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The Project Gutenberg EBook of My Queen: A Weekly Journal for Young Women.
Issue 4, October 20, 1900, by Lurana Waterhouse Sheldon
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
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have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using
this ebook.
Title: My Queen: A Weekly Journal for Young Women. Issue 4, October 20, 1900
Marion Marlowe's Noble Work; or, The Tragedy at the Hospital
Author: Lurana Waterhouse Sheldon
Release Date: October 4, 2018 [EBook #58021]
Language: English
Character set encoding: UTF-8
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY QUEEN: A WEEKLY JOURNAL ***
Produced by MWS and the Online Distributed Proofreading
Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from
images generously made available by The Internet
Archive/American Libraries.)
MY QUEEN
A WEEKLY JOURNAL FOR YOUNG WOMEN
No. 4. PRICE, FIVE CENTS.
MARION MARLOWE’S NOBLE WORK
OR
THE TRAGEDY AT THE HOSPITAL
BY GRACE SHIRLEY
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY STREET & SMITH, 238 William Street, New York City.
_Copyright, 1900, by Street & Smith. All rights reserved. Entered at New
York Post-Office as Second-Class Matter._
MY QUEEN
A WEEKLY JOURNAL FOR YOUNG WOMEN
_Issued Weekly. By Subscription $2.50 per year. Entered as Second Class
Matter at the N. Y. Post Office, by_ Street & Smith, _238 William St., N. Y.
Entered According to Act of Congress in the year 1900, in the Office of
the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C._
No. 4. NEW YORK, October 20, 1900. Price Five Cents.
Marion Marlowe’s Noble Work;
OR,
THE TRAGEDY AT THE HOSPITAL.
By GRACE SHIRLEY.
CHAPTER I.
A TRIO OF DOCTORS.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons, or the “P. & S.,” as it is
usually called, had just graduated a large class of promising young
doctors, and the morning after the commencement exercises the big
building looked deserted. As Dr. Reginald Brookes, a handsome young man
of twenty-two, passed down the steps, dress suit case in hand, he came
face to face with two of his classmates.
“Hello, doc. What did you get, Charity or Bellevue? I hear you
competed,” called one of the young doctors.
“Neither one,” said Dr. Brookes, with a smile of amusement, “I got a
berth in the Penitentiary, Greenaway!”
“Oh, that’s too bad!” said Dr. Fielding, a pleasant-faced gentleman.
“You’ll rust in that place—they never have anything interesting! Why,
the best you will see will be a few contusions and a case of cholera
morbus or eczema of some kind.”
Reginald Brookes still smiled, although he knew his friend was speaking
truthfully.
“I’m going to Bellevue, and I’m mighty glad of it,” said Fielding,
enthusiastically. “For if there is anything going they get it at
Bellevue.”
“Yes, they catch it all, there,” was Dr. Greenaway’s answer, “and it’s
not so far from the world as the Island, either.”
“Then there’s any number of pretty nurses to flirt with,” he said,
laughing. “No lack of either fun or work in the wards of old Bellevue.”
“I’m sorry for you, Brookes,” exclaimed Dr. Fielding again. “Why, you
poor chap, you’ll hardly see a pretty face where you are going, for I
understand that the prison women do about all the nursing.”
“Yes, ‘Big Belle, the Confidence Queen,’ is head nurse there now, I
believe,” laughed Brookes, “or at least she is guardian of the woman’s
ward just at present. I expect I’ll have to leave my watch and money
outside when I go on duty. She might try her skill on me, just to keep
in practice.”
“Well, I am sorry for you, doc; still it is better than no berth at
all,” said Greenaway, sadly, “I didn’t get a thing, and I’m the poorest
man in the college.”
“By Jove, that’s too bad!” said Reginald Brookes, with feeling. “But,
say, what are you going to do; you can’t go into general practice
without capital.”
Fred Greenaway shrugged his shoulders and frowned slightly.
“I used up all I had on my education,” he said, briefly, “but I’ll
catch on to something. I’m not worrying about it.”
Dick Fielding rushed away at that moment in answer to a call from a
friend, and in a flash Dr. Brookes put his hand on Greenaway’s shoulder.
“Let me lend you five thousand to start with, old chap! I can do it as
well as not, and you can give me an I. O. U. for security.”
Fred Greenaway looked up at the handsome fellow in amazement.
“Great Cæsar! Do you mean that, doc?” he asked, excitedly.
“Certainly,” said young Brookes, briefly, as he drew a check book from
his pocket. “Why the deuce didn’t you tell me you were hard up before.
I thought you considered me your friend, you rascal!”
Fred Greenaway did not speak for the space of a minute. Such generosity
as this was totally unknown to him, and just at this time it was doubly
and trebly grateful.
“I guess I should have gone to the wall in spite of my grit,” he said
slowly, as Brookes folded and handed him the check. “I haven’t five
dollars in my pocket this minute, and as there wasn’t a ghost of a show
in sight for me to practice my profession, I was starting out to apply
for a job as motorman on a street car, or something of that sort.”
“Let me know how you get on,” said Brookes, as he waited for the I. O.
U. that Greenaway was scribbling. “I’ll be on the Island for a year, I
suppose, unless I find, as Fielding says, that I am actually rusting.”
“But why do you go there, Brookes?” asked his friend, rather anxiously.
“With your money, what is to hinder your going straight into practice?”
Reginald Brookes did not answer the question immediately; he appeared
to be a little embarrassed.
“I’ll tell you, Fred!” he blurted out finally, “but don’t give me away,
old man, or the boys will say I lack ambition; but the fact is I’m in
love—desperately in love, and it is with a sweet little nurse who is
‘on probation’ in Charity.”
“I see,” said Greenaway, with a smile of amusement. “And you can’t bear
the idea of having the East River roll between you! Well, I don’t know
that I blame you, doc, for after all, what’s the good of money if you
can’t be independent!”
“It is just this way,” said Brookes, seriously, as the two friends
started slowly up Fifty-ninth street. “She is a beautiful girl, a
country lass, and fresh as a daisy. I’m sure I don’t know how she can
endure that place, but she is determined to stay there and take care of
those poor wretches, and some way I thought she would be happier if I
went over and helped her.”
“Oh, how generous we are!” said Greenaway, laughing. “You mean you knew
you would be happier on Blackwell’s Island with her than you would on
Fifth avenue with any other woman.”
“I see you know how it is,” said young Brookes, with a grin of
sympathy. “You are in love yourself, old boy, or you couldn’t speak so
feelingly.”
“I admit it,” said Greenaway, a sad look crossing his face. “I’m in
love all right, but that is all the good it will ever do me.”
“Who is she?” asked Brookes, with a sudden keen interest.
The frown deepened on Greenaway’s face and his voice fell lower as he
answered: “Her name is May Osgood, and she is an actress,” he said,
slowly. “I have loved her for some time—I can’t seem to get over it.”
That there was a reason why he should get over it was very apparent by
his words, but Reginald Brookes was too cultured to dream of asking his
secret.
“Well, my little sweetheart is only seventeen,” he said gayly, “and,
between you and I, she has not accepted me yet, so you see I have a
double reason for wishing to be near her.”
As they parted at the L station, Greenaway spoke rather suddenly.
“I’ll turn my life insurance over to you if anything happens, Reg; but,
by the way, what is your sweetheart’s name? I seem to have a feeling
that I ought to know it.”
Reginald Brookes glanced at him in a little surprise.
“Her name is Marion Marlowe,” he said, very slowly, then, as Greenaway
ran up the stairs, he looked after him curiously.
“He’s a funny chap,” he muttered, uneasily. “Now, why the deuce did he
feel that he ought to know my little sweetheart’s name? Confound the
fellow! He has no business with such feelings!”
CHAPTER II.
A WORD OF WARNING.
Augustus Atherton, attorney-at-law, was seated in his office looking
over some papers.
Suddenly he tapped a bell upon his desk and his office-boy entered.
“Tell Sands to bring me a copy of Halstead’s testimony, Bob,” he said,
shortly, “and tell him to hurry; I want it this minute!”
“Mr. Sands is out to lunch, sir, won’t be back for half an hour,” said
the boy, respectfully, “but Miss Marlowe has the copy; shall I tell her
to bring it?”
“Yes, at once,” said the lawyer, wheeling around in his chair.
In less than a minute his “typewriter girl” entered the office.
“Here is the paper, sir,” said a sweet, low voice.
Mr. Atherton looked up and then stared a little. It was the first time
he had really taken a good look at the new copyist.
The young girl who stood before him was very beautiful. She had a
sweet, oval face, lighted by violet eyes, and her rippling golden hair
shone like threads of sunshine.
Her figure was plump, but exceedingly graceful, and every curve was
enhanced by the charming simplicity of her garments.
“Oh, thank you!” he said politely, as she laid the papers upon the
desk, and at the same time he looked admiringly at her small white hand
and taper fingers.
“You copy very neatly and accurately, Miss Marlowe,” he said quickly,
as she was about to turn respectfully and leave him.
“Thank you, sir,” said the beautiful girl, blushing. “I am very glad,
indeed, that I please you. It is my first position and I am naturally a
little nervous.”
“You have never worked in an office before, then,” said the old lawyer,
glancing her over critically. “Well, you are doing nicely, and Sands
tells me you are very rapid.”
“I do manage the typewriter very easily, sir,” said the young girl,
smiling, “and I am studying very hard. I shall soon be a stenographer.”
“Then I’ll have you in here where I can dictate to you,” said the
lawyer, quickly.
“By Jove! What a treat that will be after two years of Miss Dixon!”
His extraordinary manner astonished the girl a little, but after a
moment of embarrassment she managed to stammer:
“Oh, but I may never be as proficient as Miss Dixon; she takes notes
like lightning, while I can only write fifty words a minute.”
“Well, I could talk slower,” said the lawyer, slyly, giving her another
sharp look over his glasses.
Dollie Marlowe smiled, but she was considerably puzzled. It was the
longest conversation that she had had with her employer.
For she had only been working two weeks, and it was the first position
of any kind that she had ever occupied.
She was only seventeen, but quite large for her age, and up to a few
months before had always lived in the country.
As she bowed politely to the lawyer and hurried away from his desk, she
could not help wondering if he had guessed just how green and simple
she was, and whether his words were intended for anything more than
kindly encouragement.
When she reached the little office where her typewriter stood, Dollie
went on with her work as steadily as ever, but more than once she
caught herself thinking of her employer’s words and wondering if he
really did want her to sit in his office.
Dollie Marlowe’s life in the city had not been without its experiences,
and at times there was a cloud on the fair girl’s brow as though some
of those experiences had been woefully bitter.
She rarely said anything about her own life, but the name of her twin
sister was frequently on her lips, and this sister was now a nurse in
Charity Hospital.
“My sister Marion is as beautiful as a saint,” she had told Miss Dixon.
“She has magnificent gray eyes and such a queenly air. Oh, I could
talk forever and not tell half of Marion’s virtues!”
“If she is prettier than you are she must be beautiful,” Miss Dixon had
said, honestly. She was one of the few plain women who could see beauty
in others and admit it.
She came into the little office while Dollie was working, only a few
minutes after the talk with Mr. Atherton.
“There is a boy out in the hall looking for you, Miss Marlowe,” she
said, pleasantly, “and I should judge by his looks that he had some
important news. Oh, no, not bad news, I am sure!” she added, as she
saw the change in Dollie’s face. “He was grinning and showing every
tooth in his head. A mighty nice-looking boy, too; perhaps he is your
sweetheart.”
“My sweetheart is not a boy, Miss Dixon,” said Dollie, proudly. “He is
twenty years old and is a bookkeeper at a good salary. This must be
Bert Jackson, one of my old neighbors in the country.”
She rose from her machine and hurried out into the hall. Sure enough,
there stood Bert, very impatient, but still grinning.
“I just dropped in to tell you the good news,” said Bert, as quick as
he saw her. “I’ve been adopted by a rich man, and I’m to have my choice
of a future profession.”
“Oh, Bert, how lovely!” cried Dollie, enthusiastically. She could
hardly believe that such good fortune had befallen him.
“His name is Captain Hobart, and he’s a millionaire, I am told,” went
on Bert. “I used to always wait on him at the store where I worked,
and he tells me he took a fancy to me because of my good manners. How
Matt Jenkins, the keeper of the Poor Farm, would swear if he could hear
that,” he said, roaring. “That’s doing pretty well for an orphan boy to
be adopted by a millionaire, isn’t it, Dollie?”
“Oh, it’s just beautiful!” cried Dollie, in genuine delight. “Oh, I
just wish all of the boys from the Poor Farm could have such a chance!
Marion will be overjoyed to hear of it, Bert. I shall write to her this
evening and tell her about it.”
“I’ve done that already,” was Bert’s prompt reply. “You didn’t suppose
I’d let her hear it second-hand, did you? And, by the way, Dollie, I’ve
got a secret for your ears. It has just come to me lately, and I’m as
happy as a lark. I’m going straight ahead to make love to Marion. She’s
the dearest girl I know, and I’m going to ask her to marry me.”
“Oh, Bert!”
This was all that Dollie could say. She was quite overcome with
astonishment at this matter-of-fact announcement.
“Well, why shouldn’t I,” asked Bert, in an injured tone. “Of course I
don’t expect her to marry me now, but as soon as I am educated and have
plenty of ‘dough’ I don’t see any reason why she shouldn’t like me.”
Dollie Marlowe burst out laughing, in spite of Bert’s seriousness.
“But don’t you know that Marion has two lovers already?” she asked,
gayly. “Why, she’ll have time to marry both of them before you are old
enough to ask her.”
“I’m as old as she is, and I’ll take chances on that,” said Bert,
coolly; “but I say, Dollie, who the mischief is this bald-headed old
duffer?”
“Hush!” whispered the girl in horror, as she saw who was coming. “That
is Mr. Atherton, my honorable employer.”
“Honorable fiddlesticks!” said Bert, staring straight at the gentleman.
“Look out for him, Dollie; I don’t like his style. He’s too smooth to
be real healthy, and you know I must protect you, if you are going to
be my sister.”
CHAPTER III.
MARION ARRIVES JUST IN TIME.
At exactly noon the day after Bert Jackson’s warning, Miss Dixon sat
alone in the private office.
She had been taking dictation all the morning, and was a trifle weary.
“It is very strange,” she said to herself. “Mr. Atherton is not in the
habit of taking his typewriter to lunch with him, and I have been here
two years and never received an invitation.”
Bob Day, the office boy, came in with some papers. There was a grin on
his face as he laid them on the desk.
“He’s mashed on her, sure pop!” he said, with great jubilation.
“You just ought to seen him smirk at her when they went down in the
elevator.”
“Nonsense!” said Miss Dixon, sharply. “You must be mistaken, Bob. Mr.
Atherton was never known to take one of us to luncheon.”
“Oh, well, you ain’t all got her style,” said the boy, unfeelingly.
“Why, Miss Marlowe is a peach! She’s got all of us stuck on her.”
“Much good will it do her,” said Miss Dixon, sadly. “She’s too pretty
for her own good—that’s what I’ve often told her.”
“She’ll wear diamonds if she sticks to me,” sang out Bob, as he went
noisily out of the office.
Just outside in the hall he met a beautiful young girl. She had
chestnut hair and large, flashing gray eyes, and carried her head and
shoulders regally.
“Did you want ter see Mr. Atherton?” asked Bob, quickly. He had seen
that she was a stranger, and he was the guardian of the office.
“I am looking for Miss Marlowe, his typewriter,” said the beautiful
girl, sweetly.
“Miss Marlowe is my twin sister, and I am in a great hurry to see her.”
The boy glanced up at the clock in the hall.
“Sorry, miss, but she is out to lunch,” he said, briefly. “Won’t be
back for at least two hours, I reckon.”
“What! Does my sister spend so much time over her luncheon as that?”
asked the young girl, in astonishment.
“Well, not usually,” was the answer, in a drawling voice, “but she’s
out with the boss to-day, you see, so I give ’em two hours. They can’t
get back no sooner.”
Marion Marlowe gasped at this bit of information, but she controlled
herself perfectly in the presence of this youngster.
“Do you happen to know where they went?” she said, pleasantly, at the
same time handing the boy a bright half dollar.
“He’d kill me if he knew I told,” Bob said, as he pocketed the money,
“but it’s either the Astor House or Moquin’s in Fulton street, miss. If
’twas me, I’d go to the Astor House first. It’s nicer over there and
not so far as the other.”
Marion thanked him and turned away, with a curious feeling at her
heart. There was something in the boy’s news that worried her sadly.
“I seen ’em cuttin’ across the Park,” muttered Bob, after she had gone,
“but she can’t say I told her. I said either one or t’other.”
As the beautiful young girl picked her way across Park Row, more than
one person stared at her. There was a freshness and stateliness about
her that is not often seen in city maidens.
As yet the country bloom was still dyeing her cheeks, and the marvelous
whiteness of her skin was good to behold.
She had passed through many trials since she came to the city, acting
the part of heroine on several occasions, yet each time withdrawing
herself and her noble deeds as rapidly as possible into the background.
“I can’t understand it,” she whispered, as she hurried across the Park.
“Oh, my poor little sister; how thoughtless she is! Why, it would break
Ralph Moore’s heart if he thought Dollie was fickle.”
Ralph Moore was Dollie’s sweetheart, and they were to be married
soon—just as soon as Ralph’s position admitted of the change—and Marion
already loved him as she would her own brother.
She knew that Dollie was only a child in heart, the baby of the family,
and very unsophisticated, but she had not believed that she would be
so really careless of Ralph’s feelings as to accept attention from her
employer. Marion was thinking deeply as she reached Broadway, but as
she stepped on the crossing she paused to look about her.
Not ten feet away she saw one of the new automobile carriages, and as
she glanced at it carelessly she recognized one of the occupants.
It was George Colebrook, a man whom she had reason to despise, for he
had played the traitor in a love affair with her dear friend, Alma
Allyn, and such actions as this always shocked her pure nature.
He was looking straight at her with an ugly gleam in his eyes, and
Marion noticed that his companion was a flashily dressed woman.
“He hates me, I believe,” thought Marion to herself, “and all because I
showed him how I loathed him. If looks could kill, I should certainly
die this minute, and yet that black-hearted fellow once dared to make
love to me! Oh, how I despise such treacherous creatures!”
When Marion reached the Astor House dining-room, she stood perfectly
still and looked around.
A dozen people turned their heads and commented on her beauty.
Dollie and her employer were not there, so Marion made her way to the
parlor. The instant she looked in, she saw Dollie sitting by the window.
Marion walked over to her quickly and put her hand on her shoulder.
With a little scream of surprise, Dollie turned and looked at her; the
next second they were hugging and kissing each other.
There was only one person besides themselves in the parlor just then,
so for a minute the girls talked freely, but in low tones so as not to
attract attention.
“But, sister, what are you doing here?” asked Marion, after a little.
“I went to the office and could not find you, and the office boy told
me you were lunching with your employer.”
“I wonder how he knew?” remarked Dollie, innocently. “Why, I came out
five minutes before him and waited at the elevator. That boy is very
impudent to be watching us,” she added.
“And your employer is very thoughtless to invite you out with him,”
said Marion, stoutly. “A man of his age ought to know better, Dollie.”
“But he did not mean anything by it, Marion,” said Dollie, quickly.
“Why, he is as nice as he can be, and he’s almost as old as father.”
“That is what I said; he is old enough to know better,” said Marion,
grimly; “but here he comes, Dollie; I know him by your description.”
“Yes, here he comes,” repeated the fair-haired girl, gayly, “and I do
so hope he has arranged everything satisfactorily. He is going to take
me to a matinee, and I’ll make him take you, too. He won’t mind, I am
sure, for he has plenty of money.”
Mr. Atherton looked surprised when he saw Dollie talking to a
magnificent young woman, and he smiled more blandly than ever when the
blushing girl introduced them.
“I am delighted to meet you, I am sure,” he said, with a gallant bow to
Dollie’s sister.
“And I am delighted to meet you also, sir,” said Marion, coldly, “for
it gives me an opportunity to tell you what I think of you!”
CHAPTER IV.
MARION MEETS WITH AN ACCIDENT.
Dollie Marlowe gasped at her sister’s words, and for a moment even the
wily old lawyer looked a little disconcerted.
“I am sure I hope you do not think ill of me,” he said, politely. “I
was only taking your sister for a little outing. She is as safe with me
as she would be with her own father.”
“Nevertheless you have not considered the risk to her reputation,” said
Marion, calmly. “Dollie is your typewriter; she is in your employ. It
is not proper at all for you to make a companion of her.”
“But if I choose to, Miss Marlowe, surely there can be no harm. And as
for the opinion of the world, what does that amount to?”
“It amounts to a great deal to a poor girl,” was the quick answer. “A
man may shock the proprieties all he pleases, but the woman who does so
will always have to suffer. We must take the world as we find it, sir,
and conform to its edicts.”
“Then you think it is wrong for your sister to eat her lunch with me?”
he asked, with a slight sneer. “Perhaps you imagine that her employer
is not respectable?”
“I mean, sir,” said the brave girl, firmly, “that I love my sister
dearly, and that I will not knowingly allow her fair name to be
sullied. She is engaged to be married, sir, to a noble young man. What
do you suppose he would say to your remarks about the luncheon?”
“Oh, if she is tied to some whipper-snapper, and dares not say her
soul is her own——” he began, angrily, but Marion interrupted in the
same calm manner.
“She is engaged to a gentleman and she means to marry him, consequently
I can see no reason why she should desire your company; and as for
her lunches, the salary you pay her should provide her with those
necessaries.”
“What do you say to all this?” asked the lawyer, suddenly, as he turned
to Dollie, who was leaning weakly against the window.
“I think Marion is right,” said the young girl, slowly, “but I’m sure,
sir, she doesn’t mean to hurt your feelings. It is her love for me that
makes her so decided.”
“You need not apologize for me, Dollie,” said Marion, scornfully;
“your employer knows that I am perfectly right, but to prove it I will
ask him what he thinks his wife would say if she had interrupted this
matinee plan as I did.”
She was looking the lawyer steadily in the face as she spoke, and the
wide gray eyes seemed to see right through him.
The man’s sallow cheeks grew scarlet at her question, but, with a shrug
of his shoulders, he turned toward Dollie.
“I will bid you good-day, Miss Dollie,” he said, smilingly; “when you
have graduated from your sister’s tuition, you will find life much more
pleasant.” He left the room without so much as a glance at Marion, who
now stood half smiling beside her sister.
“Thee did that well,” said a voice near Marion. She turned and saw an
old gentleman who had been sitting quietly at a little distance. He
wore the garb of a Quaker.
“You heard it, sir?” asked Marion, quickly.
The old gentleman bowed, and smiled a little sadly.
“I heard and saw it all,” he said, quietly. “I give thee my word
I could not move away from that corner. I was so interested in the
outcome that I deliberately remained to hear it.”
“And you approve of my action?” asked Marion, as she studied his face
closely.
“I do, indeed, daughter,” said the Quaker, firmly. “Thy sister is an
innocent—protect her always, particularly from such men, who are but
wolves in sheep’s clothing.”
“That is what I thought,” said Marion, as he moved away. “Come Dollie,
let us go! This is no place for country maidens.”
“I don’t dare go back to the office,” said Dollie, as they went out;
“he will be as angry as possible, and perhaps he will discharge me. Oh!
Marion, what was the harm? Why couldn’t I go to the matinee?”
Marion drew a deep breath; she was sorely puzzled. Sometimes it seemed
to her that Dollie was almost lacking in understanding.
“Dollie! Dollie!” she said, earnestly, “how can you be so foolish?
As if you cared so much about a matinee that you would hurt Ralph’s
feelings by going with your employer! Is it not better to deny yourself
a little pleasure than to take such risks with your future happiness?”
“Ralph isn’t so small as to care, I am sure,” said Dollie, panting;
“and oh, Marion, I am so sorry you talked as you did! I think you were
awfully rude to poor Mr. Atherton!”
Marion bit her lips, and her eyes filled with tears. She was realizing
keenly her responsibility as a sister. She should never, never have
left Dollie unprotected.
“Miss Allyn warned you,” she said, almost to herself. “She is a wise
woman, Dollie. If you cannot trust me, why not trust Miss Allyn? I
would never have left you with her if I had not supposed you would
listen to her.”
“Miss Allyn is too suspicious; she is like you,” said Dollie,
spitefully. “She always sees something wrong in a gentleman’s
attentions.”
“Listen, Dollie,” said Marion, almost facing her in the street. “Alma
Allyn is a great deal wiser than either you or I. She has lived in a
city always, and met hundreds of men; we know she is our friend—then
why can we not trust her? You know that she warned you about that very
thing—about lunches and theatres with your employer, Dollie!”
“Yes, and I know that she goes to lunches and theatres with gentlemen
whenever she pleases,” answered Dollie, triumphantly; “and I fail to
see why I can’t go, Marion.”
There was another sigh from the anxious sister. Would Dollie never
understand that she was only a ewe lamb, while Alma Allyn was a woman
of wisdom and experience?
As they started across the street both girls were thinking deeply, so
deeply that for once they did not use their customary caution.
There were trucks and street cars and carriages in profusion, but in a
second the girls were in the very middle of the crossing.
“Look out!” yelled some one, almost in Marion’s ear, and the next
instant it seemed as if a dozen voices echoed it.
Marion was just ahead of Dollie, and as she looked up quickly she saw a
heavy express wagon with two powerful horses bearing straight down upon
her.
There was a street car just ahead, so she darted back, but the next
second she saw that she had not bettered her position.
An automobile carriage was coming from the opposite direction—it would
not be possible for both girls to pass it.
Dollie gave a shriek and stopped abruptly, but in that second her
sister had recovered full possession of her senses.
One hasty glance at the horseless vehicle showed her that the occupant
was George Colebrook. He was alone now, and his expression was one of
diabolical hatred.
With one fearful effort, she grasped Dollie by the shoulders, and,
running a couple of steps, gave her a push with all the force at her
command, which sent her head first into the arms of a big policeman.
Then Marion turned to follow, but she was a second too late. The fellow
on the automobile seemed merciless in his intentions.
As the clumsy carriage came bounding onward, there was no escape.
With a stifled groan Marion went down before it.
CHAPTER V.
THE SECRET PROMISE.
When Marion Marlowe returned to consciousness she was lying on a cot in
the ward of a hospital.
She was considerably dazed as yet, and looked around inquiringly.
“Dear me, what am I doing here?” she said, dreamily. “Why am I lying
here, when I ought to be on duty?”
“You have met with a slight accident,” said a pleasant voice very near
her, as a white-capped nurse appeared. “You are in Chambers Street
Hospital, not Charity, Miss Marlowe.”
Marion tried to sit up, and partially succeeded. In a very few moments
she remembered everything distinctly.
“Was my sister hurt?” she asked at once. “Oh, do tell me if anything
happened to Dollie!”
“No, she escaped unharmed,” was the prompt reply. “Your brave action
saved her, my dear Miss Marlowe.”
Marion leaned back on her pillow with an exclamation of gratitude. She
did not care for herself, but thought only of Dollie.
“You have been here twenty-four hours now,” said the nurse very
quietly, “but we consider you marvelously lucky to have escaped as
you did. Fortunately, that horseless carriage struck a stone at that
instant and swerved a little, which saved not only your life, but your
bones, Miss Marlowe.”
Marion smiled very sweetly. It did not alarm her to hear what had
happened. She was not suffering at all, only she felt bruised and lame.
“The careless fellow was arrested,” went on the nurse, quietly, “but
he swore that he had lost control of the carriage, and as they did not
hold him, of course you can have him re-arrested at any time you wish.
I believe he gave them his name and address.”
“Oh, no, I’ll not bother!” said the sick girl, quickly. She was
thinking of her friend, the woman who had loved this fellow, and for
her sake she did not mean to follow up the matter. It did not occur to
her then to question the nurse about the extent of her injuries, but in
a few moments she began thinking about her duties.
“Did my sister wire the superintendent at Charity?” she asked, very
anxiously.
“Yes, and both Dr. Hall and Miss Williams wired back their regrets.
They said for you not to worry, but just get well as soon as possible.
And I guess you are going to mind them,” she added, with a smile, “for
now that the shock to the brain has passed, I hope to send you home to
your friends very shortly.”
There was a little rustle of skirts and a light footstep coming down
the ward.
“Is she better?” asked a cheery voice from the other side of the bed.
Marion recognized it instantly and turned her head on the pillow. The
lady who stood beside her was her dear friend, Alma Allyn. Miss Allyn
was a woman of twenty-five, fine-looking, stylish and far wiser than
the average.
She was a newspaper reporter, with an excellent position, and had
befriended the two country girls ever since they came to the city.
“We’ll take you right up to Harlem to the flat now,” she said, as she
kissed Marion fondly, “and I’ll have a nurse to take care of you until
you are well, unless Dollie insists on giving up her position.”
“Then she did not lose it?” said Marion, in surprise.
Miss Allyn looked grave, but she tried to speak cheerfully.
“No, she did not lose it, in spite of your plain speech, Marion. Such
men as her employer do not give up their projects so easily, but this
accident of yours has made her do a little thinking. I fancy her lover
will have no cause to complain of her in future.”
“Poor Ralph,” sighed Marion, “I pity him sometimes! Dollie is such a
child! Really, I am almost sorry there is an engagement.”
“Don’t let it worry you,” said Miss Allyn, brightly, “and, now, before
I go, I am going to tell you some good news. Your friend, Mr. Ray, is
back in town, and you have no idea how anxious he is to see you.”
The sweet face on the pillow flushed slightly at her words, and a
little smile brought out two bewitching dimples.
“Oh, I am so glad!” Marion murmured, with a happy look in her eyes, and
just then the nurse came over and dismissed her friend pleasantly.
As Marion lay on her cot she had ample time to think, and there were
many subjects just now that were clamoring for attention. Here they
were, she and Dollie, in the great city of New York, without friends or
money, except what their own efforts brought to them.
Still, through these very efforts she had already accomplished a little.
Her first triumph has been in saving her sister from a villain’s
clutches; another, the heroic act of saving a life, had brought her
sufficient money to pay off the mortgage on the old homestead in the
country and so save her parents from a home at the Poor Farm. But aside
from these bright spots, it had been all sorrow and suffering, but
Marion had hoped it was all over when Dollie secured the position in
Lawyer Atherton’s office, and she, herself, was accepted as a nurse in
Charity Hospital.
Miss Allyn had fitted up a cosy little flat in Harlem and taken Dollie
to live with her, and Miss Allyn was so wise and so fond of the girl,
Marion’s heart was full of gratitude toward the noble woman.
“Oh, Dollie, my poor, weak sister!” she whispered to herself, “why is
it you cannot learn to trust those who are wiser than you? Have you not
had bitterness enough already in your young life, but that you must
persist in wilfully inviting more sorrow?”
It was a happy moment when Mr. Ray and his sister were announced. They
were the first friends she had made in the city, but they had been
abroad almost from the week they met, and their homecoming brought a
pleasure that was most wonderfully sweet and consoling.
“Miss Marlowe! Marion!” cried Adele Ray, as she clasped Marion in her
arms. “How glad I am to see you again, but how unutterably unpleasant
to find you in a hospital!”
“As brave as ever, I hear,” were Archie Ray’s first words, as he
extended both hands and grasped the girl’s slim fingers.
Marion gazed from one to the other in eager delight.
“Oh, I am so happy!” she murmured over and over, “and I am going home
to-morrow, so you will not have to see me here again, Adele. I know it
must have been a shock to you to see me in a hospital.”
The two girls chatted together, while Archie Ray looked on. He was a
tall, handsome young man, with dark, pleading eyes, and possessed a
charmingly aristocratic manner.
He had been deeply in love with Marion before he went abroad, and now,
when he saw her again, all the old tenderness came back to him, and he
longed almost uncontrollably to press her to his bosom.
But if Marion read his thoughts, she did not show it by so much as a
glance. There was an open cordiality in her manner that baffled him
completely.
Suddenly Adele Ray’s face grew clouded in the midst of their talking.
It was evident to Marion that she was thinking of something unpleasant.
“Oh, Marion, dear, I want you to help us,” she said, slowly. “We have
a terrible secret for your ears, but it has to be told, and the sooner
the better. We want you to do us a favor, my brother and I, and, oh,
Marion, dear, do give us your sympathy!”
She looked so distressed that Marion’s cheeks grew pale, but she took
Miss Ray’s hand and held it tightly.
Archie Ray bit his lips and his face clouded a little. He had been
momentarily dreading this particular moment, for he knew what was
coming and would almost have given his life to have prevented it.
“I will help you gladly,” Marion whispered quickly. “There is nothing
you would ask that I would not willingly promise.”
The fair girl little realized the blow which she was about to receive,
else she could hardly have smiled as bravely as she did at that minute.
Adele Ray leaned over and whispered something in her ear, and as Marion
listened her cheeks grew as pale as death itself.
“Is it possible?” she murmured, in a far-away voice, and then her
wavering eyes met the glance of Adele Ray’s brother.
The sadness in those dark eyes went straight to Marion’s heart. In
an instant her own grief was put aside and she was willing to bear
anything for this fond, noble brother.
As she answered Adele’s appeal, she still looked at her brother and
the words, “I will do it,” were said to him. To him she had given her
sacred, secret promise.
CHAPTER VI.
MARION’S STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE.
It was Reginald Brookes who sent a carriage for Marion on the day that
she was allowed to leave the Chambers St. Hospital to return for a few
days to the little flat in Harlem.
Through some mysterious medium he had heard of Mr. Ray and was
determined if possible to outdo his rival in kind attentions to Marion.
“I’ll never stoop to anything but a fair fight,” he said to his
mother, “and as this Mr. Ray is a gentleman, I have no doubt but that
he is honorable. She must choose between us; when she does I shall be
satisfied.”
“You are as noble as you are sensible, my son,” was his mother’s fond
answer, “and Miss Marlowe is not the girl, I am sure, to be fickle in
her decision.”
When Dr. Brookes reached the little flat to welcome Marion back from
the hospital, he found Dollie and Miss Allyn much worried.
“Marion should have been here at five o’clock,” said Dollie, half
crying. “Miss Allyn telephoned and learned that she left the hospital
at four, and now just look, it is nearly seven!”
“Something must have happened!” said Miss Allyn, soberly, “but how
shall we find out, that is the question, doctor?”
Dr. Brookes paced the floor in the greatest consternation. He looked
at his watch repeatedly, and seemed to be figuring something.
Suddenly a sharp ring of the bell made their hearts beat wildly. Dollie
rushed out in the hall and came face to face with Bert Jackson.
“You are all scared to death about Marion, aren’t you?” he began,
abruptly; “well, you needn’t worry, she’ll probably be here in a
minute! There was a drunken woman fighting in the street down town and
of course Marion had to stop and take a hand in the scrimmage. Oh! I
don’t mean that she did any of the scrapping!” he explained as he saw
their astonished faces, “but she just put a stop to the row and then
hauled that woman into her cab and took her to her home, and that’s
what has detained her!”
“It’s just like Marion!” cried Dollie, laughing.
“It was dreadful risky,” said Miss Allyn, shaking her head.
“It is awful!” cried Dr. Brookes, almost frantic as he thought of it.
“Why, the girl will be robbed or killed if she doesn’t stop doing for
such common people!”
“You ought to have seen her,” said Bert, who was bristling with
admiration. “There was a big crowd all around the woman, who was
dancing and yelling, and just as the carriage drove by a policeman
charged into the crowd and was going to grab the woman when she jabbed
a hat pin into him. Wow! but you ought to have heard him howl! The mob
gave him the laugh and that made him madder, and in a jiffy he yanked
his club out of his belt and made a lunge at her—and he’d have knocked
her silly if it hadn’t been for Marion!”
“What did she do?” asked Dollie, breathlessly.
“Do! Why, she just threw open the carriage door and stood on the step;
then her voice rang out like a silver bugle as she cried: ‘Don’t you
dare to strike that woman, officer! Shame on you, you brute! I will
report your conduct!’”
“And then what happened?” asked Miss Allyn, excitedly.
“Then the ‘cop’ fell back and looked ashamed of himself, and Marion
jumped down from the carriage and started for the woman and the crowd
made way for her as though she was an empress—and she didn’t look
unlike one, either, you bet, for her head was up in the air and her
eyes just shot sparks at them! Oh, Marion just knocked them speechless!
I tell you she is a dandy!”