The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1920-12-13
!; HE DAILY
SHORT STORY.
Mr.. Wrong and Mr.. Right
By DoRoTHY DOUGLAS.

tirednaas by the constant dragging
and !pashtug OF that Surgtng mob OF
returning business people as the
train jerked its way toward upper
Broadway.
John Conrad, straight from the
middle West, made the NEST OF tho
situation by watching the faces 80
cloSe 10 bis own. His keen eyes,
frezh from the Hastness OF the plain
and prairie, say much that the tired
New Yorker failed to see.
Hts keen ears, too, caught much
from the FRAGMENTS OF conversation
that the roar OF the train failed to
stthe. His were the only ears save
those addressed which heard a SOFT
voice behind him saying q strange
thing 10 strange ears.
II wonder IL you and the lady
with you would mind very much
getting of the train at Seventy
ninth street and walking as far as
my boarding house with me. !
have a most valuable package ana
/ have a silly feeling OF nervous
ness touight-it Is so dark on West
End avenue. Would 1t be asking
too muCh?"
John Conrad then heard the
mans voice.
1.-THE lady is not with me, but |
will gladly take you TO your door,
There are so many hOld-ups u do
not blame you for being afraid.
Conrad felt that the girl of the
soft voice would have withdrawn
her strange request had she known
the man was alone. She had heard
him talking TO the woman beside
him and quite naturally supposed
them friends.
THANK you SO much" she said,
a trifle reluctantly, Conrad Thought
He did not like the smooth quail
ity OF the mans voice 1t was not
an easy matter to turn, but Conrad
turned One look at the smooth
face with its good-looking crooked
ness was enough for Conrd. lie.
TOO. would get of at Seventy-ninth
street, and he. TOO. would escort
the Girl-but at a slight distance
behind her.
So they three, together with the
other SeYenty-ninth streeters.
fought their way to the street and
cast the air Of the subway from
their lungs.
The trusting girl and the wrong
man started down toward West
End aYenue-the girl being pilotcd
by the man. She would have walk
ed down Broadway and then turned
off the safe highway only at her
own corner, but the man wi!led 1t.
otherwise.
Conrad followed close behind, but
not SO near as to let the couple
know OF his proximity.
West End avenue IS secluded
enough at best, but where there are
buildings torn down and others be-
ing erected it takes on drearinesS
quite foreign to Boradway's neigh
Dor.
II was when well within that max
ed darkness that the wrong man
snatchcd ut the package i'll the
trusting girls arm, gave her mas
ty fling backward and darted OFT,
Conrad's fist struck him just as
his nimble legs were fast carrying
him into safety. He fell with 4
crash and Conrad sprang to the.
spot where he supposed the girl
would have crumplGd into an inert
heap.
She was standing straight up
but clinging TO stone coping until
she could have sufficiently resained
her composure. Conrad had time
10 consider her u brave little spor,.
"Walt there a second" he blurt-
ed hurricdly, until Xix him vi
with q policeman. Please" he add
ed as II his tone had been too
abrupt.
And having dispatched the gen.
tleman crook to his proper habita-
ton after giving swift details 10 the
officer, Conrad returned 10 the girl.
There was now an unexpected
little smile in her eyes when ne put
the package back into her hands.
He hoped she wasn't going to over
do tho thank business. Conrad was
not overload of emotional scenes.
Il thank you" the girl said sim
ply.
81 happened to overhear you ask
ing that man to walk home with
yeu and followed. | didn't like his
looks" said Conrad.
ut was absolutely silly of me, "
the girl confessed, but | have been
SO sickened by the great headlines
in all the papers telling of brutal
crimes in all parts Of the city that
nerves got the better Of me tonight.
/ have not felt so before. My sister
In Long Island asked me to bring
in her very valuable diamond neck
lace and put it in her vault. l have
1t here" she said. and drew forth
q tiny package that she had carried
within the folds Of her paper.
Conrad grinned.
Then | am not a hero at all. n
suppose there is pair OF old shoes
in this one,' he suggested, indicat-
the package the wrong man had
taken.
mot old ones" laughed Jean Ven
ner, but a brand-new pair, for
which paid nineteen dollars. They
are quito worth sending crook to
TAIL fer"
They were walking toward her
home now quite as If they had gone
to school together. Conrad was
wishing they had. He would by
this time have had her tucked off
somewhere in the west where the
boundary of a ranch would protect
her from city crooks.
''Then | am only q nineteen-dol-
lar hero instead of a few-thousand.
dollar One," he laughed. III you
would let me know when you are
A II