A Daughter of Delilah — page 75: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

66 IN THE MESHES OF THE SIREN. wonder is that you are content with me, when you can bring the world to your feet!’’ ‘‘We have little to fear,’’ she proceeded, ‘‘except Stim- son, the manager of the Frivolity. He refused me employ- ment when to dance was my last resource. I met him in Chicago, and never dreamed of seeing him in New York, but he must not stand in my way.”’ She pressed her red lips together until they looked like | streaks of blood. : ‘‘And my part in all this?’’ questioned Roseberry. | ‘‘To keep yourself free of the police by playing chaperon. You are to be my Aunt Judith, and the neces- | sary disguise is ready,’’ laughed Isabel. ‘‘Mr. Alston is coming at six to take me for a drive. When we return you must meet him at supper.”’ In the meanwhile, Alston had sauntered back to his club, his mind full of one horrible thought. His father was standing between him and happiness! ‘‘She is mine—she is mine!’’ he thought, ‘‘if I can but assure her that we shall not be poor! Can it be wondered at that she has this horrible dread of poverty, after the cruel way in which the world has buffeted her about?’’ His goddess had confided to him the story of her life. ‘‘She, a lady by birth, driven forth to work and herd with the mob. The stage was her only avenue from starvation—a profession she abhors. Poor Isabel! I would die for you! And now, how shall I face my father? Why should he hoard his millions, while a tenth part of his wealth would place me in a garden of paradise?”’ At the club doors he was accosted by a tall man attired in a neat-fitting suit of dark-gray. Gomichbooks. co