Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-11-05
CHAPTER XvIu.-Continued.

Just before O'Clock the telephone rang
at his elbow.
"Mr. Fenwick from the bank, sir, is
wishing to speak to you for a moment"
his head clerk announced.
| Laverick took up the telephone.
| Yes he said, Il am Laverick. Good
! afternoon, Mr.. Fenwick! Absolutely inn
| possible to spare any time today. What
is it? The account is all right, isn't 1t ?"
! Quite right, Mr.. Laverick," was the
answer. lat the same time. if you could
| spare me a moment 1 should be glad to
see you concerning the deposit you made
| yesterday"
II will come in tomorrow, Laverick
promised This afternoon it is quite
out of the question. / have crowd OF
people waiting to see me and several i'm
portant enga gements for which 1 am late
| already =
| The banker seemed scarcely satisfied.
| 81 may rely upon seeing you tOmor-
row." he pressed.
| Tomorrow" Laverick repeated, ring
ing off.
For a time this last message troubled
| him. As soon as the days work was
over, however and he stepped into ms
cab, he dismissed it entirely from his
standing this new seriousness which had
| come into his life, Notwithstanding that
sensation of walking all the time on the
brink of precipice. he set his face home
| ward and looked forward to his evening
| with a pleasure which he had not felt for
many months. The whirl of the day
| faded easily from his mind. He lived no
! more in an atmosphere OF wild excite
ment, of changing prices, of feverfSh anX-
iety How empty his life must have un-
| consciously grown that he could find SO
much pleasure in being kind to pretty
! child! 1t was hard to think of her other
wise-impossible. A strange heritage
| this, to have been left him by such per-
! son as Arthur Morrison. How in the
| world, he wondered. did he happen to
| have such a connection.
She was little shy when she arrived
Laverick had left special orders down.
stairs, and she was brought up into his
! sitting room Immediately. She was very
| quietly dressed. except for her hat, which
was large and wavy. He found 1t becom-
ing. but he knew enough to understand
| that her clothes were very simple ana
| very inexpensive, and he was conscious
of being curiously glad of the fact.
Il am afraid" she said. timidly, with a
| glance at his evening attire, that we
| must go somewhere very quiet You see,
l have only one evening gown and 1
couldn't wear that. There wouldn't be
time to change afterward. Besides. ones
| clothes do get so knocked about In the
| dressing rooms.
There are heaps Of places we can go
to-" he assured her pleasantly OF course
you can't dress for the evening when
/ you have to go on to work, but you must
remember that there are good many
| other smart young ladies in the same pO-
stitch. I had to change because / have
taken stall to see your performance
Tell me. how are you feeling now?"
Rather lonely" she admitted. making
a pathetic little grimace. THAT is to say,
1 l,o, "a
softly. II don't now. of course"
You are a queer little person.. he said.
kindly, as they went down in the lift.
| Haven't you any friends?"
| She shrugged her shoulders.
What sort Of friends could l have?"
| she asked. 1.-THE girls in the chorus with
me are very nice, some of them, but they
know so many people whom l don't, and
they are always out to supper or some
/ thing of the sort"
/ "And your
| She shook her head.
Il went to one supper party with the
girl who Is near me- she said. II liked
it very much, but they didn't ask RE
again."
81 wonder why?" he remarked.
ooh, don't KNOW she went on, drear-
lily. You see. I think the men who take
out girls who are in the chorus generally
expect to be allowed to make love to
them. At any rate. they behaved like
that Such horrid man tried to say nice
things to me and I didn't like it a bit. So
they left me alone afterward. The girl
i lived with and her mother are quite
nice. and they have few friends We go
to see sometimes on Sunday or holidays.
It's dull, though. very dull. especially
now they're away"
What on earth made you think Of go
ing on the stage at alp" he asked.
.'What could one dor she answered.
my mothers money died with her-she
had only an annuity-and my stepfather,
I<~,1r u~c%
all his money and died quite suddenly.
| Arthur was in a stockholders Office and
he couldn't save anything. My only friend
/ was my old music master, and he had
1 given up teaching and was director Of
the orchestra at the Universal. All he
could do for me was to get me q place
in the chorus. I have been there ever
since. They keep on promising me lit
tie part. but never get it. It's always
/ like that in theaters. You have to be q
favorite of the managers, for some rea-
son or other, or you never get Your
chance unless you are unusually lucky.
II don't know much about theaters." he
/ admitted. II am afraid I am rather a
stupid person. When I can get away
from work go into the country and play
cricket or golf or anything that's going.
When l am up In town l am generally
content with looking up . few friends or
playing bridge at the club. never have
been theater-goer."
II wonder" she asked. as they seated
themselves at a small round table in the
restaurant which he had chosen. Il Won
der why every now and then you look SO
i serious"
i IT didn't know that did, he answered.
We've had laundering hard times lately
in business, though. 1 suppose that makes
a man look thoughtful
4 Poor Mr.. Laverick," she murmured
softly Are things any better now?'
i Much better"
.'Then you have nothing really to bother
i your" she persisted.
i IT suppose we all have something" he
replied. suddenly grave. why do you
ask that?'
She leaned across the table. In the
I shaded light her oval face with its little
halo of deep-brown hair seemed to him
as though 1t might have belonged to some
old miniature She was delightful. like
Il Vatican work upon a piece of priceless
porcelain - delightful when the lights
4 played in her eyes and the smile quivered
at the corner of her lips. Just now, how
ever, she became very much in earnest.
il Il will tell you why / ask that ques-
II ton" she said. Il cannot help worrying
still about Arthur. You know you adj
mitted last night that he had done some
4 thing You saw how terribly frightened
he was this morning, and how he kept on
looking around, as though he were afraid
i that he would see somebody whom he
!, wished to avoid. Oh I don't want to
worry you she went on. "but feel SO
terrified sometimes. / feel that he must
have done something-bad. It was not an
ordinary business trouble which took the
life out of him so completely"
~ sNly I'D k~A