The Press., 1906-02-21
BytheShuttle
Train
By NIxOLA cREELEY.sMITH
Copyright, 1905. by Mcclure, Phillips q Co.


sands are the means which the fates
presiding over love affairs employ to
bring the one man and the one woman
together.
It 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 it's spreading progress
through the city's heart, that brought
about the determining moment In the
lives of Madge Rowan and John Clev-
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 few months
before been lived more than 1000
miles away.
1t was in February that the pretty
daughter of the most prosperous physi-
clan in a thriving Colorado town had
hidden a 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 Rowans 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 ap-
pearance at her Fifty-eighth street
| 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 a 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
i 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
I have. 1t is natural for you to want
to go about and see things, but I've
just started a new pond lily menu
series, and 1 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
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 a pleasing
melancholy to Miss Rowan's prepare
lions for the afternoon. AS a conces
sion to Cleverley she determined t.
wear the rather barbaric necklace Of
topaZes and Cripple Creek gold which
had been his last birthday offering tt
her, and she therefore sought it in thu
little jewel box, which had not beer
taken from its place of concealment il
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 it and, indeed, all her jewels wer'
gone was a splendid testimonial to he
belief in her adopted city.
But fact, relentless, immutable, mus
ever triumph over illusion, and in fit
teen minutes Miss Rowan had realized
that all the pretty little trinkets sh
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. Ant
for a young woman in the full enjoy
ment of an independent career her frs
thought was a singularly impractical
one-she must tell John Cleverley al
about 1t, and he would get them back!
But first she would summon the land
lady, the stout person inhabiting un
penetrated depths below, who called s.
regularly to collect the rent, and de
clare her loss. There was q theor.
that this mysterious person might b
reached by bell and speaking tube
But ten minutes of frenzied BLOWN,
and ringing sent Miss Rowan plungini
down the FIVE flights to the basemen
for more tangible consolation than tn
mocking silence which answered he
afforded E.-.
e Now, Miss Rowan's landlady-whos
I landlady does not?-played the races
And she generally lost. When Mis-
Rowan confronted her with the tale q
her stolen 1ewelry CHE had lost very
heavily on the first FNce.
As a result in the next five minutes
Miss Rowan learned what she had new
er doubted, that Mrs. O'Brien kept 9
respectable house." that her colored
maid, engaged the day before without
references, was the most honest ant
God fearing woman she had evel
known" and a perfect lady" that NJ
jewels had been stolen, that investiga
ton would doubtless show that If they
had really disappeared Miss Rowan
! herself had ''pawned' them, and that Il