth. 
 
 "Address an envelope to the District Attorney of 
 New York County," he ordered, "and write on it, 
 'Immediate.'" Kenneth complied. "Now, fold that 
 paper, put it in the envelope, seal it, and put it in the 
 center of this table." 
 
 "Now that you've got it, Jerry," said Slim, trying to 
 speak nonchalantly, "what's your next pleasant little 
 order?" 
 
 Jerry rose from the table. He was going forward with 
 his plan grimly, heavily, almost mechanically. 
 
 "Next you two stand up," he ordered. 
 
 "But what's the idea?" Slim protested. "Where do 
 we go from here?" 
 
 ' ' That 's what I 'm going to tell you . Stand up ! " The 
 two men obeyed. "Now, back up against the wall, while 
 you listen to a few things." 
 
 They went backward until their shoulders were 
 against the mahogany paneling. Jerry faced them, 
 Slim's automatic in one hand, Kenneth's automatic 
 thrust into the front of his trousers. More poignantly 
 than ever before he thought of Jennie, of the sorry end of 
 his dreams and long planning for her; and in his sub- 
 conscious mind were also those things of which Doris 
 Dorraine had told him things which had wrecked 
 other lives. All that men had called primitive, brutal, 
 unmoral, surged up in him to a climax of fury all 
 that was remorseless. 
 
 "Slim Jackson," he gritted, "you've always been a 
 liar and a crook and every damned rotten thing there is. 
 If it had n't been for you, my Jennie would have made 
 good! You deserve the worst the State can give you,
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 439 
 
 but you're too smooth ever to get caught. But, Slim, 
 you're not so clever that I did n't guess what was pass- 
 ing in your head. Don't you suppose I understand that 
 if you get away now, that confession won't help Jennie 
 a damn? So you 're not going to get away ! I 'm going to 
 save Jennie ! I 'm going to do what the State ought " 
 
 Slim lunged swiftly at him, but Jerry, on the alert, 
 caught him in a great hand that closed upon shirt front 
 and coat lapels, at the same time covering Kenneth 
 with his weapon. " I 'd like to choke you, Slim Jackson," 
 Jerry gritted on, "only I don't want any finger marks 
 on your throat. You 're a rat, damn you and you 're 
 going to have a rat's finish!" 
 
 So swiftly that Slim could not raise a warding hand, 
 Jerry flashed Slim's automatic from Kenneth and 
 pressed it against Slim's right temple. There was a 
 sharp explosion and Slim Jackson slumped to the floor. 
 The automatic fell beside him, and the next instant the 
 second pistol it was Kenneth's was in Jerry's hand 
 and was covering the shrinking Kenneth. 
 
 "For God's sake for God's sake " gasped 
 Kenneth. 
 
 But Jerry was at once upon him, broke down the 
 frantic, clawing hands, and thrust the automatic close 
 against his head. There was another explosion, and 
 Kenneth Harrison pitched to the floor. 
 
 Breathing mightily, Jerry examined the two collapsed 
 figures. Both were quite dead. The trickling wounds 
 were powder-burnt ; that was as he had desired. He 
 moved each man's weapon close to his right hand, 
 and arose. He felt no more of compunction than if they 
 had indeed been what he had called them rats. In 
 his mind they more than deserved their end; and, be-
 
 440 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 sides, their death and its manner were only necessary 
 details of a far larger plan which he hoped was coming 
 out all right. 
 
 He gave a glance at the limp pair such admired 
 figures in their day ! and then let his eyes rest a mo- 
 ment upon the packet on the table addressed to the Dis- 
 trict Attorney. After that he slipped out of the cabin, 
 closed the door, and made his way to the stern. 
 
 Here he paused a moment, his lightly clad figure 
 beaten upon by the rain, and tossed overboard the 
 pistol which he had brought along for use in emergency, 
 but which luckily he had not had to draw. Already he 
 had forgotten what had happened down in the Myra's 
 cabin, and what lay there awaiting the morrow's dis- 
 covery. His eyes and mind were directed into the dark 
 southeast where stood the Tombs. 
 
 His lips parted in a husky, broken whisper: "Jennie! 
 ... I hope it works out all right, Jennie. . . . Good- 
 bye!" 
 
 He let himself down into the gloomy water ; and upon 
 the bosom of the sea-going tide, with easy, silent strokes 
 that had a tremendous reserve of power, Black Jerry 
 swam away through the darkness . . . out into the 
 unknown. . . .
 
 CHAPTER XLI 
 
 THE NEXT DAY 
 
 JENNIE slept hardly at all in the cell to which 
 Casey and a keeper had led her. Bail had not been 
 secured because of technical difficulties, and she 
 had begged Uncle George not to bother about her. The 
 night was a night of self-assessment, of humiliation. 
 Morning found her still in the same low spirits. She 
 had made a sad, sad mess of her life and of the lives 
 of those who had really cared for her. Yes, she was 
 a broken, futile thing. 
 
 She had refused to see reporters, but toward half- 
 past ten there came a summons which she could not 
 have refused even had she so desired. She was led across 
 the Bridge of Sighs and into a court-room, where she 
 repeated before judge and jury the story she had told 
 in the District Attorney's office the evening before. Her 
 testimony finished, she was led back to her cell. 
 
 Almost at once Uncle George appeared outside her 
 bars. After they had greeted each other, he said in a 
 hearty tone which he tried to make inspiring of con- 
 fidence : 
 
 "Cheer up, Jennie; we're going to find a way out of 
 this! You've heard of Moses Aaronson the best 
 lawyer in New York City for a case of this kind. He 's 
 out of town this morning, but I've retained him by 
 wire, and he'll be here on the job by noon. You just 
 leave this to Aaronson, and don't worry!" 
 
 But his encouraging words had no effect on Jennie. 
 
 "Perhaps you have n't seen the morning papers yet,"
 
 442 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Uncle George went on, bent on diverting her. "I 
 brought them all round. Here they are." He thrust 
 them through the bars. "I tell you what the news- 
 paper boys have certainly turned themselves loose on 
 you again!" 
 
 Yes, there she was once more on the front pages. She 
 skimmed one account through, grasping a phrase here 
 and one there. The reporter, seeking romance to re- 
 lieve the grisly war news, had left out nothing that 
 would give color to his story. The beautiful Mrs. Ken- 
 neth Harrison until a month before one of the most 
 brilliant young women in New York's smartest society 
 revealed as the daughter of Black Jerry M alone 
 a fugitive from the police on the charge of a gigantic 
 forgery gives herself up in order to alibi an old 
 sweetheart who was about to be sentenced to death. 
 Jennie glanced at the other papers. Their stories were 
 much the same. All were built along the lines of melo- 
 drama which newspapers believe their readers want 
 and perhaps believe rightly. 
 
 Yes, once again she was, next to the war, the supreme 
 newspaper sensation of the day. She dropped the papers 
 indifferently to the floor of her cell. It all meant nothing 
 whatever to her now, one way or the other. 
 
 "Well, anyhow, here's something that ought to cheer 
 you up," Uncle George said heartily, still bent on light- 
 ing if only for a moment her darkened spirit. "It's a 
 letter from your father. Guess Jerry could n't show up 
 this morning." 
 
 She took the letter which Black Jerry, as part of 
 his great plan, had composed so carefully the eve- 
 ning before and left in charge of his bar-keeper. She 
 read:
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 443 
 
 DEAR JENNIE: 
 
 Me and my bad name have been too much of a load for you 
 all your life. I guess no kid could have got by with such a 
 load. If it had n't been for me, you'd have got on O.K. 
 
 It's going to be just as bad for you in the future unless I 
 stop being a load. So I 'm going to pass out. Don't worry 
 about me. I won't be losing much. I don't care about things 
 any more, except you, and this is the best way to help you. 
 
 I guess it '11 be the river. That always did seem to me the 
 easiest way of passing out. 
 
 I hope luck breaks better for you after I am out of your 
 way. 
 
 Yours 
 
 JERRY MALONE 
 
 Jennie collapsed in a heap upon the floor of the cell. 
 "Dad!" she cried wildly. "Dad!" 
 
 "What's the matter?" demanded Uncle George. 
 
 For answer she thrust the letter through the bars. 
 Uncle George read, then exclaimed in awed amazement: 
 
 "My God!" 
 
 "He's he's committed suicide," sobbed Je'nnie, 
 "because he thought that would help me!" 
 
 "My God!" repeated Uncle George. For a moment 
 he stood silent, gazing at the sheet of note-paper. Then 
 he said huskily: 
 
 "Jennie, for fifteen years and more this town has got 
 Black Jerry all wrong. Let me take this letter to show 
 to some of the newspaper boys. They '11 find out, any- 
 how, what 's happened to him, and this letter will help 
 set them right as to the sort of man he really was. I '11 
 give it back to you." 
 
 Jennie nodded her consent. Uncle George wisely de- 
 cided that this was an occasion when Jennie had best 
 be left alone with her grief. So remarking, "As soon as
 
 444 ^ Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 Aaronson shows up, we'll see to your bafr," he stole 
 away. 
 
 Left to herself, Jennie sobbed on, convulsively yet 
 silently. She now saw and understood as never before 
 what she had meant to her father. Always he had loved 
 her, always he had thought of her and planned for her! 
 And now at the end, when the crash had come, he 
 had given up his life for her, because he h- 1 believed 
 this would make her life easier ! 
 
 What a failure she had made of her life! How she 
 had involved all those who had loved her best in dis- 
 aster and ruin! She had probably saved Harry, yes; but 
 she had only come to his rescue after she had lost her 
 great world what a miserable performance ! . . . 
 
 Toward one o'clock the raucous cries of newsboys 
 penetrated even to the inner fastness of her cell; but 
 these cries did not for an instant divert her mind from 
 her misery. But a little later Uncle George appeared 
 again and it was now a very excited Uncle George, 
 indeed, who stood on the other side of the bars. 
 
 "Have seen Aaronson, and he's working like the 
 dickens on your case," he announced. 
 
 This did not interest Jennie in the least. 
 
 "And Harry, on motion of the District Attorney, has 
 been acquitted." 
 
 " I'm glad," she said simply. 
 
 "And what your father said he'd do in his letter, he 
 did all right," Uncle George continued. "They found 
 his clothes over on the end of an East River dock that 
 he jumped from. It's all in the afternoon papers. His 
 body has n't been found yet maybe never will be, for 
 those East River tides are terrific. And that letter he 
 wrote you, it went great with the newspaper boys. The
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 445 
 
 boys thought Jerry must have been half-cracked, but 
 that letter got right to them. For once in his life the 
 newspapers have treated Jerry white." 
 
 "Dad, I 'm so glad so glad!" Jennie sobbed. 
 
 "But none of that is the real news!" exclaimed 
 Uncle George. "Listen, Jennie. No, read it for your- 
 self. Here's an extra that will tell you all about it." 
 
 Jennie ti k the paper. There was a huge black double 
 headline across the entire top of the front page, with 
 headlines of lesser degree, announcing the double suicide 
 of the prominent young financier Kenneth Harrison, and 
 of the great stage favorite Jackson Holt, on board the 
 former's yacht. The captain, the hastily written account 
 stated, had received an order the evening before to with- 
 draw with the crew from the Myra for the night an 
 order such as frequently came to him. On his return to 
 the Myra that morning at eleven o'clock, he had discov- 
 ered the two dead men in the cabin, and had at once 
 sent for the police. Two automatics had been found, 
 one shell discharged from each. The police had declared 
 them indubitable cases of suicide ; there were no signs of 
 death from any other possible cause. A sealed envelope 
 had been found on the cabin table addressed to the Dis- 
 trict Attorney of New York County, which had been 
 taken straight to the District Attorney. This letter 
 might throw light upon the self-inflicted deaths of the 
 two men. 
 
 Jennie looked up from the sensational account. She 
 drew a long, bewildered breath. Her husband dead 
 Slim Jackson dead! She did not say this to herself con- 
 sciously, but even more than ever did she have a sense 
 that the drama of her life was moving fast that day and 
 was crowded with high incident and yet she herself
 
 -446 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 was only an off-stage figure, who neither willed any- 
 thing nor did anything. 
 
 "I wonder what can be in that letter to the District 
 Attorney?" she breathed at length. 
 
 "I wonder, too," said Uncle George. "I stopped in 
 at the District Attorney's office, and learned he had 
 sent for Kenneth Harrison's father." 
 
 After Uncle George had gone, Jennie kept on won- 
 dering, when she was not thinking of other matters, 
 for an hour or two or three. And then again she was 
 ushered across the Bridge of Sighs, and again into the 
 office of the District Attorney. She was much of an 
 automaton worn, sick with herself, broken with 
 grief, bewildered with events moving chiefly because 
 she was ordered or some one led her; not till later 
 were her senses to understand and appreciate the full 
 significance of the happenings of that day. 
 
 Uncle George was in the District Attorney's office, 
 and so was Officer Casey, and so was a bald, efficient- 
 looking gentleman to whom she was introduced as her 
 attorney, Mr. Aaronson. She was given a chair at the 
 corner of the District Attorney's desk. 
 
 "I suppose you have heard of the deaths of your 
 husband and of Jackson Holt?" inquired the District 
 Attorney. 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 " I have here an original document, part in the hand- 
 WTiting of each, and part signed by each, which it is your 
 privilege to read and which I request you to read." 
 
 Jennie took the heavy sheet of the Myra stationery, 
 and read those confessions that out in the cabin of the 
 rain-pelted yacht had been written under the compul- 
 sion of Black Jerry's pistol, confessions which were now
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 447 
 
 to stand forever as the unchallenged truth. Having 
 read them, she looked up in bewilderment. 
 
 "Why did you never declare that in this Harrison 
 forgery business you were acting upon the dictation 
 and only as the instrument of your husband?" de- 
 manded the District Attorney. 
 
 She replied mechanically. "What with my old record, 
 and with my husband and his father charging me with 
 it and denying any connection with the matter, no one 
 would have believed me. What would have been the 
 use?" 
 
 Her answer obviously seemed convincing to the Dis- 
 trict Attorney. He took the document from her. 
 
 "That reference to the police closing in on them, 
 which was the motive for their self-destruction, is some- 
 thing which Officer Casey here seems thoroughly to 
 understand," he continued. "Mr. Harrison has been 
 here to-day, and when shown this statement he fully 
 corroborated his son I may say that he even went 
 farther. I must go through certain legal formalities, 
 Mrs. Harrison, which may necessitate your later ap- 
 pearance in court ; but as a result of these developments 
 I can say that probably neither that old charge against 
 you nor the present more serious one will ever come to 
 trial. I have, therefore, arranged to have you granted 
 your liberty in the custody of your counsel. That is all." 
 
 Dazedly Jennie allowed herself to be led out, in- 
 stinctively letting down the veil which had been part 
 of the garb in which she had come to prison. 
 
 "I knew you were going to get free on some basis," 
 exulted Uncle George. "So I Ve got a car waiting down 
 in Franklin Street. Come on." 
 
 "Just a minute." It was Casey who spoke. The heavy
 
 448 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 face of the plain-clothes man was kindly, and he was 
 holding out a big hand. " I 'm mighty glad things have 
 broke right for you, Jennie. Here's wishing you the 
 best of luck!" 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Casey," and Jennie gripped his hand. 
 
 Immediately she was surrounded by a clamorous 
 group of young and middle-aged men. "They're re- 
 porters the District Attorney gave out that con- 
 fession to 'em before you saw it," Uncle George ex- 
 plained. And then to them: "See here, boys, she's 
 tired almost to death. Just remember what she's been 
 through. Besides, the District Attorney's got all the 
 dope and, besides, you boys all know that your best 
 stories are the ones you fake. So be good sports, and 
 let her off this time." 
 
 They made way for her. But a part of the group, 
 armed with black boxes, followed the pair, and as they 
 stepped out into Franklin Street a representative of 
 the group halted Uncle George and spoke beseechingly. 
 Uncle George turned to Jennie. 
 
 "They're camera-men. Next to the war this is the 
 biggest story since well, God knows since when. And 
 these boys say they have n't got any decent pictures of 
 you to print. You're clear, and a picture isn't going 
 to hurt you now so let 'em snap you." 
 
 So Jennie lifted her veil and stood against the red 
 brick of the Criminal Courts Building, while the camera- 
 men huddled each other about and peered down into the 
 queer hoods of their black boxes and clicked shutters 
 upon the first picture to be made of her since she had 
 been a child. 
 
 "And now for home," said Uncle George, when the 
 men were through. " I'm taking you to my apartment
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 449 
 
 that's going to be your home after this. Here's our 
 car." 
 
 Jennie noted that the car was the same limousine 
 which had brought her here only now the curtains 
 were closely drawn and that the same "Jack" was 
 at the wheel. "Step right in," said Uncle George at her 
 elbow, opening the door. She obeyed. The door closed 
 sharply, she sank back into the seat, and the car moved 
 away. 
 
 The machine had swung around into Lafayette Street 
 before she realized that Uncle George had not entered 
 the car with her. She looked about her. There in the 
 dimness sat Harry Edwards. 
 
 "Jennie!" he whispered. "Jennie!" And then: 
 "You 're free? Uncle George said he was sure you would 
 be." 
 
 She nodded. 
 
 "Jennie!" he said again. "Jennie!" His eyes clung 
 to her face and hers held to him. One of his hands stole 
 out and clutched hers, and automatically her fingers 
 tightened upon and clung to it. Tears came into his 
 eyes, and her own flowed tears, but for several blocks 
 they did not speak. There was too much to be spoken 
 of; even the great facts that the same day had made 
 Jennie both widow and orphan were merged in this 
 unutterable whole. 
 
 Her eyes, unwaveringly fixed upon his unwavering 
 eyes, could no more hide her soul than could a child's. 
 His lips parted. "Jennie!" he breathed again, and 
 daringly, tenderly, he took her into his arms. She re- 
 laxed against him. She was dazed and shattered with 
 grief but through grief and daze she had a sense that 
 her heart, after far wanderings, had at last come home.
 
 CHAPTER XLII % 
 
 JERRY AND JERRY 
 
 LIFE histories do not end at some definite point, 
 before which there was everything, and after 
 which there is nothing. They reach forward 
 through the years, and through conditions which may- 
 help twist or help gloriously develop a history's char- 
 acter. For Life goes on forever on. 
 
 But since the fragments of human history we may 
 choose to write must close somewhere, this history of 
 Jennie Malone, and of her father, and of the three men 
 who loved her, and of the persons who vitally influenced 
 her ambition and the unfolding of her soul this his- 
 tory may be closed, perhaps somewhat arbitrarily, 
 upon a certain quiet afternoon in January, 1917, a year 
 and a half after Jennie had ridden away from the Tombs. 
 And it may be closed in the apartment of Uncle George, 
 which had been her home since the day of her discharge : 
 and more especially her home since her marriage to 
 Harry Edwards, when Uncle George had moved out, 
 and, as compensation for his self-imposed dispossession, 
 had become a regular late afternoon visitor upon those 
 who were now dearest to him. 
 
 Mrs. Harrison and Sue (who had been Mrs. William 
 Grayson these last six months) were just leaving. Sue 
 was bloomingly happy, for youth quickly recovers, and 
 besides, she now had her own personal life. Mrs. Harri- 
 son was rather more grave than in other years, but 
 was not the less kindly. The death of Kenneth, and the 
 shame which had followed his death, had almost broken
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 451 
 
 her; and she had suffered when her husband's business 
 ambitions had collapsed after the conviction of Sam 
 Conway; but she still was generously and graciously 
 and whole-heartedly thoughtful of others as she would 
 ever be until the end. 
 
 They had already enthused and marveled over Jen- 
 nie's baby, and there now remained only the moment of 
 parting at the door. Sue had kissed Jennie, had en- 
 gaged to see her the following Friday they saw each 
 other every few days when Mrs. Harrison took Jen- 
 nie's hands and gazed steadfastly down into Jennie's face 
 with her soft blue eyes which were now glistening with 
 tears. 
 
 "Jennie, I'm so glad that you are happy!" said the 
 low-pitched voice. "Do you remember what I once 
 said to you in the rose garden out at Silver Bluffs long 
 ago? that you had strength and character that 
 you were going to grow up into a splendid woman 
 that you were going to be a helpful influence to those 
 whose fortune it might be to touch your life. I had no 
 dream of what was going to happen, but I was right, 
 Jennie! It has all come true!" 
 
 "Oh, Mrs. Harrison please!" was all Jennie could 
 say. 
 
 " Mother 's right," declared Sue stoutly. " I Ve heard 
 Billy say how splendidly Harry is doing with his new 
 firm and I just simply know it's because of you!" 
 
 Jennie's attempted protest was muffled and cut short 
 by farewell kisses. After the mother and daughter had 
 left, Jennie stood in thought a moment. Out of the 
 wreckage of what she had once considered her great 
 world, she had salvaged these two. Mr. and Mrs. Ship- 
 man had gone out of her life; perhaps because she had
 
 452 t A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 permitted them to she had made no overture to 
 them since the day her brilliant world had crashed in 
 fragments about her; and all the other great acquaint- 
 ances had also gone. But these two were loyal, generous, 
 loving friends and she knew they would be such 
 always. 
 
 She crossed softly to a white bassinet, and taking a 
 chair, gazed down upon the tiny yet sturdy figure which 
 slept therein. Her face glowed. Could any have looked 
 upon her who had known her in her days of shrewd 
 planning and brilliant success, they would have been 
 struck by what a different Jennie she now was. Time, 
 experience, suffering, sorrow, loving, being loved, had 
 made her see and value the realities of life as compared 
 with its glitter and its falsities had awakened her soul 
 to knowledge of itself, and had helped her soul come into 
 its own. The brilliant future in a brilliant world, which 
 she had once dreamed of, was now never to be. But an 
 even better dream, though she had never dreamed it, 
 was coming true. She was still very young she still 
 had far to go before she attained the fullness of what 
 she was to be; but her face, softened, a trifle fuller, and 
 much more truly beautiful than in other days when 
 many men had loved her and had so differently striven 
 for her, was rich with promises for the future. 
 
 She was still gazing down at the tiny face when Harry 
 let himself in with his latch-key. The next instant she 
 was on her feet and in his arms. A new manliness had 
 been developed in him by love and work and responsi- 
 bility a manliness composed of self-confidence and 
 what we sometimes term solidity of character. Perhaps 
 Harry would never be a great man in a worldly sense ; 
 but that loyalty which had distinguished his early years,
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 453 
 
 and which so nearly had brought a fatal consequence, 
 was still a conspicuous quality in his maturer face. Yes, 
 he would be always loyal. He would be a real man. 
 
 The baby awakened first with a cry then with 
 a healthy, satisfied stretching of tiny arms. Jennie 
 lifted him out of the bassinet. This hour, from five to 
 six, she considered her most precious period with him, 
 for this was the one hour of the twenty-four when he 
 was healthily and happily awake, and when Harry was 
 at home to see him at his best. 
 
 They talked at him the usual nonsense of young par- 
 ents, now and then evoking a germinal smile on the soft 
 pink face. But that smile, flitting as it was, was enough 
 to call forth exclamations of ravished amazement. There 
 never had been such a baby there really never 
 had! 
 
 "He's a wonder, all right, Jerry is!" enthused Harry. 
 "And you can bet he 's going to have every chance in the 
 world!" 
 
 He certainly was, agreed Jennie. 
 
 "I say, Jennie, Jerry looks an awful lot like you to- 
 night." 
 
 "No, I think he takes a lot more after you!" Jennie 
 protested. 
 
 Harry shook his head. "No, like you." He looked 
 from the baby up to her and then back at the baby 
 and meditated. "He's going to have black hair and 
 a rather dark skin." His voice softened a little. "Jennie, 
 I have an idea that he may not look very much like either 
 of us; that he may look a lot more like Black Jerry 
 your father, I mean." 
 
 "Like like dad!" she breathed. 
 
 He did not quite understand what was rising in her
 
 454 *A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 mind, for he went on stoutly: "It'll be a fine thing 
 if he does look like your father. Black Jerry was all 
 right! He'd have been a wonder if he had ever had 
 the chance we are going to give our Jerry!" 
 
 She did not answer. Soft tears filled her eyes. For 
 the moment her mind was filled with her father; her 
 heart throbbed with a tender, poignant ache. How her 
 dad had loved her ! even to the point where he had 
 believed that his mere existence would be a millstone 
 around the neck of her future, and so to insure her hap- 
 piness had made away with himself ! . . . 
 
 She had grieved deeply during the year and a half 
 that had passed since she had received Jerry's scrawl 
 announcing his purpose of passing out of her life, and 
 out of all life, in order that she might no longer be 
 shamed and held down by his notoriety. But youth, 
 through its excess of vitality, always recovers from its 
 non-mortal wounds when there is something to live for. 
 Jerry's death was a fact Jennie was now accustomed 
 to it it would always remain a grief of her life ; but 
 time was softening that grief to a tender memory. 
 
 There was a ring of the apartment bell, which was 
 answered by the maid, and after a moment Uncle 
 George came in. Time had made little change in him. 
 For many years he had looked a spruce, oldish man, 
 and he would doubtless look exactly the same until his 
 last day. 
 
 Uncle George was called upon to admire young Jerry, 
 which he did for several minutes with very real enthu- 
 siasm. Then Jennie recalled something. 
 
 "By the way, Uncle George, there was a man some 
 kind of a soldier here to see you a while ago. He said 
 he had a message for you."
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 455 
 
 "Did he leave it?" 
 
 " No. He said his orders were to deliver it personally 
 into your hands. I told him you'd be here about this 
 time, and he said he'd come back." 
 
 "Speaking of soldiers, Uncle George," said Harry, 
 "what do you think of to-day's news about our relations 
 with Germany? Do you think we're going to get pulled 
 into the big fight?" 
 
 "Sure as fate, Harry and soon." 
 
 "Well, if it comes to that" Harry gave a wistful 
 look at Jennie " I 'd like to be over there in France, 
 mixing it up with the rest of them." 
 
 Uncle George spoke before Jennie had a chance to 
 reply. "Your spirit's all right, son, but you'll never 
 have a chance to get over." 
 
 "Why not?" demanded Harry. 
 
 Uncle George was wise in other matters than the gay 
 life of hotels and restaurants with which most of his 
 acquaintances identified him. "Because, son, if we get 
 into this war, we're going to need fighters at the front, 
 and fighters right here at home making things to fight 
 with. The Government is never going to let such an 
 expert engineer and manager as you are growing to be 
 get into a lieutenant's uniform, when you'll count for 
 ten times as much in the big fight by staying right here 
 helping manage about fifty-seven thousand varieties of 
 things that we'll be doing all at once. That's all there 
 is to it, son; so let's change the subject and talk about 
 the baby." 
 
 They did until the apartment bell rang once more. 
 The person shown in was a man with a slight limp, in 
 the uniform of a sergeant of the Canadian Expeditionary 
 Force.
 
 456 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 "Oh, Uncle George," said Jennie, "this is the soldier 
 who wanted to see you." 
 
 The sergeant bowed to Jennie, and then turned to 
 Uncle George. "Is this Mr. George Hamilton?"* 
 
 "Yes," said Uncle George. 
 
 "I have a letter for you but, pardon me, what 
 I Ve got to say is private." 
 
 "Stay right where you are, Uncle George," put in 
 Jennie. "Harry and the baby and I haven't had our 
 evening look out at Central Park. If you talk low, we 
 won't be able to hear a word." 
 
 When Jennie, with tiny Jerry in her arms, and Harry 
 were at the windows at the opposite end of the room, 
 the sergeant spoke in a carefully subdued voice. 
 
 "I'm invalided home, but expect to get back to the 
 front," he explained briefly. "In the hospital over there 
 where I was laid up with this leg, I got to know the man 
 in the bed next to mine. We got to be you know 
 buddies. When he learned I was to be sent back, he asked 
 me to carry a letter to you. He said he would n't send 
 it by mail; was afraid of the censors; said I was his 
 chance to get it past the censors." 
 
 The sergeant loosened a button of his tunic, pulled 
 forth an envelope which he handed to Uncle George, 
 and bowed himself out. Uncle George drew an easy- 
 chair up before the coal fire which glowed in the grate 
 and examined the envelope. It was soiled and greasy 
 by being long carried close to the human body ; George's 
 name and the address on Central Park West were 
 printed. Curiously Uncle George tore open the worn 
 envelope and unfolded the letter. There was neither 
 address nor signature, but Uncle George experienced 
 one of the moments of greatest amazement of all his life.
 
 A Daughter of Two Worlds 457 
 
 The cramped, unaccustomed handwriting was unmis- 
 takably that of Black Jerry. 
 The letter read : 
 
 Don't tell any one about me. 
 
 I 'm writing this letter because I want to ask you to stand 
 by Jennie and see she gets a square deal. 
 
 I seen at last that me and my bad name were too much of 
 a handicap for any kid to carry and have a fair chance in the 
 running. I 'd tried the other thing, and I seen there was 
 nothing to it. I seen that the only way for Jennie to have a 
 fair chance was for me to pass out of her life forever. You 
 know pass out so she 'd think I was finished and everybody 
 else would think I was finished, and so I could n't ever drag 
 her down again. 
 
 No use telling you what I did first but I made a freighter 
 that was just shipping for Rio, and they put me down below 
 shoveling coal. From Rio I came to Bordeaux. I dyed my 
 hair, joined up with the Foreign Legion, and for eleven months 
 off and on I been out there in the trenches. I been in this 
 hospital two months with a shrapnel wound, but I 'm just 
 about O.K. By the time you get this, I'll be back there 
 in the trenches again. No use trying to locate me, for I 'm 
 wearing another name. 
 
 It 's a safe bet that I never come out of that jam alive. But 
 if I do, mebbe I'll come back from that hell there at the 
 front with a name that won't hurt Jennie such a lot and if 
 that happens, then I may show up again. A few guys over 
 here are doing things what makes people forget what they done 
 before. But it's a long shot, and don't you place any bet on 
 that. 
 
 I 'm writing this letter to ask you to stand by Jennie. 
 
 Don't you tell her, or any one else. 
 
 You burn this letter. 
 
 Uncle George, sunk down on his chair, gazed at the 
 letter for a long space. Then, breathing deeply, as one 
 coming out of a dazing dream, he gazed hesitantly-
 
 458 A Daughter of Two Worlds 
 
 wonderingly, at the pair standing at the window with 
 the baby. Presently they turned, and seeing that he ap- 
 parently had finished his letter, they crossed to his side. 
 "You look strange, Uncle George," Jennie said 
 anxiously. "What's the matter?" 
 "Nothing, my dear. Nothing at all." 
 "Any news in the letter that soldier brought?" 
 His eyes slipped down to the letter which he had half- 
 crumpled on their approach, and they rested upon the 
 two last sentences. "Don't tell her. You burn this 
 letter." He wavered ; there was an instant of dizzy inde- 
 cision. Then his instinctive loyalty to a friend and that 
 friend's wishes dominated him. 
 
 " Nothing in the letter at all, my dear," he said calmly. 
 Almost with an air of indifference he tore the letter up 
 and leaning forward dropped the fragments into the fire. 
 They leaped into flames, and the next instant the letter 
 from Black Jerry was merely a few leaves of black ash. 
 Jennie slipped down upon the arm of Uncle George's 
 chair, Harry's arm about her shoulders. "Then if 
 there 's nothing important in your letter, Uncle George," 
 she cried happily, holding out her baby, "just take a 
 look at something that is important Jerry ! Don't 
 you think Jerry is really a great little man?" 
 
 Uncle George looked down at the pink face for a 
 moment looked beyond it. Then he answered in a low, 
 hushed voice rather solemnly almost reverently : 
 "Yes I think Jerry is really a great man." 
 And Jennie, radiant at the praise, held her baby 
 closely to her and joyously kissed him again. 
 
 THE END
 
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