Margaret Cameron

“ Not yet! I mustn't cry—yet! Go up-stairs! Hurry! Fresh towels in the bath-room—Bob's chiffonier for anything else you need! Hurry!"
He took the back stairs three at a leap; and having paused for a moment's readjustment after that first kiss, Miss Vance returned to the hall, where the guests were excitedly discussing the dramatic little scene and asking questions about the handsome young Italian. Mrs. Trent looked at her sister once and bore down upon her without loss of time.
"Polly!" she exclaimed, in an indescribable tone. "Go and wash your face! There's coal-dust on it!" ”

“ As he had supposed, he was in the division of the cellar containing the furnace and coal bins. He had some difficulty in lighting the next match, for the passage he had now entered was draughty, but eventually he kept one alight long enough to descry a flight of steps a few feet to his right.
"Aha!" said he. "'"We are saved!" the Captain shouted.' Now we'll proceed to stagger up the stair. The rest is plain sailing."
He gayly climbed the steps, humming under his breath the tune the banjo was playing, and fumbled for the door knob. ”

“ Good night," said Pierce, and hung up the receiver.
He explained to Cotes in terse, elemental phrases that his alleged employer had never heard of him, and that the coal merchants had no intention of providing men to do the work he claimed to have been sent to perform. Giuseppe swore, per Baccho and per Dio, that it was all one grand mistake. He was an honest man, he, and the padrone had certainly told him to come on the morrow to the house of the most illustrious signore to "shova da coal." ”

“ He was sufficiently well known socially to make this escapade a rich morsel for the sensational Beacon, and he saw his name in its blackest head-lines and pictures of himself taken from every conceivable angle. Then his glance fell on a coal shovel. He looked at the coal, which had apparently been dumped in recently, with the intention of distributing it later among the various empty bins, and then down at his worn overalls,—and his resolution was taken. ”

“ Now, what I want to know is—what is there about this particular Italian laborer that makes a young woman of your evident social position take such a keen—such a very keen interest in him. It's a little unusual, isn't it?"
"Perhaps it is," she rejoined, hastily, detecting flashes of gathering wrath in Cotes's eyes, "but—Giuseppe is an unusual man."
"Ye-es, I've found him so. So unusual, in fact, that I'm taking him to the police station below here for examination." ”

“ He laughed again. "Only, whatever else you do, keep cool! Nothing's going to happen."
This philosophical conviction Cotes did not fully share. In the next ten seconds he saw an appalling, kinetoscopic panorama of the things that probably would happen, should he be caught in Pierce's cellar. He saw that he must either tell the truth and involve Trent, which would never do, or he must let it be supposed that he had entered the editor's house for reasons of his own, which would be difficult to explain. ”

“ He deposited the lantern on the floor and proceeded to don the trousers, pulling them over the tails of his evening coat, which the short blouse would not protect. "I suppose these belong to the man who tends the furnace, eh? Good job for me he isn't a woman! Anyhow, coal won't hurt 'em." He had one arm slipped into a sleeve and was reaching for the other, when he heard a feminine voice cautiously calling:
"Mr. Pierce! Oh, Mr. Pierce!"
"Yes?" was the prompt reply.
"There's a man in your cellar!" ”

“ He puzzled over it for a moment, then looked at Polly in startled inquiry, and she nodded slightly. Trent turned very pale.
"Yes? And then?" He seemed to speak with difficulty and crumpled the envelope in his grasp.
"Then she said that you all knew the man and could vouch for him, and insisted upon my bringing him over here."
"She did quite right. We are under—some obligation to Giuseppe. He once did me—a service—a great service. I assure you, Mr. Pierce, that the man is entirely trustworthy. ”

“ Here's the other one, addressed to Pierce in Bob's writing!"
"Good Lord! And Pierce has the bill!"
"And do you see what it means?" she cried. "Do you see? Bob had nothing to do with the bill, but he had been asked to look it over and see that it was all right, because he is absolutely above suspicion. There are only half a dozen men who know—they've been so careful—it means so much,—and they gave it to Bob be-because they could trust him!" Her voice broke, and she finished in a quavering whisper.
"Give me that envelope!" said Cotes. "I'm going over to Pierce's. ”

“ There's nothing in the spectacle of two men walking quietly along the street—one of them evidently a day laborer—there's absolutely nothing in that to excite the alarm of a girl of your sort and make her demand an explanation, unless—" he paused a moment, looked fixedly at her, and concluded, "unless she expected to see that man come alone." Polly lifted a quick hand of warning, whether for him or for his companion Pierce could not decide, and when she spoke her manner was haughty, but her voice shook—possibly from anger, possibly from fear.
"I am Miss Vance," she stated. "Mr. Trent—Mr. ”

“ Pierce!" very coldly.
"Ha! You know me, too! You knew that this man—"
"Most people in this city know you—by sight," she interrupted, in a tone that somehow made Pierce wince. Then she tucked the envelope under her arm, where the folds of the lace scarf she wore concealed it, and led the way with dignity to the house. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1947, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 76 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”