The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1909-08-09


under strange auspices, and he had
treated her with common decency. for
which she had repaid him In good
measure by permitting him to retain
his own property. Their account was
even. and she for ever done with him.
That must be her attitude Why
should it be anything else?
"Oh, the dewitt" exclaimed the young
man in disgust. And rising, took his
distemper to the window.
Leaning on the sill, he thrust head
and shoulders far out over the garish
abyss Of metropolitan night The hot
breath of the city famed up in sitting
waves into his face. from the street
below, upon whose painted pavements
men crawled like insects-round NOV
ing spots, to each his romance under
his hat
The window was on the corner, over
looking the junction of three great
highways of humanity: Twenty-third
street, with its booming crosstown
cars, stretching away into the dark
ness on either hand; Broadway, fork
ing on to the left, its distances merg-
ging into hot glow Of yellow radi-
ance; Fifth avenue, branching into the
north with its desolate sidewalks oddly
patterned in areas of dense shadow
and cold, clear light Over the way
the park doomed darkly, for all its
scattered arcs, black and silent
space, a well Of mystery.
1t was late, quite late; the clock
In front Of Dorlon's Che craned his
neck to see) made the hour one In the
morning; the sidewalks were COM
paratively deserted, even the pillared
pOrtico of the Fifth Avenue hotel des-
titute Of Ioungers. 4 timid hint Of
GOODNESS, forerunnfng the dawn, rode
up on the breeze.
He looked up and away northward.
for many minutes, over housetops
stenciled black against the glowing
sky. his gaze yearning into vast dis
tances of space, melancholy tingeing
the complexion Of his mind He fan
cied himself oppressed by a vague IN
easiness, unaccountable as to cause,
unless
From the sublime to the ridiculous
With a vengeance, his thoughts tun-
bled. Gone the glamour Of romance
in twinkling, banished by rank ma
terialism. He could have blushed for
shame; he got slowly to his feet, ir-
resOlute. trying to grapple with a con-
dition that never before In his exis-
h,l ~
slider.
He had just realized that he was
flat-strapped for cash. He had given
his last quarter to the cabby, hours
back He was registered at a strange
hotel, under an assumed name, IN
able to beg credit even for his break
fast without declaring his identity and
thereby laying himself open to suspi-
cion, discourtesy, insult.
OF course there were ways out He
could telephone Bannerman, or any
other Of half dozen acquaintance, in
the morning; but that involved expla-
nations, and explanations involved
making himself the butt of his circle
for many a weary day.
There was money in his lodgings,
In the Chippendale escritoire; but to
get It he would have to run the gaunt-
let OF reporters and detectives which
had already dismayed him in prospect.
O'Hagan-ahi
At the head of his bed was tele-
phone. Impulsively, inconsiderate OF
the hour, he turned to it.
Give me nine-o-eight-nine Madison.
please" he said: and waited, receiver
to ear.
There was a slight pause; buzz;
the voice of the switchboard opera
tor below stairs repeating the number
to central; centraTs appropriately
mechanical reiteration; another buzz;
q silence; a prolonged buzz; and again
the sounding silence.
"Hellol" he said, softly, into the
transmitter, at a venture.
No answer.
"HelIo!"
Then central, irritably: GO ahead.
You've got your party"
Hello, hello!"
A faint hum of voices, rising and
falling, beat against the walls of his
understanding. We're the wires
crossed? He lifted an impatient finger
to jiggle the hook and call central to
6r5deeTr. Yhen-sQmething crashed
heavily. He could have likened the
sound, without a strain of imagination,
to a chair being violently overturned
And then woman's voice, clear, &C
cents informed with anger and pain,,
MOI" and then
Say, that's my mistake That line
you had's out Of order. I had call
for them a while ago, and they didn't
answer Guess you'll have to watt
Central Central" he pleaded,
desperately y s1y, central, give me
that connection again, please"
"Ah. sayl what's the matter with
you, anyway? Didn't I tell you that
line was out OF order? Ring off"
Automatically Ara5tTo,I ,.o+77--a5 Tho