The Bamberg herald. (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, March 10, 1921, Page 3, Image 3
SYNOPSIS.
PART I.?Robert Hervey Randolph, j
young New York man-aoout-town, leaves ,
the home of his sweetheart, Madge Van
Tellier, chagrined because of her refusal
of his proposal of marriage. His income,
$10,000 a year, which he must surrender
if a certain Miss Imogen Pamela Thornton
(whom he has seen only as a small
girl ten years before) is found, is not
considered by the girl of his heart adequate
to modern needs. In a "don't care"
mood Randolph -enters a taxi, unseen by
the driver, and is driven to the stage
door of a theater. A man he knows,
Duke Beamer, induces a girl to enter the
cab. Beamer, attempting to follow, is
pushed back by Randolph and the cab
moves on. His new acquaintance tells
Randolph she is a cnorus girl, and has j
lost her position. She is in distress, even !
hungry, and he takes her to his apart- j
ment. There, after lunch, a chance re- j
mark convinces him the girl is the miss- I
ing Pamela Thornton. He does not tell i
her of her good fortune, but secures her
promise to stay in the flat until the
morning, and leaves her. In a whimsical
mood, also realizing that the girls reappearance
has left him practically penniless,
he bribes the taxi driver to let him
take his job, and leaving word with the
legal representative of the Thornton es
tate where he can find .Pamela, taKes up ;
his new duties under the name of "Slim I
Hervey." He loves the girl, but his pride j
forbids him approaching her under their !
changed conditions.
' I
.
me!" he said. "If yon won't promise
to stay here without a break till ten
o'clock tomorrow and thereafter -at .
your pleasure, I'll stay myself and
hold you. Now, do you or don't you?
One?two?"
"I do."
"Do what?" inquired Robert.
"I promise."
"Make yourself absolutely at home, j
then," he said, as he dropped her i
hands and turned toward the door.
"I feel like Christmas eve," said j
Miss Thornton meekly. "Won't you j
please tell me what's going to hap- I
pen?"
"You've guessed it?Christmas," he j
answered enigmatically, tossed the j
latch-key on the table, and left her.She
caD be excused for spying upon j
him from the curtained window. She 1
saw him awake the cabman, and then
jvatched the pantomime of a long colloquy.
"Oh!" she moaned. "No wonder!
The awful, awful price of those horrid
clock things! Why did I let him tell it
to wait?"
Presently she was amazed to see
both the driver and Mr. Randolph disappear
into the dark recesses of the
cab and close after them its door. For
twenty breathless minutes she
watched, tormented by the thought
that they had retired to have it out
where they wouldn't be disturbed by |
the police. But at last they issued?
both of them. Mr. Randolph proceeded
to crank the car and then, walking
rather strangely, went off, headed
west; the driver mounted his box,
threw in the clutch, and scurried to
the east as though he were off to
meet the morning.
"Strange doings!" thought Miss Imogene
Pamela Thornton, as she turned
from the window to start on a private- i
ly conducted voyage of discovery.
Strange doings, indeed, and stranger j
still could Imogene Pamela have heard j
as well as seen. This is what really
happened: Mr. Randolph awoke the
cabman gently but thoroughly; then I
he said:
"Look here: I want to buy your !
wagon."
"Gowan, boss; wot d'yer take me i
for? Here I been freezin' most to det* :
fer two mortal hours an' a gent like !
you starts right ri kickin' on the clock '
widout even readin' it."
"Shucks!" said Mr. Randolph. !
"What's biting you? Never mind the j
meter-reading; here's twenty for you
to forget that. Now tell me: Who
owns your buzz-wagon? You?"
"Naw; the Village Cab company," ;
replied the saturnine cabman as he
stuffed the twenty-dollar bill into his
trousers pocket.
"Well," said Mr. Randolph, "you
and I are about the same build and
I've got a proposition for you. Change
clothes, hand me over your cab, and
take two hundred dollars to see your- j
self to another lob."
The driver showed no surprise; he j
contemplated the offer with half-closed j
eye* and dubiously working lips.
"More than that," went on Ran- i
dolph: "I'm not taking your job just
for tonight: I'm going to hold it. The |
only thing I want you to promise is
that you'll keep your trap closed if !
you see any ads in the personal col- j
umns looking for me."
"How do I know you won't lift the |
car and whoop it up fer New Haven?" !
Randolph fixed him in the eye.
"You know I won't, because I sav i
it"
"Sure?that's all right, boss," said j
the driver conciliatingly. "No bones !
broke. Now, there's just one thing
more: have you figgered that it's five |
hours to the opening of second-hand :
Sixth avenue or the Bowery, an' I'd
have to wear those clothes of yourn j
all that time?" _
*og
"What's the matter with these
clothes?" asked Randolph, a little
peeved. "Well, you've heard my offer.
Take it or leave it."
"Sure I'll take it!" said the driver
promptly. "If I wasn't a-goin' to have
took it from the first, what would I 'a'
been standin' here talkin' for?"
Whereupon they entered to the
cramped privacy of the cab and exchanged
garments. Randolph was
ready in ten minutes, but it took hira !
another ten to complete the appareling
of the puzzled chauffeur. That
worthy added to his investiture in
Randolph's best evening suit a sickly
grin.
"Say," he asked, "how do I look?"
Mr. Randolph surveyed him.
"Oh, you'll do, all right. You look
about the way I would if I'd been on a
bat. Better have a few drinks, if you
can find them, and the world will fall
for your clothes. What time do I turn
the wagon in, and what time do I go j
on again? Do yon bunk at the garage,
by any chance?"
"Never you mind where I bunk,"
said the ex-cabman suspiciously.
"D'you think I'm goin' to throw in a
happy home for two hundred? You're
on the night shift for this week. Read
the rules and regulations when you
get to the garage. Say good-by to the
boys for me an' tell the manager to go
to blazes."
They followed this remark out of
the cab; the tough in fop's clothing
cranked the car and turned westward,
as previously chronicled, while Mr. |
Randolph, now substitute to Patrick I
O'Reilly as driver of the Village Cab
company's No. 1S98, hurled his chariot
eastward, not to meet the morning,
as it had appeared to the watching
Miss Thornton, but in search of the
residence of the head of the legal firm
charged with the duty of carrying out
the - instructions of the defunct Mr
Asa Thornton.
Mr. Randolph, vice O'Reilly, drew
up at the familiar address in Madison
avenue and laid his car cheek by jowl
with the rurb as though anchoring it
for a long stay; then he descended
from the driver's seat, entered the
cab, exclaimed thanksgiving at finding
t rug, wrapped himself in irs warn,
folds, curled up on the seat and went
to sleep.
In the cold early morning the strong
arm of the Law reached in and dragged
him back from the Elysian fields
where he had been wandering hand in
hand with a lovely person dressed in
a little velvet toque and very cheap
clothes.
% "Here, you!" said the voice of the
Law. "Don't you know you can't put i
up a hotel in this burg without a license?
Wot the?"
"Morning, Officer," said Randolph,
trying his best to be pleasant/ "I'm
waiting for my fare. Any regulation
ftf V. ft f I
ci?aiii?>i Lixat.
"Don't pull that stuff on me," said
the Law. "This ain't the Tenderloin." j
"I know it isn't," remarked Mr. Randolph.
"But I happen to be waiting
I? 1
H
11 apy
^T^Mf
I ^ii|
"Don't Pu!J That Stuff on Me," Said
the Law.
for Mr. Borden Milyuns. of Milyuns,
Branch & Milyuns. Ever heard of
him?"
"Sure " said the cop, impressed but
still su ;picious. "He lives here all
right. I ut I ain't seen him turning
down his own cars for night-hawks
lately."
"Well." said Mr. Randolph, "I could
tease > 3U along for some time and
make y*. u look like a nut, but I won't.
The tm'.h is, his prize bitch. Bride of
Lammeimoor, Is pupping tonight, and
I'm here to take the lady and her litter
down to the dog-show in time to
get 'em settled for the opening. Messy j
job. but the meter is charging for it." !
"There ain't a man living that could
think up a lie like that, not sudden."
murmured the officer, and turned to j
resume his beat, while Mr. Randolph
promptly hit the mat in the hope of
catching up with Elysium. He slept;'
he slept too deep for dreams, and was
beyond the reach of the call of any
motorhorn when Mr. Milyuns' town '
car tried to shoo him along at eightthirty
of a bright morning.
Once more was Mr. Randolph
dragged by main force to wakefulness.
"Good-morning. Thomas." he re- :
\
marked. "Is the old man up?"
I "Ilully gee! Mr. Randolph! What
'ave you been up to now?"
"None of yours, Thomas," said Robert
Hervev, in a kindly but firm voice.
"Get me a bit of paper and a pencil." i
The chauffeur discovered the required
articles in Mr. Milyuns' car, i
handed them over, and curiously
j watched Mr. Randolph write his note
to the effect that Miss Imogene Pamela
Thornton would receive her legal
representative at Mr. Randolph's
rooms in Fifty-ninth street between
nine and ten. It was added that the
said rooms, upon which rent had been ;
paid to the end of the quarter, and all ;
they contained, including the man, i
Tomlinson, were at the perpetual dis- !
! position of the said Miss T.
"Now, Thomas," said Mr. Randolph,
I "you take this in to the old man himself
and tell him a chauffeur with an
j empty cab brought it. If you say anj
other word I'll have you up at the
union for losing me my job, and I'll
lick the stuffings out of you besides, j
Get me?"
"Sure thing, Mr. Randolph!" said .
Thomas. "Leave ft to me to help you
make trouble whenever you feel like ;
it. It's a slow world except for the !
likes of you."
As soon as the man had entered the j
house, Mr. Randolph started his cab .
and made for a point of vantage in j
the park, from which, in due course, j
he beheld the arrival of the lawyer at iFifty-ninth
street. He waited long ,
enough to make sure that the /egaJ
gentleman had' penetrated to Miss i
Thornton; then he threw up his flag
and made for the garage.
He sought out the manager.
"Say," he plunged, "Pat O'Reilly
lost his job to me last night shooting
craps. My clock read twenty-eight ,
dollars this morning; here's my slip." j
The manager glanced at the slip, 1
and took a long look at Mr. Randolph. ;
"You're on, kid," he decided. "Take j
any shift you like. What's your
name?"
"Slim Hervey," said Mr. Randolph !
promptly.
"One of them earned names," com- i
mented the manager. "All right Go
to it"
PART II.
Flesh, Spirit and the Veiled God.
Mr. Randolph spent the day getting j
acquainted and proved himself a good j
mixer. By telling a few stories that j
had not yet sifted down from Club- j
land and by standing a few drinks he 1
I soon found himself made free of all
j the technical information he needed ;
and some more that was so ultra-tech- :
nical that it could beat the brains that
invented the delicate mechanism of
the taximeter. He also established
part ownership in a comfortable room j
in a house very much on tfte wrong or
west side of Broadway, in fact within
smelling and almost spitting distance
of the North river. j
While he was still in funds he
bought himself a woolen khaki over- j
coat with one of those enormous col- ,
lars which look like an inverted
i bucket when they are up and surpass |
| In efficiency the traditional black mask j
! so beloved by illustrators of the week
ly press. He also had a speaking slot 1
cut in the glass of the cab window I
lust behind his best ear and subse- ;
* > I
quently removed and lost the slide
| that had been fitted over it with con- j
I slderable skill and trouble.
I
During the next few nights he pro- j
: ceeded to have the time of his life; so ;
| much so that he was constantly over- j
whelmed with wonder at his stupidity j
I in not having become a taxi-driver j
years before! It should be remembered
that Mr. Randolph was of New
York Yorky; he knew everybody cas- j
ually, from Mr. Milyuns and his
daughter, Eileen, down to the latest
addition to the pitiful ranks of the >
midinette. More than that, so broad j
was his acquaintanceship that as a
sporting gent he had once or twice I
been tipped off as to the where and \
when of a proposed gun-play.
In addition to being by right of birth
an integral part of all the social strata
of Manhattan, he knew the surface of
the island and of the adjacent com- j
moner soil of the mainland consid- ,
erably better than he knew the palm i
of his own hand. In fact, he could j
scarcely ever have been conscious that 1
he had a palm, even as a map of per- j
sonal fortune; for he who is complete- j
j ly satisfied with the present never j
j worries about the future and Mr. Ran- J
, dolph had been born content.
With such an equipment, is it to be
! wondered at that he found the taxi
| field rich with unexpected and sur- j
prising blooms? Fair flowers, he had
known heretofore to nod only over tea
tables and solid silver appeared sud- i
denly transplanted to his cab and
ready to nod on a stalwart s'houlder. <
Strong male tiger-lilies of the money j
market, grafted to the cushions of a
taxi, became complacent pillars upon j
which some clinging ivy twined.
In six nights he learned the sound i
that a banker makes when slender j
fingers tickle him under the chin; the j
gasp of a girl, first-kissed; the cry of |
a young man upon discovering the ab- <
sence of grandfather's gold watch, his
since graduation day; the cluck of a
top-hat fairly sat upon in the excitement
of a moment that else would
have been tragic, the exasperating tap,
tap, tap, of a hen-pecking tongue that
explained and condoned a murder mystery
in the next morning's papers, and
the sob of a ruined youngster who had
played with borrowed money.
All these incidents took place with
people whom Mr. Randolph knew or
knew of and just to show what an extremely
honest young man he was, let
it be said that it did not once occur to
him that he need never he poor while
humanity, supposedly in good standing.
continued to lay itself open to
blackmail at the rate of a case a night.
At the same time, he was not stupid
and occasionally tapped out a missive
loaded with dynamite on the garage
typewriter when no one was around.
Here is a sample.
"Mr. Poindexter MacGuler, Sir: As
I was driving you and Miss B. B.
larst night who was foster-mothered
by an aunt of a frend of a frend of
mine, I heerd you talkin to her and
all I got to say is if I see you out
with her again short of the bands of
mn+wnirtnv T'll <Tof onnthor "frAnrl nf
HUl 11 11IH ?11(> JL 11 U.U VkliVA JLA V ?
mine to get Mr. Robert Herv Randolph
to lell what he knows about
you cheaten at cards on Dec. 23 last."
Nights that gave birth in the morning
to such illiterary tit-bits could
scarcely be called dull, but it was not
long before Mr. Randolph found himself
threatened by an unexpected monotonous
employment. Unfortunately
for his entertainment, his reputation
as the one par excellence St. Bernard
lifesaver to the inebriate elite spread
rapidly throughout the Force so that
the telephone was constantly burdened
during the wee hours with the following:
"Say, is Slim Hervey on the job?
Well, when he comes in tell 'im I got
another tailor-model drunk here what
has lost his home address from his
mind."
With suspicious suddenness Mr.
Randolph proceeded to forget half his
school and clubmates and cold-bloodedly
leave them to their fate and a
night out, not without coming to grief
on at least one occasion, however.
"What are you comin' over me?" demanded
the irate captain of the Nth
precinct. "You ain't forgot that you
was' vally to R. H. Randolph for seven
years, have ya? Has all his frens
gone on the wagon?"
It looked like a loop-hole. "Sure,"
said Slim Hervey promptly. "His
club's near busted what with waterdrinkers
and softs."
"Sounds kind-a phony to me," said
the captain grimly, "considerin' you
took this same gent home a week ago
come Friday."
"Did I?" said Slim, and with feigned
surprise managed finally to recognize
the me^s of evening clothes that was
huddled on a near-by bench. "You're
right. Captain. He's drunker than 1
ever saw him before and besides he's
wearin' a new set of shirt-studs. Kind
of changed his looks."
Slim lingered. "Look here," he murmured
the captain confidentially.
"You're on to me, but just let me
whisper. I'm getting to be the delivery
wagon for all the high-spot soaks
in town. The first one of 'em that
loses his jewelry between the curb
and his own front door, just tell me
where I got off, will you? I'm honest;
I got a reputation, an' I tell you, Captain,
I'm willin' to bill 'em through for
you when you ask for the home port,
but it's nix on me handlin' all the
high-explosive freight north of Fortysecond
street. Get me?"
"Sure, Slim," said the captain, appreciatively.
"I'll pass the word, lad."
Thus-did Mr. Randolph make good
his new front name and a little capital
besides, working on the stalwart
' 1 1 1 1 . .??n
"I'm Getting to Be the Delivery Wagon
for All the High-Spot Soaks In
Town."
old motto: Every knock is a boost.
Instead of becoming a mystery and
consequently anathema to the Force,
an impression was created that Slim
w\'*s a hustler, but clean white goods
ready to sacrifice a fare or two that
he might sit high up alongside Caesar's
wife. By stopping at two or
three strategically placed police stations
during the wind before the dawn
to ticket such drunks as were of his
acquaintance, he was able to give the
glad hand of farewell to a job not
to his taste.
About this time a series of coincidences
befell the young and fevered
Fair of the city of New York which
would have given pause to the persons
involved had they been able to get
together and compare the dope. _ Take
4
M??i
' what happened to Miss Georgette |
! Hattone. Iler people had played in !
hard luck and died. Georgie had seI
cured a job and was doing pretty
well at it until young Doctor Bones
I met her and gradually persuaded her j ]
| that she was threatened with gallopI
tag consumption. Once he had frightj
ened her, the rest looked easy; he i
would take her out of had ventilation i
, into his run-about and the open-air? <
i out of the goodness of his heart and
I the fullness of his purse, he would : :
' take care of her.
lie began by leading her to a Neth- j ;
erlimb Show and supper afterward. I
j They danced a little and for the first j
j time in her life, but under medical i ,
I advice, she took something in the !
| way of stimulant after the initial pret- ,
1 tj cocktail. They issued from supper
j and it was when Mr. Chauffeur Slim
I Hervey heard the whispered address
j that the game became a threesome.
Counting upon the abstraction, or .
rather, the concentration of his fares
| on interior fittings, Driver Hervey
; soon switched hjs cab from the char
1 tered route and made for down-town
I through silent back streets. In just
; ten minutes he drew up at an oldl
fashioned house in a very quiet
; square, shut off his engine to the idle
j and waited. Not for long. Out of
the cab came a blasphemous exclamation
in medical tones and with it a
; cry of awakening from Georgie.
I Through one window she looked upon
j the home of her childhood; through
j the other upon that happy railed garj
den-square, which was the umbrageous
j garner-close of all her dearest, purest
j and dreamiest memories.
I "Oh!" she gasped. "No, you mustn't
( scold him. This is just where I want
to get out and walk. It's?it's extraordinary."
Then from the curb. "I may
be going to die of consumption, doctor,
but, after all, I'd-rather?rather ]
die that way."
Twist things around a little and |
you'll get what happened to Miss Terry
de Guest with the difference that
that beautiful and hungry young woman
who had all but turned her back
on Settlement work and her face to
the Great White Way, suddenly awoke
not in the moonlit embrace of Clairmonte,
but before the accusing face
I * - TT J TT.-__
oi a nouse 111 xieiiry sirwi.
Nor was Mr. Slim Hervey partial
to sex in salvation. There was the
instance of young Bertram Blossome
who shame-facedly hurried into his
! cab a painted, wan-faced waif of the
street with self-accusing eyes. No
case this of hunted and huntei>-rather
two strayed bits of weak humanity
driven before the unleashed dogs of
l poverty and lust How readily and
unquestioningly the boy slipped from
the cab at his home address', miracu1
lously confused almost as by the med
j dling finger of God with one very
| different! How gratefully the girl
j took the possible fare and "something
over," and how her tears brimmed
! when ten minutes later the blue-eyed
chauffeur, a wage-earner like herself,
said: "Nothing doing, Sister. The
ride is on me," and promptly whirled
away1
' While all these incidents were engaging,
each in Its own way, and
j showed a reasonable profit to all con*
| corned, Mr. Randolph looked apon
| them more or less as a means of getting
in his hand during a period of
initiation. Once he felt sure of him!
self and of his new chauffeuring point
! nf nnri attitialp toward the gay
! world from the under side, he began
| to haunt the neighborhood of East
J Ninth street at the hour when dinners
are plenty and taxis scarce.
Twice he saw Miss Madge Van
Tellier carried off in Somebody's private
car, but he was not discouraged,
for he recognized in the very fact of
that public privacy the badge of preliminary
outings. In due course his
night and hour-came. He was hailed
; by the arriving Mr. Beacher Tremont
and ordered to stand by; twenty minutes
later he was listening to that
gentleman explaining to Miss Van T.
that a cylinder had gone wrong on
his own car at the last moment.
Miss Madge Van Tellier, upon whom
Mr. Randolph had not laid eyes since
the very definite parting of their ways
on the rock of ready cash, was more
| beautiful tonight than at any other
| time since the evening of her coming'
out party. The reason was one and
' the same. Tonight, as upon that oth|
er, she stood within a threshold and
i peered out on Life with a big L. A
! flame was in her cheeks and in her
i eyes; her lips were half-parted and
: thirsty, her bosom agitated. She was
divinely dressed.
They were very s'ilent on their way
j to dinner at the Knickerbocker, but .
they exuded an aura of tense expectj
ancy that made nothing of the ?lass
barrier between them and the car pilot,
who soon felt himself lifted and
carried on its wave. Something was
- ? 1 JL1_
j cooking beyond a doubt anu ne men
! and there determined to stick a fist
through the crust of the pie just before
the smell of burning.
There is nothing more stereotyped
than a night run before the fever
hounds of New York. It is invariably J
a four-act play that starts with a single
cocktail and a tasty dinner, goes
| on to a show peppered with double
| meanings, thickens at the cabaret in
j the close harmony ?f booze and dance
j music and finally bursts "somewhere
j in the country."
The first act was easy for Randolph;
he went on with the villain and the
i
; leading lady, but once the revolving
| door of the hotel had clucked on their
backs he had to withdraw to the wings
and dope out a means of evolving
from a super into a star of the first
magnitude. He decided that it didn't
much matter who wafted the couple
from dinner to the show, but that the
next entr'act would hold the crux of
the night's _entertfcinmantL for tfe$ cab
that secured the freight for the caba- JHj
ret would stand a good chance of nail- JfiK
ing it after the ball. fll
Consequently he was content to pick
up a gutter-snipe and then trail his
prey to the theater. "Them is the
two," he said to his ally, suborned mt
with the promise of two hits, cash on tcS|
delivery, "the John with the high hat, IS
and the dream-darae in smoke-colored Jffl
chiffon."
"That's some name for a skirt Cap," jjjSSj
said the extreme youth admiringly,
"an' some skirt, believe me. Nor!
I won't forget 'em."
And he didn't. No sooner had Mr. JlflN|
Readier Tremont, hearing a thistle- H
clown burden on his arm, swelled out
from the theater with the anxious look fl|H
on his face of a man with three cars jWHffi
in the garage at home and no call aRBI
number in his left hand waistcoat
pocket, than the imp was at his side.
"Say, mister, wanter taxi? Got one |M|
at the head of the line that Fd give -.'Wh
up just to youse for a dime." 3H
"l^ead me to it," said Mr. Tremont. J|
"Say," said the snipe to liandoipn
as the car jumped, "I've took the boss *
inside on fer a friend. You watch 18
yeself."
It was a short run to the lair of "^8
the Midnight Rolic, but Mr. Randolph ?8
was not surprised at the double wage
he received nor at the murmured con- V
versation that accompanied it. "Fill g
1 . |
"Wait for Me at the Seventh Avenue \ j
Northeast Corner.' Get Me?" A
up your^gas tank and wait for me at
the Seventh avenue northeast corner.
Get me?" u'
"Sure," grunted Mr. Randolph. ]
"Wh'ere to, mister?" J
"Greenwood hostelry," breathed the
villain. y
"I'm on," said Mr. Randolph, ran
his car to the comfortably quiet nook
designated, dug out a road map of
Manhattan and vicinity, scrutinized
it carelessly and settled down to meditate.
To a select and once affluent few#
the name of the G. hostelry above
mentioned will bring certain vivid
recollections and will also place the ' y. M
chronology of this yarn, *for the
said abode of revelry was too good to
last very long; it choked to death on ;
its own popularity and consequent pub
licity. From the outside, even in its
hey-day, it presented a most innocu- , /
ous appearance, just a renovated farmhouse
standing under a clump of veiling
sugar-maples on the top of a hill
whence the nearest neighbor was out / -j
of sight.
But once within its modest portal, '
its habitues found themselves in the
cleverest fake atmosphere of a pleasure-loving
decade. An organizing genius,
sensitive to all those cheap adjuncts
which usually grate on the soul
hovering at the edge of the decline
to Avernus, had pandered effectively
to an ignoble end and made of each
small room an isle of forgetfulness;
price, twenty-five bucks in advance,
supper and drinks extra.
For the benefit of those who do not
remember the epoch of the Greenwojod
hostelry and are consequently
reading on and on in mortal dread of
the paragraph that will introduce the
War, let it be said at once, Forget it
Stake out the beginning of the international
mix-up, hurl another boundary
mark into November of 1918, and
the time left outside of those limits
will be found entirely sufficient to the
needs of this chronicle. Let it further
be noted that it is inconceivable that
a single^ drop of the kind of blood
which flowed in the veins of Mr. Robert
Hervey Randolph could ever an-'
swer to the name of slacker, proof
positive in itself that the events herein
- * ' ? xv _
set forth happened wnen uie tu
didn't.
Mr. Slim Hervey, chauffeur,' was
still plunged in reverie when his senses ^
were assailed by a whiff of lilac, a
mere nuance of perfume, that pro- claimed
the approach of Miss Madge
Van Tellier. He jumped out just in
time to throw open the door of his
cab for the couple and take the murmured
order of Mr. Beacher Tremont
"All right. Hit it up for Greenwood."
Luckily for the cabman's entertainment,
his engine was working in silent
perfection that night. The late
hour gave him almost undisputed right
of way so that driving became an
automatic adjustment of his course in
line with the curb and released his
attention to gorge itself at leisure
with eaves-dropping. By squirming
his shoulders he managed to cock one
ear over the top of his high overcoat
collar; it was the ear next to the open
speaking-slot.
(To be continued next week.)
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