LOLA'S FLIGHT
Dick Fenway's apartment was a popular place for after-theatre parties,
or any other description of informal evening merry-making. It was well
within the "lobster belt," less than five minutes taxi-ride from
"anywhere."
It was, or rather was announced as "strictly a bachelor apartment,"
but to a casual observer its "strictness" was largely a matter of the
imagination. Mrs. Harlan once remarked that the thing she liked about
a classy bachelor apartment was "that they were the only places in New
York where they knew how to treat a lady."
Dick, who had been making a day of it, was entertaining a party, of
which, as usual, Mrs. Harlan was the central figure. They had gone in
a body to the opening of a new musical comedy, but after the curtain
fell on the first act, she had announced it as "the same old thing,
only a bit rottener," and they had adjourned to Dick's rooms to wind
up the evening with a game of roulette, to be followed by a little
supper. Mrs. Harlan had the bank and, being some three hundred dollars
ahead of the game, was in the best of humor. Dick, as usual, had been
losing heavily, but did not seem to be greatly cast down by his
ill-fortune; as he expressed it, his "old man was too fat, and it did
him good to work."
Aside from Dick and Mrs. Harlan, the party consisted of Jim Winnett, a
broker; Sam Norton, a popular comedian, just at present out of an
engagement; Ted Hawley, one of those mysterious gentlemen, of which
this section of New York is so full, who manage to live in great
comfort on an income of nothing a year, and, by no greater exertion,
so far as anyone has been able to discover, than it takes to array
themselves in well-tailored garments, and cultivate the pleasant art
of hand-shaking. Accompanying these gentlemen were a carefully
selected quartette of young ladies, whose physical charms made up for
any possible lack of social culture.
Brooks, a man servant of perfect manners and unimpeachable
respectability, moved about quietly, supplying cigars for the
gentlemen, cigarettes for the ladies, and liquid refreshment for both,
with a skill born of long experience, and if he had any personal
opinion at all of his master's guests, it was hidden behind a face of
such absolute lack of expression that it is to be greatly doubted
whether they looked upon him as a human being, or a bit of rather
unusually perfect mechanism, invented for their express convenience.
In most circles of this sort, a close observer will notice that there
is usually some one man, who seems to be elected by unanimous vote, to
pay all the bills, and in this case Mrs. Harlan was not at all
surprised to discover that when Dick grew tired of throwing away his
father's money, and retired rather sulkily to a distant window seat,
the game languished, and after a moment's puny struggle, died of
inanition.
"You're a fine bunch of pikers," the lady observed, with that nice
choice of the vernacular which constituted one of her chief social
charms. "There isn't sporting blood enough in the whole crowd of you
to drown a medium-sized flea."
[Illustration: LOLA ACCEPTS THE CHAPERONAGE OF MRS. HARLAN.]
"I'm sick of the game, Madge," responded Dick moodily, "and I guess
I'm off my feed to-night. I feel rotten! You folks start a poker game,
if you want to, I'm going to sit around for a while."
"He's in love, that's the matter with him," said one of the girls.
"It's that pretty little blond he's been rushing lately. What's the
trouble, Dick, did she pass you up?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Dick answered, rather a
nasty look coming into his eyes. "You're all right, Nellie, but you
spend so much of your time talking that you never seem to say
anything."
"Better let up on him, folks," Mrs. Harlan observed mildly. "Dick
knows what he is about, and it's still pretty good dope to learn to
mind your own business."
Conversations started along these lines have, in society of this
elevated description, been known to break up the party, occasionally
known to have led to the breaking of more tangible things, but a sharp
ring at the bell interrupted them, and Brooks left the room quietly to
admit the late visitor.
"I wonder who that is?" questioned Mrs. Harlan. "I hope it's Bob
Nelson. Bob's not much of a talker, but he's a real sport, and if we
don't get some one to throw out a life-line pretty quick, this party
is going to turn out punker than the show was."
Brooks entered and, crossing to Fenway, announced in a low voice: "A
lady to see you, sir."
"Who is she?"
"She wouldn't give her name, sir; said she wanted to see you, and if
you weren't at home she'd wait."
"Do you know her?"
"No, sir, she has never been here before, sir."
"Well, I don't know who she is, and I don't care. I can't be bothered
going to the door this time of night. If she wants to see me she'll
have to come in here; if she don't like that she can go away. Tell her
so."
"Yes, sir."
"This place of mine is getting to be like the corner of Broadway and
Forty-second Street," Dick said resentfully, as Brooks went to deliver
his message. "I'm about the only one in New York who doesn't feel at
home here."
"Well, you are cranky to-night, I must say. That's a fine way to talk
to a room full of guests," remonstrated Mrs. Harlan. "How do we know
that----"
"The lady, sir." Brooks' announcement interrupted Mrs. Harlan's
speech, and they all glanced up as a young woman stood on the
threshold and looked about her with wondering, excited eyes. Even to
them there was something strangely out of place in this girl's
presence here; and as they saw Mrs. Harlan's astonishment, and heard
Dick's gasp of surprise, and something very like dismay, they scented
something out of the ordinary, and bent forward in eager curiosity.
"Lola!" Dick rose to his feet awkwardly. "Lola!"
"Your man told me that to see you I must come in here, and it was very
necessary that I should see you."
"I beg your pardon, I had no idea. I--I--please come into the next
room, where we can talk quietly."
"I say, Dick," said Sam Norton thickly, "ain't you going to introduce
the lady?" He rose rather unsteadily and started toward Lola.
"You go to hell, Sam!" Dick pushed him away roughly. "Come, Miss
Barnhelm, I am sure you will feel more at home in here."
As he spoke he opened the door of the adjoining room and as she
entered he turned so fiercely on the others that they lost at once any
desire they may have had to satisfy their curiosity.
"You'd better keep away, all of you!" was all he said, but the look on
his face warned them that he was in no mood to be trifled with, and as
the door closed behind him they did not even laugh.
The room into which he had taken her was furnished as a library, and
as Lola looked about her she noticed with keen pleasure the tasteful
and expensive furnishings and the atmosphere of luxury. In reality, it
was Dick's favorite room, and reflected, as rooms sometimes will, the
better side of his nature. It is worthy of remark that of all the
noisy party outside, Mrs. Harlan alone had ever put her foot across
this threshold, and Mrs. Harlan, no matter what her faults, at least
had brains.
As Lola seated herself and looked around curiously, he stood
expectantly in front of her, waiting for an explanation of her
presence.
"Well, Lola," he said at last, seeing that she made no effort to
begin.
"Well?" She looked at him smilingly.
"It's awful good of you to come here, of course, Lola, but I--I--don't
you think you had better tell me all about it?"
"There is very little to tell, Dick. They scolded me for being late;
that started it, then John found out that I had been at the restaurant
with you; a little later they found that silly diamond thing you gave
me. One thing on top of another was a little too much for them. Things
began to be very unpleasant, so I came away."
"Came away. I am not sure that I quite understand you. Came away for
how long?"
"I am never going back there," she replied, "never in my life."
"And--and you came to me?"
"Yes."
"Lola! Do you know what that means?"
"I--I thought it would mean that you would be glad to see me."
He was far from being a good man. He had done his best to bring this
very thing about, but now that it had come some little spark of
manhood in him made him hesitate. He did not speak for a moment, and
when he did it was in a voice more serious than any of his friends
would have recognized.
"I am married, Lola; you know that, but my lawyers are fixing things,
and before long I expect to get a divorce. Will you come to me now,
and let me take you away from all this mess, and marry me just as soon
as things are arranged?"
"Are you sure you want me, Dick?"
The look in his eyes was answer enough as he caught her in his arms,
but if she was afraid of him she showed no sign of it. She allowed him
to kiss her once on the lips, then she gently freed herself, and stood
looking at him laughingly, and she seemed to him so young, so like a
pretty, inexperienced child, that he was, for the moment, ashamed to
press his advantage over her.
"You did want me after all, didn't you, Dick? I was sure you would,
although I was just a little bit nervous, while your man kept me
waiting at the door. You are a dear boy, and I am going to learn to be
very fond of you, and just as soon as you get that horrid divorce I
will marry you, if you still want me."
"And until then, Lola?" He looked at her with a growing passion, as he
realized how completely she was putting herself into his power.
"It may be a month or two. I'll hurry things all I can, but until then
what are you going to do? Let's have this settled right now. I won't
always be in as decent a mood as I seem to be in to-night. What are
you going to do until then?"
"I am going to stay with you, Dick." She looked at him, blushing
slightly, but without a sign of nervousness. "No, please!" As he
stepped toward her to take her in his arms. "I have thought it all out
very carefully. If I come to you it must be on my own conditions."
"It shall be, Lola; anything you want you shall have."
"I want you to take me away, to-night, before any of them can find me.
I don't want to come back to New York until after we are married. I
will go with you anywhere you want to take me, but not alone. You must
find some woman who will go with us."
"Mrs. Harlan," he suggested promptly. "She's rather hard up just now,
and she'd be glad of a little trip. She could get away to-morrow, I'm
sure, if we made a point of it; not to-night; no woman on earth could
do that."
"Ask her, and if she will go, ask her if she would be willing to take
me to her house to-night. John will come here, I am sure of that, but
he would not dare to go there before morning, and if he comes then we
can find a way to avoid him. You can take us there in a cab; then go
to an hotel for the night."
"Do you think I am afraid of John Dorris?"
"I think you are very foolish if you are not," she answered. "John is
a quiet man, but if he were to find us here in this room together, he
would kill you!"
Dick was no coward, but the bravest of men scarcely like to hear
statements of this sort, and he remembered the look on John's face
when he had passed him in the doorway, the day Lola had been brought
home so seriously injured, killed, as they all supposed, by his
carelessness. So he lost no time in calling Mrs. Harlan into the room,
and telling her of their plans. She gladly agreed to go with them on a
visit to the various summer resorts, and cheerfully offered to take
care of Lola until they were ready to start. She said it was very
sensible of them to avoid the chance of any unpleasantness, and that
the sooner they got away from Dick's rooms the better. She reminded
them that it would be a very easy matter for John, or Dr. Barnhelm, to
get Dick's address from the telephone book, but she had no doubt of
being able to keep Lola safely in her own apartment, until they were
ready to leave the city. She returned to the other room for her wrap,
and John went to telephone for his car and to give instructions to
Brooks to pack up for a long journey.
[Illustration: LOLA CONFESSES HER LOVE FOR DICK FENWAY.]
Left alone to wait for their return, Lola moved curiously about,
looking at everything with great interest. How nice it was all going
to be, to always be surrounded by beautiful objects. Dick was going to
be very good to her, she was sure of that, quite sure of her power
over him. He was a good fellow; he had never thrilled her as John had
done, for a moment, that very afternoon, but John was a prude; she
never would have been able to endure life with him.
How silly of her to have hesitated. She should have left home long
ago. She had supposed that it would almost break her heart, but she
did not seem to care at all. She must remember that. Nothing ever
really mattered, after all, if one had the courage to do as one
pleased. Something always happened to make things all right.
She was glad when she came to think of it that Dick was not in a
position to marry her at once. She might find that he bored her, or
that he was not as kind as she expected, and if so, why then she
wouldn't marry him at all.
As she had walked down Broadway, from the subway station, a dozen men
had turned and looked after her, rich, well-dressed men, some of them.
After all there was no reason why a girl should worry, with the world
so full of men, all of them eager to lavish their money on her. One
had to be careful, of course, and she meant to be careful. She had no
fear of Dick, she could manage him. John was different; if John had
been a bad man she would have been afraid of him, afraid of herself,
but, thank goodness, Dick was harmless. He was too wise, too
experienced; his very look put her on her guard against him. What a
fortunate thing it was that men were such obvious creatures, good or
bad; how silly to be afraid of either sort; one only had to be a
little prudent, a little clever, and perhaps a little pretty. She
laughed softly to herself. She was all of these, she knew, and more.
She had no fear of the world; she was not afraid; she was eager to
match her strength against it. She felt perfectly safe when, a few
moments later, they shot out of the side street, in Dick's big car,
and turned up Broadway. It was midnight, but the great thoroughfare
was thronged with automobiles--thousands of them. What a good time
people had, to be sure; what a fool she had been to waste any of her
precious youth in the dull life of her old home. She was only just
twenty, after all, she thought happily, and she had a lot of time yet
in which to be young and gay.
She was seated on the back seat of the car with Dick and Mrs. Harlan.
Dick was between them, and as they turned into Broadway he took her
hand, and pressed it tenderly. She returned the pressure softly, and
looked up at him. As she did so she saw John Dorris. He was on the
crowded sidewalk, hurrying down the street as fast as the throng in
front of him would allow. For a moment their eyes met. She saw his
pale, worried look change to fierce anger as he saw her there with
Dick and Mrs. Harlan. He sprang to the curb and called out to her, but
the car shot past. He followed desperately. A traffic policeman might
stop them at Forty-second Street; that was his only chance. As he ran
along, in the street, keeping close to the sidewalk, hundreds of heads
turned to look after him. The Broadway crowd is quick to scent
trouble, and as they saw the look on his face they turned laughingly,
and tried to see what he was going to do.
"Some guy is going to get his, if that feller's legs hold out,"
remarked a fat man with a wide grin of delight. "I wish he'd manage to
pull it off quick, 'cause I'm too damned fat to do a Marathon."
There they were! The long line of cars had stopped in response to the
officer's raised hand. He would do it yet! His breath was coming in
quick gasps, but he saw them! He saw the big red car in the line with
all the others. He could see Fenway standing up, and looking back
anxiously. He had good reason to be anxious!
Lola should not do this thing! This man should not be allowed to blast
her life! It would be better to get him by the throat, and drag him
out of the car, and, no matter what, kill him if necessary. What came
after did not count. This girl, the girl he loved, should not give her
fresh beauty to this beast, soul and body to his vicious pleasures. He
was in time, thank God for that! They saw him now, he could read the
look of terror in Dick's face, the queer expression of fascinated
interest, almost of delight in Lola's eyes, and he put all his
strength into one last effort.
As he sprang forward, his eyes on Dick, he heard a shrill whistle. The
long line broke, the car seemed to leap from under his hands, he heard
men cry out, angrily; he felt rough hands hurl him back to the
sidewalk, and he saw Lola standing up, leaning over the back of the
car, looking back, and laughing at him.