The Washington herald., 1917-02-25
TYPES
PLAIN CLOTHES.
Nv sARA MOORE.

hour.
sometimes she had disappeared. for q
rev moments. In the dusk or In the
crowds. but always the red velvet hat,
that was tipped to half-coyer one eye.
identified her. The detective could not
see her face. He could glimpse only a
pair OF bright blue shoes. 80 run down
at tbs heel that her thin ankles wob-
hied, scant black skirt Of summer serge.
and velvet coat much worn at the
eloowa Ratty. soiled white furs were
too common on Fourteenth street to De
conspicuous. But the shadower could see
that the thin shoulders scrunched to-
gether under the stringy neck scarf at
each blast, Of the stinging wind.
He waited until she had twice can
vassed the distance between Third ave-
nue. and Sixth avenue.
Better come along with me, kid" he
said then. putting his hand on her arm
and drawig her a step away from q
man who had paused when she spoke
to him
Even as he spoke the oficer noticed
that the girls quivering lips were blue
with cold. She was shivering so that her
teeth chattered as she glanced from his
stonIly oficiaI eyes to the panic-filled ones
Of the stranger she had hailed
''Gwan," she sputtered. with feint OF
indignation. what right you got butting
into q lady's affairs? This here Is friend
of mine. Can't a lazy stop to speak to a
friend?'
Her eyes were pleading with the
stranger, who hesitated. poised for flight.
but moved to pity the girl who had
answered his grin with a word and a
smile only a moment before.
Sure she's a friend of mine, he
bluffed. swelling out his narrow chest.
Tell that" scoffed the detective, tell
that to the Judge"
Sarcasm had Its effect The youth
paled. then turned swiftly and plunged
into the whirlpool of traffic at the Broad
way corner They stood a moment look
ing after him. the officers hand still
grasping the girls arm firmly.
He could feel that 1t was very thin.
She seemed very young and small and
he was conscious that his bulk was Civ
ing him an unfair advantage.
Better come on quietly, sister, he
said. "I have been watching you Tor
a long time"
StIlI the prisoner stood looking after the
boy who might have saved her oy q
little judicious lying.
Gee, they're all like that-men." she
mused aloud. Always turn tail like
a yellow dog-and-well"
She shrugged and teri into step with
him. They glanced at each other in
the light of the next big window. and
he saw that her stare was not or re-
sentiment Her eyes were very big.
rounded and frinEed like a child's. Her
mouth was almost babyish In its soft
ness, and he suddenly noted that. from
the curve of her cheek and its smooth
ness under its crudely applied rouge.
she could not be more than Is or l6
years old
Whatever contempt ne had melted to
an unsentimental sort of pity. After
haR nm
reform school that would give her a
chance for a new life. He always felt
like a skunk, sending the experienced
women of this sort to the workhouse.
But a kid would be saved to reform.
Suddenly. in the doorway Of big,
vacated department store, the girl
pulled him into the shadowy vestibuls.
She bent, fumbled a minute with her
skirts and when she srrafghtened ne
saw that there was something clasped
tightly in her hand.
Now. say, Hsten," she began. You
don't look like a crooked cop, and you
don't look like a regular bull-the kind
that feels real manly when he Is beaun
or scarin' one of US girls to death -
II can't listen to no hard luck spiel,
interrupted the detective gruff1y. Tell 1t
to the Judge. They all"
well, you gotta listen," snarled the
child. 'I-can't afford to be arrested. My
mothers sick and the kid Is sick. An L
gotta-wel. I'm all there is to feed en-
see?''
You can prove it. 1 live at-Second
avenue. But-don't let my mother guess
why you 60 buttin' in. My kid"
kid? Yours?"
''Yeh. I'm married. all right but-well.
men are always yellow. when 1t comes
to trouble. Amt seen him since before
the baby
She was biting her lip to keep it from
trembling He could see, in the dim
light, that the terror she had suppressed
when he spoke to her was fast mounting
to her eyes.
'I couldn't earn enough to feed us
after he quit. And this business amt
what it is cracked up to be. But"
She put something in his hand.
1t amt much. Not enough for a fine,
or a-real present to you. Butt is all
got an'-rn make it right some other
time. IL just gotta get a doctor tonight
and some stun for the ole lady. an the
baby needs me"
And then before he could move or
speak she had darted past and was tear
ing up the street. lodging through the
home-going crowds.
Mulligan stood in the doorway. He
might have given chase but he never
moved until the red velvet hat and the
blue shoes whisked around a corner.
IF she was married-of course-she
wouldn't be sent to the reform school.
he muttered. "Just-the workhouse. But
d. her impudence for thinking she
could buy me on
He opened the cheap leather change
purse she had forced upon him, swear
ing softly and fervently. with a queer,
unofficial pucker Of pity about his lips
as he counted the dimes and nickles and
pennies
And the swearing and the pucker were
still noticeable when he slipped the purse
into the cup Of an old blind beggar near
the elevated railroad at the corner steps.
The girl with the red velvet hat had
thought to buy her freedom with the
total sum of eiEhty-two cents