The Somerset reporter., 1903-08-27
HER GUARDIAN
FROM AVENUE A
By BENNETT MUSSoN
Copyright, 1903, by 7. C. Mcclure

A cab stood waiting In a cross street
! near Fifth avenue. 1t was an ordina-
ry cab, with its driver arrayed in liv-
cry which could by no stretch of the
Imagination be taken for that of pri.
vate family, but to the mind of Billie
McAdam 1t was associated with i'll
omen.
1t Is a far cry from Avenue A to
Fifth avenue, but Billie had made the
| transition, with the assistance OF Fran
| ces Hartley. On one of her Summing
tours she had found him. ragged, cold
and hungry, the center of -roup Of
hostile urchins who were about to en-
gage him In combat. She had rescued
the boy from his perilous position and
had interviewed his intoxicated and
acquiescent father
! The result of the negotiation had
been Billies installation as hall boy in
the Hartley mansion, where the COM
! placency with which he regarded the
grandeur of his surroundings and the
elegance of his green, brass buttonnd
uniform was almost balanced by his
deep rooted feeling of gratitude for
Miss Frances
If the facile and independent mind of
Billie McAdam had one responsibility
1t was the conviction that he must at
all times act as the protector and guar
dian of Frances Hartley. There was
her father of course, Il dignitied, aris-
tocratic and prejudlced gentleman of
the old school. He counted in way
but Billie felt vaguely that Wifred
Hartley could not bark back from his
thirty years experience in society and
clubdom and sympathiZe thoroughly
with a motherless girl of twenty-five
who was impressionable. light hearted
and rather thoughtless.
Then there was Henry Beach. If be-
ing young, rich, handsome and impul-
siye We're all the requisites of life Hen,
ry was a person to whom Billie's re-
sponsibilities of guardianship could be
transferred. But there were other
things that Billie did not understand.
but which Mr.. Hartley set such store
by that they must be of prime impor-
lance
They were negative, most of these
things, not having ones father in the
retail trade, not being in the shadows
of society instead of firmly anchored
in its depths.
With the prejudice of youth Billie
allowed the feelings of Wilfred Hart
ley to influence him. He liked Henry
Beach. but on the occasions when he
admitted him to the house. frequently
occasions on which Mr.. Hartley was
absent, he did not exhibit much cor
diality.
Such time had come this morning.
Billy had noted the hired carriage in
which Beach arrived. He had observed
an unusual futter of expectancy in
Frances greeting of the young man.
Going to the corner to mail a letter, he
had seen the cab waiting in a side
street Returning to his station on a
hall bench, he noticed that the voices
which came in subdued tones from the
drawing room had in them a note Of
suppressed excitement
Billie sat on his bench and fidgeted
Then he deserted his post, stole into
the library and, noiselessly pushing
back a folding door, installed himself
behind some curtains in the drawing
room.
Frances Hartley stood near a win
dow, and beside her was Henry Beach.
who looked implorlngly at her tear
stained face.
II cannot bear to deceive my father.
Henry she said as Billie guilty Sc
cured his place of vantage.
at is for only once, dear" Beach re-
piled low and earnestly. I'VE can go
in the cab l have waiting and be back
here safely married by the time your
father returns from the club. Then
there will be scene, and the worst
that can happen will be his withhold
ing his forgiveness for a week or two"
And so the man talked as many men
have talked before.
Frances demurred, but in the end
her head sank to Henry's shoulder and
Billie knew she was the woman who
hesitates, and he stole softly away.
His idea of the duties of a guardian
was elemental; it was to strike straight
from the shoulder. His first thought
was to get rid of the cab, his next to
notify Mr.. Hartley.
Seating himself at the library table,
he hastily printed the following note:
Kun Home to Onse I hay took the
Kerriage. BILLIE.
Addressing this to Mr.. Hartley, he
hurried to the hall, grasped his cap and
ran to the waiting cab.
Gent wants to see ye at de house.
I'll hold yer horses" he announced to
the cabman. reapsing in his excite
ment to his familiar Avenue \ dialect.
Billie waited until the man had
turned the corner. Then he climbed to
the drivers seat of the cab, grasped
the reins and started the horses. Pres
emily the doorman of Fifth avenue
club was surprised to see a small boy
in green uniform imperiously beckon
to him from the seat of a carriage.
When the man wonderlngly approached
a crumpled note WINS thrust into his
hand, with the injunction that it be de-
iivered to Mr.. Hartley at once.
BElie's dominant idea was to keep
the cab away from the house until all
danger of an elopement should be over.