The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-27
A ROMANCE OF TWO CABS
BY EsrELLINE BENNETT.

| Copyright, ,l9O f. by Daily story Pup. Co,J l A cab drove hurriedly up to the ent' rance of the hotel and stopped. A young mar in a high silk hat and long over coat was oait before the obseouious cor ored man could reach him. Baggage, sir?"
 Mo- he said, abruptly, and turned to | speak to some one in the cab. II won't be but a moment, dearest. Don't be impatient" The girl inside leaned her yellow head back against the cushions of the cap, to | the imminent danger of her big. black pc ture hat. She watched the lights come and go in an electric cigar advertisement on the top of one-story building across the street. Between it and her, carriages. automobiles. bicycles and omnibuses rush. ed by on the boulevard, and men and women on foot were hurrying home from their days work. But the girl never took her eyes from the vivid, changing elec- tric sign except to send an occasional swift glance toward the entrance of the hctel She showed her impotence only in the tight compression of her red lips and the nervous tapping, of her little pat ent leather toe.
 The young man walked rapidly across the lobby of the hotel, where the big or gar was playing Hearts and Flowers to the telephone station. He studied the directory in frantic haste before he called for a number and shut himself in the l:itle booth to talk.
 Hello" he said, breathlessly. els this Dr. Mcleod? Yes7 We'll I want to get married. Can you do it7 In about an hour? Yes. Yes, I've got it. Yes. that's all right. Alright, we'll be there in about an hour"
 He happened to glance out of the tele- phone booth and saw across the lobby. standing by the desk. a stout. elderly man with grey sidewhiskers,
 Say" he shouted wildly into> the phone. "I say, Dr. Mcleod. can't you make that fifteen or thirty minutes at the outside? Yes, do. for Heavens sake. We'll be right over"
 He slipped around and out the nearest way with his eye on the portly back of the man at the desk. He went around the corner on a run to where his cab was standing.
 North side" he said to the driver. Five dollars if you get us to Maple Street in fifteen minutes" "AlI right. sir.''
 The driver swung his whip as the young man jumped inside and slammed the door behind him. They had turned the corner on to State Street and were flying along in front of changing cable car before the young man had settled himself suffi- ciently to be aware of the icy tones of the woman.
 May I ask what this means, sir?" she dcmanded in a cold. familiar voice, that struck terror to the young mans very soul. He leaned forward to look at her and glare of an electric light from out side fell upon his clear-cut, clean-shaven features. For a moment they stared at each other in speeches. astonishment. Then the woman's sense of humor came to the rescue.
 What do you mean, Mir. Blake" she asked, with an assumption of outraged dignity, "by trying to kidnap respect able elderly woman old enough to be your motherT'
 The young man smiled, a weak. shad- owy smile.
 q guess in my haste to make her my mother, I've made a mistake" "where's Lucile?''
 The young man shook his head dis rnaiIy.
 "search me- he said. forgetting what was due his coveted mother-in-law. ''l supposed she was in this cab"
 And where were you going?' the girls mother quietly asked, eff you had found her here?'
 The young man never for a moment de- | ned her right to question nln. Tn tne simple hurt fashion of a small boy whe has been rudeIy thwarted in his plans to go west and fight Indians. he told oi the hastily conceived and strangely frus- trated plot. Something of the boyish sim. rlicity of the story. the honest ring ir | the boys voice, and something in the clean-cut, determined young face ap' pealed to the woman. After All, what had anybody against him but his you'll and the youth of the girl he had made LID his mind to marry. To stop the mar r;age now was only to postpone it. | Somewhere about Jackson boulevard was an frate, middle-aged man who, s good many years ago. had been as young as this boy and as good to look upon. Suppose that some one then had tried to prevent her marrying him. Youthful marriages were the fashion in those days and no one had tried.
 My boy" she said. laying small daintiIy gloved hand on his arm. "iet us talk this over and see If we can't come to a rational understanding. | The girl had watched the cigar sign until she saw spots of electricity wher- ever she looked, when she was startled bv the opening of the cab door.
 Five dollars if you overtake that cah ahead of us." shouted a gruff voice to the driver, and instead of the slim youth
 she was expecting. the girls father plumped down on the seat beside her.
 why. papai' she exclaimed and her