Margaret Cameron

“ Mrs. Haslett, whose progress had been much slower, was standing at the parcel-counter, her watch in her hand, anxiously arguing with the boy in charge.
"I repeat, I haven't the check," she said, with some asperity. "The man who has it is—isn't here, and will not be here, and my train is about to go. Here is the key, and if you'll just let me come in there a moment, I'll identify the bag, unlock it, and prove my claim. I simply must have—"
"I beg your pardon, Mrs. Haslett," interrupted Oakley's deep voice at her elbow. "I'm afraid I have caused you great annoyance. Here's the check." ”

“ Haslett remained in the cab, while he sent her telegram, engaged her berth, and left her bag to be called for, pocketing the check. He looked over the great waiting-room, with some vague idea of assaulting any big man he might see and demanding his trousers or his life, but a monotonous average in the size of the men left the thought still embryonic. ”

“ I saw ye!"
"Since when has it been a crime for a man to lose his balance?"
"That's all right. Disorderly conduct for yours! I tell ye I saw ye! You come along without any back talk, now." Then, as his glance caught Mrs. Haslett, he added, "That woman with you?"
"No," said Oakley.
"H'mph! You were calling a cab. I'll be bound there's a pair of ye!" Keeping his hold on his prisoner, he imperatively beckoned to Mrs. Haslett, who reluctantly approached, assisted by the porter. She was very pale, and the kindly glow was gone from her eyes, leaving them cold and steely. ”

“ A brilliant electric sign lighted the scene perfectly, and as Oakley sat up and dragged the coat again over his blue and white pajamas, he was conscious of but one thing,—that was the frozen horror in Mrs. Haslett's face as she watched him from the vestibule. The next instant the policeman twisted a hand in his collar and jerked him roughly to his feet.
"You're a nice one, you are!" exclaimed that functionary, severely. "Making an exhibition of yourself in the public streets! ”

“ I haven't been so entertained in years! You've placed me under an obligation that I can never hope to discharge myself, so I see no way out of it except to ask Mr. Haslett to do something very nice for you and that charming wife of yours. Good night."
Oakley stood uncovered as long as she was in sight, and then went slowly out to his cab. Alice's radiant, triumphant face glowed at him from its dusky corners. ”

“ Really, the clerk and the valet didn't know. They recognized that the situation was awkward, and while they were in no sense responsible for it, they would cheerfully do anything in their power to be of service.
"Thank you. That's very nice—but it isn't trousers," said Oakley. "How far is it to the nearest clothier's? Can't you send—"
"No use. Every shop is closed at this hour."
"Borrow a pair for me."
"Impossible, sir!"
"Nothing's impossible! Man alive, I can't go this way! There must be somebody in this hotel who has extra trousers about. Borrow some. ”

“ On the way up it occurred to me that if I cared to stay in New York this evening, I might simplify matters somewhat by taking the midnight train, which would give me a fair night's sleep, and enable me to reach Boston early in the morning. I resolved not to suggest this, however, unless you were disengaged, and—well, frankly, unless we got on well. I'm a very selfish old person, and I like to be entertained. ”

“ With his knife Oakley cut off the legs of the clerk's trousers well above the knee, and when the valet returned he found his patron completely dressed in the coat and waistcoat of his business suit and the nether garments of his pajamas.
"Here we are," said Oakley, pulling on one of the severed cheviot legs. "Just you pin that good and tight where it ought to go to look right from the bottom, will you? That's all right. Long enough? Got it fastened firmly? Good! Now the other one.... So! Now give me that ulster. ”

“ The sergeant's tone warmed with the appreciation he always gave to physical perfection.
"But his pants ain't real," continued his subordinate. "They're only shams. They don't go much above his knees, Doyle says. He sent him in."
"Well, what of it?" boldly demanded Oakley. "If a man wears a—what you call a 'dicky,' and it gets ripped off him in an accident, you don't arrest him for not wearing a shirt, do you?"
"But pants is different," urged the policeman.
Illustration: "YES," SHE SAID. "EVIDENTLY I MADE A MISTAKE IN MY MAN"
"No, they're not. ”

“ EARLIER in the day, when the accidental overturning of an ink-well in King's office had resulted in a liberal bespattering of Oakley's trousers, King had insisted that his own tailor should repair the damage.
"Fiddlesticks!" he had replied to his friend's arguments in favor of the hotel valet. "My man's absolutely reliable. He'll get your things back to you on time, he won't rot the cloth with acids,—and he won't rob you, which is more than can be said for any hotel tailor that I ever heard of. James"—to a boy,—"telephone to—oh, what's-his-name! You know ”

“ I have some trousers down in the pressing-room, and while it would be as much as my position is worth to let you have any of them, I—I went to see, sir. But it was no use. The gentlemen all seem to be small. These are the best I could get."
Oakley was looking fixedly on his long ulster, hanging on the rack, and fantastic schemes were forming in his brain. After all, it would be only to cross town in n cab, and perhaps to spend a few minutes in the waiting-rooms at the stations.
"You're sure these belong to the clerk?" he questioned. "I don't want to get you into trouble." ”

“ I guess I've found the solution. It's on me, all right." Oakley laughed rather sheepishly. "I thought I packed them—but I didn't. Another case of 'You never can tell.' Now, see here. I'm in a deuce of a hole. Help me out, will you? I'm pledged to meet a lady in Jersey City at 7.53. I've got to meet her, that's all there is about it! And I must have a pair of trousers in ten minutes. Now, what can you do?" ”

“ He particularly admires your truthfulness. He told me recently that he had seen you in some embarrassing crisis, where the average man would have sought refuge at least in evasion, and that, to his delight, you were absolutely frank and open. ”

“ Oakley bade the cabman wait and was given the customary carriage-check. In the restaurant, he chose a corner table, and himself took the corner chair, where he attempted for the first time a feat that he had often seen women perform. Seating himself in his ulster, he unfastened all but the two lower buttons, and, with the waiter's help, wriggled out of the shoulders, keeping the skirts about his legs the while. When the man would have taken the coat away, he objected, and then, unable entirely to ignore the surprise in Mrs. ”

“ You're a smooth one!" commented the sceptical policeman, who had been watching Mrs. Haslett's face. "Did they come together?" he asked the porter.
As yet uncertain of the denomination of a bill slipped into his fingers while the policeman studied Mrs. ”