The Washington herald., 1914-01-11
Copyright. lai.)
THE rain had come on little after
S. as sudden and heavy as though
it had been a midsummer thunder


THE rain had come on little after
S. as sudden and heavy as though
it had been a midsummer thunder
shower
A fusilade of bullets could scarcely have
ernptied Broadway more quickly. Men
and women ducked under doorways.
dodged into side streets. eibowed into
theater lobbies.
Above the sidewalk. twenty PAGES from
the empty doorway where ioitered. an
awning suddenly appeared, springing up
like a mushroom from wet meadow. In
chain of brouehams and taxicabs. As a
carrier belt vomits grain into mill bin,
so this unbroken chain elected hurrying
men and women across the wet curb into
an overlighted foyer.
stood there. watching the last of the
scattering crowd. watching the street
that still seemed an elongated bull ring.
where a matador or two stir lodged the
taurine charges of vehicles. I watched
the ironic heavens pour their unabating
floods down on that congested and over
ripe core of city that no water could
wash clean.
Then the desolation of the empty
streets began to depress me.
saw the lights of the theater not
more than twenty PAGES away. 1t was
already a warren of crowded life The
thought of even what diluted companion
q
A moment later stood before its box
Office window.
Standing room only" announced the
autocrat of the wicket And / meekly
purchased my admission ticket, remem-
bering that the head of that particular
than one slight service.
Yet the face of this haughtiIy obsequi-
Gus head usher, as his hand met mine in
that freemasonry which is perpetuated
by certain silk-threaded scraps of oblong
paper, was troubled.
81 haven't a thing left" he whispered.
''UnIess you'll take seat in that second
lower box"
Even through the baize doors behind
me / could hear the beat and patter of
the rain. 1t was a case of any port in a
storm.
THAT will do nicely" told him.
Yet it was not ordained that should
occupy that box in lonely and unrivaled
splendor. One of its chairs. set close to
the brass rail and plush-covered parspet
that barred it off from the more protu-
berant stage box, was already occupied
by a man in full evening dress.
Yet looked at this neighbor of mine.
as / seated myself. with more interest
than 1 looked at the play actors across
the footlights.
1t startled me little to find that the
man, at the moment. was equally obiiv-
ious of anything taking place on the
stage. His eyes. in fact. seemed fixed on
the snowy shoulders of the woman who
sat at the back of the stage box directly
i'm front of him. As l followed the direc-
ton of his gaze ! was further surprised
TO discover the object on which it was
focused. He was staring, not at the
woman herself but at a pigeon-blood
ruby set in the clasp of some pendant ior
necklace encircling her throat.
There was, indeed. some excuse for his
staring at it In the first place, it was
an extraordinarily large and vivid stone
1t was a challenge to attention. It
caught and held the eye. 1t stood there.
just below where the hair biIlowed into
its crown of Venetian gold, as semaphoric
as yard lamp to a night traveller
About the man himself there seemed
little that was exceptional Beyond
certain quick and shrewd alertness in his
eye movements as he looked about at me
from time to time with a muffied resent
ment which 1 found not at all to my
liking, he seemed medium in everything,
in coloring. in stature, in apparel.
1t may have been mere accident, or it
may have been that out of our united
gaze arose some vague psychic force
which disturbed this young woman. For
as sat there staring at the shimmering
Jewel, its wearer suddenly turned her
head and glanced back at me. The next
moment was conscious of her nod and
smile, Enthusiastically in my direction.
Then saw who it was. I had been un-
couthly staring at the shoulder blades of
Alice Churchill-they were the Park Ave-
nue. Churchills-and further back in the
box I caught a glimpse OF her brother
Benny.
Yet 1 gave little thought to either Of
them, must confess. At the same time
that had seen that momentarily flashing
smile had also discovered that the jew
eled clasp on the girls neck was holding
in place a single string of graduated
pearls-of very lovely pearls. 1 was also
not unconscious of the quick and covert
glance of the man who sat so close to
me.
Then 1 let my glance wander back to
the ruby, apparently content to study its
perfect cutting and unmatchable coloring.
And knew that the man beside me was
also sharing in that spectacle. 1 was, in
fact, still staring at it, so unconscious of
the movement of the play on the stage
that the dark scene, when every light in
the house went out for a second or two,
came to me with distinct sense Of
shock
A murmur of approval went through
the house as the returning light revealed