The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-03-15
"A TAWDREY HOUSE
The C~lairvoyant.

A Erunt Of dSapproval rose from the
Granny Corner a. PulEver, slim, erect,
dressed 10 perfection, bis spare n swarthy
face unohanHng, his handsome black eyes
fixed. passed rapidly through the ONCE 70
the elevator.
Exclusive chap; feels his mon, groUled
old Gen. Snail.
Thinks himself bette. than other folks
added ex-Judge Precedent, 'but Id like to
know where he got 1t, all the samee,'
Don't believe he has got much,' pulled
Samuel S~arcenet, the retired merchant.
spoplectio with righteous wrath, All
blum and front, l Ahould gay, like a Jerry
building. lie makes me sick with his airs,
and what good do they do him, anyway
There isn't a girl in the Tawdrey would wipe
her old shoes on him.
Just then BiEihus the clerk popped his
bullet head with distended ears like a Chinese
kite around the edge Of the desk.
Sour grapes, a blooming vineyard OF
them" he remarked casually. Don't you
a~ntiquated Reynards know that Seth Pull
silver is our star boarder; spot cash on dot
every time, and never the twitch OF a heky
! Say, you'd better rustic up your Bibles
| and take example, What Ia il the prophet
says in the Book OF Denial. Go thou and do
likewise And zee, Sarcenet, SEE
He chuCkled viciously AZ he pointed to
the p~assageway with the parlor doors on
one side and the elevator gates on the other.
Pulsiver was still waiting In self -contained
elegance. evidently the elevator in use
was practising some one Of the didoes
which made an accident policy even more
] necessary at the Tawdrey House than a
marriage certificate, such as banging mp
to the roof. dropping down TO the cellar or
sticking between floors. But In and out OF
the parlor. TO the news stand, the flower
booth, the telephone desk, Susie Sarcenet
was fitting back and forth, with many a
cOquettish side glance as she passed, which
none except Pulsiver himself could fail
to interpret. A sweet and pretty girl, Susie;
though, like the flowers Of her pretended
interest, suffering somewhat for the light
and air Of a natural life.
,~sDamnation!- painted Sarcenet: and he
made to squeeze out Of his chair.
A slow and difficult process. Before II
was accomplished the accident had hap
| pened, and we. with Billkns in the lead,
had swarmed over to its Unconscious vic
tim.
A piece Of the machinery undergoing re-
pair had crashed down the shaft, plunging
! out the heavy elevator gate just as pretty
Susie for the dozenth time fitted by, The
girl would surely have been as dead as Tar
pRia had not Pulsiver, suddenly rousing,
thrust her aside at the cost OF a slant blow
to himself. He now lay prone in the passage
way. with Susie wringing her hands over
him.
as A~ndrOmsche, while the physician exam
med Door Pulsiver's head ana Billikins
issued frantic orders for the other elevator
to be put in hazardous commission. SAT-
Genet limbered up r~eprovingly, but 1t
made no difference.
sHe saved my lie. popper!- she sobbed:
| and the old codger vacillated himself like a
hogshead OH a trucks tail.
OF course just at the psychological mo-
I ment, when he was about 10 be borne 10
his room, Puls'ver opened his ~eyes-eyes
/ have u mechanical aptitude for eucn mo-
ments which need not surprise sny one
Whist did surprise me, however, was the
effect upon Pulsiver as he glanced al Susie,
am morally certain that he had been as
unconscious Of the girls presence as he was
Ignorant Of her existence; that his act in
her behalf had been an impulse which would
have responded just as quickly, surely
and automatically if a scrubwoman were
in peril. But yet at his very first peroep-
ton Of her. instead Of indifference there
was intense interest,
Interest: but beyond my powers Of analy-
sis. II wasn't phvsical attraction. I'll
swear 10 that: il wasn't even the friendliness
uf a brave and generous deed.
II was rather as il the man saw some
thing he did not want to see; something he
had not thought 10 ace; something even that
terrified him, ] should say, were il not 70
absurd; and vet why did his eyes stare "
wildly and his pressed lips turn white?
SAh, that was a sharp twinge, my man
wasn't it, said the physician sympathet-
ically.
And when after an effort like one rousing
from stupor Pulsiver declared that he
felt no pain-indeed was quite comfortable
the others all charged the disavowal to
his pluck and we're a. loud in his praise
az they had been in his blame.