The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1905-12-26
BytheShuttle
Train
BY NIxOLA GREELEY-SMITH
c0pyright, lgOs. BY Mcclure, Phillips . g

sands are the means which the fates
presiding over love affairs employ tC
bring the one man and the one woman
| together.
1t was the shuttle train that has its
terminus at the Fifty eighth street ele
waited station, where Sixth avenue ends
its devious journey past wholesale
warehouses and small shops and de
partment stores, with brief dip into
the gayeties of theaters and dance
halls in the frivolous Thirties, and Cen.
trail park begins its spreading progress
through the city's heart, that brought
about the determining moment in the
lives Of Madge Rowan and John Cley-
erley.
The interference Of this particular
agent was the more remarkable be-
cause the lives of the two persons most
concerned with it had till a few months
before been lived more than 1900
miles away.
1t was in February that the pretty
daughter of the most prosperous physi-
clan in a thriving Colorado town had
hidden fearful farewell to the fond ia
Their and mother who had at last &C
quiesced in her desire to go east to de-
velop her artistic talent.
The talent found its chief expression
in fluffy impossibilities masquerading
as Easter chickens and other seasonal
BILE novelties, with which she decorated
menu cards, to the infinite admiration
Of her many friends.
Her art, therefore, had brought her
to New York And it was art, likewise
hers, that had brought John Cleverley.
For, though the two had been boy and
girl sweethearts together, the sudden
development of Miss Rowan's artistic
genius had apparently absorbed all her
sentimental impulses, and before leav-
ing Colorado she had told Cleverley
that she could never marry him.
She had not been a month in town
before the young man made his APP
studio with more or less plausible
story of having been sent east by his
firm to look up an important case.
Art had languished during that first
month, when visits to unsympathetic
dealers had convinced Miss Rowan of
the dearth of the demand for dinner
cards, and the cordially of the auburn
haired, paint despatched vision that
greeted Cleverley when he climbed the
five flights to her studio augured well
for his hope of taking her back with
him to Colorado. But the day after his
arrival she had actually succeeded in
selling dozen menu cards, and again
Cupid dropped his diminished head I'M
der Arts overshadowing wing.
So furiously did Miss Rowan apply
herself to her profession under the i'm
petus that it was only after much
persuasion that she consented to spend
an afternoon at the beach the Satur-
day after Cleverley's arrival.
You know, Jack" she had said,
you haven't the responsibilities that
| have. 1t is natural for you to want
to go about and see things, but I've
just started new pond lily menu
series, and | must have it finished to-
morrow night. And the studio must be
cleaned tomorrow afternoon anyway"
But as Cleverley looked unconvinced
and rueful she added contritely: 'Well,
I'll go this once. But don't you come
here, for everything will be IN such
a mess. I'll meet you at the Fifty
eighth street elevated station at 8
o'clock"
And to this arrangement, after some
argument, Cleverley was forced to ac-
quiesce.
On Saturday the fact that she knew
she would have to refuse Jack Clever
ley for the last time lent q pleasing
melancholy to Miss Rowan's prepare
lions for the afternoon. AS a conces-
sion to Cleverley she determined to
wear the rather barbaric necklace of
topazes and Cripple Creek gold which
had been his last birthday Offering to
her, and she therefore sought 1t In the
little jewel box, which had not been
taken from its place of concealment in
the bottom of her trunk since her ar
rival in New York.
Her surprise when she discovered,
after a search that was at first perfume
tory, then earnest and finally frantic,
that 1t and, indeed, all her jewels were
gone was splendid testimonial to her
belief in her adopted city.
But fact, relentless, immutable, must
ever triumph over illusion, and In If
teen minutes Miss Rowan had realized
that all the pretty little trinkets she
had collected since infancy had indeed
been stolen. In the face of such un-
foreseen disaster she stood alone, in
experienced, in a strange city And
for young woman in the full enjoy
ment of an Independent career her first
thought was a singularly lmpracticable
one-she must tell John Cleverley all
about 1t, and he would get them back!
But first she would summon the land
lady, the stout, person inhablting I'M
penetrated depths below. who called so
regularly to collect the rent, and de-
clare her loss. There was theory
that this mysterious person might be
reached by bell and speaking tube.
But ten minutes of frenzied blowing
and ringing sent Miss Rowan plunging
down the five flights to the basement
for more tangible consolation than the
hooking silence which answered her
afforded
Now, Miss Rowan's neutrality-suspicious.
landlady does not?-played the races.
And she generally lost. When Miss
Rowan confronted her with the tale Of
ner stolen jewelry she had lost very
heavily on the first race.
AS a result in the next five minutes
Miss Rowan learned what she had new
err doubted, that Mrs. O'Brien kept
respectable house." that her colored
maid, engaged the day before without
references. was the most honest and
God fearing woman she had ever
known" and perfect lady" that no
jewels had been stolen, that investiga-
ton would doubtless show that if they
Adu ACdite ulodpPOoACN 4AaoS ANN' 49,
herself had 'pawned'' them, and that If
she dared cast such an aspersion upon
an honest widow trying to make re-
spectacle living all the reporters in
New York would be called in and she
would rue the day that she and her
worthless truck ever came out Of Colo
RADIO.
Under this onslaught, which she was
not experienced enough to trace to its
bibulous origin, poor little Miss Rowan
blanched, wilted and finally rushed
from the house And it was only after
she had walked several bewildered
blocks that she awoke to the realixa-
ton of her appointment with John
Cleverley at O'Clock. A glance at her
watch told her that it was already ten