The Saint Paul globe., 1904-10-30
THE GATES OF CHANCE

writing. The transcribed message read:
One thousand (s) dollars apiece {sl Of
fered for any or all of ninety-nine (s)
kisses, undelivered. Take car No. 6 (s)
Blue Line" crosstewn, any (s) evening,
and get off at West Fourth street. Pur-
chase two pounds of the best (s) butter at
the corner grocery, and ask for a purple
trading (s9 stamp.
Quite as extravagan as the adver-
tisement that called 1T FORTH re-
marked. ITO the wholly impartial
mind it seems like nonsense" "
Ah, but what precious nonsense!'''
quoted Indiman, musingly. Then, sud-
denly: 'ThOrp, we need butter; wish
you'd step around to that West Fourth
street grocery and get couple OF
pounds-the best butter, mind
/ rose. Certainly; back in half an
hour
~Oh, this evening Is time enough.
Man, man, can't you see through lad
der? They're after the girl with the
gray eyes, and hope in this way to get
a eiew to her whereabouts. Now, you
can't fight shadows; the only chance is
to match them against each other. Do
make myself quite clear 2"
Not in the lease
II want to know who sends that mes
sage, and it's possible that the answer
is right under our eyes,; He held up
the strip of telegraphic tape. DO you
see the letter S, inclosed in parentheses,
and repeated before several words 2"
Means nothing, so far as can see"
Unless it's habit with the operator
to occasionally sound the three dots
that make up the letter in the Morse
alphabet unconsciously you know, and
just as another man, in speaking, might
stutter or continually introduce a hesi-
tating er' or sum.' :"
Nothing is impossible, my dear fell
low" Here the bell of the desk tele-
phone rang. For example, this call
may be from Mademoiselle D. herself ;,
He picked up the receiver and held it
to his ear. TT is," he said, looking
over at me-.
The weather conditions happened to
be particularly favorable for telephone
communications could hear almost as
distinctly, standing On my side of the
table, as Indiman himself / started to
walk away, then I stopped, and an
nounced my intention of listening also;
Indiman nodded assent
There was unmistakable annoyance
and anxiety In the tones of the voice
that greeted US. Il have just seen your
absurd advertisement" it began. 81
peg OF you to let this matter drop, in
stantly, finally
"A request without a reason" an
sWered Indiman. You owe me some
thing more than that"
There is danger,
To me or to your
ITO yourself"
Il am sorry, but you have indicated
the sole condition which makes my
withdrawal possible.
A little feminine sigh came from the
other end of the wire. "Oh, dear. it
was so stupid of me to say that-to
mani" A pause. Then, in slightly
vexed tone, "Supposing that 1t is a
question of minding ones own busi-
ness"
Precisely what I am trying to do
said Indiman, humbly. 'It is a settle
ment that am proposing"
perceive, sir, that / am making
myself ridiculousp and the voice
sounded cold and inconceivably distant.
I have the honor to wish you a very
good morning" The telephone rang off
sharply.
fancy that the same thought was in
both our minds: Could this be the
same woman whom we had seen selling
her roses al an East side bazaar?
The very thought was Incredible
And remember that we had not heard
her voice before. Yet neither of us
doubted, even for moment.
After all, it was only one kiss that
was actually sold and delivered" said
1ndiman, half deiantly. But he need
not have defended her to me.
1t was getting to be a very pretty
problem as it stood, the obvious proba-
bility being that it was the girl her
self who stood in danger What
could we do? To discover the nature
of the impending peril and, above all,
the personnel of the conspirators. And
then what? How were we to commu-
nicate with or warn the girl?-for, of
course, she had called up Indiman from
a public pay station, leaving no clew
to her identity or address. Well,
there was still the personal column
in the Herald; it had reached her
once and might again.
Il am going downtown to the main
office of the Western Union," said
Indiman "and may be away all day.
If shouldn't return by dinner time,