Roy J. Snell

“ Imagine a great virtuoso, one of the famous musicians of our land, being in a department store at two hours before midnight! Fancy her going up and down streets, in and out of the stores and shops dressed in all manner of absurd costumes, playing the star role in a newspaper stunt to increase circulation! How impossible! How—how utterly absurd!”
[247]
She paused for reflection and as she paused, as if to join her in quiet thought, the great musician allowed her flying fingers to come to rest on the keyboard while a violin soloist did his part. ”

“ With wildly beating heart Lucile stared at the panorama that was enacted before her. Powerless to aid, she saw Cordie, the innocent country girl, the center of a battle, snatched from hand to hand until it seemed the very life must be torn from her.
First she caught a glimpse of her fighting frantically but vainly in the grasp of a man. Lucile recognized him instantly.
“The hawk-eyed man!” she whispered. “The one who claimed to be her brother! Quick!” she exclaimed, gripping Laurie’s arm until her fingers cut into the very flesh. “Quick! They’re taking her to the auto. They’ll carry her away!” ”

“ It was a very much perplexed Lucile who curled up in her big chair that night for a few moments of quiet thought before retiring.
A new mystery had been added to her already well filled list of strange doings. “First,” she said to herself, telling them off like beads on a rosary, “there comes the beautiful mystery woman and the cape she left behind; then Laurie Seymour and the vanishing author; then the crimson thread; and now this girl.” ”

“ In the employees’ lunch room, over a glass of milk and a sandwich, and with the wonderful Cordie sitting opposite, she read the thing through.
“Come and find me. I am the Spirit of Christmas,” it ran. “I offer gold, two hundred in gold, for a shake of the hand, yet no one is so kind as to give me the clasp of cheer. I am the Spirit of Christmas. I am tall and slim, and of course I am a woman—a young woman whom some have been so kind as to call fair. To-day I dress in the garb of a working woman. Yesterday it was the coat of a sales-girl. ”

“ The greatest of stores employ few enough elevator girls. To visit each bank of elevators and to get a look at each girl is but the work of an hour or two at most. The man would have no trouble in locating her if he cared to do so. Since she had not thought of this she rode home humming in a carefree manner and, after a meal of sandwiches, cocoa and pie, followed by an hour of reading, she went to bed to dream of mysterious treasures taken by the truck load from the depths of a heavy, dark brown travelling bag. ”

“ Who would not like one for his room? Who would not love to open his eyes each morning upon the girl in the ‘Song of the Lark’? But they’d wish to possess that girl, too. A father, a mother, sister, brother, would be proud to possess her, to look at her every morning, a—anyone would. And yet, she’s not—”
[58]
Her meditations were cut short by sight of a figure standing not ten feet from her; a tall, slim, young man whose features might have been carved from marble, and in whose eyes Lucile had surprised a steely glance such as she had once caught in the beady eye of a down-swooping hawk. ”

“ The car came to a stop at the bottom. Three passengers got off and one got on, and the car shot upward again. And Florence did nothing but stand there and stare in astonishment!
Had she seen a ghost, a ghost of herself? What had happened? Her head was in a whirl. The girl at the lever was herself. Broad shoulders, large hands, round cheeks, blue eyes, brown hair, even to freckles that yielded not to winters indoors. It was her own self, to the life. ”

“ How would it do to allow our friend Lucile to ask all the questions—three around for each of us?”
“Oh! That would be darling!” exclaimed Lucile, fairly leaping from her chair. “You are all so very, very mysterious. There are so many, many things I’d like to know.”
“Agreed!” exclaimed Laurie.
“I don’t mind,” smiled Cordie.
“Good. That’s settled,” said Miss Diurno, whose very greatness as a musician so affected Lucile that she found it very difficult to be her usual frank and friendly self. “Miss Lucile, you may have ten minutes for thinking up questions. ”

“ He broke short off to stare at the door through which Cordie had entered. Framed by the outer darkness, a face had appeared there. However well shaven and massaged it might be, it was not a pleasing face to look upon and hawk-like eyes were set in a countenance as expressionless as marble.
“That’s him!” whispered James, staring as if his eyes would pop out of his head. “That’s the very man.” ”

“ A young woman’s face, a face of beauty and refinement, surrounded by a perfect circle of white. In the almost complete darkness of the place, that was all Lucile could see. And such a place for such a face—the far corner of the third floor of one of the largest department stores in the world. At that very moment, from somewhere out of the darkness, came the slow, deep, chiming notes of a great clock telling off the hour of ten. Two hours before midnight! And she, Lucile, was for a moment alone ”

“ What would happen if Rennie, the dear mother and straw-boss of us all, should slip before a car and be seriously injured to-night? What would happen? Not a soul of us all, even us transients, but would dig down and give our last penny to buy the things that would help her bear it. That’s what I mean, a gang that you belong to, that you suffer with, endure things with and enjoy life with! That’s the big secret of happiness.”
As Lucile listened to this short lecture on happiness, she worked. ”

“ Nine times out of ten, when a woman customer says ‘Is this a good book?’ she has already made up her mind that it is a good book. If you say ‘Yes’ she’ll smile and buy it. If you say ‘No,’ she’ll frown and buy it anyway. So why provoke a frown, and Christmas only two weeks away?”
Only her untiring good nature and her native sense of humor, kept Lucile on her feet and going. ”

“ Wheeling about, Lucile found herself facing a beautiful lady, one of the most beautiful she had ever seen; black hair, full cheeks of wonderful color, and eyes of the deepest blue. Lucile took in all the beauty of her for the first time at a glance, and at the same moment cold terror struck to her heart. This was Miss Bruce, the head of the section, the one who could dismiss a salesgirl at a word. And she had just heard Lucile break the most rigid rule of the house! She had talked back to a customer! ”

“ Half of the following day had not passed before Lucile repented having told Cordie of her volunteer brother. “He’ll probably never be seen again by any of us,” she told herself, “and now look at the poor girl. She’s all unnerved; grips her desk and stares in a frightened manner every time a man looks at her. And yet,” she reflected, “if anything happened and I hadn’t told her I’d never forgiven myself. Surely life is full of perplexing problems.” ”

“ Lucile exclaimed to the checking girl. “There must be a train leaving every two minutes. They’re all catching trains.”
So, crowded, pushed and jostled about, answering a hundred reasonable questions and two hundred unreasonable ones every hour; smiling when a smile would come, wondering in a vague sort of way what it was all about, catching the chance remark of a customer about “Christmas spirit,” Lucile fought her way through the long day. ”

“ They pass in a moment and are lost forever. Others are like scum from a stagnant pool; they are poison. Then there are those blessed others which are like the cool, pure, refreshing water that comes bubbling up from a mountain spring. Reading has an untold and lasting influence on a child. Do you believe that? When you have put one of those better books into the hand of a boy or girl, you have conferred a lasting blessing upon someone. ”

“ The coat and hat she took from the mysterious one’s locker were very plain and somewhat worn, not as good as her own. But the fur throw was a thing to marvel at; a crossed fox, the real thing, no dyed imitation, and so richly marked with gray that it might easily be taken for a silver gray.
“Some strange little combination,” she breathed as she threw the fur about her neck and started once more for the elevator. ”

“ For three seconds she wavered there, watching the car move away. Then catching a glimpse of Patrick O’Hara lying at her feet, wounded, perhaps dead, a great courage came to her.
“They must not escape!” she screamed. “They shall not!”
The next instant she leaped into the saddle of the police horse, Dick. Just as the noble animal dashed away she felt the solid impact of someone mounting behind her.
One glance she cast behind her. “Oh!” she breathed. It was the man in gray. To Dick she whispered: “All right, Dick, old dear, Go! Go fast! For the love of Patrick O’Hara and Laurie Seymour ”

“ One floor lower down the same feverish pace was being set. Here nimble fingers dipped and packed chocolate bon-bons, while from the right and left of them came the rattle and thump of drums polishing jelly beans and moulding gum drops at the rate of ten thousand a minute.
[170]
Ah yes, there was the Christmas rush for you. But one floor lower down there was quiet and composure such as one might hope to find in a meadow where a single artist, with easel set, sketches a landscape. It was not unlike that either, for the two-score of persons engaged here were sketching, too. ”

“ As a proof of the fact that she was carrying out her share of the compact, she waited for her own elevator. The strange girl shot her a quick smile as she entered and another as she got off on the third floor where was the rest room and book section.
“Seems terribly queer to be walking around in another girl’s clothes,” she whispered to herself as she drifted aimlessly past rows of people resting in leather cushioned chairs. “Especially when that other girl is someone you’ve spoken to but once in your life. ”

“ She had descended the marble stairs and was about to leave the building when a picture arrested her attention; a living picture of a girl. And such a girl as she was! A supple grace to her waist and shoulders, a proper curve at the ankles, and a face—such a face! Cheeks aglow with the color the frosty out-of-doors had given them. Cheeks offset by dark, deep-set eyes, made darker still by eyelashes that were like hemlocks in a snow covered valley, and a smooth oval forehead backed by a wealth of short, wavy hair. This was the picture ”

“ But a country girl? What does she know about the Mystery Lady? Little, or much? Have they known each other long? I—I’ll ask her. No—n-o-o, I guess I won’t. I wasn’t supposed to see. It was too much like spying. No,” this decisively, “I’ll just have to let things work themselves out. And if they don’t work out to something like a revelation, then I’ll know they haven’t, that’s all. More than half the mysteries of the world are never unravelled at all.”
After this bit of reasoning, she hastened on down the remaining flights of stairs to her work.
“Where’s Cordie?” she asked of Laurie. ”

“ Lucile’s mind was in such a daze that when the great pianist tapped her wrist watch and said: “Time’s up. Who’s the first?” she had not formed one question.
[282]
“Age before beauty,” laughed Cordie.
“Well, that’s me?” smiled Miss Diurno. “I am ready to be questioned.”
“Why—er—” stammered Lucile. “Why did you, who are such a very great musician, undertake the humble task of assisting in a newspaper stunt?”
“Dear little girl,” said Miss Diurno, a very mellow note of kindness creeping into her voice, “there are no great people in the world, and there are no truly humble tasks. ”

“ In the shadows of the three-story brick structure that formed the base of the pier, her double suddenly disappeared and left her, a lone girl on a wind-swept, deserted street that led to an empty pier. And here was a dark-faced, villainous looking man at her heels.
She could see but one chance now; that she might find her way out upon the pier and there, amid its labyrinth of board walks, freight rooms and deserted lunch rooms, lose herself from her pursuer. She resolved to try it. The next moment she dashed into the shadows of that great black building. ”

“ They were gaining, gaining, gaining. Through narrow passages impossible to a car, old Dick crowded forward like a fleet, sure-footed dog. Now a yard he gained, now a rod, and now a long stretch of open. They were gaining, gaining, gaining! What were they to do once the car was overtaken? That Cordie could not tell. She only knew one thing clearly—the men in the car must not escape and she was determined to prevent their escape. ”

“ If you have read our other books, “The Cruise of the O’Moo” and “The Secret Mark,” you will remember that these two girls had been the best of chums. But a great University is a place of many changes. Their paths had crossed and then they had gone in diverging ways. Now they were more than pleased to find that, for a time, they were employed in the same store.
“Speaking of Christmas,” said Florence, “since I haven’t any grand Christmas surprises coming from other people, I’ve decided to buy myself a surprise.”
“How can you do that?” asked Lucile, a look of incredulity on her face. ”

“ Oh, the Boulevard! We will be killed!”
Before them lay the Boulevard where autos, thick as bees in clover, raced forward at twenty miles an hour. What chance could there be of escape?
[158]
Trust a horse. While pedestrians stared and screamed in terror, while policemen vainly blew whistles and auto drivers set brakes screaming, Dick, without slackening his pace, raced ahead of a yellow limousine, grazed a black sedan, sent a flivver to the curb, and with one magnificent leap cleared the sidewalk and the low chain at its edge, landing squarely upon the soft, yielding turf of the park. ”

“ It was the day before Christmas.
This day work would be light. Tommie had said that. Donnie had said it. Rennie and all the others of the sales group who stayed from year to year had said it. What was more, for this one day, if never again, Lucile had resolved to wear the magnificent cape of midnight blue and fox-skin. And at night, when the day was done, the week ended, the season closed, there was to be a wonderful party. A party! Oh joy! A party!
[206]
Laurie, the mysterious Laurie Seymour, had invited them, just they of his corner—Donnie and Rennie, Tommie, Cordie and herself. ”

“ It wouldn’t be easy to catch anyone in that labyrinth.”
Again there was silence for a little while.
“Lucile,” whispered Cordie, bending forward eagerly, her face alight with some strange idea. “James is so mysterious. Do you suppose he could be a pirate in hiding?”
“A pirate! Why child, there aren’t any pirates.” ”