The Argosy, March 1907 — page 176: what you’re looking at

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

Voorhees’s face. He realized immediately that he was in the wrong house. What to do now was the question. The situation was most embarrassing, to say the least; an attempt at explana- tion might fix matters, but then it might S. not. And if there was one thing that ies Voorhees detested, it was an explanation. — The ludicrousness of the predicament oc- curred to him, and he had great difficulty _ Be. in restraining bis laughter. The girl | =e evidently mistook him for a_ burglar. = What other inference could she draw? oe “Voorhees took a step “forward and ea slowly closed the door behind him. It Ee was the only egress. The girl was aware a= of this fagt, but did not cry out. She a evidently decided to throw herself upon a the mercy of this midnight prowler. a Another brilliant idea had come to —* * Voorhees, and he determined to carry it out, despite consequences. He thought it very original. Usually when a burglar is caught or i? “ ‘EAP ey bh 7 * > hee re See discovered he will deny positively that os he is one, insist that he has made a Se - mistake in the house, or something to = that effect, and pretend innocence of any » fs wrong- doing. To give novelty to the af- fair, Voorhees would do the reverse. Eat He was not a burglar; he Aad made a mistake in the house, and he was innocent of any wrong intention; but would the - girl believe this? Would she not rather believe a lie—that he was a burglar and had come to rob the place? Voorhees thought so, and decided to play the part. As he had seen the villain in a play Pm ~ <7 “és os a — 2 ~J a Sas wey “ J, > <s a ** 2 — > Piaw Pt er do once upon a time, he drew forth his 3 __ ~-case and extracted therefrom a cigarette. Walking to the mantelpiece, he secured — - amatch, and while lighting the cigarette wer he scpu utinized the girl from the corner of his eye. The girl stood perfectly still, eS evidently waiting to hear what the in- _ __ truder might say. She liked his looks, in Be spite of his calling, and figured that he could not be a very ferocious burglar. a “This meeting is quite unexpected, ~~ Miss—Miss——’”’ “ Fortune,” supplemented the girl. “ _ Voorhees smiled. He admired her hu- -mor. a What an inappropriate name! But ee but ies: eyes never for a moment ‘left it is fated cbieasas Of course, ae is unfortunate for you that I am here— Se probably.” - = ee “Not at -all,”’ she ease in naires - | “Tt is unfortunate for you. You came — for valuables—and you find only me.” “Only you! How modest is Miss ee Fortune! Why, to me you are a jewel = go of priceless worth, more valuable by far — than all things costly and precious.” ae ‘““Aren’t your declarations — rather — premature? And don’t you think you had better take what you came for and — allow me to retire. I am becoming eee sleepy.” “You were the only woman on the = train who attracted my attention,” con- — tinued Voorhees, ignoring her hint, ‘As there were but two of our Sex aboard, I feel quite flattered.”’ BR: = . ead wished to speak to you then, but — of course that wa a impossible, as we had z not become as good friends as we are now.’ The girl smiled. = “Your presumption is icigheeaias sir. 5 Will you not Blokes take your depart- oe ure?” Sa “If you request it, I cannot refuse,” answered Voorhees, with an elaborate bow. “ But the evening has been too = pleasantly spent for me to think of — taking away with me anything more than a remembrance of you, Miss—Miss——” ‘“* Adventure.” . 2 ee ‘Tt has been, truly. » Adieu.” <r WHEN he had gone and she had heard | the front door close after him, Dorothy Winthrop’s nerve forsook her. Calm as she had been during the ordeal, the after-effect brought on hysteria. She ran from the room, calling loudly for ie pees sister to come down. At the foot of the == stairway she sank down in a faint. ge eae Mrs. Parker, hearing the cries, tum- — bled out of bed, and seizing her hus- band’s revolver, ‘hurried below. There — she nearly fell over the prostrate form of her sister. Bees Although nearly scared out of her wits, Sy she was able to get some water and bring the girl to. With open mouth and odie heart she listened to Dorothy’s account _ se, ‘