Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-07-07
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ICopyrght: 1914 BY Harold MacGrath).
CHAPTER l.
A can in The Night.

II Is not difficult to traverse a known
path; no matter how dark 1t is, one
is able to find the way by the aid
OF a mental photograph taken in the
daytime. But supposing you have
never been over the road in the day
81 time. But suppose you have never
IS been over the road in the daytime,
that you know nothing whatever of
its topography, where it dips or rises,
where 1t narrows or forks. GU find
yourself in the same unhappy state of
mind as a blind man suddenly thrust
in 5tstrange house.
One black night, along a certain
country road, in the heart of New
Jersey, in the days when the only
+ good roads were city thoroughfares
and country highways were routes to
limbo, a carriage went forward cau-
tiously From time to time 1t ca
reened like a blunt-nose barge in a
beam sea. The wheels and springs
IN voiced their anguish continually, for
a 1t was a good carriage, unaccustomed
4 to such ruts and hummoeks.
Faster, fasterl" came a muffled
voice from the interior
Sir, l dare not drive any faster, !"
replied the coachman. Il can't see
the horses heads, sir, let alone the
road. I've blown out the lamps, but
a can't see the road any better for
that"
Let the horses have their heads;
y they'll find the way. 1t can't be much
farther. You'll see lights.
The coachman swore in his teeth.
All right. This man who was in such
a hurry would probably send them all
into the ditch. Save for the few. stars
above, he might have been dfixing
Beelzebub's coach in the bottomless
pit Black velvet. Everywhere black
velvet. A wind was blowing, and yet
the blackness was so thick that 1T
gave to the coachman the sensation of
mild suffocation.
BY and by, through the. trees, hs
saw a flicker of light. 1t might or
might not be the destination. He
cracked his whip restlessly and the
carriage lurched on two wheels. The
man in the carriage balanced him
self carefully, so that the bundle in
his arms should not be unduly dis
turbed His arms ached He stuck
his head out of the window.
"That's the place" he said, "and
when you drive up make as little noise
as you can"
When the carriage drew up at its
journeys end the man inside jumped
out and FASTENED toward the gates.
He serutinized the sign on one OF the
posts. This was the place:
MISS FARLOW'S PRIVATE
SCHOOL.
The bundle in his arms stirred and
he hurried up the path to the door OF
the house. He seized the ancient
knocker and struck several times. lie
then placed the bundle~on the steps
and ran back to the waiting carriage,
into which he stepped.
"Off with you!"
That's a good word, sir. Maybe
we can make your train
DO you think you could ind this
place AGAIN."
you couldn't get me on this pike
again. sir, for a thousand; not me.
The door slammed and the UNI
known sank back against the cusn-
ions. He took our his handkerchief
and wiped the damp fersplration from
his forehead The big burden was
off his mind. Whatever happened In
the future, they would never be abe
To get him through his heart 30
much for the folly of his youth.
II was a quarter after 10. MISS
Susan Farlow had just returned 10
the reception room for her nlghtiy
tour of the upper halls TO see IL an
her charges were in ped, where .ne
rules Of the school confined them after
9.3G. 1t was at this moment ina. sne
heard the thunderous knocking at the
door. The old maid felt her heart stop
heating for a moment. Who could IL
he At this time of night? Then the
thought came swiftly that perhaps the
parent of some of her charges was III
and this was the summons. Stliins
her fears, she went resoiutely 10 ene
Adoor and opened 1t.
There was no one in sight
s'Who is it?" she called.
No one answered. She cupped her
& hand to her ear. She could hear the
clatter of horses dimly.
"Welll" she exclaimed; rather
angrily, too.
She was in the act of closing the
door when the light from the hall DIS
covered to her the bundle on the
Il steps. She stopped and touched 1t.
Good heavens, it's a child!
She picked the bundle up. A whim-
u per came from it. a tired little whim-
DER of protest. She ran back to the
reception room. A founding. And on
her doorstep! 1t was incredible. what
in the world should she do2 1t would
create a scandal and hurt the pres
tige of the school. Some one had mis-
taken her select private school for
farmhouse 1t was frightful.
Then she unwrapped the child. IL
was about a year old, dimpled ana
golden-haired. A thumb was in its
rosebud mouth and it's blue eyes
looked up trustfully into her own.
ssWhy, you cherub" cried the old
maid, strange turmoil in her heart.
She caught the child to her breast,
and then for the first time noticed the
thick envelope pinned to the child
cloak. She put the baby into chair
and broke open the envelope.
Name this child Florence Gray. /
will send annually liberal sum for
her support and reclaim her on her
eighteenth birthday The other half
of the inclosed bracelet will identify
me. Treat the girl well, for | shall
watch over her in secret"
Into the fixed routine of her hum
drum life had come a mystery, a
tantalizing, fascinating mystery. She
had read of foundlings LETT on door,
steps-from paper covered novels con-
fiscated from her pupils-but that one
should be placed upon her own re-
IS spectacle doorstep! Suddenly she
smiled down at the child and the
child smiled back. And there was
nothing more to be done except to
bow before the DEGREES of fate, Like
ali prim old maids her heart was full
of unreouited romance. and here was
something she might spend its foods
upon without let or hindrance. AL
ready she was hoping that the man
or woman who had left 1t might
never come back.
The child grew. Regularly each
year. upon certain date, Miss Far
low received a registered letter with
money These letters came from all
parts Of the world; always the same
sum, always the same line-I am
watching"