Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-07-03

| her feelings to Estrilla. Then she
walked out into the hall. There was
no one in sight. That seemed curious
since, the hall stairs were not car
| peted, and one could hear footsteps
1t was as though some one had opened
| the front door and then quickly
closed it, again without entering.
| When she turned back, puzzled, she
| felt the necessity for explanation.
IT thought it might be Miss Hard
| ing" she said, falsely-"I wanted 10
see her."
He only smiled the same caressing
smile. But the spell was cracked;
and Betsy Barbara herself completed
the break.
well, anyway" she said. pulling
herself together, 1.-The Spanish have
no martial music like ours. And she
struck up f"Scots VIVA Haze" Nor
did music and conversation turn
again to love-songs. In fact. half an
hour later Betsy Barbara winged
hint. which he caught mid-course, as
I he seemed to catch every delicate
shaft of meaning. He rose and bade
her a formal good night. II hope /
may sing with you again." he said at
parting.
Betsy Barbara went to her own
room. She dawdled over her prep
arations for undressing, making a
dozen starts and stops. She was not
sleepy; hundred currents of thought
were crossing and recrossing in her
mind. So at last she threw a kimono
over her evening gown and. sat down
at the window, maiden-fashion, and
thought.
To make no further mystery, the
person who opened the front door and
disturbed the tete-a-tete between Es-
trilla and Betsy Barbara, was only
Tommy North. He had been search
ing strenuously for a job. No mys-
terry about that. either. The reason
was Betsy Barbara. The nights
quest had failed. The fluid mercury
of his disposition had fallen almost
to absolute zero. In this mood, he
unlocked the front door. The parlor
was open; he heard the soft thrum
of guitar. Hungry for companion
ship, he crossed the thick hall carpet
to the parlor door. He looked in and
beheld Betsy-Barbara sitting with
flushed cheeks and folded hands. 1t
was the attitude of a woman who
yields. Beside her sat the Estrilla
person, stunning gently on a guitar
and looking a million languors.
With a movement that was an explo-
sion, Tommy rushed out, slamming
the front door behind him.
His feet. rather than his will, car
ried him away. There was a saloon
at the corner. AS by instinct, Tommy
rushed into it and ordered a glass of
whiskey-his first since the night of
the Hanska murder. He shivered
slightly when he. drank it, as he al
ways did at the new taste of raw
whiskey. A cab-driver whom he
knew rose up from the corner and
greeted him respectfully. Tommy in
vited him to have a. drink. The cab
driver introduced him to the barten-
der. Tommy invited them both to have
another drink. The bartender intro
duced a paperhanger. Tommy includ-
ed him in a fourth drink. The bar
tender asked them to have one on the
house. BY this time all was over
with Tommy North's sobriety. In a
period incredibly short he fulfilled the
tragic purpose for which he left the
boarding house.
Now nearly every drunkard-and
especially an amateur like Mr.. Thorn
as North-has one latest popularity
which comes out with intoxication.
His was the homing instinct. He al
ways sought his own bed when drunk,
no matter how embarrassing the cir
cumstances might be. An hour and
a half later he stood treat to the
cabman, Tommy North muttering
over and over to himself, New life in
new clime-wond'ful plans of ge-
MUS" was weaving toward the select
boarding house of Madame Rosalie LIE
Grange. Laboriously he unlocked the
door; painfully and with occasional
mutterings about a blasted life, he
reached the first landing. And on
that landing the door opened. Betsy
Barbara stood looking at him.
Yet curiously enough, as the gas
light caught her full it was not
upon Betsy Barbara's shocked wide
open eyes that he fixed his gaze. He
looked at her feet. Betsy Barbara
was wearing high-heeled velvet shoes
with paste buckles. In the full light
they sparkled like real diamonds.
Betsy Barbara stepped back with
woman's instructive fear of a drunken
man. So one of those slippers moved.
Tommy, his eyes still toward the
ground. clutched at it. The motion al
most tumbled him over-did make
him reel against the doorpost.
Get it an hold it,, he said, land
then discover murder
"Mr. North-Mr. North!" exclaimed
Betsy Barbara, and stood helpless.
staring at this weird performance.
His mind seemed to shift; he became
aware of her as a person, and he
struggled for articulation.
Drunk" he said. Final disgrace
everything gone now"
"Mr. North" said Betsy Barbara,
gathering her courage, listen to me.
If you wake people up tonight they'll
never forgive you. Now I'm going to
lead you to your room. But you are
to be perfectly silent Do you under
stand?'
II promise" said Tommy There!
spoke and broke promise Vista
oh ot