The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1904-04-03
CHAPTER XXI.
A NIGHTS WORK.

A NIGHTS WORK
Have is have. however men may CATCH
Shakespeare.
Under cover of the darkness Essex
hurried down the street toward where the
city passed from place of homes to a
business mart. He had at first no fixed
idea of a goal. but after a few moments
rapid march, realized that habit was TAX
ing him in the direction of Bertrand 8.
An illumined clock face shining on him
over the roofs told him il was some time
past his dinner hour. He obeyed his in
stinct and bent his steps toward the res
taurant. throwing the cloak over the
fence of a vacant lot and wiping the
triclIle of blood from his cheek with his
handkerchief.
He was cool and master of himself
once more. His brain was cleared. as a
sky by storm, and he knew that to-
nights interview must be one OF the last
he would have with the woman who had
come to stand to him for love, wealth,
success and happiness. He must win or
lose all within the next few days
A half-hour later he was lighting the
gas in his own room in Bush street. The
damp air of the night entered through a
crack of opened window, introducing a
breath of sweet. moist freshness into the
smole-saturated chamber. He threw off
his coat and lit the fire AS soon as it
had caught satisfactorily he left the
room, crossed the hall noiselessly, and
with slight preliminary knock. opened
Harney's door The man was sitting
the evening paper by the light of a
flaming gas-jet He had the air of one
who was waiting. and as Essex's head
was advanced round the edge of the door
he looked UP with alert, expectant eyes.
Come into my room" said the young
er man: there's work for you tonight"
Harvey threw down his paper and fol-
lowed him across the hall 1t was evil
dent that he was sober, and beyond this
some new sense of Importance and pow
er had taken from his manner its old
ana partners. The drunken type-setter
and one-time thief was still under Barry
Essexs thumb. but he was also deep in
his confidence.
He sat down in his old seat by the
fire. his eyes on Essex
What's up?" he said: what work
have you got for me such night as
this?"
big work. and with big money be-
hind it." said the younger man; and
when it's done we each get our share
and go our ways, George Harvey
He drew his chair to the other side of
the fire and began to talk-his voice low
and quiet at first. growing urgent and
authoritative. as Harvey shrank before
The moments licked by, the fire growing
hotter and brighter, the roaring of the
storm sounding above the voices of the
master and the tool. The night was half
instructed.
Then the men, waiting for the hour of
deepest sleep and darkness, continued TO
sit, occasionally speaking, the light OF
the leaping flames catching and losing
their anxious faces as the freight in
another room was touching the face of
the sleeping girl OF whom they talked
It was nearly three when a movement
of life stirred the blackness of the Gar
cha garden. The rushing of the rain beat
down all sound; In the moist sodden-
ness of the earth no trace fingered The
pepper-tree bent and cracked to the
gusts as IT did to the additional weight
Of the creeping figure in it's boughs.
This was merely a shapeless bulk of
blackness amid the fine and broken
blackness OF the swaying foliage. 1t
stole forward with noiselesS caution.
though II might have shouted and all
sound been lost in the angry turmoil of
great limb that stretched to the balcony
roof, a perpendicular knife-edge of light
that cleaned from between the curtains
Of window, now and then crossed its
face, sometimes dividing it clearly in
two, sometimes Illuminating one atten-
tive eye. a small shining point of life in
the dead murk around 1t, one eye. aglow
with purpose, cleaning startlingly from
blackness.
The loud drumming of the rain on the
balcony roof drowned the crackle of the
tin under a feeling foot. To slide there
from the limb only occupied a moment.
The branch had grown well UP over the
roof, grating now and then against it
when the wind was high. The thin
SlT6dh vi l1Enl bCbWCCn bAC Nui
tains made the man wary. Why was she
burning a light at this hour unless she
was sleepless and up?
Pressed close to the pane he applied
his eye to the crack which was the wild
est near the sill He saw a portion of
the room. looking curiously vivid and
distinct in the narrow concentration of
his view. 1t seemed flooded with I'M
steady, warmly yellow light. Straight
before him he saw table with rified
tea-tray on it, and back Of that another
table The one eye pressed to the crack
grew absorbed as it focused itself on
the second table. Among litter of
books, ornaments and feminine trifles,
stood a small desk Of dark wood 1t was
as If il had been placed there to catch
his attention-the goal of his line of
vision.
Shifting his position he pressed his
cheek against the glass and squinted in
ering of the light spoke of a fire. Then
he saw the figure of the sleeping woman,
lying in an attitude of complete repose
in the armchair. He gaZed at her striv
ing to gauge the depth of her sleep. One
of her hands hung over the arm of the
chair, with the CLEAN of the fire flicker
ing on the white skin. The same light
touched a strand Of loosened hair. Her
face was in profile toward him, the chin
pressed down on the shoulder. It looked
like a picture in it's suggestion of pro-
found Inconsistencies.
> He pushed fearfully on the cross-bar
breadth. Then again. and it was high
enough up for him to insert his hand.
He did So and drew forward the curtain
of heavy rep so as to hide from the
sleeper the gradual stages of his en-
trance. BY degrees he raised it to
height sufficient to permit the passage
of his body. The curtain shielded the
girl from the current of cold air that en-
tered the room. He crept in softly on
his hands and knees, then rose to his
feet.
For a moment he made no further
movement, but stood. his gaze riveted
on the sleeper. watching for a symptom
OF reused consciousness. She slept on
peacefully, the light sound of ner
breathing family audible.
The silence of the hushed house
seemed weirdly terrifying after the
tumult of the night outside The thief
stole forward to the desk his eye con-
tinually turned toward her. When he
reached the table she was so far be-
hind him that he could only see the
sweep Of her wrapper on the floor, her
shoulder and the top of her head over
the chair back
He tried the desk with an unsteady
hand. 1t was locked, but the insertion
of steel file he carried broke the frail
clasp. II gave with a sharp click and
he stood, his hair stirring. watching the
ton Of her head II Id NOT move fha