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MY QUEEN
A WEEKLY JOURNAL FOR YOUNG WOMEN
No. 2. PRICE, FIVE CENTS.
MARION MARLOWE’S COURAGE
OR
A BRAVE GIRL’S STRUGGLE FOR LIFE AND HONOR
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. 2. NEW YORK, October 6, 1900. Price Five Cents.
MARION MARLOWE’S COURAGE;
OR,
A BRAVE GIRL’S STRUGGLE FOR LIFE AND HONOR.
By GRACE SHIRLEY.
CHAPTER I.
A BOARDING-HOUSE EXPERIENCE.
“How much money have we left, Marion?”
“Nine dollars and seventy-five cents, but don’t worry, sister! We’ll
obtain more from somewhere, I’m sure. We cannot certainly be going to
starve in a great big city, full, as it is, of wealth and happiness!”
Dollie Marlowe sighed disconsolately. She was not so hopeful as her
sister Marion.
The two girls were seated in a top floor room of a cheap
boarding-house, where they had gone only a day or two after Dollie’s
rescue from the clutches of Professor Dabroski, the hypnotist, who had
abducted her from her home in the country.
Both girls were dressed in simple home-made frocks, the same that they
had worn when they first came to the city, but although their garments
were coarse and absolutely destitute of style they could not disguise
the natural beauty of the two maidens.
The girls were twins, but they did not look at all alike, except in
the general characteristics of their features.
Dollie’s golden curls were bewitching as a fairy’s, and her blue eyes
sparkled even through her tears, while Marion’s fair face was sweet and
charming in spite of the anxieties to which she had been subjected. For
Marion’s first visit to the city had been full of adventure. On her
arrival she had been sent to the wrong address by Emile Vorse, a fiend
in the attire of a gentleman, who had seen her at the station, and only
rescued from the insults of another fiend by a Miss Ray, who was kept
almost a prisoner in the apartments to which Vorse sent Marion.
Miss Ray had confided to her that she had been entrapped through a mock
marriage and only remained quiet for the sake of her family, but Marion
had induced her to run away, and the young woman was now safe in the
bosom of her family.
After this experience came the rescue of Dollie from her abductor, and
then, without funds or friends, the girls took up their brave struggle
for existence in a city which shows but little mercy to the poor or the
unfortunate.
For two weeks they had occupied this shabby room, which they obtained,
with their board, for eight dollars per week, and during this time poor
Marion had been very busy, for it was chiefly her information that
secured the indictment against her sister’s abductor.
“Thank goodness there’s nothing more to be done in that direction,” she
said, wearily. “That dreadful Mr. Lawson, or ‘Dabroski,’ as he calls
himself, is safe in jail, and the Chief of Police tells me that it will
be some time before he is brought to trial. Justice is so slow,” she
added, plaintively, “but then, it is sure, so there’s no use in getting
impatient. I’ve been to seven places to-day in my search for work. Oh,
I am sure I will get something soon! I don’t see how I can help it!”
“You are just wearing yourself out, dearie,” said Dollie, remorsefully.
“You look a lot older than you did at home. Oh, dear, to think that I
should be the cause of all your worry!”
“Hush, Dollie!” cried Marion, “you are not to blame, sister, and, oh, I
am so glad that it isn’t any worse!”
Her beautiful face flushed scarlet as she made this admission.
Dollie’s blue eyes filled with tears and her lids drooped heavily.
“It’s bad enough, I am sure, but please don’t speak of it. You love me
just the same, don’t you, sister?” she cried, piteously.
Her loving sister rushed over to her and kissed her penitently.
“Forgive me, dear, but I can’t help thinking of it sometimes! It is
perfectly awful, and to think the papers are full of it!”
“They have been for two weeks,” said Dollie, sighing, “but they have
been so kind in their judgment of me, I can never be too grateful to
them. Still, I am glad we changed our names when we came to this house!
If our fellow-boarders knew who we were they would probably snub us!”
“Well,” cried her noble sister, scornfully, “I should not care for
that. We have done no wrong, why should we be scorned by them?”
“It is the way of the world, I guess,” said Dollie, sadly, “for even my
own father and mother condemned me before they knew I was guilty.”
“Oh, just hear this!” cried Marion, who had picked up the evening
paper; “poor Mr. Ray’s father was buried to-day! The grief has killed
him! And what do you think, Miss Ada Ray’s lover has thrown her over,
and all on account of her sister’s misfortunes! Oh, I can hardly
believe it! It is too utterly abominable!”
She threw down the paper in a burst of anger. She could not tolerate
injustice, it made her furious to think of it.
“I expect that is why we have seen nothing of Mr. Ray this week,”
said Dollie. “The poor old father, he must have been over-sensitive,
for if his daughter was innocent he should not have grieved so. As
for that fellow who professed to be a lover, why, he must have been
a good-for-nothing to do a thing like that. She’s lucky to be rid of
him!” she added, with unusual spirit.
But Marion was walking the floor in a perfect frenzy of indignation.
She clenched her hands together as she thought over what she had just
read.
“Mr. Ray, our dear, good friend. Oh, I am so sorry for him!” she cried.
“He is going to take his two sisters abroad immediately. He has to, I
can see that. It would be dreadful for them to stay here.”
“And we won’t see him again,” said Dollie, almost ready to cry.
Marion bit her lips and her gray eyes grew almost hard with agony.
“I’m afraid not,” she said, shortly: “the paper says he is to sail
to-morrow.”
There was a sharp rap on the door, and Marion composed herself quickly
and opened it.
The stout, coarse figure of the landlady completely blocked the doorway.
“Good-evening, Mrs. Garvin,” said the young girl, politely, then as she
observed the woman’s expression she stood still and stared at her.
“You are a nice pair, I must say!” began the boarding-house keeper
angrily. “To think of the likes of you comin’ into my house! You’ve
got nerve and to spare, Miss Marion Marlowe!”
She glanced at the sisters as she spoke, but as neither of them
answered she went on with her vituperations.
“Did you think because you gave your names as Miller that the truth
wouldn’t leak out? Well, that shows how much you know, you little
ninnies! Why, I’d have caught on myself if I ever read the papers! The
description of you would have given me the tip at once if I’d happened
to see it!”
“If you had read the papers you would have seen that we were not to
blame for our misfortunes,” said Marion, coldly; “but you cannot blame
us for not wishing to be known. We are only simple country girls, we do
not wish to be stared at as curiosities.”
“Oh, I guess you ain’t so simple as you look,” sneered the woman.
“Girls that run away from home with city chaps ain’t so very simple, or
innocent either.”
“Hush!” cried Marion, sternly, “not another word, madam! You are
talking about something which you do not understand! This is my room,
and I insist upon being treated with courtesy.”
Marion’s cheeks glowed like fire as she glared back at the woman. For
Dollie’s sake she would as readily have confronted the very demon of
evil himself.
“And this is my house, and I want you to leave it!” was the woman’s
prompt answer. “I’ll not harbor such creatures another night, if I know
it!”
Marion took a step forward, her face becoming covered with a death-like
pallor.
“Another word if you dare!” she said in a vibrating whisper.
The woman glanced sharply at the set lips and gleaming eyes, and seeing
something in the young girl’s manner that thrilled her cowardly soul,
she shrank back with a movement that took her over the threshold.
As quick as a flash Marion shut the door in her face.
“You shall get out to-night!” screamed the woman through the door.
Marion opened the door again and faced her sternly.
“I paid you eight dollars to-day for a week’s board in advance. We
shall be ready to go when you have returned my money!”
“You’ll not get a cent!” roared the woman, furiously. “You shall go out
penniless, you brazen hussies!”
Marion’s lips curved in a disdainful smile as she closed the door.
“You heard what I said, madam,” was her only answer.