The news & observer., 1903-12-13
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got you Qeau 90 rlSnJS. 1Ou JuSC ulNe
down in that stockin' o. yours an haul
out the roll. If l can, I'll fix it up an
let you mooch.''
Peggie knew of nothing better than to
keep up her bluff" and she kept it up
with vigor and force.
want me to pinch you?"
'tOh, pinch your old pper-tongue, will
you an shut up"
"All right, them" said Izod, put up
your dukes while put the cuffs on 'em -
Peggie had no more than seen the hand
cuffs when she changed her bluff; she
screamed and wept like a woman in fit
of Mysteries. Prankerd pushed his way
through the gathering, and he and the
woman looked each other full in the face
Suddenly the woman again changed
front
''Aw! git away, it's my pal," she said
laughing, and grabbed Prankerds hand.
That's the one / had IN Omaha; don't
you remember Omaha ?"
"Yes, / remember Omaha, but what's
that got to do with pal?"
Don't you remember the two nights
you were held up out there? I'm sure
you're the bloke. Amt forgotten, have
you, how the fellow that held you Jp
divvied with you? He had on a brown
coat. don't you recollect, an talked with
you bout dinin'? You wouldn't send a
fellow like that over the road, would
your"
'Well, I'll be d-d.'' was all Prankerd
could say.
Sure We're pals. Shake" said the
woman, not meaning to assent to Prank
erds expressed opinion, but to his muck
pressed recognition.
Seems to me you've changed since
Omaha days. said Prankerd, accepting
the invitation and laughing.
Prankerd meditated; he liked Pegg,e.
"Divvy and divvy, turn about's fair play.
Hand out the roll and I'll split it with
you; I'll give you half
Peggie produced the roll from her stock
ing and handed it to Prankerd. He
counted it and handed her back half.
"You'se man." she said.
$50 are you-sometimes!"
The detective viewed the exchange with
greedy eyes, but said nothing; there was
nothing for him to say. BY rights, as
rights go in such circumstances, there
was nothing for anyone to say, but one
Edwin Parlby, also a passenger, thought
otherwise. Edwin Parlby had Calvinist
somewhere among his forebears he did
not know just where, but no matter for
that; he spelled government and justice
in "large caps" and had IDEAS of public
spirit He stepped forward and addressed
Frankerd.
81 beg your pardon; do L understand
that you mean to allow this woman to
go free?"
D,o,, ynH o+ hn
exasperating good humor. I'm sure I
don't know what concern that is OF
yours" he said.
although you know absolutely that she
has picked your pocket?"
although I know absolutely that she
has picked my pocket 1 repeat 1 don't
know what concern it is of yours The
pocket was not your pocket. The lady
liberty to pick my pocket whenever she
likes indeed she has exercised that privi-
lege from the first time she met met"
''I'll soon make it some concern of
mine!" said the virtuous Parlby. "Detec-
tive, call on you to arrest that woman
as a thief, and the man as witness,
or worse, leaving the State. If you don't,
I'll do it myself and I'll make it damned
hot for YOU
Fate, which makes history, and is much
concerned to make it worth reading, or
dained that ten years after the three ac-
tors in the little scene in the railway
carriage should find themselves settled
in the same municipality. The place was
III the far west, and need not be desig
mated otherwise than as the city OF
Blank.
The three had prospered greatly in the
interval. Edwin Parlby had recently got
the leading bank of the city OF Blank
where he could squeeze it and had
squeezed. Lisle Prankerd was one OF the
directors; it had been in the city ~
Blank that he had found his fortune. He
resigned from the board and parted with
his interests in the bank when Partly
was elected. Peggie Niven was the local
queen, in the city of Blank, of the Under
World, She was % years old when she
first introduced herself to Prankerd. She
had shifted from New York to the west
out of motives of personal shyness; the
metropolis wished to show her public
courtesies which she would have found
embarrassing. The police had made her
acquaintance, had demanded and secured
a photograph of her none too attractive
countenance, had given her number in
their gallery of celebrities, and were eager
upon the first oportunity to show her
still other mars of their esteem.
1t chagrined her very much to be told
in Columbus by the Judge before whom
stockholder Parlby had succeeded in
bringing her, that it was the will OF the
commonwealth that she settle in its per-
itentiary for five years. 'It's my last
trip east" was her resolution on re-
ceiving the sentence, which was shortened
by good conduct to three years and nine
months-time enough, however, for ner
to come to some conclusions, the
most important of which was ''graftin'
doesn't pay" and that she was "goin' to
chuck it, On her return to the west she
took fresh deal in the game, and her
name appeared in the tax collectors S
books in the city of Blank as that of
the owner of certain temples where men
sacrificed to fortune and to other heather
deities whose worship is not extinct.
If a gambler went broke" he betool,
himself to Peggie for fresh stake; =
and if friend got "pinched' Peggie was
the one to bail him out. 1t is even re-
ported that the Upper World levied upon
ber for contributions to charity and got