Marion Marlowe in St. Paul, or, The Company's Mascot in a Double Deal — page 24: what you’re looking at

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23 “Has he took anything now?” asked the cfhcer, who was having all he could do to manage " jackets.” AN ef think not,” said the man, who had made an inventory of his possessions, “but he’s a bad egg, officer! I insist upon your ar- resting him!” ‘“Can’t do it, if he ain’t stole nothing,” said the officer, grimly; “I'll have to let him go, - unless you can prove something agin him.” “Please don’t let him go! Please give him to me!’ cried Marion, springing forward. “Oh, Mr. Officer, I know his mother; she is a friend of mine! Do, please, give me the boy and let me take him to his mother!” At the first sound of her sweet voice, “Jackets” ceased his struggles. The next minute he was eyeing her with a shrewd look on his small features. _ “Are you sure you can manage him, miss ?” asked the officer, a little anxiously. ‘“He’s ripped my coat open and he scratches like a wiid-cat. I have a notion to spank hinr be- fore I hand him over!” “Qh, don't!” cried Marion; Allyn burst out laughing. “It’s exactly what he needs! But don’t do it, officer! It might break the charm, if you spanked our mascot!” The people who had gathered all stared. at her words, but the next minute Marion had “Jackets” by the hand and was leading him away in triumph. “That gal can tame him, if anybody can,” was the “bluecoat’s” comment. “She may be an actress: I’ve been told that she was, but there’s one thing dead sure—she’s got the face of an angel!” but Miss CHAPTER XI. THE PLOT OF A FIEND. It was the forenoon of the fourth day of Marion’s stay in St. Paul, and the entire theatrical company, ‘Jackets’ and his mother included, were driving about the city They had been gazing upon the pictur- esque Mississippi from 5t. Anthony's Hill, and were talking eagerly of the beauties of the city as they turned from Summit avenue into one of the pretty streets on their way back to the theatre. a | Just as the carriage containing Marion Marlowe. Dr. Brookes, Miss Allyn and Ida Inez passed one of the prominent clubs, Dan Hobart clanced from between the curtains. \ cmile of satisfaction lighted his face as be recoenized the newsboy’s mother. She had kept that much of het promise, and made the acquaintance ot Vlarion. He wlanced at his watch, then turned from i MY QUEEN, the window, only to come face to face with Archibald Tupham. “Thank fortune, he didn’t see her!” was Hobart’s first thought. “Time enough for bim to learn of it after I have won my wager, He I] all but murder his old sweetheart for playing the traitor.” There was not a trace of pity in his heart tor the wretched girl; rather, he seemed chuckling: to himself that he had been so clever as to choose the mother of “Jackets’’ to be his accomplice. He strolled across the room, nodding fa- miliarly to Tupham, then changed his mind and dropped into a chair beside him. “Well, the odds are mine,” he said, with a . faint smile. “I suppose ‘Jackets’ reported | where I left the lady.” _ If Tupham was annoyed, he did not show it. “Yes; at the door of the hotel,’ he an- swered, coolly. “And the little soubrette stuck to you like a porous plaster! It was worth the twenty I gave her, my boy, I as- sure you!” | Hobart glanced up quickly. : “So she was working you, too, was she?” he asked, dryly. ‘Well, she did her work all right, as far as | was concerned. I got the introduction, but you got nothing.” “But a ‘dates’ The answer was brief, but Hobart stared a little. “When?” “This afternoon ! terfere, eh?” The elder man smiled cynically, as he tapped his vest tpocket. “T can almost feel that fifty,’’ he said, with a laugh; “but I’m willing to confess that Miss Marlowe is balky. She’s’ pretty and she knows it—that is all that is the matter.” Dan Hobart got up and strolled across the floor. As he did so, he glanced up at the - clock in a richly-draped alcove. “Well, so long, Tupham! I have an en- gagement,” he said, indifferently; “I am coing to the jeweler’s to select what I am to huy with that fifty.” Roth men laughed coldly, and Hobart left the room. He was going for a bite of lun- cheon and then to the home of “Jacket’s” mother, where he fully expected to find Mar- ion Marlowe. At two o'clock exactly he stood before the squalid entrance of a tenement house, but his bird had flown. Mrs. Ida Inez, as she was known,shad vacated her apartments. . Dan Hobart’s chagrin made him furious for a minute. It was too late now for another attempt to win the wager. He walked away Syne pet batled Too late for you to in-