Marion Marlowe in Cleveland, or, The Mystery of the Red Rose — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

‘1 me t her an “Roi ago and she would hardly look at me.’ _ “Where was she?” asked Miss Ellis, with a little mischief in her voice. The doctor laughed and shrugged his shoulders. : “T don’t tell secrets, Miss Ellis,” he said, gayly; “and if Miss Chester has won Bert's affections away from you, | can’t help admir- ing her. You are awfully foolish, my dear, to let him escape you.’ ~ “Pshaw! What do I care for him!” cried Miss Ellis, jokingly. “When I have a lover, JT want a man; not a kid like Bert. Why, he’s nothing but an infant!” = _ “Miss Chester likes infants of se ‘Tetorted Bert. The next minute, he v $1 - Miss Ellis hesitated fora moment and then, as the doctor and Marion became engaged in § versation, she went slowly to her own dre ssing-room, which adjoined that of Miss hester. ke had no motive in mind further than to prepare for the rehearsal, but as Bert’s voice came to her over the partition, she listened 1 voluntarily and then smiled delightedly. — h, you are the sweetest ue that ever he appened, no doubt about it,’’ Bert was say- 1 _ imaenande “but really, Miss Ches- , Lam hopelessly mashed on another. It’s one of those sad things that you read about ; the e ‘irony of fate,’ or something on that or- a Don’t you think you can brace up a BE if I get you a glass of seltzer?” CHAPTER VIII. A DISCOVERY. ‘The. curtain was just rising on the first act of the evening performance when Mr. Tem- Pie met Marion and Miss Allyn half-way cross the scene-room. | [= 0 trace of the masher yet, Miss Mar- . ig ve, he said, softly. “I’ve looked over the Ise, and so have my men. There’s not a lan “or oe with a red rose in his button- MY QUEEN. 17 really the masher, doesn't it?” asked Mauss Allyn. Mr. Temple spoke quickly, as he answered her question. “I forgot to tell you, that fellow has been He is only a dupe of the guilty person, apparently. He just broke down and wept when they took him to the cell. The authorities think he was scared into deliver- ing that parcel, and the scare was still on him when he fired the pistol.” “Tt’s a bad plan for nervous men to be carrying pistols,’ said Miss Allyn, dryly. “Poor John is the sufferer in this particular | instance.” “But did he not divulge a word by which arrested. you could trace the sender of the parcel?” -asked Marion, eagerly, Mr. Temple shook his head. “It was given him by a man with a full beard, he says, and all that he can remember is that the man threatened to annihilate both him and his family if he did not do the er- ‘rand, and he flourished some sort of a badge before the fellow’s eyes, which had the ef- fect of scaring him half out of his senses.” “And the second messenger, the one that brought the bracelet?” whispered Miss Al- lyn, cautiously. “Has not even been scented since,”’ was the manager’s reply. “The fellow who shadowed him lost him completely.” “Well, perhaps the real culprit has become discouraged by this time,’ said Marion, and then she told Mr. Temple of the fellow on the street corner, who had appeared so sud- denly before her, wearing a red rose in his button-hole. ~ “Tll go out and have another look,’ was the serious answer. “If he does really exist, we must be very careful.” “Bert and Miss Chester act like lovers. Quick! Look at them, Marion,” whispered Miss Allyn, as the manager turned away. Marion glanced over her shoulder in the direction indicated by her friend, and saw Bert and the soubrette whispering together in a dark corner of the scene-room. “A couple of spoons, aren’t they?” whis- pered a jovial voice, as Miss Leslie, the mimic that Marion had engaged at Buffalo, walked slowly past them. CON GIIOOKS COM