The Lancaster news. (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, December 15, 1914, Page 7, Image 7
I TKe Trey
A Novelized Version of the Motion
| Produced by the (J
I By LOUIS JOS
1 XrftU *T"TU Fmrtam Hm*tf.~"Tk
I Bhibrtij wtt fWmnyhi I
Qontifhti 1914. by I
CHAPTER XXVI. I
Make-Bel lev*.
For upwards of three-quarters of an
bour of that golden morning which followed
the night of his return to New
York, Mr. Law was permitted to esteem
himself .he happiest of mortals.
And inasmuch as this is not only a
longer uninterrupted term of happiness
than is humanly common but is
more of that emotion than ordinarily
? leavens the whole of a lifetime, Alan
was perhaps to be envied, even though
disillueionmeut when it came was sudden,
sharp, and to him unspeakably
ehocklne?a swift tinnrosjianrt
_ , ?V-ofrom
sunlit peaks of supreme content
to the black depths of a bleak Avernus
of despair.
The beginning of the period was
synchronous with the slam of a taxicab
door that shut away a superfluous
world from the company of two who
loved.
The sound spelled safety as well ae
success in Alan's understanding.
The gar slipped smoothly away from
the curb, pursued only by a little gust
of semi-ironic cheers from the little
company of working men who had witnessed
as well as measurably participated
in the putative elopement from
the houee of Trine.
Vigilant for any Indication that their
evasion had had a witness In that
strange home of deathless hatred,
Alan watched It through the little
.window in the back of the cab until a
corner blotted out the vision of it;
then with a sigh of relief sank down,
by the side of the woman to whom his
every thought, impulse and emotion
jeere dedicated.
"Rose!" he whispered, and tentaSvely
touched one of the hands that
iy clenched in her lap.
?V.o ?.i*v -i?
wuv co|IU uucu mill UC TCI Sign lO
indicate consciousness either of his
touch or hia whisper.
And reminding himself of the strain
Imposed upon her by the experience
through which they had JuBt passed,
Alan excused her unresponsiveness on
grounds of reaction, and for the time
felt constrained to let his sweetheart
reet and regain her normal poise:
there was bliss enough for him in the
consciousness that he had won her
safely away, that nothing now more
xnan n snort Hour's drive across town
and by ferry across the Hudson stood
between them and the marriage that
should prove the consummation of all
their trials . . . Barring accident!
Alan had too often suffered the penalty
of dtaapi>ointment for over-indul- !
genre in this failing of his for depreciating
the unforeseen, not to make the
mental reservation, "Barring accidents!"
with a little shiver of dread.
Had any of Trine's household been
cognizant of his daughter's escape,
Alan argued, interference must have
been instant.
Despite the reassuring aspect, the
preoccupation of his companion so
wore upon him that he was presently
no longer able to refrain from disturbing
her.
"Roae!" he begged again, closing a
hand tenderly over hers. "Dearest
girl, don't worry another instant! Do
calm yourself: remember we are safe
i
She Appeared Anxioua to Escape
Without Being 8een.
now; we fooled them handily?thanks
to your faith and bravery, sweetheart!
and everything la going to be well
with ua from now on. Over in Jersey
the minister is waiting now to marry
ua; and down at the White Star dock
the boat is waiting that is to carry us
off to England the moment we're married.
Think of that?and that i love
you. Nothing can possibly break the
Strength of that combination!"
'. For another ahlawte %fce Mfffed aa
w
1
O' Hearts I
Picture Drama of the Seme Name I
'niverael Film Co. I
EPH VANCE
I Brrm BimcM iterate.
EmIW Ptctar* PrWectioe
mliJoMsk Tim
she bad ever since sinking into her
corner of the taxicab?moveless, taut,
unresponsive.
Then a long sigh shook her to her
very heart, and of a sudden the small
fist In Alan's grasp relaxed and her
face turned to his like a flower to
the sun, a face transfigured, its lips
now soft and yielding, its eyee unclosed
and smiling into his a smile
all misty with unshed tears.
"Alan." she breathed gently. "It
can't be true! I'm trying eo hard to
believe?but all the while I know it
can't be true!"
He converted a skeptic with the
mute eloquence of his lips .
Head upon his shoulder, the girl
clung passionately to him. "Tell mo
again that you love me!" she prayed.
"Promise me you'll never let anything
come between us. Promise me, Alan
?promise me you'll be kind to me always,
dear!"
"Can you doubt I will be kind?" he
murmured reproachtully.
"I am afraid . . ." she whispered.
"How could I be anything else, loving
you as I do?"
"I am ufraid . . ."
"Why should I be unkind to you?"
"It isn't that. ... I'm just
afraid."
"Of what?"
"Of losing you."
"But that can never be!"
"You can't be sure. What If you
were to find you'd been mistaken?"
She caught her breath and added
hastily?"That you didn't really love
me, I mean."
"Oh, that's ridiculous!"
"1 can't be sure. Nothing in life Is
permanent. What la love? Illusion of
the senses! What is happiness? A
will-o'-the-wisp! What is life? A
make-believe!"
"Dearest!" He held her more closely
still. "You are nervous and overwrought.
You don't know what you're
saying. You can't mean what you're
saying. . . . But say that it'B so?
that life la all make-believe. Then
make-believe you love me?"
"Oh, but 1 do, I do!"
"And make-believe for a little we've
caught the will-o'-the-wisp?only for a
little?until you wake up and realize
that it's all real and true."
She closed her eyes again: "Yes,"
she breathed, "you are right. Let's
make-believe it's all true for a little
longer . . . and forget . .
He could by no means account for
this strange humor; but be did his
best to corntort her, none the less tenderly
because of his mystification. And
for a long time she let illusion blind
her, resting quietly in his urns, making
believe . . .
Ouly on approaching the Twentythird
street ferry they must needs
rouse and sit apart constrainedly for
fear some one might glance through
the window and surprise thelr_ secret.
As If one needed the evident of a
caress exchanged to know that they
were lovers, who ha$ eyes to see the
(Uishdd loveliness of the girl shrinking
back In her oorner. or wit to interpret
the radiant happiness that shone
In Alan's face as he bent forward and
watched warily from the window.
CHAPTER XXVII.
The Ring.
Theirs was the last vehicle to swing
between the gates before these last
were closed.
And this was quite as well; for Alan,
rising for one last backward glance
through the rear window, started involuntarily
and choked upon an exclamation
when he descried a powerful
touring car tearing madly toward
the ferry-hou6e, its one passenger half
rising from the front neat, beside the
driver, and exhibiting a countenance
purple with congested chagrin as he
Baw his car barred out of the carriage
entrance.
Quickly sensitive to his emotion, the
girl caught nervously at Alan's hand.
"What is it, dear?"
"Marrophat," he snapped.
She uttered a hushed cry of dismay.
uon i De alarmed, however," he
hastened to comfort her. "He's lost
the race, the gates are shut?even the
passenger gates?and there must be
& company spotter somewhere near by,
for the gateman is virtuously refusing
to be bribed by a roll of ihoney as
thick as my wrist!"
At that instant the taxlcab rolled
tboard the fevy-boat; the deck gates
were closed; a hoarse whistle rent the
roaring silence of the city; winches
rattled and chains clanked; and the
boat wore ponderously out of its slip.
"So much for Mr. Marrophat!" Alan
crowed, sitting down. "Foiled again!
He can't stop us now!"
"Perhaps . . ."
"Why that perhaps? Why that
tone?" he demanded sharply, struck
by the foreboding her accents con
[emeu.
"This Isn't the only ferry. There's
the Pennsylvania and the Lackawanna
?and by hard driving he might even
manage to catch the boat that connects
with this from the Christopher
itreet ferry of the Erie!" .
"IiappMible! I den't beUave K4 I
THIS LANCASTER NEWS
won't!"
"Let's not," she agreod. Al:u\
. "Yes?"
"Promise me?if he should'manage
to catch up with us?you won't let him '
talk to you. I mean, dont let him?"
"No fear of that!" he assortated
hotly. "If he tries to exchpqge one
word with me?Pouly wish Ay would!"
She seemed satisfied with'that; but
the incident bad served appreciably to
chill their spirits. They accomplished
the remainder of that voy&ge in a
silence that was no less denressert ho.
cause they sat hand in band throughout.
M
Nor was their taxioab three minutes
out of the ferry house on the Jersey
shore?though the chauffeur, stimulater
by Alanjs extravagant promises,
was doing his beet to fracture the
speed laws and escape arrest?when
the girls fears were amply justified;
a shout from behind drew Alan's head
out of the window on one side and the
girl's 011 the other and proved to both
that Marrophat had indeed found some,
way to make the crossing without
great delay.
His touring car was within fifty
yards when they first were aware of
it; and Marrophat. standing on tbe i
running-board, was shouting inarticulately
and flourishing an imperative
hand: while the distance between
'heni was momentarily growing lees
noticeable.
As Marrophat's car drew abreast
Alan nodded and said quietly: "Don't
be alarmed; I can attend to this gentleman
single-handed."
And this he proceeded to demonstrate
with admirable ease, even
though called upon to do so far sooner
than he had thought to be?thanks
to Marrophat's hair-brained precipitancy.
For, failing to influence the
taxi driver by shouted demands or
threats, or to gain the least attention
from Alan. Trine's first lieutenant ab- ,
rupny ana surprisingly took his life
in his hands and in one wild bound
bridged the distance between the two
flying cars and landed on the taxi's ,
running-board.
Stop!" he screamed madly. "Stop,
I say! Ydu don't know what you're
doing! Let me tell you?"
He got that far but no farther. In
the same breath Alan had Hung wide
the door and was at the fellow's throat.
There was a struggle of negligible
duration; Marrophat was in no way
his antagonist's match; within three
seconds he threw out both hands,
clutched hopelessly at the framework
of the cab, and fell heavily to the
street.
The taxi sped on without pause, its
driver deaf to the hails of innocent if
indignant bystanders. Alan pulled
himself together and looked back just
in time to catch a glimpse of a number
of loafers lifting Marrophat to his
feet and helping him to the sidewalk
of an unsavory-looking tenement, before
the cab took a corner on two
wheels . . ."
"Not seriously injured, I fancy," he
told the girl in response to her eager
look. "Worse luck!" he added
ilioomny.
But it 8eeemed that he was to have
greater cause than tnis to complain of
liiB luck, before that ride wae ended.
Three blocks further on a tire blew
out with a report like a cannon-cracker,
and the taxi lurched perilously,
hesitated, slowed down, and limped
dejectedly to the curb.
Alan and the chauffeur piled out in
the same instant, the one standing
guard?with an eye out as well for
another cab?while the ether assessed
damages.
"Nothing for It but a new tire, sir,"
this last reported sympathetically. "It
must have been a broken bottle or
something like that?it sure did rip
the usefulness clean out of that shoe."
"Go to It," Alan advfeed him tersely;
"and If you make a quick Job of it.
I'll stand the coet of the new tire."
"But if another cab comes along
while you're M. it you'll lose us as
quick as a wink. Here's my card, in
k'ase we have to desert you in a hurry; ,
you understand this is n matter of life
and death, and I'll nave no time to
? ettlo up with you. But you can call
at Mr. Digby's office and he'll fix I
hlrigB up to your satisfaction."
The man tool; the card and after a
Innro ?- ?- - ? -
. v. tiv tuc iuiiiic luuuitvu 1:13 mu
with more noticeable respect.
"All right, Mr. Law," he agreed;
"anything you say." And forthwith
ot to work.
The rapidity with which he com;
leted the change of tires proved him
r.n excellent chauffeur, an rdept at Ins
(raft; but the delay was one disastrous
for all that. It worked together
with what Alan pardonably described
as the devill own luck to bring the i
touring car in sight at the precise moment
when the chauffeur was cranking
t:p and Alan on the point of re-enterlag
the cab. And though they were
< ff ugain before Alan could close the
door, the attempt was hopeless from
the start.
And yet?whether or not because
Alan's distaste for interference bad
been too convincingly demonstrated? 1
the touring car for the time being
contented itself with trailing about
fifty feet in the rear, while the taxi
fled the tenement purlieus of-the Ho>
boken waterfront and found Its way
into the broader atreetn nf on nnnra.
tentiouH suburban quarter.
Not until they were well Into the !
uburbs, with few dwellings near and
*> pedestrians to interfere, did Marro- |
ghat's purpose become apparent. Then,
-.owerer?and it happened while Alan
vas looking back?the touring car
'rew In swiftly and easily and Marro)hat,
rising in his scat, leveled a re/wlver
over the windshield and flred.
The crack of hie ??mi vm kmn
iii * q
DECKMBKU 15, 1914.
dcally coincident with a metallic thud t
-.b&icMlbviha Mar swat of the taxicub.
Not for some monfients did Alan ap- !
predate the Viclousnffcs of the scheme.
Surmisinn that the ttosoline tank had
oeen punctured by the bullet, be was
inclined to believe that Marrophat
hoped to stop the taxicab by depriving
it, in course of time, of its fuel.
And with this in mind he was presently
surprised, as the cab took a corner,
iu ami murropnai b car stop ai mai
corner and Marrophat himself get
down. The brow of a hill intervened,
shutting off sight of the blackguard as
he knelt and lit a match. It was the
Ctrl who gave the alarm, suddenly ,
withdrawing her head from the win*
dow to scream at Alan : v"He's
fired the gasoline! It's flaming
along the street, following the line
of the leak?and catching up with us!"
Without pausing to put his hand to
the latch, Alan kicked the door open.
"Jump!" he cried. "For your life?
jump! As soon as that flame catcheB
up with the tank?"
Simultaneously the chauffeur, overhearing,
shut off the power.
The three gained the sidewalk barely
In time: the tiny trail of flames, almost
imperceptible in the sunlight,
was not a yard from the.jet that spurted
through the bullet hole in the tank.
In the flutter of an eyelash the explosion
followed. Had the cab been loaded
with nitroglycerin its destruction
could have been no more absolute.
There was a roar . . . and then
a heap of smoking ruins.
Without waiting to admire the spectacle,
Alan caught the arm of the girl
and hurried her up the street, at the
same time calling to the chauffeur to
follow. And chance brought them to
the next corner as another cab, fareless,
hove into view. Promising Its
driver anything he might ask, in or
out of reason, Alan gave him the address,
and helped the girl in.
If Marrophat pursued Alan could see
no Sign of him. The second car made
better time than the first. Unhindered,
and as far as could be determined, I
without being followed, it covered the
brief remaining distance in a gratefully
short lapse of time.
The suburb dropped behind a maze
of streets where dwellings stood shoulder
to shoulder and dooryardB were
scant. Th^ car Bwept up to a corner
house of modest aud homely aspect.
Two minutes more, and Alan was exchanging
salutations with and making
his bride-to-be known to Dlgby's good
friPTld thp 17 ovornn A Ifv
Embarrassment worked confusion
with the young man's perceptive faculties.
As this moment approached
when two should be made one who had
gone through fire and flood, literally
as well as figuratively, for each other's
sake, incredulity drew a veil before
his vision. He viewed the worM
as in a glass, darkly.
He was aware of a decently furnished
minister's study; of two witnesses
in the guise of unassuming
womenfolk of the minister's household;
of the Rev. Mr. Wright himself
as a benevolent voice rolling sonorously
forth from a black-clad presence;
of the woman of his heart staining
opposite him; of questions asked
and responses made; of a ring that
was magically conjured from some
store apparently maintained against
precisely similar emergencies; of a \
hand that took the hand that was to be
his wife's and placed it in his; of his
clumsy and witless bungling with the
task of fitting that ring to the finger
of his sweetheart's hand . . .
And then he was aware of a door .
that banged violently in the hallway; |
of the sound of a man's voice making |
some indistinguishable demand; that ;
Rosace hand was suddenly whipped |
away, before he could fit on the ring;
that the study door waa flung open and
that this animal of a Marrophat had ,
precipitated himself into the room.
He opened his mouth to protest?
and Marrophat silenced him with a
cry.
"You fool! Drop that ring! Stop
(his farce! Don't you know whom
you're marrying? That woman is Ju
dith Trine, you idiot?not Rose!"
Blankly Alan turned to the girl.
Her flaming face, her sullen eyes,
her very pose, from which the manner
of Rose had dropped like a cast
garment, confessed the truth of Marropliat's
assertion. And as if this were
not enough, Judith confessed it doubly
with a sudden outbreak of such rage
as never could have been brewed In
Rose's gentle nature.
"You devil!" ahe cried?and threw
herself in front of Marrophat with a
spring as lithe as that of a leopardess.
"Take warning now from me: keep
out of my way forever after thle?or
take the consequences! God knows,"
she panted, "why I don't kill yon as :
you stand!"
He was In her way. between her and j
the open door. She gave him no
chance to move aside, but seized htm
so fiercely by the wrists that he Instinctively
lifted to protect himself,
and she fairly threw him half a dozen
feet from her. He brought up with j
a crash against the wall even as the I
door slammed behind the girl.
When Alan, the first to recover, j
gained the sidewalk, Bhe was already '
in the taxicab. Whatever reward she
had promised the man, he whipped his i
machine away as if from the fear of
sudden death.
And darting from the house hard
on the minister's heels, Marrophat
leaped into bis own car and, as if he
had not heard her threat or received |
Rllhstunt inl a" Ua. ? ? '
F' w* U4 UVI caillCBlUUUi,
tore off iu pursuit.
<To be Continued.)
7
Soutiii*Kn Railway
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Queen & Crescent Route.] Big Four Route.
SCEDULE:
WESTBOUND.
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Lv. Branchville L 10:20 A.M.
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Lv. St. Matthews 11:24 A.M.
Lv. Columbia 12:55 P.M.
Ar. Cincinnati .. . \. 10:55 A.M..
Ar. Chicago 1 9:00 P.M.
EASTBOUMD.
Lv. Chicago J. 8:55 A.M. ,
Lv. Cincinnati / 6:35 P.M.
Ar rnlnmKia ' ' ""
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Ar. St. Matthews I 6:05 P. M.
Ar. Orangeburg \ 6:35 P.M.
Ar. Branchville \. 7:15 P.M.
Ar. Summerville 8:48 P.M.
Ar. Charleston ... 9:40 P. M.
Excellent connections at Chicago with through trains
for San Francisco, Los Angeles, Omaha, Denver, Portland,
Seattle, Milwaukee, St. Paul and other points West and
Northwest.
For passenger fares, schedules, tickets, etc., call on
Southern Railway Ticket Agent.
W. H. CAFFEY,
niniaiA*! ? * *
^ t loiuu i nsncnger Ageni,
Charleston, S. C.
W. E. McGEE,
Assistant General Passenger Agent,
Columbia, S. C.
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