Arthur Sullivant Hoffman

“ Well, we come to Anisley an' we slowed up an' we turned off to the right an' we run chock into a man in the middle of the road! The whole thing tuk about wan sicond. There he waz, in the light of me big lantern, an' he give a little squirm an' wint up in the air just afore we hit him an' thin he was on the coffin-plow, hangin' on to the idge wid wan hand and to a suit-case wid the other! An' the autymobile niver stopped goin'! Tim, I'm a liar, but I'm tellin' ye the truth. There waz a freight train thunderin' by nixt to us and he had n't heard me comin'. ”

“ Let me talk to you, Patsy, for I'm terrible lonely without you and I can't have you thinking I done you a ow trick like that.
Lucy.
Moran tossed the letter on the beer-stained table with an air of bravado.
“Is she the lunytic hersilf?” he asked scornfully, “thinkin' I'm lunytic enough to belave such tale as that? Faith, I thought she had brains for a better!”
“There's more brains in the little finger av her than in yer whole big carcass,” growled Tim, not looking toward Moran, “an' she niver played no low game on no wan! Are yez goin' back to her?”
“I'm not!” Moran made answer. ”

“ Thin she begun thinkin' to hersilf. It always makes me nervous-like to have a woman around that ain't talkin', an' glad I waz whin she looked up at me suddin.
“'Patsy,' says she, 'I have figured it out.'
“'Sure,' I says, disgusted. 'I figured it out that same night. They waz all lunytics, Miss Edith or no Miss Edith. If Miss Edith waz n't nutty, why would she let ye go free an' welcome whin she had ye there wid the silver in yer very hands? ”

“ He waz a fine big man waz the lunytic. I took the nixt train.
“And that's why I'm done wid Lucy,” and Moran picked up his glass again and beat with it upon the table until a disreputable waiter came to replace it with a full one.
“It waz bad enough and more to play me crooked and go off wid another man and play him crooked and go off wid the swag, but I might 'a' stood for that if it hadn't been for the lunytics. ”

“ But it's no good stayin' in a suspicious-like neighborhood, even whin ye can't hilp bein' pure and innocent—and thin I knowed if they hang a horse-thief out West the man what stole a autymobile in the East waz like to be crucified. While I waz standin' in the side door, debatin' how to git annywheres at all, I heard another 'chug-chug.' 'Faith,' says I, 'I'm gittin' the habit!' The noise come from toward the big house. 'They 're followin' Lucy,' thinks I, 'and I hopes they git her. ”

“ A big man and a little woman.'
“'Jack,' says she to the lad in the front seat, 'kin we catch thim?'
“'We kin catch annything,' says Jack, proud-like.
“'Git in,' says the lady to me. 'Ally stay here and watch.'
“Ally climbed out quick, like a soldier takin' orders, and I climbed in the same way, for she was the gineral of a woman and I wanted to. ”

“ Thin I knowed I waz holdin' the bag, and that Lucy had throwed me down for somewan ilse to divvy the swag wid. It waz all planned out careful, even to the bloke's autymobile clothes for ridin' in me own auty wid. Tim, I had n't dreamed it of her and it hurt me sore, clean apart from losin' the swag. Lucy! Think of a girl wid a nice, sweet-soundin', innocent name like that doin' a man black dirt! ”

“ Tim, I thought I'd moved that night, but I give ye my word it waz like bein' a Belgian block beside of this! I sat and hild me own hands for two miles. Thin I begun wonderin'. They waz after Lucy, sure, but why in the name of all that's loony is this lone woman and two boys doin' police work? And whin she learns there's a man in the game she precautionizes be leavin' wan of the boys behind. ”

“ Now, it had been in me mind just to ask for a bit doctorin' on me own indisposed maychine, but on the way I had another nip from the bottle and thin it seemed bist to git a new autymobile entirely an' take no chances. 'Faith,' says I, 'a man's undacint an' up to no good at all to leave a autymobile lonesome an' nayglected out in the black night. It's crazy he must be,' says I, 'but I'm hopin' his autymobile ain't.' I waz all rigged up in autymobile togs, blinders an' all, an' be this time I felt the way I looked. ”

“ Whin me wits come to me I raymimbered the railroad run close to us here afore we swung off round some more hills into Granewood, but whin I took me eyes from the light and smoke of the freight engine me nerves waz jerked agin, for the other autymobile had almost stopped entirely, and waz slewin' sort of sideways from doin' it so quick. And, praise be, we waz slowin' some oursilves.
“Thin I see the man jump out, for what moon there waz waz full on thim. ”

“ The job we waz to pull off togither waz at a big country place up the Sound where the silver got dints in it from bein' so crowded, and they had to keep the jewelry in the cellar where the floors waz strong. It waz her always done the head-work, I'll say that for her, an' me that tindid to the rist, but this time all that fell to me waz to float in on the scene wid me autymobile and float out agin wid the swag. ”

“ We waz runnin' alongside the railroad an' I knew that whin we come to Anisley—a lonely little shed of a station where the trains stop if ye derail thim, or know the gineral manager—I waz to turn off to the right, an' I made ready to slow up a bit. ”

“ Between us we stowed it by me feet widout ayther of us fallin' out or wreckin' the autymobile, an' after that we didn't converse much beyant some polite remarks on the weather. We wint by the turn-off to Everdene like a Jugglenut, and I asked him would he have a drink. He would n't, bein' a lunytic, so I finished the bottle mesilf an' quit talkin.'
“At last we whizzed past the Cross-roads, an' I slowed down, he affordin' some advice as how to do it, an' let him out an' watched him start for Bradley after givin' me a William. Thin I turned around backwards an' wint back to the Cross-roads. ”

“ Wan of thim is this—she knowed he waz to be at the Cross-roads. Whin she got there he waz n't in sight, an' the only man besides yersilf she learned waz in that other autymobile. It waz little like that there waz anny more prowlin' round there at such a hour. An' agin, she knowed I waz fair sure to take that way in leavin' an' had just about long enough to git there in time to be the woman wid him. You told her the man an' woman come siparate an' wint away together. ”

“ There waz but wan thing to do, and that waz to dive into the woods after her and come up with her afore she come to the station. Thin we could take that train or the nixt, or wan the other way, accordin' to circumstances and the lunytics. ”