The Washington herald., 1908-05-15
CHAPTER Y.

Fabian Dare handed his last coppers to
the gilt-haired girl behind a certain bar
in Leicester Square. The contrast be-
tween his shabby. disreputable clothes
and well-bred looks caused the barmaid
to cast him a glance Of contemptuous
curiosity as she handed him the beer and
sandwich he had called for
He was a young man Of about twenty
one, whose face would have been Byron
ic were It not for a hopeless. hunted
iook-pathetically suggestive of a thor
oughbred dog which has been chased
through a slum. He looked at the e'rl
meditatively as he drank his beer. Wen
he put down the empty glass he shook
his head meaningly, as though he he'd de-
ltvered verdict against something; then
he walked across to the square and sat
down tiredly on an empty bench. Only
one Of the occupants OF the other benches
looked up as he took his place among the
broken men who sat or slept, disconso-
lately, in Leicester Square. That man
eyed him with great interest. through
piercing, mooking eyes; but Fabian Dare
was unconscious of H.
In every great city west OF Suez there
are certain squares and parks where. from
the sea OF humanity, the surges of life
cast up Its shipwreeked mariners. II was
about o'clock Ia the afternoon when
Fabian Dare sat down IN Leicester
Square. AS il was a summer evening.
only the tallest Of the surrounding build
ings threw Its shadow across the benches
and the statues Of the philanthropists.
Some OF the men slept. their heads
thrown back at a horribly suggestive
al 4orHn
red handkerchief round Il, CARRYING out
the unpleasant idea of a throat which
lad just been cut a black cat stalked a
pigeon, with all the craft and subtlety OF
its jungle ancestors, but the pigeon.
though appearing blandly unconscious till
the cat was fiattened out on its stomach.
a few feet away. always fluttered on at
the critical moment. and the black cat
had to begin all over again. But ne new
er took his eyes of the pigeon, any more
than the black-looking man, with the face
OF an Afghal. removed his eyes from Fa-
bian Dare
Some Of the men on the benches slept,
some gazed moodily at their boots: but
Dare looked far away into space rest
ing his chin on his hand. He had a de-
cision 10 make: he had to choose between
the Workhouse or suicide. The work.
house had less terrors for him than Il
would have had for the average unem-
ployed sandwich man. but il was only
a temporary expedient. not a permanent
solutiOn-not Ike death He thought
whimsically Of the old proverb, Never
put of TIL tomorrow what YOU can do
to-day; the idea brought a wan smile
10 his face, and the man who was watch
ing him made a note Of ii. as a dag
nosing physician might tot down a
symptom. The tide Of humanity rose
higher around him, swelled by the mat
inee crowds pouring out Of the music
halls. Fabian Dare sat holding the
scales between life and death. intentIy
watched by the other man.
The planets had frowned on Fabian
Dare's birth, as his fathers people
baronets IN a small way--had frowned
on the marriage with the play-actress
which was responsible for that birth. If
his mother had been a good actress, or
his father a good man, there might have
been some fitness in his union. But
though she had the dramatic instinct.
she had never learned her business, and
when her beauty faded, after the disil-
lusionment OF her marriage, she couldn't
even get walking-on parts in solvent
companies.
AS for his father he was bad all
through. The only accomplishment he
had was playing the prodigal son: but
there is no record of a married prodigal
son working his parents with any sue
cess. His marriage with the actress
closed the paternal castle TO him for
ever His wife having lost her beauty
and her earning capacity, the raison
Of ho ma
disappeared, so Dare senior, did the
same. The moment he selected for his
exit coincided with the disbanding of
the travelling company in which his wife
was acting-making up IN quantity what
she lacked in quality, by doing three
parts IN that strenuous melodrama, The
Curse OF Cain"
It was In Liverpool that "The Curse of
Cain" company met its Waterloo. Mr..
Dare seemed to see the finger Of Prov
idence pointing the way to America. OBJ
jeeting to the steerage. and not having
the price Of q second-class ticket he
Travelled saloon, for he had been TO
America, and back, previously. and had
noticed that his stateroom steward was
the only ticket-collecting machinery on
board He did not want a stateroom. for
It was summer. and he considered the
dining saloon stuffy. and had the deck
steward bring him up his meals Own
ing no baggage he walked past the Gus
toms-house inspectors and disappeared
under the tangle. of wires which roofs
the streets OF New York, thus evadng
all record OF his movements by this sim
pie and economical method of travelling.
The world has agreed to regard the
standing Of a touring company as a Joke;
perhaps II eann6t associate real trag-
edies with n people whose lives are spent
in poTtraying imaginary ones. But to
Mrs Dare It was an Overwhelming dis
aster She was taken i'll in the shabby