l*,rd & LEE. Publishers, 263 Wabash Ave. 
 
 An uncle Trom inuic. 
 
 (A BARGAIN IN SOULS) 
 
 E. De LANCEY PIERSON 
 
.. iMlVLKiil I f Ol- 
 ILLINOIS LIBRARY 
 AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 
 800KSTACKS 
 

fl BARGAIN IN SOULS 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https://archive.org/details/unclefromindiaab00pier_0 
 
AN 
 
 UNCLE FROM INDIA 
 
 (A Bargain in Souls) 
 
 AN IMPOSSIBLE STORY 
 
 BY 
 
 ERNEST DE LANCEY PIERSON 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 Laird & Lee, Publishers 
 
Entered according: to Act of Congress, in the year 
 eighteen hundred and ninety-one, 
 
 By LAIRD & LEE, 
 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 
 
 Copyright, 1897, by W/w. H. Lee. 
 
^15 
 
 ^b\uL 
 
 To 
 
 The newly married young people 
 of America 
 
 This lesson in conjugal content 
 is addressed and inscribed 
 By the Author. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I A Divided House . . 11 
 
 II The Mummy’s Secret 36 
 
 III By Morning Light 60 
 
 IV The Editor’s Busy Day 88 
 
 V Great Tribulations 118 
 
 VI In Peril 145 
 
 VII A New Quixote 177 
 
 VIII Two Tete-a-Tetes 215 
 
 IX They Agree to Agree 245 
 
/ 
 
 / 
 
 
I 
 
 A DIVIDED HOUSE 
 
 There it goes again,” cried the young 
 man , dashing down his pen angrily. “ How 
 is it possible to read or write or think in such 
 a neighborhood ? This comes of living with 
 a church on one side, and a concert-saloon 
 directly opposite.” 
 
 Through the open window drifted the 
 music of an organ, and subdued voices sing- 
 ing a hymn : 
 
 “ There’s a land that is fairer than day, 
 
 And by grace we can see it afar.” 
 
 Then a terrible piano across the way routed 
 
 the church choir, while a dozen beery voices 
 
 roared out the refrain, 
 a 
 
12 
 
 A Bargaht in Souls 
 
 “ For we’ve both been there before ; 
 
 Many a time, many a time,” 
 
 accompanied by the banging of beer glasses 
 and the shouts of the waiters. 
 
 “Fll complain about that concert-saloon 
 to-morrow to the police,” muttered the 
 young man, walking up and down the room 
 with a scowl on his face. “ A hymn is all 
 very well in its place, but I prefer mine 
 unadulterated with Bowery songs. I believe 
 the proprietor of that den across the way has 
 a private grudge against me because I once 
 wrote him up in the ‘Evening Owl,’ and he 
 takes every opportunity to worry me. I 
 never sit down with Nita for a chat of an 
 evening but that monster at the piano begins 
 to howl, ‘Pull down the blinds,’ or some 
 other ,vulgarly suggestive song ; and when we 
 had a little difference of opinion the other 
 night, he roared for an hour, 
 
 “ ‘ Is marriage a failure? 
 
 Oh, yes, it’s a failure,’” 
 
 until Nita actually accused me of having 
 hired the wretch to worry her. But, by the 
 
A Divided House 
 
 13 
 
 way, where is Nita?” — looking at his watch. 
 “Ten o’clock, and no signs of her yet ! For 
 a young lady who complains that she never 
 has any liberty, this is doing pretty well. I 
 only wish I could afford to lead such an idle, 
 luxurious life ; but that’s the penalty of being 
 a husband— a married martyr ! ” 
 
 Just then the slamming of the street-door 
 sounded, and the rustle of a woman’s dress 
 was heard in the hall. A young lady in 
 evening costume pushed aside the portiere 
 and entered the drawing-room. 
 
 “ Ah, you have come home, Arthur,” 
 throwing off her opera-cloak with a careless 
 gesture, and sinking down in a corner of the 
 sofa wearily. 
 
 “ I have been home all the evening,” he 
 said, severely, “ but I have not had the 
 pleasure of seeing you since breakfast. I 
 cannot for the life of me see the use of keep- 
 ing up an expensive home, since you are 
 never in it; we might better take cheap 
 lodgings and save the rent.” 
 
 “You are in a very disagreeable mood. 
 
14 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 Arthur,” pushing hack a wisp of gold-hrown 
 hair from her forehead with an impatient 
 gesture. “ You know very well I had work 
 to-day at the convention.” 
 
 “ Work,” he echoed. “ You call it work to 
 gossip and waste your time with a crowd of 
 snuffy old women, who fill your head with - 
 ideas how to make home unhappy. Do you 
 think it proper for a young married woman 
 to be wandering about the city alone at this 
 time of the night ? ” 
 
 * “I was not alone ! Mr. Moggridge, the 
 secretary of the Female Freedom Society, 
 accompanied me as far as the door.” 
 
 “ As if that creature counted ! He found 
 out that he was a failure as a man, so now he 
 tacks himself to the opposite sex as a cham- 
 pion of woman. I pity any cause that has 
 such an advocate ! ” He stood, twisting his 
 mustache with his long, white fingers, as if 
 he would like to say more, but hesitated. 
 
 “ It is just like this, Nita,” he said, at length : 
 
 “ you will certainly get talked about if you 
 insist on roaming about the city at night in 
 
A Divided House 
 
 15 
 
 this unconventional fashion. The line must 
 be drawn somewhere. There are certain 
 social laws that a married woman is bound 
 to respect. If you had no intention of obey- 
 ing them, well ! you should never have mar- 
 ried. I allow you all the liberty I can, in 
 justice to myself; but now that you have 
 taken the law in your own hands and go out 
 of an evening alone, without even a word to 
 me, I most seriously object. I don’t want to 
 speak unkindly, but for your own sake, as 
 well as mine, it must stop right here.” 
 
 ‘‘Eeally?” said Mrs. Vaness, raising her 
 delicately pencilled eyebrows, while a frown 
 contracted her smooth forehead. ‘‘I sup- 
 pose I must now listen to an eloquent 
 harangue on wifely duty. For what we are 
 about to receive, may the Lord make us 
 truly thankful ! Do I ask embarrassing 
 questions when you come home late, with an 
 aromatic odor on your breath ? You say you 
 have been to the club, and I have no reason 
 to disbelieve you. Well, I have my club, 
 too, and one where they do not smoke or 
 
16 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 drink, or abuse their neighbors ! Would you 
 have me sit here all the evening alone, or 
 entertain some of your stupid friends? I 
 don’t see why I should not be allowed to 
 amuse myself in my own quiet way, since 
 you are absent most of the time. Arthur, 
 you ought to have lived in the middle ages, 
 when you would have been free to shut your 
 wife up in a tall tower, with a slave and a 
 lute.” 
 
 She relapsed into silence, pulling at the 
 fringe on her dress with nervous fingers. 
 
 “ I don’t know what to make of you, Nita,” 
 he said, thoroughly irritated. “ You have 
 certainly every reason to bo contented with 
 life — a happy home, all the comforts, and 
 ivery reasonable enjoyment. Surely when 
 i. took you away from Cozzen’s Corners, 
 where a church fair was considered a great 
 social event, you had not imbibed such 
 strange ideas regarding a wife’s liberty.” 
 
 “ I was a child then,” she said, bitterly ; 
 “I am a woman now. I have ambitions 
 that you should aid me to gratify. How can 
 
A Divided House 
 
 17 
 
 I be contented to make rag carpets and 
 embroider slippers, when my soul is strug- 
 gling to soar above the crowd ? I am tired 
 of being a nobody; I want to rise, to be 
 famous.” 
 
 “ That’s all very well,” said the husband, 
 drily ; “ but do you go the right way about 
 it? Take care that you don’t fall before 
 you are half-way up. You don’t seem to 
 understand that you must pay some defer- 
 ence to the conventional laws of society. 
 Now you are a woman — ” 
 
 “ I am not liable to forget the fact as long 
 as you are here to remind me,” broke in the 
 wife, impetuously ; “ and it is because I am 
 a woman that you want me to go about with 
 a ball and chain for the rest of my days. 
 That’s the life a model wife ought to lead, in 
 your opinion, wearing a wedding ring as a 
 badge of servility. I wonder you did not 
 think of engaging a housekeeper. You will 
 find many who advertise in your own 
 paper. It would be much less expense, and 
 you could arrange her coming and going to 
 
18 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 suit your lordly will. I ruin my complexion 
 superintending the cooking of your meals, 
 and shout myself hoarse ordering your ser- 
 vants about, while you are idling in hotels or 
 playing cards at the club ; and yet you think 
 1 am allowed too much liberty! Liberty, 
 indeed ! Why, the serfs of the feudal ages 
 enjoyed more privileges than the wife of 
 to-day;” and she uttered a plaintive sob, 
 and hid her face in a tiny lace handkerchief. 
 
 Arthur Vaness looked at the crinkled heap 
 of silk on the sofa, and was undecided 
 whether to laugh or wait until the storm had 
 subsided and her pretty face was again 
 smooth and composed. He had become ac- 
 customed of late to these local squalls, and 
 knew that just now his wife was tired and 
 irritated. After all, it was the best policy to 
 remain calm, and attempt to pacify her. 
 
 “ I had no idea your life was such a burden,” 
 he said gently, as he seated himself by her 
 side and began smoothing her hair softly 
 with his fingers. “ If you are so overworked, 
 I must see about getting another servant ; 
 
A Divided House 
 
 19 
 
 but surely the care of a little house like this, 
 and only two people— ’ 
 
 “You look at everything from a man’s 
 standpoint,” drying her eyes and brushing 
 away his hand impatiently. “ If you were 
 not so wrapped up in your own personal 
 pleasures, you would see that the work here 
 is never finished. But as you are away en- 
 joying yourself most of the time—” 
 
 “ My dear, you seem to forget that I have 
 my editorial duties on ‘ The Evening Owl.’ ” 
 “ As if any one w^ould think of calling that 
 work! Haven’t I seen you day after day 
 getting that paper ready ? Why, it’s nothing 
 but amusement to edit an evening journal. 
 You go down to the office, and smoke and 
 gossip and read the papers. You have a sec- 
 retary to answer all your correspondence, 
 and thirty or forty men to do all the work and 
 supply all the ideas, while you get the credit 
 for the brains. I don’t see how you spend a 
 whole day over that. It seems to me I could 
 accomplish as much in an hour or two— and 
 I am only a woman 1” with bitter emphasis. 
 
20 
 
 A Jiarr^ain in Souls 
 
 O 
 
 “ Under the pretense of gathering news and 
 meeting politicians you frequent the hotels 
 and cafes every afternoon, imbibing more 
 views of mixed drinks and free lunches than 
 you do of the affairs of the country. No 
 wonder that the daily papers savor of the 
 bar-room and are unfit for a woman to read. 
 Nothing but a muddle of divorce suits, mur- 
 ders and prize-fights. I should like to have 
 the direction of a newspaper if only for a 
 w^eek just to show the public what a woman 
 could do. It would be a journal with a no- 
 ble aim where every article was not impreg- 
 nated wdth an odor of cloves and free-lunch.’’ 
 
 Vaness laughed in the most provoking man- 
 ner. “ If it was not such an expensive ex- 
 periment I should just like to have you take 
 my place for a time” with a twinkle in his 
 eye. A week I think w^ould be quite enough 
 both for you and the subscribers.” 
 
 Indeed ! ” with an indignant little sniff, 
 
 I suppose because I have the misfortune to 
 be a woman you think I would fail. That 
 hateful name to you is synonymous with 
 
A Divided House 
 
 21 
 
 defeat in any enterprise. Never mind, we 
 shall have the last laugh. Our day of eman- 
 cipation has been long delayed, but the gov- 
 ernment which freed the black slaves will 
 some day free the white. Then you will be 
 forced to treat us on an equal footing, to 
 acknowledge our rights and the justice and 
 equity of our demands. Then we can prove 
 the superiority of our minds over yours.’’ 
 
 Bravo ! ” cried Vaness, applauding 
 loudly, ‘‘ I had no idea that you were such a 
 profound little orator. These brilliant ideas 
 you must have gathered at your Convention 
 of Cranks, where they fill your little head 
 full of nonsense, and teach you the fine art 
 of being miserable and discontented, and 
 making everybody else around you the same. 
 Well, when is this millennium to dawn, and 
 what profession have you chosen with which 
 to startle a waiting world 
 
 I intend to be a journalist,” said Nita, 
 placidly. ‘‘ There is no other profession that 
 has fallen into such disrepute. It will be 
 my work to revolutionize and purify it. I 
 
22 
 
 A Jyarg'a/n in Souls 
 
 have already compiled a little book of notes 
 to direct me when the opportunity arrives. 
 It will be the work of many years to cleanse 
 the journalistic shambles where truth and 
 justice have been ignominiously slain, but I 
 have the heart and courage for the task.” 
 
 ‘‘ Indeed ! ” said Yaness, eyeing the slight 
 and shapely figure of his wife a little 
 dubiously. “Well, Tm sure Pve no objec- 
 tion — not the slightest.” 
 
 “ Oh, I don’t suppose I could ever convince 
 you that I was capable of accomplishing any 
 really great work ! ” with an angry flush on 
 her cheek. “It is your business to scoff at 
 a woman’s ambitions, and sneer at her pro- 
 jects. When you are forced to acknowledge 
 us as your equals, if not superiors, in intel- 
 lect, there will be a marked change in your 
 demeanor. When you have been relegated 
 to a back seat in the affairs of life, you will 
 understand what burdens we have been 
 compelled to bear, these many centuries of 
 slavery. Your success has been in denying 
 us power; in keeping us in subjection; and 
 
A Divided House 
 
 23 
 
 in your heart of hearts you dread the day 
 when the eyes of woman shall be opened, 
 and instead of being ruled she shall rule.” 
 
 “ Oh, let’s go to bed ! ” said Vaness, with 
 difficulty suppressing a yawn. 
 
 “ I have no doubt the subject is unpleas- 
 ant to you,” murmured Nita, with a pathetic 
 little sob, quite exhausted by her eloquence. 
 
 “ My dear, another time I shall be glad to 
 listen to you. But the hour is late,” looking 
 at his watch. “ I am very tired, and as I 
 must arrange the Sunday supplement to- 
 morrow, I want to get a good night’s sleep. 
 
 “ If you had any confidence in me at all,” 
 she pouted, “you would let me help you. 
 I’m sure I could get up a very interesting 
 paper, and it wouldn’t be filled with nasty 
 politics.” 
 
 “Those nasty polities are what makes a 
 journal sell,” he said, good naturedly. 
 
 “Well, why don’t you try to educate them 
 up to liking something better. Even pigs 
 can be taught to play cards and tell the time 
 of day. Why don’t you try to lift your 
 
24 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 readers’ heads above the trough, instead of 
 wallowing with them. What is the press 
 for unless it can elevate the masses? Culti- 
 vate in them a taste for higher things.” 
 
 ^MVhat! and lose all my subscription list 
 in the meantime ? I should be elevating the 
 readers and flooring myself. My dear, you 
 are a very charming little woman, and in 
 most matters a very sensible little head ; 
 but just now you are talking about some- 
 thing of which you are profoundly ignorant.’’ 
 
 ^‘Andyouare quite satisfied to keep me 
 in the dark on that as well as many other 
 subjects. Well, never mind, I am content 
 to wait for the day when I can learn for 
 myself.” 
 
 And until that day arrives, let us post- 
 pone the conversation,” said Arthur. 
 ‘‘ What was that ? ” as a terrible thud shook 
 the ceiling above, and set all the lustres 
 tinkling. 
 
 You ought to be accustomed to the sound 
 by this time,” said his wife; ‘Hhat is the 
 usual signal that Uncle Oliver gives wdien 
 
A Divided House 
 
 25 
 
 he is going to bed. He always bangs liis 
 boots on the floor, as if to remind ns that he 
 is still in the house. Just as if we could 
 ever forget the fact ! ” 
 
 Tm sure he is a very quiet, inoffensive 
 old gentleman,” said Vaness. ^^He does 
 not even come downstairs to his meals, he is 
 so much absorbed in the great work he is 
 writing on, ^ Black Magic.’ ” 
 
 “Black humbug!” retorted Nita. ^‘For 
 my part, I don’t believe he is engaged in 
 writing anything, but spends his days like a 
 quack doctor, compounding horrible mix- 
 tures. I wonder the Board of Health has 
 not indicted this house as a public nuisance, 
 filled as it is all day with horrible smoke 
 and smells. Some day while he is experi- 
 menting he will blow the roof off our heads, 
 and then what good will the petrified cats 
 and musty mummies be to you ? ” 
 
 I can’t understand,” said Vaness, why 
 you have disliked that poor old chap from 
 the first. We had a pitched battle when I 
 offered him a home here, and you have 
 
26 A Bargain in Souts 
 
 shown your distaste for him ever since. I 
 am sure he must have heard you more than 
 once talking disrespectfully about him/’ 
 
 ‘‘ I hope he has. Perhaps he will take the 
 hint, and look up another home where ho 
 will be more appreciated.” 
 
 ‘‘It would not be wise, ’’said Vaness, smil- 
 ing, “ to draw down the vengeance of a 
 savant so versed in occult lore. Why, he 
 might transform you into a cat or a fire-dog, 
 and then wouldn’t you be sorry that you had 
 treated him unkindly?” 
 
 “I am not in the least alarmed about his 
 possible vengeance,” said Nita. “ He is 
 more adept in compounding smells than 
 spells. Mark my w^ords, but that poor 
 Indian servant will be a corpse before the 
 season is over. Do you know that Uncle 
 Oliver tries his elixirs on that unhappy man 
 several times a day, in order to study its 
 effects? That poor, coffee-colored man 
 changes like a chameleon, and his digestion 
 is completely ruined. Whatever prompted 
 you, Arthur, to offer a home to that miser- 
 
A Divided House 
 
 27 
 
 able old mummy, with his pickled snakes 
 and lop-eared gods, to whom, I dare say, he 
 sacrifices in secret ! I’m sure, if you do 
 inherit some day all those horrid things in 
 bottles, it will never repay you for being 
 bothered by him so long.” 
 
 ^‘You talk very selfishly,” said Arthur, 
 now thoroughly angry. “ If you thought 
 less of yourself, and more of the comfort of 
 those around you, you would not be so dis- 
 contented. Uncle Oliver is one of my near- 
 est relatives, and it was very natural, as he 
 has no family, that I should offer him a 
 home on his return from the East. Eeally, 
 to judge from your conversation to-night, it 
 is high time that you cut loose from your 
 new acquaintances who fill your pretty head 
 with absurd and selfish ideas. You used to 
 be a kind-hearted, sensible little woman, 
 but since you have joined this company of 
 cranks I don’t know what to make of you. 
 This state of affairs cannot go on. I am 
 worn out with overwork, and at home I hear 
 nothing but complaints and tears. If any- 
 
28 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 one lias a right to murmur, I am the one. I 
 have tried to make your life happy, hut it 
 seems I have failed. You find more enjoy- 
 ment in the company of these precious med- 
 dlers than you do at home with your husband. 
 I am heartily sick of it all. I wish — I wish 
 I could change places with somebody, and 
 forget that newspapers ever existed.” 
 
 He leaned his face on bis hands, and for a 
 moment neither spoke a wwd. 
 
 At length Nita raised her head. 
 
 And if you are discontented with life, how 
 much harder is the lot of a woman ! You 
 are not perpetually reminded that you must 
 not do this or that because it is wrong. You 
 come and go as you will, and there is no one 
 to bid you stay. You may dance and flirt 
 with whom you will. You can go about the 
 world breaking hearts, as if they were so 
 many egg-shells, while we are left at home to 
 amuse ourselves as best we may. For you 
 the light; for us the night. Oh, if I were 
 only a man, you would never hear a w’ord of 
 complaint from my lips ! ” 
 
A Divided House 
 
 29 
 
 “Well, there is not the slightest possibility 
 of your becoming a man, ” said Vaness, sar- 
 castically ; “ so you may as well resign your- 
 self to being an ordinary woman, and, let us 
 hope, a sensible one.” 
 
 “ What is impossible ? ” exclaimed a voice, 
 with an audible chuckle that made husband 
 and wife start guiltily. 
 
 The curtains parted, and a lean old man, 
 clad in a long dressing-gown of some Eastern 
 tissue, stepped across the threshold. His 
 saffron features, wrinkled as a walnut-shell, 
 were corrugated just now in a benevolent 
 smile that displayed his sharp, uneven teeth. 
 His yellow- white'hair descended in long ring- 
 lets from beneath a velvet skull-cap, and his 
 beady eyes seemed to flash with malicious 
 fire as he slowly surveyed husband and wife 
 from beneath his bushy eyebrows. 
 
 “ Uncle Oliver ! ” they both exclaimed with 
 one voice, at the sight of this grotesque appa- 
 rition. 
 
 “ I thought you had retired, ” said Nita, un- 
 easy. He might have overheard some of her 
 
30 
 
 A I>arfrain ui Souls 
 
 uncomplimentary remarks of a few moments 
 ago. 
 
 ‘•Well, I did make a start,” replied the old 
 man, looking at the husband and wife again 
 with that curious expression of half suspicion, 
 ‘‘ but I thought I heard the sound of loud and 
 angry voices down here, and, as the hour was 
 late, I ventured to see what was the trouble. 
 I could not help hearing some sentences of 
 your conversation — accidentally, of course.” 
 
 “ Accidentally ? ” asked Nita, with doubtful 
 emphasis. 
 
 “ Accidentallj^, I said,” Uncle Oliver re- 
 plied, blandly. “ As your voices were some- 
 what raised, I could hardly escape hearing. 
 From your remarks, I gathered that you are 
 weary of your several lives. You, my dear 
 niece, are pining for freedom, though I assure 
 you that you enjoy a great deal more than 
 wives did in my day. So you think you could 
 be thoroughly happy if you were in Arthur’s 
 place ; you would gladly take up his cares and 
 troubles, and think you had made the best 
 of the bargain ? ” 
 
A Divided House 
 
 31 
 
 “ I would change places with him in a mo- 
 ment, if such a thing were possible/’ cried 
 Nita, clasping her hands enthusiastically. 
 “But why discuss such an impossibility, a 
 dream that can never be realized?” the old 
 frown returning to her face as she grew sadly 
 thoughtful again. 
 
 Uncle Oliver looked at the bowed head and 
 graceful figure on the sofa, and glided nearer 
 to her, still with that benignant smile on his 
 face that frightened Nita more than his 
 frown. 
 
 “And if I were to tell you, ” he said, in a 
 soft voice, scarcely louder than a whisper, 
 “ that such a metamorphosis as you so ar- 
 dently desire is possible ? If I were to tell 
 you that you might change places with your 
 husband here for a month, a week, a year ?” 
 
 “ I should say that you had been taking 
 some of your own elixir, and that it had un- 
 settled your reason,” said Nita, bluntly. 
 
 “ I expected that answer,” said Uncle Oliver, 
 not at all disconcerted. “ Nevertheless, I am 
 willing to prove all I say, if you are willing to 
 
32 A Bargain i?t Sonls 
 
 make the bargain and exchange your soul for 
 his.’’ 
 
 Nita sat up now, and was staring at 
 him with her great blue eyes. But the old 
 man’s face was serious ; not the symptom of 
 a smile disturbed his withered features. 
 
 ‘‘ If you could perform such a miracle, I 
 would kneel at your feet and bless you,” she 
 cried, impetuously. 
 
 But what is the use of gravely discussing 
 such an impossibility. The days of enchant- 
 ment are no more, alas ! ” 
 
 ‘‘And how about you, Arthur ?” turning to his 
 nephew, who was leaning on the mantle-piece. 
 “Are you discontented as well with your 
 present life? Would you be glad to change 
 places with Nita? Take up the threads of 
 her life work where she lays it down ? You 
 would not regret this bargain in souls ?” 
 
 “Well, if you want me to consider such 
 an absurd possibility ’ in a serious light,” 
 said Vaness, “I am inclined to believe I 
 should profit by the change. A vacation 
 from the newspaper, with nothing to think 
 
A Divided House 
 
 33 
 
 about except how I can best amuse myself, 
 is a delightful prospect. I am heartily tired 
 of my work — of smelling printers’ ink all 
 day long, and poring over dirty proofs. To 
 idle on a sofa all day, and embroider im- 
 possible flowers, would be a great relief.” 
 
 “ Oh, you don’t know how hard a woman’s 
 life is,” put in Nita. “ If you imagine it is 
 a perpetual holiday, you are greatly mis- 
 taken. A few months would satisfy you 
 that those who are compelled to wear skirts 
 have no sinecure.” 
 
 “ I should be very willing to run the risk,” 
 said Arthur, with a smile. “But really, 
 uncle, it seems to me we are a set of fools to 
 stand here gravely discussing an absurd 
 impossibility, when we ought to be in our 
 several beds and sound asleep.” 
 
 “But it is not impossible at all,” said 
 Uncle Oliver, with his peculiar chuckle. 
 “ Had you studied occultism as diligently as 
 I have in the cave-temples of the East and 
 with the fakirs of Lower Egypt, you would 
 understand that more wonderful things than 
 
 3 
 
84 
 
 A Bargain m Souls 
 
 an exchange of souls was possible to the 
 adepts. It is only necessary that you shall 
 agree to the bargain among yourselves, and 
 your deliverance from your present earthly 
 form is at hand. You shall change places. 
 The soul of one shall possess the body of the 
 other. Are you agreed, Arthur, that this 
 metamorphosis shall take place ? ” turning 
 to his nephew. 
 
 “ If it pleases Nita. But really — ’’ 
 
 And you, my dear niece,” interrupting 
 him— “ are you satisfied to forsake your pet- 
 ticoats and crewel-work without a sigh? ” 
 
 “ Without a sigh,” echoed Nita, in an 
 impressive voice. 
 
 The angular figure of the old man seemed 
 to lengthen until it towered almost to the 
 ceiling. The light filtering through the lus- 
 tres on the chandeliers suffused his features 
 with a weird and ghostly pallor. The shin- 
 ing arabesques on his crimson dressing- 
 gown seemed to be written in fire as he 
 
A Divided House 
 
 35 
 
 raised one of his flowing sleeves, and took 
 from it a box of polished brass. 
 
 “ Behold,” he cried, raising it aloft, “ the 
 mummy’s secret.” 
 
THE mummy’s SECEET 
 
 Vaness looked gravely at the old man’s 
 picturesque figure, and then laughed. 
 
 “My dear uncle, you look like a necro- 
 mancer from the Arabian Nights. You will 
 frighten Nita into dreaming of hobgoblins 
 until morning.” 
 
 “ I am not such a child,” said that young 
 lady, darting an angry glance at her hus- 
 band. “ Go on. Uncle Oliver , I am very 
 much interested in what you were saying. 
 Is it true, is it really true that souls can 
 be translated — that the spirits of two people 
 can change places ? ” 
 
 “It is true,” said the sage, bowing his head. 
 
The MtinimyPs Secret 
 
 37 
 
 ‘‘More wonderful things than ttiat have 
 been accomplished by the fakirs of the East, 
 with whom I studied many years. Since 
 you are both dissatisfied with your several 
 existences, you can change places if you 
 have the courage to follow my directions.” 
 
 “ I am sure I should be willing to make any 
 sacrifice to accomplish such a blessed 
 result,” she replied. “ It would be a glori- 
 ous release.” 
 
 “A dream of idle ease for me,” said 
 Arthur. “ A long rest that I so much need. 
 Is it a bargain, Nita—your soul for mine?” 
 
 “ It is a bargain,” clasping his hand in 
 hers in token of the agreement. 
 
 “And may you never regret the com- 
 pact ! ” echoed Uncle Oliver, looking at his 
 niece with a malicious smile on his withered 
 face. 
 
 “ Eegret it? Never ! ” she said, decidedly. 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders and laughed 
 harshly. 
 
 “ At least, you will not blame me then, 
 when it is too late to change your mind.” 
 
38 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 Then turning to Arthur, who was in doubt 
 whether to view the subject seriously or not, 
 he said : 
 
 “You know I dabbled a good deal in 
 mystic lore and occultism while I lived 
 in the East. A month ago, on my birthday, 
 I received a present from my old master. 
 Earn Lai, with whom I studied in the cave- 
 temples of Krishna. This present was a 
 mummy, which he discovered at the foot of 
 a colossal statue of Buddha. From the 
 inscription on the case I learned that the 
 mummy was that of an astrologer and 
 savant who had held a high place in the 
 court of Kameses II. The outer shell, of 
 camphor-wood, richly gilded, was adorned 
 with hieroglyphics and cabalistic signs, and 
 along the edges, like a frieze, various scenes 
 from the astrologer’s life were depicted in 
 crude colors, but still fresh and easily 
 decipherable. The temptation to open the 
 case and examine this visitor from the past 
 finally became too great to be resisted. I 
 carefully removed the mummy from the 
 
The Mitmmy's Secret 
 
 39 
 
 covering, and slowly began to nnroll the 
 long linen cloths with which the body was 
 swathed, until the shrunken, mahogany-col- 
 ored form of the savant lay before me.” 
 
 Uncle Oliver paused to see if his audience 
 was interested, then with a satisfactory sniff 
 he continued: “I will not delay my story 
 by describing the various emotions that 
 filled me as I stood face to face with this 
 celebrity who had thrived when history was 
 young. He was not a picturesque object, 
 save to a student in history, or an archaeolo- 
 gist; but if I had been standing before a 
 modern Helen I could not have been more 
 charmed, or in a more melting mood. 
 
 “ Long, white hair framed in the brown 
 face with its gleaming teeth, and agate 
 stones set in the empty eye-sockets gave him 
 a life-like and terrifying appearance. It 
 seemed to me that he was regarding me with 
 a look of mingled malice and contempt. 
 
 “ His withered hands were crossed upon 
 his breast. On the right, glittered a signet- 
 ring of chrysoprase, engraved with a sala- 
 
40 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 mander; in the left, he held a papyrus scroll 
 covered with minute hieroglyphics. You 
 may imagine my profound joy at this dis- 
 covery. What secrets might that scroll not 
 contain ! It might be the key to some mys- 
 tery of the ages— the secrets of the Pyra- 
 mids, a clue to the hidden treasures of 
 Solomon. 
 
 ‘‘I saw myself decorated with a gold 
 medal by the Society for the Promotion of 
 Historical Eesearch, and placed among the 
 great discoverers of the age. 
 
 “For days I studied the signs on the 
 scroll ; but, versed as I was in Syrian, in 
 Coptic and Eastern dialects, I could make 
 nothing of this strange message that had 
 come down to me through the centuries. 
 The faded characters baffled all my study. 
 But one day everything was made clear. 
 The mummy’s secret was mine. The 
 inscriptions on the case, which I had re- 
 garded with only languid interest, repre- 
 sented the key to the scroll. He who lay 
 before me, by a long life of abstinence and 
 
Tha MuinmyPs Secret 
 
 41 
 
 religious devotion, had attained the highest 
 degree of spiritual perfection. This enabled 
 him to perform things that would be consid- 
 ered nothing less than miracles in our own 
 day. He was able to transfer the soul of the 
 dying into the earthly form of one who was 
 dead ; and he recounted how he had pro- 
 longed the life of his royal master by trans- 
 ferring his soul at the last hour into the 
 body of a slave. He was also able to change 
 the souls of two people who had become 
 weary of their several existences and desired 
 to lead new lives. 
 
 ‘^Much was revealed in the scroll about 
 the medical secrets of the time; but that 
 will not interest you now. I confess I was 
 somewhat disappointed in my discovery, 
 for, apart from its scientific value, the secret 
 of the transfer of souls was of little use. 
 
 “But lately it has dawned upon me that 
 this house was no longer a love-bird’s nest, 
 such as poets delight to sing about, but a gilded 
 cage, whose inmates were struggling to be 
 free. I learned that you, my dear niece, 
 
42 A B a}' gain hi Souls 
 
 had grown weary of wearing what you call 
 the shackles of womanhood, and longed for 
 freedom from conventional laws. Arthur, too, 
 finds life not all his fancy i)ainted. His 
 ambition remains unsatisfied, and he longs 
 for a rest from work and the cares of his 
 profession. In short, wife and husband 
 envy each other, and would gladly change 
 places. Am I right ? ” 
 
 ‘‘Perfectly,’’ said Nita. “Oh, Uncle 
 Oliver, are you really not poking fun at us? 
 It all sounds so much like a dream. Can 
 we really exchange souls ? ” 
 
 “If you will. I have long wanted to try 
 the experiment. You have only to agree to 
 the bargain, and that which you so ardently 
 wish for shall become a reality.” 
 
 “I am ready,” said Nita, eagerly. 
 
 “ And you, Arthur ? ” 
 
 “Oh, I am quite content. I have never 
 denied Nita any pleasure yet that was 
 proper, and since this will make her 
 happier — ” 
 
 “ Oh, it will, it will ! ” enthusiastically. 
 
The Mummy^s Secret 
 
 43 
 
 Go on, Uncle Oliver ; I am all impatience.” 
 
 ‘‘And you are quite sure you will never 
 repent, and wish yourself a woman again ?” 
 with a sly twinkle in his eyes. 
 
 “ Quite sure.” 
 
 ‘Very well,” said the sage. “I have 
 warned you of the worst. If the future 
 brings a tardy repentance, you have only 
 yourselves to blame.” 
 
 He approached Nita and took her hand in 
 his. It was cold as ice, and she was trem- 
 bling with suppressed emotion. He led her 
 slowly across the room to where Arthur was 
 standing regarding them with a smile, in 
 which doubt and wonder were mingled. 
 Uncle Oliver took his hand^ and placed it in 
 that of his wife. 
 
 “ It is not too late to withdraw from your 
 bargain,” addressing them. 
 
 “ Go on,” said Vaness. 
 
 “ I am ready,” echoed Nita, feeling a 
 strange fluttering sensation in the regions of 
 the heart. 
 
 The old man took a brass bowl from the 
 
44 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 mantel -piece and placed it on the floor 
 between husband and wife. Then from his 
 flowing sleeve he drew the curious box that 
 glittered with a phosphorescent fire beneath 
 the chandelier. He opened it, and took out 
 a tiny scroll discolored with age. A tremor 
 of fear or anxiety passed over the young 
 man and woman. 
 
 Shall I go on ? ’’ 
 
 Go on,” whispered Nita, faintly. 
 
 Uncle Oliver drew some powders from the 
 box and threw them in the bowl, muttering 
 the while some unintelligible words as he 
 read the scroll. 
 
 At once a blue smoke, dense and acrid, 
 rose like a cloud from the brazier, almost 
 hiding the three forms from each other’s 
 view. Again he sprinkled some powders 
 in the vessel, and the three seemed to 
 be floating in an opaque mist, through 
 which the outlines of the figures were clearly 
 discerned. 
 
 The gaunt old man seemed to assume 
 giant proportions as he stood muttering 
 
The Mummy's Secret 
 
 45 
 
 incantations; the sparkling arabesques on 
 his gown seemed animated with life, and 
 burned like fiery embers. His long hair 
 twisted and uncoiled like silver serpents, 
 and his eyes gleamed with an unnatural 
 light that was not of earth. 
 
 A strange feeling of lightness and buoy- 
 ancy came over Nita, as the cloud of incense 
 rose about her like the waters of a smooth, 
 gray sea. She closed her eyes, overcome 
 with a sudden faintness as she seemed to be 
 lifted up on these waves of perfume and 
 borne away into oblivion. 
 
 The smoke grew denser. The silent fig- 
 ures became mere shadows in the mist. 
 Through the veil the old man’s voice sounded 
 like a far-off murmur. Only his eyes 
 flashed with a strange fire through the 
 clouds that shrouded the group in its soft 
 gray folds. 
 
 The two who stood with clasped hands had 
 relapsed into a trance ; they stood motion- 
 less, as if bound by a spell. 
 
 Slowly the incense lifted, and above the 
 
46 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 silent figures hovered two pale Hue flames, 
 filmy and transparent. The lights wavered, 
 then, as if blown by some invisible breath, 
 were wafted towards each other, passed, and 
 quivered above the heads of the man and 
 woman. Then suddenly they grew dim and 
 faded into thin air. The smoke of incense 
 disappeared, and the silent figures became 
 strangely distinct and clear. Slowly Nita 
 opened her eyes and looked around, with a 
 dazed expression of wonder in her dreamy 
 eyes. 
 
 ‘‘ That dream,” she murmured, passing a 
 trembling hand across her heavy eyelids. 
 ‘‘I seemed to be drifting away on a sea of 
 smoke, and Uncle Oliver — ” But the old 
 man had disappeared. 
 
 How strange her voice sounded ! It was 
 like some one else speaking; and yet each 
 tone had a familiar ring that she had heard 
 somewhere before. 
 
 ‘‘You have not been dreaming at all,’^ 
 said a gentle voice at her side ; “ it is a sol- 
 emn reality. Look there.” 
 
The Muminy^s Secret 47 
 
 She turned where a jewelled hand pointed 
 towards the broad pier-glass on the wall, then 
 started back with a cry of alarm and 
 surprise. 
 
 No, it was assuredly no dream. She saw 
 the reflection of a stalwart young man of 
 about thirty-two, who confronted her in an 
 awkward attitude, and whose blue eyes peered 
 at her just now with timid' wonderment. 
 Then as his long fingers wandered towards 
 his face and came in contact with a brown 
 mustache, they recoiled as if stung by the 
 points. 
 
 A soft laugh at her side reminded her that 
 she was not alone. 
 
 ‘‘Where is your courage?’’ asked the 
 voice she had heard before. “ Behold the 
 result of our bargain in souls ! ” 
 
 She turned, and confronted her former 
 self face to face. The same soft, brown hair 
 that had been her pride in former days. 
 The dainty mouth that had so often smiled 
 back at her from her boudoir mirror, now 
 wreathed with a malicious grin. Two 
 
48 A Ba7'ga{rt in Souls 
 
 laughing eyes that were regarding her just 
 now with an air of ill- disguised amusement. 
 Two white hands, covered with shining rings, 
 that were awkwardly twisting the fringe on 
 the soft silk dress. 
 
 ‘‘What! don’t you recognize your old 
 self?” laughed the well-dressed apparition. 
 “Or are you falling in love with the mani- 
 fold charms that were once your individual 
 property ? I suppose you are better able to 
 appreciate them now that you can get a 
 bird’s-eye view. To tell the truth, now that 
 I regard you critically, I confess that I never 
 had any idea that I was such a good-looking 
 fellow ; though I am equally certain that I 
 did not hold myself in that ungraceful and 
 disjointed way, like a badly-articulated pup- 
 pet, nor wave my hands about in that 
 idiotic fashion.” 
 
 “You need not flatter yourself that you are 
 such a picturesque figure, for all your physi- 
 cal advantages,” cried Nita, indignantly, as 
 she wiped one end of that terrible mustache 
 into her eye, which brought forth an invol- 
 
The Mummy's Secret 
 
 49 
 
 untary tear. “ You M'ill have that dress in 
 shreds if you persist in trying to find a 
 pocket where there is none. A nice repre- 
 sentative of the softer sex you will make 
 with those awkward hands that are never 
 still. You had better tie them together, 
 since you find them so unmanageable,” with 
 a sneer. 
 
 “ I shall have pockets made in every fold 
 of this precious garment to-morrow,” said 
 Arthur, angrily. “ There isn’t a place even 
 to carry a cigar.” 
 
 “Ladies do not carry cigars — that is, the 
 ones I am acquainted with, though I dare say 
 in your set — ” 
 
 “ That’s so ; I forgot. It takes some time 
 to get accustomed to being a woman, you 
 know.” 
 
 “ I don’t believe years would ever produce 
 any change in you. Don’t stand there with 
 your feet wide apart ; it is hardly elegant. 
 Eeally, Arthur, I had no idea you were such 
 an ungraceful object.” 
 
 “Perhaps you think you are a poem of 
 1 
 
50 
 
 A B ( 17 ' gain in Soiils 
 
 beauty/’ giving the skirt an angry kick. 
 
 There, now, don’t try to swallow the end of 
 my mustache, I beg of you; it took me 
 many years of care and study to give it that 
 romantic droop.” 
 
 ‘‘I am not going to swallow the nasty 
 thing,” said Nita, in a choking voice, and 
 to-morrow it^ shall disappear entirely, the 
 first thing when I get up.” 
 
 “Nita,” solemnly, “ I forbid you to lay an 
 impious finger on that mustache. It took 
 mte a long v/hile to get it into that state of 
 poetic perfection. You once said it was 
 charming.” 
 
 “ To look at from a distance, perhaps ; but 
 it doesn’t seem to fit my face, so it shall be 
 sacrificed as soon as possible.” 
 
 “ I forbid you to trifle with my features, to 
 rob my face of its principal charm. It is 
 a breach of contract. You accepted the fix- 
 tures and the good-will to carry on my bus- 
 iness. No alterations are permitted. If you 
 persist in your intention, I shall have this 
 curly mop shaved off, and wear a red wig.” 
 
The Mu7n7uy''s Secret 51 
 
 ‘‘You would destroy my lovely hair/' with 
 a sob. 
 
 “ Certainly." 
 
 “Heartless creature ! have you no thought 
 of the past, when it was your delight to stroke 
 those curls you would now sacrifice?" 
 
 “ Yes, I shall cut them off and sell them 
 and pocket the money, unless ^ou promise 
 that my mustache will be respected," 
 
 “But I am master now," said Nita, stamp- 
 ing her foot. “Do not anger me, or I shall 
 be tempted to prove my authority. It was 
 your turn an hour ago ; it is my turn now. 
 Do this at your peril, and I shall have you 
 placed in a private asylum, where they will 
 spare you the trouble of shaving your head, 
 and where a strait- jacket will dispose of your 
 awkward hands." 
 
 Arthur saw by her determined voice that 
 it was best to effect a compromise. It sud- 
 denly dawned over him that he was in the 
 minority; that his power had passed from 
 him. 
 
 “ Very well, my dear/' in a soft voice. “ I 
 
52 
 
 A Baj'ga'ni iit Souls 
 
 will keep your curls on condition that you 
 treat my mustache with proper respect. But 
 do not be harsh ; it has been the pride of my 
 life; and, as I hoped, the joy of my declining 
 years. Each hair is hallowed by a kiss; you 
 know that only too well. It has been deli- 
 cately reared; do not forget the brilliantine, 
 which you will find on my dressing-case.” 
 
 ‘‘Fortunately for my curls,” said Nita, 
 unmoved by his eloquence, “ you will have a 
 maid.” Then, suddenly, she looked at him 
 fixedly and repeated, “A maid.” 
 
 “ Well ? ” he asked “that is rather a conven- 
 ience, I should say, and particularly asEosa- 
 lie happens to be good-looking, ” with a smile. 
 
 “A great attraction to you, I dare say,” 
 with scornful emphasis. “But as I am the 
 head of the house now, I shall discharge this 
 young person to-morrov/ — do you under- 
 stand ? — and get a darkey in her place.” 
 
 “ Oh, that is a matter of entire indifference 
 to me,” with a careless laugh. 
 
 “ So I suppossed.” 
 
 “At least,” he continued, “I shall have a 
 
T^he Mummy's Secret 
 
 53 
 
 servant to wait on me — a luxury I have never 
 been able to afford when I was only an ordi- 
 nary man. Now, my dear, I think you had 
 better retire, for you will have a busy day to- 
 morrow, and you ought to allow a few^ hours 
 in the morning to dress. I am usually called 
 at eight, but you had better make it six, in 
 order to be sure ; and no breakfast to be sent 
 up to your room in the morning, remember, 
 or reading novels in bed until ten o’clock; 
 those little luxuries are the perquisites of my 
 position.” 
 
 Nita could not suppress a groan. 
 
 I am quite satisfied. We shall see, when 
 the day is finished, who has been the gainer 
 by the exchange. You will not find your 
 path so rose-strewn as you think; and as for 
 the meals, I tremble at the thought of your 
 superintending them. The cook, you know, 
 has to be told everything.” 
 
 Don’t be a bit alarmed, my dear, regard- 
 ing the cuisine. I shall establish it on a 
 scientific basis. No more shall we be con- 
 fronted with cold fried chops and terra-cotta 
 
54 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 pies. My favorite books in the library are 
 Brillat-Savarin and Francatelli; and since 
 I shall have so much time on my hands, I can 
 experiment in all their mysteries. You will 
 need to invest in a larger suit of clothes be- 
 fore the month is out, when I take charge of 
 the cuisine, ” 
 
 ‘‘ More likely it will be a shroud that I shall 
 need,’’ said Nita. “ Don’t expect to experi- 
 ment on me as Uncle Oliver does with his 
 servant. Of course I shall take most of my 
 meals at the club, while you are poisoning 
 yourself at home. You might invest in a 
 mild-tempered ostrich, if you w^ant to experi- 
 ment in cooking ; it would be less dangerous 
 to your own health, I am certain. ” 
 
 “ Ah, ” said Vaness, thoughtfully what de- 
 lightful little luncheons I shall give ! and 
 Japanese teas, and Indian tiffins ! ” 
 
 “ Yes, that will be delightful, ” cried Nita, 
 clapping her hands. 
 
 '‘Oh, but you wont be there. Men will be 
 strictly excluded, you know. About that time 
 you will be reading proofs, and wielding the 
 
The Aliiminv'^s Secret 
 
 55 
 
 blue pencil, and getting yourself smeared 
 with ink, and swearing at stupid compositors.’’ 
 
 “ I shall not swear, ” said Nita, very decid- 
 edly. 
 
 “Oh, but you must; you can’t get along 
 without it very well- It rather stimulates 
 them in their work. Suppose I copy out a 
 few mild oaths for you to use ; you can re- 
 hearse them before a mirror in the morning, 
 or on your way to the office. A little gentle 
 profanity often goes a good way in some 
 cases. ” 
 
 “Well, if they are very mild — very little 
 tiny swear-words, ” said Nita, reluctantly. 
 
 “ Oh, you don’t want them too mild, or 
 they will have no effect. You’ll soon get 
 used to it, and find a little profanity greatly 
 strengthens your conversation. Gives it a 
 sort of piquant relish, don’t you know. ” 
 
 “ What horrid creatures men are ! ” 
 sighed Nita. “ It will take me a long time 
 to retrieve your lost reputation. I shall be 
 handicapped from the start, while you begin 
 your new life with a clean page.” 
 
A 7)a7'g‘ai7i in Sonh 
 
 nc 
 
 ‘‘ I think,” said Arthur, meditatively, 
 that I shall celebrate my dehut in society 
 by giving a pink tea to-morrow afternoon. 
 It will give me an opportunity to get 
 acquainted with some of the young ladies 
 you so often entertained while I was toiling 
 down town. There’s Miss Olcott, on the 
 next block, and Dorothy Goldthwaite, who 
 will make a charming vis-a-vis, and — ” 
 
 I won’t have you entertaining those art- 
 ful coquettes while I am absent,” said Nita. 
 ‘Tt — it’s not proper.” 
 
 Vaness laughed. 
 
 Have you begun to regret your bargain 
 already? Eemember, when we made this 
 bargain to change souls, you were to take up 
 my life exactly where I left it, and I, in 
 turn, was to inherit your troubles and pleas- 
 ures. Your friends have become my friends ; 
 and very delightful ones, I have no doubt, I 
 shall find them. I must give a little party, 
 in order to get more intimately acquainted 
 with them.” 
 
 “ Very well,” said Nita ; then I shall fre- 
 
The Mumniy^s Secret 
 
 57 
 
 quent the club and the cafes, and find out 
 what sort of a life you have led in the past, 
 and what sort of a set you move in — you and 
 your precious friend, Jack Follansby.” 
 
 “Phew!’’ whistled the husband, a little 
 startled ; “ he will lead you a pretty dance 
 if you follow his directions, blow, really, 
 Nita, I don’t think the Pounders’ Club is 
 exactly the place for you. You may hear 
 yourself — that is, me— talked about. Of 
 course, with such a large membership, a 
 number of cads belong to it whom I never 
 speak to.” 
 
 “Oh, pray don’t alarm yourself on my 
 account,” said Nita. “ I expect to be shocked 
 there, as well as at some of your other favorite 
 resorts. I am anxious to know what the at- 
 tractions are that have kept you out so often 
 until early morning. You never would tell 
 me yourself, but now I shall be able to in- 
 vestigate on my own account. What a delight- 
 ful prospect ! ” clapping her hands together 
 delightedly. “ It will be as good as a play. 
 I shall not sleep for thinking about it.” 
 
58 
 
 A Bai'gain in Souls 
 
 ‘‘ Then you had better retire now,” said 
 Vaness, grumpily ; “ it will bring the day of 
 liberty all the nearer. I am going, anyway,” 
 turning towards the door. “Now don’t 
 make a racket with your boots in the morn- 
 ing, as I want to finish a novel before break- 
 fast. Goodnight.” 
 
 Nita stepped forward and then hesitated, 
 as he moved towards the door. 
 
 “Are — are you not going to kiss me good- 
 night, as — as you generally do ? ” she stam- 
 mered, with an anxious tremor in her voice 
 that gave Vaness a feeling of malicious joy. 
 
 He looked at the blushing face of the stal- 
 wart young man before him a little 
 doubtfully. 
 
 “ Well, ye , I suppose so, since it is cus- 
 tomary.” 
 
 ‘‘ Oh, Arthur ! ” she murmured, plaintively, 
 “ one would think that you found it a disa- 
 greeable task.” 
 
 “ Well, I never carried my egotism so far 
 as to feel like kissing myself, ” with a smile ; 
 “but here goes. 
 
 
The j]I?immy's Secret 
 
 59 
 
 He touched the flushed cheek with his lips 
 and passed on. 
 
 “Good-night,” he said. 
 
 “Good-night,” sighed Nita, preparing to 
 follow the lady in gray. 
 
Ill 
 
 BY MORNING LIGHT 
 
 ‘‘Nine o’clock,” mumbled Vaness, drows- 
 ily, as a shaft of sunlight fell across his eyes. 
 
 “I suppose it’s time for me to begin the 
 daily grind again, ” with a yawn. “ I wish 
 that dream had continued for half an hour 
 longer. The oddest thing ! Nita and I had 
 made a bargain to exchange souls, and — ” 
 
 He half rose in the bed, and stared around 
 the room, all blue and gold like the heart of 
 a violet. 
 
 “By Jove ! was it a dream ? ” he asked him- 
 self, with a vague air of doubt. “ This is 
 Nita’s boudoir, sure enough. Could she — ? 
 Well, I must settle this question right away.” 
 
 CO 
 
By Mo 7m hi g Light 
 
 61 
 
 Slipping out of the sheets, he walked over 
 to the mirror on the toilet-table, and stood 
 for a moment in silent contemplation of the 
 slender figure reflected in its depths. He 
 saw a graceful form draped in snowy cam- 
 bric and foamy lace, a piquant face lit by two 
 soft blue eyes that now regarded him wdth 
 a serious expression in their calm depths, and 
 a coronal of gold-brown hair. 
 
 " It w^asn’t a dream at all, ” said Vaness, 
 running his white fingers dreamily through 
 the glistening curls. “ It is a beautiful real- 
 ity ! What a blessed thought, that I can now 
 sleep as late as I please, and not be compelled 
 to imprison myself in a dingy office the best 
 part of the day ! It is almost too good to be 
 true. I am almost afraid to study the mir- 
 ror again, lest I should come face to face 
 with my old self. Well, I won’t try to sleep 
 any more this morning. This revelation has 
 banished all my drowsiness. I must get ac- 
 customed to my sudden change of fortune ” — 
 w^alking up and down the room, with a glance 
 now and then at the small bare feet, that 
 
62 
 
 A Bargain in Sonls 
 
 seemed to be playing hide and seek under 
 the lace edges of the robe dc niiit. 
 
 Suddenly he paused with a start before a 
 chair at the foot of the bed. It was piled 
 high with snowy muslins, from which peeped 
 the toes of some black silk stockings and a 
 coquettish looking pair of corsets of pale* blue 
 satin. lie stared at this pyramid dubiously 
 for a moment, and then laughed uproariously. 
 
 ‘‘How ill thunder shall I knov/ how do put 
 these contrivances on?’’ ruefully. “For a 
 married man I am singularly ignorant about 
 such mysteries.” 
 
 Just then a knock, timid and discreet, 
 sounded at the door. 
 
 “Good heavens, a woman!” cried Vaness, 
 as he caught sight af a jaunty French cap, 
 and he made a leap for the bed and drew the 
 coverlet up close to his throat, eyeing the 
 visitor with wide-staring eyes, “ I forgot all 
 about Ptosalie, ” he muttered, as the appar- 
 ition came in view. “A fellow can’t get used 
 to having a maid around right away” — and 
 he chuckled at the humor of the situation. 
 
By Alorning Bight 
 
 63 
 
 “ Is madame ready to get up ? ” asked Eo- 
 salie, gently. 
 
 She was a slender little woman with a de- 
 mure face, framed by a lace cap of many 
 bows, and her apron displayed two pockets 
 that were positively bewitching. Under the 
 skirt of dull blue cloth peeped two coquet- 
 tish little shoes that might have inspired a 
 rondeau in a romantic poet. Vaness thought 
 it would not take him very long to get accus- 
 tomed to her presence. 
 
 “ Well, this situation is getting decidedly 
 interesting,” he murmured to himself. 
 
 '‘Well, Eosalie, what do you want?” 
 
 “ Why, I come to help madame to dress,” in 
 astonished tones. 
 
 “ Come to— help— me — to — dress,” explod- 
 ing with laughter. “ Oh, this is too much ! ” 
 Then, seeing that Eosalie was regarding him 
 curiously, he controlled his mirth. “ Pshaw ! 
 I keep forgetting who I am,” in an undertone. 
 “ This won’t do at all. I must remember my 
 position.” 
 
 “Ah,” said the maid, “madame moost 
 
64 
 
 A Jyargaln in Souls 
 
 have had zee pleasant dreams last night zat 
 she laugh, eh, so modi ! ” bustling about the 
 room on various incomprehensible errands. 
 
 “Yes, very funny,” said Vaness, following 
 her curiously with his eyes. 
 
 “ "'Vith monsieur it was le contraire’’ she 
 returned. “ I tink he moost have dreamed 
 of ten souzand devils las’ night, or lieen out 
 wiz — wiz ze boys, vat you call it ? ” — taking 
 some garments out of the wardrobe and 
 smoothing them out on a chair. 
 
 “ What put such an absurd notion in your 
 head?” asked Vaness, who felt the remark to 
 be a personal one. 
 
 “ Because when I pass his door zis morn- 
 ing,” shaking out a skirt, he bang on zee 
 door and howl for me to come in. He was so 
 mad he foam. He tremble so wiz rage he no 
 could dress himself, and he try to put on his 
 trousairs over his head. Oh, he vair bad ! ” 
 shaking her head sadly. 
 
 ‘‘ I should think so, ” said Vaness, doubling 
 up with mirth as the picture framed itself in 
 his imagination. 
 
By Morning Light 65 
 
 “ I haf nevair seen monsieur in sooch a tern- 
 pair,” said Eosalie, fussing over the strange 
 garments on the chair. “ You should find 
 out what it is zat trouble him.” 
 
 “ Yes, he is greatly changed,” said Vaness, 
 with a sigh. “ All his amiable temperament 
 has disappeared.” 
 
 “ And he was so sweet before, ” cried Eosa- 
 lie, clasping her hands and rolling her eyes 
 towards the ceiling. 
 
 “ Eh ? ” 
 
 “ A man to love, to adore.” 
 
 “Yes— Yes, he was all that,” nodding his 
 head with an air of conviction. “I quite 
 agree with you; but I am afraid he has 
 changed. He will never be such a model 
 husband again. His virtues were too many 
 to stand the trying test of time.” 
 
 “ Ah, zeeze men, zeeze men ! ” sighed Eo- 
 salie. “ Zay laugh to-day, to-morrow zay 
 sink of suicide. He stay avay. It may be 
 zat zere is anozzair vooman in zee case.” 
 
 “ Eosalie, I forbid you to speak so of Mr. 
 Vaness. He is a man of honor. He would 
 
 5 
 
60 
 
 A Bai'gahi in Souls 
 
 never carry on a vulgar intrigue in secret.” 
 
 Eosalie shrugged her shoulders and was si- 
 lent. 
 
 “ Toute la maison est devenue folle,^^ she 
 said as she went out, shaking her head with an 
 air of conviction that Mrs. Vaness was as 
 crazy as her husband. 
 
 She soon returned to her mysterious labors 
 at the dressing-table. 
 
 ‘'Now, Rosalie,” said Vaness, as he re- 
 entered the room a few moments later, and 
 paused by the chair where the strange white 
 garments were piled, “help me to climb into 
 these— these what-do-you-call-’ems,” taking 
 up a snowy trifle of linen and lace gingerly 
 and eyeing it at arm’s length with some tre- 
 pidation. “ This damned garment must be 
 a dress-reform bustle or a sanitary cutaway, 
 considerably cut away.” 
 
 “ Oh,madame ! ” shivered Eosalie, covering 
 her ears. 
 
 “ Well, what’s the matter now? ” 
 
 “Nozzing — nozzing; it is possible zat I 
 misunderstood. Pardon ! pardon ! ” and the 
 
By Mornhig Light 
 
 67 
 
 momentous operation of dressing the slender 
 figure before her was begun. 
 
 “Ouch! ” cried Vaness, “there goes a pin 
 into me. Can’t you hook up this — this ar- 
 rangement, or tie it on with strings, or buckle 
 it, or — hang it ! why not get along without 
 it ? I should think the rest of the pile would 
 be enough of a load to carry.” 
 
 “ Mais non, c'est impossible,'' gurgled the 
 maid, with her mouth full of pins. 
 
 “Well, hurry up, anyway,” said Vaness 
 impatiently, “ for I am just dying to have a 
 smoke.” 
 
 “A smoke!” echoed Eosalie, pausing in 
 the midst of her work with a shiver of dismay. 
 
 “ Yes, a smoke ; ” then suddenly recollect- 
 ing, “ No I meant a drink.” 
 
 “Madame drink an’ smoke ? Quel malheur! 
 Is it zat she has acquired zee habit lately ? ” 
 
 ' “No, no; you slightly misunderstood me. 
 I feel a little mixed this morning ; that pecu- 
 liar dream is still running in my head. What 
 I meant was a smoking drink, don’t you see ? 
 — a smoking drink — my morning coffee.” 
 
68 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 ‘‘ Oh, zis Anglais is sooch a peculiar lan- 
 guage, I am sure I shall never learn it. Yen 
 I hear madame speak of zee drink an’ zee 
 smoke I tink she has found a— a — ” 
 
 Well, found what ? Don’t stand there gib- 
 bering in that absurd way.’' 
 
 A lovair.” 
 
 ‘‘Eh?” 
 
 A lovair.” 
 
 “Oh, a Movair’ and smoke and drink go 
 to-gether, eh? ” smiled Vaness. 
 
 “ Ma%s oui certaineinent, generally — zat is, 
 in Paris. I have not zee knowledge how it is 
 in VAmeriqueB 
 
 “ Oh, the ‘ lovair ’is unknown in New York,’ 
 he said, very gravely. 
 
 C’est possible? ” very much astonished. 
 
 “ To tell the truth, Eosalie,” in a stage- 
 whisper, “there is one man whom I am very 
 much in love with.” 
 
 “Ah !” pricking up her ears, “ I knew it was 
 impossible for one of madame’s figure to 
 remain long wizout one — and he is gentil? 
 il est beau? ” 
 
By Morninsc Bight 
 
 69 
 
 Oh, he’s a lovely creature, I assure 3 ou. 
 Curly brown hair, a cavalry mustache, and 
 melting brown eyes.” 
 
 “ Just like monsieur ? ” 
 
 Oh, you could hardly tell them apart.” 
 
 Eosalie looked around the room stealthily, 
 and then whispered mysteriously ; 
 
 ‘‘It is good zat madame has made ozzair 
 arrangements.” 
 
 “ Why, what do you mean ? ” 
 
 “ Because ven I brush zee coats of Mr. 
 Vaness I often come upon notes in a lady’s 
 handwriting.” 
 
 “ Oh, you little devil ! ” exclaimed the lis- 
 tener to himself; “ I guess it is about time 
 for you to go.” Then to Eosalie, “ Oh, those 
 are only business letters. An editor receives 
 correspondence from all sorts of people. 
 Hurry up with this dressing. Haven’t you 
 hooked me together enough for one day? I 
 don’t see any sense, anyway, in all these 
 straps and hooks and buttons.” 
 
 “ Now I must fix madame’shair.” 
 
 “ Oh, it will do as it is.” 
 
70 
 
 A Bargaht i?i Souls 
 
 “ Impossible.” 
 
 ‘‘Are, you going to stick all those hairpins 
 in my head ? ” 
 
 “ Mais ouiB 
 
 “Oh, roll it up in a knot; I feel like a 
 pin-cushion already.” 
 
 “ But madame may have visitors ; she must 
 be ready to receive at all hours.” 
 
 “What a nuisance ! W^ell, get through as 
 quick as you can. If I have to go through 
 this performance every morning, I shall go 
 mad.” At last, after much growling and 
 impatience on the part of Vaness, Eosalie 
 completed her task. He paused for a mo- 
 ment to survey the charming figure presented 
 in the glass. The flowing folds of pale blue 
 crepe de Chine half hid and half revealed the 
 supple form beneath. The snowy cascade of 
 lace fell from throat to hem, not whiter than 
 the jewelled hands, and glimpses of a bosom 
 that shone in the sunlight like mother-of- 
 pearl. And crowning all, the oval face was 
 flushed just now with a delicate rose that 
 might have inspired Watteau. 
 
By Morning Bight 
 
 71 
 
 “ I never thought my wife was so charm- 
 ing,” said Vaness to himself. “ It must be 
 that the soul has imparted to the eyes a new 
 beauty that was lacking before.” 
 
 Suddenly he caught a glimpse of another 
 face, Eosalie’s, peering over his shoulder. 
 She was admiring her work, and it suddenly 
 struck him that she was a very picturesque 
 little person. 
 
 “ Do you know,” turning suddenly, “ that 
 you are a pretty girl, Eosalie, — a very pretty 
 girl ? ” 
 
 “They have informed me that I am ex- 
 quisite,” said Eosalie, demurely, as she ad- 
 justed a silk bow on her wonderful lace cap. 
 
 Vaness had kissed her before he knew what 
 he was about. Turning he saw Nita. 
 
 “ My dear Nita — I mean Arthur,” he stam- 
 mered. 
 
 His wife turned to the girl. “ Eosalie.” 
 
 “ Monsieur ! ” — very much in wonder what 
 the trouble was all about. 
 
 “ You leave to-day.” 
 
 “ But, monsieur — ” 
 
72 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 “ Not another word, shameless girl. This 
 is a return for all my kindness to you. I dare 
 say, however, that madame will be pleased 
 to send you cards for her receptions’’ — and 
 with this parting shaft Nita turned abruptly 
 and went clumping noisily down the stairs. 
 
 ‘‘ Oh quel mallieur! ” cried Eosalie, wring- 
 ing her hands and sobbing, “what is zat I 
 have done ? ” 
 
 “Don’t raise such a row,” groaned Vaness. 
 “Here — here,” rushing to the bureau and 
 taking out some money, which he thrust into 
 her trembling hands. “ Take this and stop 
 crying ! ” and before she could reply, he was 
 bounding down the stairs as rapidly as the 
 long trailing skirts would permit. 
 
 He found Nita seated at the head of the ta- 
 ble, glow^ering at a platter of poached eggs. 
 He took his place silently at the end of the 
 board, and seemed to be very much interested 
 in the morning paper, over which he peered 
 at the stern features of his 
 
 “ It is quite evident,” Nita began, crunch- 
 ing savagely a piece of toast, “ that you did 
 
By Alorning Light 
 
 73 
 
 not lose any time in availing yourself of the 
 opportunities of your position. I really 
 thought better of you,” choking down a sob. 
 “If this is the beginning, what terrible re- 
 velations I shall learn before many days have 
 passed ! Oh, how unhappy I am ! ” wiping 
 a dim eye with a corner of her napkin. 
 “ How unhappy I am ! ” 
 
 “ Now don’t be silly, my dear,” said Vaness, 
 recovering his composure. “ This exchange 
 of p'i'sition was made entirely with your con- 
 sent. You were delighted with the prospect 
 that I was to relieve you of your galling 
 chains, in return for my liberty. Besides, 
 supposing I did give the girl a fatherly kiss. 
 It was a thoughtless impulse, and neither of 
 us are any the worse for it that I can see. 
 You are not going to repent at this early 
 stage of our comedy ? ” 
 
 “It will prove a drama — a tragic drama, I 
 know,” said Nita, plaintively. “You may 
 have done something horrible in the past, 
 and I shall have to bear the punishment for 
 it. Perhaps you were glad to escape from 
 
74 
 
 A Barsrahi in Souls 
 
 o 
 
 your evil life, and thought this exchange 
 would make you free. I see it all; it was a 
 plan to get rid of me— a cruel conspiracy,” 
 relapsing into tears. 
 
 Vaness went on quietly eating, until the 
 sobs grew fainter. 
 
 “Don’t you think you had better go and 
 bathe your eyes in some cold water?” he 
 said, crunching noisily a piece of toast. ‘‘ It 
 is nearly time for you to appear at the office, 
 and it wouldn’t look well for an editor to 
 have been crying. They are not supposed 
 to be supplied with tears, or any emotions 
 whatever. Suppose the rival editor across 
 the way were to see you snivelling ? It would 
 be a huge joke, especially as I told him only 
 last week that I should pull his nose in public 
 if he ever abused me in print again. I leave it 
 to you to carry out my promise.” 
 
 “What, to pull his nose?” asked Nita, 
 faintly. 
 
 “Exactly.” 
 
 “But I — I don’t want to pull anybody’s 
 
 nose. 
 
By Morning Light 
 
 75 
 
 “Oh, but you must, if he opens fire again. 
 The honor of the paper is at stake. Of course 
 he may try to cane you, or punch your head ; 
 but you mustn’t mind a little thing like that. 
 Anyway, he is a rank coward, so there is 
 small chance of retaliation. But don’t let 
 him strike you in the face. I beg of you to 
 guard those sacred features which I have 
 trusted you with as you would your life. I 
 could never contemplate them again with joy 
 if one of the eyes were missing, or a well- 
 directed blow had knocked my classic nose 
 out of perspective.” 
 
 “Oh ! ” moaned Nita, passing a trembling 
 hand over her features, to see if they were 
 still intact — “oh ! ” 
 
 “ You’ll get used to being horsewhipped, in 
 time,” pursued the tormenter, “and find it 
 increases your circulation as w'ell as that of 
 the paper. And now, while I don’t want to 
 hurry you,” looking at the clock, “ I think 
 you ought to be on your way down-town. 
 You know how eager you were last night to 
 begin your glorious career; this morning 
 
70 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 your impatience seems to have entirely dis- 
 appeared. Now, when you get to the office, 
 what do you propose to do? How will you 
 begin your work of reconstruction?” 
 
 “ You w^ould only laugh at me if I were to 
 tell you,” said Nita. I have rules for every- 
 thing set down in this book,” taking out a 
 note-book. “ For some months I have been 
 compiling this volume, and there are ques- 
 tions and answers that apply to every situa- 
 tion.” 
 
 What is the answer when a defeated can- 
 didate or a rival editor rushes in and tries to 
 shoot the cigar out of your mouth ? It would 
 be useful to know.” 
 
 ‘‘I — I haven’t got that down. It can't be 
 possible such things occur in a New York 
 office. You are only trying to frighten me.” 
 
 “Such things don’t occur, eh? Why, I dug 
 a dozen bullets out of the wall only a month 
 ago,, and had them moulded into the hand- 
 some paper-weight you will find on the desk ; 
 and as for the editorial chair, why it’s as full 
 of buckshot as a Christmas pudding is full of 
 
By Morning Light 
 
 77 
 
 plums. You will have more than one sur- 
 prise awaiting you, my dear. I suppose you 
 found a schedule of the office-work in my 
 pocket?” 
 
 “Yes, and a great many other things be- 
 sides,” said Nita. “You would have done 
 well to have destroyed most of your papers 
 before we changed places.” 
 
 “Eh? What’s that?” 
 
 “ Among your assets I found a letter — an 
 invitation from a woman,” triumphantly. 
 
 “ Oh yes, I remember. The annual dinner 
 of the Stage Society — a very worthy charity. 
 Of course I have to go to all such entertain- 
 ments in order to be on good terms with the 
 managers — ” 
 
 “ And actresses too, I suppose,” said Nita, 
 meekly. But Vaness did not hear. 
 
 “You see, we get forty cents a line from 
 the theatres, and a dollar a line for personal 
 puffs. Now don’t be writing influential ac- 
 tresses down because you don’t like the way 
 they fix their hair, or because they wear 
 false teeth; it would be just like a woman.” 
 
78 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 “ I shall maintain my position with dig- 
 nity/’ said his vis-a-vis, ‘‘ I am fully aware 
 how the editor of a paper should conduct 
 himself.” 
 
 ‘‘ That’s very well ; but while you are main- 
 taining your dignity, also look after the dol- 
 lars. Our dramatic critic is a young man 
 and rather thoughtless. When a new play 
 is announced and he happens to have some 
 friends in the company, he is very liable to 
 give them a lot of free advertising, which is 
 clear loss to us. The idea is not to commit 
 yourself one way or the other until you see 
 what the manager is going to do. There’s 
 Morton, for instance, of the Fourth Avenue 
 Theatre. When he brings out a new play, 
 he can always be depended on for a five-hun- 
 dred-dollar notice ; but don’t find fault with 
 him because he wears red whiskers and 
 swears like a trooper.” 
 
 But supposing the play is bad ? ” 
 
 ‘‘Well, you must discover some good 
 points, whether they exist or not. If the 
 New York papers only discussed good plays. 
 
By Morning Light 
 
 79 
 
 they would have trouble filling their theat- 
 rical columns/’ 
 
 public journal/’ said Nita, referring to 
 the little note-book, ‘‘should be a mirror of 
 truth, an enemy of fraud and humbugs, a 
 champion of the right. It never should be 
 swayed by mere monetary considerations.” 
 
 “ That’s very pretty. I believe in speaking 
 the truth, too ; that is, if it doesn’t interfere 
 with your income.” 
 
 “A grovelling sentiment worthy of a man,” 
 with disdain. “No wonder that the press has 
 become an object of contempt, a telephone 
 through which the vilest can buy the right to 
 speak.” 
 
 “ Your sentiments do you a vast amount of 
 credit, but it would require a great deal of 
 money to carry them out. If I were to follow 
 my own inclinations concerning the editor- 
 ship of ‘ The Owl,’ we should not be living in 
 such a comfortable home, we should not be 
 so well dressed or well fed. Look around 
 this room. You see that Steinway piano in 
 the corner ? ” 
 
80 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 “ Where did it come from ? ” 
 
 “ Why, it was a present from you on my 
 last birthday.” 
 
 “ Not at all ; you received it through me 
 from Alderman McGoozle, as a thank-offer- 
 ing for services rendered while he was run- 
 ning for office.” 
 
 “Oh ! ” with a long-drawn sigh. 
 
 “ That pearl-laid secretary by the wall was 
 a present from a genial murderer whose ac- 
 quittal we helped to secure.” 
 
 “Oh! ” 
 
 “ Why, you have been dressing yourself for 
 the past three years out of the perquisites of 
 office. Your spring bonnet represents Lop- 
 eared Mick’s victory over the Lancashire 
 Spider, and your Easter costume the grati- 
 tude of a defaulting cashier. Your — ” 
 
 “You’d better not go any farther,” said 
 Nita. 
 
 “Well, I only wanted to show you that 
 while we may cherish the noblest principles 
 and sentiments, as editors it is well to keep 
 
By Morning Light 
 
 81 
 
 them under the control of a golden ke5\ To 
 go clothed in virtuous sentiments ■will not 
 protect you from the inclemency of the 
 weather, nor is a righteous principle in your 
 mouth going to satisfy the cravings of an 
 empty stomach.” 
 
 “ You shall see,” said Nita, decidedly “ that 
 it only needs a brave heart to make honesty 
 pay. There may be some resistance at the 
 first, but in the end right must prevail.” 
 
 “And in the meantime we stand a fair 
 chance of starving,” said Vaness, rising from 
 the table. 
 
 “ Wait,” Nita replied laying down her nap- 
 kin, “I shall soon have an opportunity to 
 show you that I am right.” 
 
 “Well, you don’t seem to be very eager to 
 begin,” with a malicious smile. 
 
 The sun filtering through the orange silk 
 curtains filled every nook and corner of the 
 cosy dining-room with a comfortable glow, 
 bringing into relief its luxurious chairs that 
 invited'rest, the dainty paintings on the wall, 
 the cheerful nook in the bow-window piled 
 
82 
 
 A Bargain in Son Is 
 
 with embroidered cushions. The sofa looked 
 so soft and inviting that Nita could not re- 
 press a sigh of regret as she thought of the 
 many idle hours she had dozed away in its 
 velvet embrace. And there lay the novel she 
 had laid down the night before, unfinished. 
 
 She walked into the parlor, slowly trying 
 to conceal from him the emotions that were 
 struggling for the mastery. Itv;ould never 
 do to let him know that she had begun to 
 weaken so soon. Where were all her cour- 
 age and braveness ? 
 
 “And what are you going to do all day 
 she asked Vaness, with an affected careless- 
 ness, adjusting a refractory necktie that had 
 worked its way over her ear. 
 
 “Oh, I haven’t thought much about it,” 
 with a yawn; lie off and read, I suppose. I 
 have not had time in the past three years for 
 anything but newspapers and police-reports. 
 When I get hungry, I shall study Franca- 
 teli and experiment with some of his mys- 
 teries. I have often thought that if circum- 
 stances had not forced me into journalism I 
 
By Mo7'ninor Light 
 
 83 
 
 should have become a professional cook. It 
 must be a very enjoyable life, I imagine, and 
 much more profitable. The cuisme is the 
 most important educator of the century. 
 What historic memories fill the mind at the 
 sight of a hoeuf a la Mirahemi! and a hun- 
 dred songs rise from the smoke of a dish of 
 houillahaisse,^^ 
 
 ‘fortunately, I shall not be here for your 
 ghoulish repasts, “ said Nita. “Now that I 
 have some liberty of action, I can pick out 
 my restaurants.” 
 
 “By all means, my dear; dine out as often 
 as you please. I shall not lack for society. 
 You know Miss Olcott lives only a block away 
 and I dare say she would be glad to dine 
 here instead of at the boarding-house where 
 she is condemned to live.” 
 
 “You know how I detest that woman,” said 
 Nita, frowningly. 
 
 “Why, you always kiss her most affection- 
 ately when you meet— an established custom 
 which I suppose I must respect,” with a 
 laugh. 
 
84 
 
 A Bargalit i?i Souls 
 
 “It is policy for me to treat her kindly, 
 because she has a very sharp tongue, and if 
 we quarrelled she might talk about me.” 
 
 “Well, I shall cultivate her for the same 
 reason ; and I have no doubt we shall get 
 alongvery well together. You see, I shall have 
 so much time on my hands, you being away 
 all day-” 
 
 “I shall make it my business to be here to- 
 night at five o’clock if you are going to dine 
 alone.” 
 
 “But I sha’n’t be alone. I shall have 
 those four lovely girls to keep me com- 
 pany.” 
 
 “Oough !” 
 
 “Besides, your business will detain you 
 at the office until six at the earliest, for, after 
 the last edition is out, you must arrange for 
 the next day. Of course you will have a chance 
 to get some pork and beans at the corner 
 between-times.” 
 
 “ But I don’t like pork and beans,” wailed 
 Nita. 
 
 “ Oh you must get used to them. They are 
 
By Morning Light 85 
 
 considered the proper food for brain-work- 
 ers.” 
 
 ‘‘ You are only trying to frighten me into 
 believing that your life in the past has been 
 one of privations. I don’t believe anything 
 of the kind. At least I shall be free to do as 
 I please.” 
 
 ‘‘ I don’t know about that,” shaking his 
 head ; ‘‘but we shall see.” 
 
 “ Yes, we shall see,” cried Nita, turning 
 towards the door. 
 
 “ Hold on ; you are going off without your 
 hat.” 
 
 “ Oh, bother the hat ! ” coming back. 
 
 Finally equipped, she started off again. 
 
 “I shall look forward to the first edition,” 
 he said. 
 
 “ You will be astonished.” 
 
 “ I expect to be.” 
 
 “ Horrid thing ! Now, when I come back, 
 you — you, must tell me everything that has 
 happened — every word that you say to those 
 girls at supper.” 
 
 ^‘Ya — as, unless my memory fails me. 
 
8G 
 
 A Bargain in So2ils 
 
 And, my dear, I expect you to be equally 
 confidential. We sliall now have the op- 
 portunity to see ourselves as others see 
 us.” 
 
 “ Oh ! ” exclaimed Nita, as a sudden thought 
 flashed through her mind; hut she did not 
 give it expression in words, and fled from the 
 room slamming the door behind her. 
 
 ‘‘ Funny little creature ! ” said Vaness, with 
 a meditative smile. ‘‘I really believe she 
 has begun to weaken already, but is to proud 
 to let me know it. I am afraid she has made 
 a bad bargain. Anyway, the experience may 
 cure her. It may be good for us both. I 
 know" I was sorely in need of a vacation. A 
 whole day and nothing to do ! A pleasant 
 prospect, but apt to prove monotonous.” 
 
 He walked up and dowui the room, suddenly 
 pausing before the side-board. 
 
 ‘‘ I am all alone,” looking around furtively. 
 ‘‘ I might take a morning refresher and a 
 smoke, and no one need be a whit the wiser. 
 It will add so much to the satisfaction wdien 
 I have to do it surreptitiously.” 
 
By Mo7‘ni7ig Light 87 
 
 He tried the doors of the sideboard. They 
 were locked. 
 
 ‘‘Just my luck grumbling; “and I was 
 just beginning to feel precious dry.” 
 
 lie rang the bell, and Kosalie, with traces 
 of recent tears on her face, appeared in the 
 doorway. “ Eosalie, where are the keys of 
 the sideboard ? ” 
 
 “Mais, madame, they are in the care of 
 monsieur.” 
 
 “ OhIthaElldo.” 
 
 Vaness sank into a chair and growled out : 
 
 “ Well it isn’t such a sinecure to be a wo- 
 
 man after all ! ” 
 
IV 
 
 THE editor’s busy day 
 “The Evening Owl” belonged to that 
 class of peculiar papers which have sprung 
 into existence in the metropolis during the 
 past decade. It had been founded originally 
 by a Eussian refugee, and there were no 
 less than six hundred stockholders who held 
 from one to a hundred shares in the enter- 
 prise. 
 
 The founder, having started the paper on 
 a few hundred dollars, had almost starved 
 to death the first six months, and to dis- 
 charge his obligations he gave stock instead 
 of money. Thus it happened that even the 
 
 boot-black on the corner and the beanery in 
 88 
 
The Editor's Busy Day 89 
 
 the basement held shares in the paper, 
 which had now become a very valuable prop- 
 erty, owing a great deal to the efforts of its 
 humble shareholders. 
 
 For the boot-black and the bean-baker, 
 and others of their ilk, finding themselves 
 in possession of so much of the journal’s 
 scrip, at that time worth little more than the 
 paper on which it was printed, began to dab- 
 ble in journalism themselves, and banded 
 together to secure news that would advance 
 "‘The Evening Owl’s ” circulation. 
 
 The boot-black, who had free range of the 
 office buildings on the block, stumbled across 
 many sensations in going his rounds, and re- 
 ceived many confidences from inviting key- 
 holes. The Pole who had acted in the capacity 
 of man-servant to the late editor, and had 
 been left a wad of stock instead of wages, be- 
 longed to the ‘‘Gentlemen’s Gentlemen Club,” 
 made up of valets, cooks, and coachmen, and 
 at the weekly dinners of the association he 
 gathered from his companions the most in- 
 teresting chapters from family closets. 
 
90 
 
 A Ba7‘gain in Souls 
 
 No one who rode in horse-cars, or went to 
 theatres, or lunched in cafes could be cer- 
 tain that some emissary of the “Evening 
 Owl” was not within ear-shot. And young 
 married couples at the hotels were often sur- 
 prised at the assiduous attentions of the bell- 
 boys, who insisted upon bringing up ice- 
 water at all hours of the night and morning, 
 and answered their calls wdth suspicious 
 alacrity. 
 
 Other journals might stagnate for w^ant of 
 new's. “The Evening Owl” was ever ready 
 with a sensation. Without waiting for the 
 wheels of time to grind out a dramatic epi- 
 sode or startling catastrophe, it applied the 
 oil of ingenuity to the axles and increased 
 the revolutions. The city w^as a checker- 
 board in the opinion of the editor, and he 
 moved his men here and there at wall, crea- 
 ting catastrophes and leading them into com- 
 plications. “The Evening Owd” was never 
 dull, though other journals might be as dry 
 as a bundle of Congressional records. 
 
 The editor wisely argued that the average 
 
7"he Edito7''^s Busy Day 91 
 
 public who bouglit papers wanted to be 
 stirred up. Having tasted blood one day, they 
 were not to be put off with tea and toast the 
 next. To keep up a daily supply of sensa- 
 tions was therefore his life’s ambition. The 
 means employed were not always the most 
 honorable ; but since the readers were satis- 
 fied, who should find fault? Was it any 
 one’s business if the man who swore to the 
 circulation had been indicted seventeen 
 times for perjury, or that the ragpickers of 
 the city were paid a liberal price per pound for 
 all the torn letters they found in ash-barrels 
 during the course of their pregrinations ? 
 
 If a man contemplated suicide, he might 
 turn it to profitable account for his family by 
 choosing the most sensational means, and 
 writing it up previously for the paper. The 
 Evening Owl ” w^ould publish a full account 
 with many illustrations ten minutes after the 
 tragedy occurred, and a handsome check 
 w^ould be foiwvarded to the bereaved family 
 by the next mail. Indirectly in this way the 
 journal did a great deal of good. 
 
92 
 
 A Ba^'ga'ni in Sonls 
 
 Suppose you wished to elope with a rich 
 man’s daughter, and did not have the money 
 to pay the railroad fares to the next station. 
 It would be only necessary to call on the ed- 
 itor of ‘‘ The Evening Owl ” to perfect ar- 
 rangements. All that was required on your 
 part was to conduct the elopement in a new^sy 
 way, after a plan suggested by the editor. Get 
 married in a balloon or on the Brooklyn 
 Bridge, or bear her aw ay on a bicycle pursued 
 by the irate father. You might make your 
 choice how it was to be managed, and the 
 paper would come dowui handsomely for the 
 expenses. 
 
 If your wife ran away and you were anxious 
 to get her back, ‘‘ The Evening Owl ” w^ould 
 provide meams for pursuit, provided you w^ere 
 confidential regarding the circumstances. 
 
 So devoted were the stockholders to the in- 
 terests of their paper that in times of trouble, 
 or when there w^as a drouth of news, they did 
 not hesitate to trot out some of their own 
 family skeletons for the public view. Lemuel 
 J. Bigwood would not now be lingering in 
 
The Edltor''s Busy Day 93 
 
 durance vile if he had not stopped on his 
 way to Canada to pen a graphic account of 
 his defalcations for the paper in which he was 
 a shareholder. Nor would Barney Blaherly 
 be now under sentence of death if, while 
 cutting up his wif<^ he had not paused to 
 take her portrait with a Kodak camera for 
 the last edition. 
 
 With such a band of devoted adherents it 
 was not to be wondered at that “ The Evening 
 Owl ’’ should be such a financial success, but 
 a large sum of money was spent yearly in 
 keeping the staff out of reach of the strong 
 arm of the law. 
 
 Such was the paper and its policy up to 
 the morning that Nita, still irritated in mind, 
 entered the office to take editorial charge. 
 
 Now at last she would have an opportunity 
 to give vent to her pent-up ideas. Now was 
 the golden chance to show that scoffer at home 
 what a woman can do to create a great paper. 
 
 But the bare room, filled with dusty files, 
 and the long line of men in their shirt sleeves 
 smoking and expectorating copiously, rather 
 
9i 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 dampened her ardor as she made her way 
 totlie office in the corner, separated from the 
 main room by a board partition. 
 
 Nita sat down at the desk and commenced 
 listlessly to open the pile of letters that 
 lay there. She could banish from her 
 mind the thought that Vaness was probably 
 now reclining on that soft sofa in the corner 
 of the parlor, reading the fascinating novel 
 that she was just dying to finish. 
 
 And then that pink supper at five, with 
 eight giddy girls grouped about the board! 
 She could see in fancy Miss Olcott on the 
 right ogling over her glass of wine, and a 
 golden-haired creature on the left to whom 
 he was paying assiduous attentions. Oh, 
 she hated them all ! How little did she think 
 wdien inviting that set of flighty young wo- 
 mien, that Arthur would be the one to enter- 
 tain them, and alone ! Oh, that was the most 
 terrible thought of all — alone ! 
 
 Well, anyway he was likely to hear him- 
 self criticised : perhaps that would interfere 
 somewhat with his entertainment anddiges- 
 
The Editor'^ s Busy Bay 
 
 95 
 
 tion. In order to smother her thoughts Nita 
 went to work at the pile of letters. The pres- 
 ence of the typewriter, a young lady with 
 abnormally black eyes and champagne-col- 
 ored hair, did not add to hei equanimity. 
 It seemed to her that that offensive person 
 was staring at her very curiously. 
 
 ^Tlave you no work to do?” asked Nita, 
 irritably. 
 
 “I’m waiting for the correspondence,” 
 eyeing a large diamond ring on her finger 
 with an air of satisfaction. 
 
 “Well, I — I’m not ready yet. Go out and 
 get your lunch and come back.” 
 
 “Why, it’s only ten o’clock,” protested the 
 blonde head. 
 
 “Well, then, walk around the block, or sit 
 down in the park for half an hour, Don’t 
 you see I’m nervous this morning?” 
 
 “ I guess you was out late last night,” said 
 the typewriter, wuth a giggle. “I w^as to the 
 ball of the Gentlemen’s Sons of the Fourth 
 Ward. Mr. Skewey has written a notice of 
 it for to-day’s paper.” 
 
96 
 
 A Bargain i7i Souls 
 
 “It shall not appear,” said Nita, decidedly, 
 ‘‘Fm not going to conduct this paper in the 
 interest of the Fourth Ward. That’s not so- 
 ciety news.” 
 
 ^‘Well,” said the typewriter very much 
 hurt/df you can afford to offend Alderman 
 Dooley, the president, by slighting his ball 
 it’s not my fault. You remember he went 
 bail for your police reporter when he came 
 near getting jugged last week.” 
 
 ‘‘ Jugged ? Jugged ? ” said Nita. “ What 
 on earth is jugged ? ” 
 
 Why, put in jail for being found in the 
 chimney of the Gotham Hotel, taking notes, 
 while the mill-owners were holding a private 
 meeting. You know? ” 
 
 Oh, yes, now I remember,” faintly. 
 ‘^Well, let the notice of the ball go in,’’ 
 with a sigh; “ and just say to Mr. Skewey if 
 he is outside that I will see him later about 
 the society column.” 
 
 You’d better not ruffle the Guv’nor this 
 morning,” said the typewriter confidentially 
 to a red-nosed reporter as they met by the 
 
The Editor's Busy Day 97 
 
 ice-cooler. “He must have been up with 
 those ward heelers all night, for he’s mad as 
 a setting hen.” 
 
 “ I don’t like the looks of that girl a bit,” 
 said Nita to herself; “she has a bad face. 
 I’ll reconstruct this office on a better basis be- 
 fore I’m through ; ” and she attacked the pile 
 of letters again. Tiring very soon of this 
 monotonous work, she turned with a sigh to 
 penning some editorials. 
 
 “ Mr. Jowler, the sporting editor,” piped 
 the office-boy before Nita had a chance to 
 read a line. Mr, Jowler thrust his bullet- 
 head in the door, nodded “Morn in’, old man,” 
 took a shot at the spittoon and lounged in. 
 
 He was a broad-chested giant clad in cor- 
 duroys of light brindle hue, and his broad 
 face, lit by two watery-blue eyes, was quite 
 in tone with the startling scarlet necktie that 
 flamed on his shirt-bosom. 
 
 He gave Nita’s hand such a friendly wrench 
 when he sat down that the tears rose invol- 
 untarily to her eyes. 
 
 “Well, have you any news?” she asked, 
 
 7 
 
98 
 
 A Bargain ijt Souls 
 
 furtively wiping them with the corner of her 
 handkerchief. What a very teriible person 
 he must be to deal with ! He frightened her, 
 with his husky voice ^nd his hands like bat- 
 tering-rams. 
 
 ‘‘ News ? ” yelled Mr. Jowler, bringing down 
 his fist with such a bang on the desk that Nita 
 jumped in her seat.— News, me boy ? Why, 
 
 my eyes if I ever got hold of such a story 
 
 since Tve been on the paper ! And it’s dead 
 straight too. What’s the matter? Got the 
 ear-ache?” as Nita lifted her hands with a 
 shudder at his profanity. 
 
 “ Here, take a pull at this ; you’ll feel bet- 
 ter,” slapping down a huge pocket-flask on 
 the desk. Well, I wan’t to tell you the 
 story,” said Mr. Jowler, not at all hurt be- 
 cause she did not accept the offered refresh- 
 ment. ‘‘You know Charley Dusenbury — the 
 fellow that gets up midnight races and polo 
 games by electric light on the ice, and such 
 damn foolishness? Well, him and Corney 
 Shoemacher, the millionaire’s son, gave a 
 dinner at Torretti’s last night— see ? ” 
 
The Editor’s Busy Day 
 
 99 
 
 “ Yes,” said Nita, faintly. 
 
 “ Well after they stacked their wittals and 
 was feelin’ pretty good — you know, you hin 
 there,” with a chuckle and a dig in the ribs 
 that nearly knocked the editor speechless — 
 ‘‘what does Shoemacher do but get up an’ 
 say, ‘Boys, Fve got a treat for you. I’ve en- 
 gaged a couple of pugilists for a shin-kicking 
 contest. I never saw one myself, but they 
 say it’s thrillin’.’ ” 
 
 “ What is a shin-kicking contest ? ” asked 
 Nita, huskily. 
 
 “Oh, it’s very excitin’,” explained Mr. 
 Jowler. “ You get two plug-uglies ” 
 
 “Plug-uglies? ” 
 
 “I mean pugilists— it’s all the same thing. 
 And they kick at each other’s shins till one 
 of ’em gets knocked out.” 
 
 “Oh !” 
 
 “Well,” said Mr. Jowler, warming up with 
 enthusiasn;, “ when he done talkin’, the door 
 opened and in walks ‘ Lop-eared Mike,’ and 
 ‘ brindle Mickey, the Lancashire Spider.’ It 
 was the loveliest scrap I ever seen, and them 
 
100 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 dudes cheered as if they would bust, and 
 Shoemaclier he took his diamond pin out of 
 liis bosom and gave it to Lop-eared Mike, 
 who was the winner. It’ll just make a splen- 
 did story, ’cause the audience was all tony 
 people. It’ll make a column with cuts, and 
 all the sports in town’l want a paper.” 
 
 Nita looked around the room, and then at 
 the burly figure in the chair, and ventured 
 uneasily, but with a show of determination : 
 
 “I think, Mr. Jowler, that it must have 
 been a very brutal exhibition, and unworthy 
 to be recorded in the columns of a family 
 newspaper. You should confine your articles 
 entirely to gentlemanly sports.” 
 
 ^‘What!” howled Mr. Jowler, half-rising 
 out of his seat, while his face assumed an even 
 ruddier hue than his necktie, “do you mean 
 to say you ain’t going to publish this beau- 
 tiful story it took me all night to get on to?” 
 
 Nita withered before his glance, and took 
 refuge behind the blank-book in which she 
 had gathered some notes respecting the policy 
 of a great newspaper. 
 
The Editor^s Btcsy Day 101 
 
 I am convinced,” she said, in a very faint 
 voice, “that a paper should be free from all 
 accounts calculated to debase or barbarize 
 the minds of its readers. Physical develop- 
 ment and a love of open-air recreation should 
 be cultivated in the columns devoted to sport, 
 without catering to the brutal forces that are 
 latent in human nature.” 
 
 During this peroration, Mr. Jowler folded 
 his hands and listened with mouth wide open. 
 
 ‘‘Say,” he remarked, lighting a very bad 
 cigar, “are you reading one of them tracts 
 that come in by every mail, or don’t you feel 
 well this morning?” 
 
 “Nothing of the kind, Mr. Jowler; but I 
 have decided to change the character of ‘ The 
 Evening Owl.’ An editor’s first duty should 
 be to elevate his journal’s tone.” 
 
 “ I thought it was to elevate the circula- 
 tion,” growled Mr. Jowler. 
 
 “In your department you should discour- 
 age exhibitions of brute force as much as 
 possible, at the same time encouraging such 
 healthy recreations as lawn-tennis — ” 
 
102 
 
 A Barg a hi in Souls 
 
 ‘‘Lawn-tennis!’’ cried Jowler, as if the 
 very word pained him to utter it. 
 
 “Or croquet,” said Nita, blandly. 
 
 “Croquet !” be moaned, looking at his big 
 hands lovingly. “Wants me to devote my 
 attention to croquet —me, ’Rastus Jowler, that 
 was trainer for ‘ The Mouse’ and ‘ Humpy 
 Loo,’ the Boston Boy. You’ll be wantin’ me 
 to be playin’ that type-writer the next thing.” 
 He sat in moody silence for a moment, and 
 then brought his fist down on the desk with 
 a bang that upset the inkstand. 
 
 “ I don’t know whether you’re foolin’ or not, 
 Vaness, but that story’s got to go in the paper ; 
 now you hear me 1 I told some of the sports to 
 look out for some lively news in ‘ The Owl’ to- 
 day, and I ain’t goin’ to be made a fool of for 
 you or no other editor. Nice way to treat a 
 man who saved you from a horsewhippen’ 
 only last week in front of the Astor House. 
 I’ve got a contract to run the sports of this pa- 
 per for a year yet, and I’m going to do it. If 
 that story don’t appear. I’ll clean out the office, 
 and there won’t be any paper at all to-day.” 
 
The Editor's Busy Day 103 
 
 Nita shivered as she surveyed the giant, 
 and referred to her book ; but it contained no 
 advice suitable to the occasion. The cloud 
 of smoke that wreathed Mr. Jowler’s massive 
 features gave him the appearance of some 
 terrible genie ; it was certainly the best policy 
 to mollify him. 
 
 “Well, we won’t try to change the sport- 
 ing columns right away,” she ventured, tim- 
 idly. “ That may take some time — ” 
 
 “ Ah ! I thought you was only foolin’,” 
 smiled Mr. Jowler. “I knowed it,” crushing 
 her hand in a mighty grip. “ One of your 
 jokes, I suppose. Well, I guess I’ll go and 
 write my story up,” aiming a shot at the cus- 
 pidor. “I want it for the first edition, or 
 some of the boys on the other papers may get 
 hold of it. So-long ! ” lounging towards the 
 door. He went out chuckling to himself, 
 “ Wanted me to write up croquet ! ” shak- 
 ing his huge shoulders. “ Wanted me to write 
 up croquet ! ” And she could still hear him 
 laughing as he made his way down the room. 
 
 Nita looked at the cloud of smoke he had 
 
104 
 
 A Bargain i7i Souls 
 
 left in liis wake, at the impress of his huge 
 figure on the cushions of the chair, and 
 sighed long and deeply. “ What a very ter- 
 rible person ! ’’ she murmured. “ I see it 
 will take some time to bring him around to 
 my views; anyway, I have made a begin- 
 ning.” 
 
 She had just started again on the pile erf 
 letters, when the office-boy announced Mr. 
 Gargoyle. 
 
 This gentleman, who wore a plaid suit of 
 astonishing pattern, large gold eye-glasses, 
 and a forbidding squint, sidled into a chair, 
 after bowing brusquely to the chief. 
 
 “ You have seen the papers this morning ? ” 
 he asked in a sharp voice. 
 
 ‘‘ Of — of— course,” said Nita, who had 
 glanced over one journal on the way down- 
 town. 
 
 “Well, then you know that ‘The Blonde 
 Brigand ’ was a complete failure at the 
 Fourth Avenue Theatre last night.” 
 
 “ I saw something of the kind.” 
 
 “ It is to our interest, however, to let them 
 
The Editor's Busy Day 105 
 
 down easy. The manager has doubled his 
 advertising space this week, and the leading 
 lady has promised us an exclusive 
 story if we write her up. Her husband has 
 followed her on from the West, and will sit 
 in a box every night heavily armed. He has 
 no intention of shooting ; but after we pub- 
 lish an account of the scandal, everybody will 
 crowd to the theatre in the hope that he will 
 pink his wife when she comes on the stage. 
 There is no quarrel between them, you know, 
 but the husband, as a man of business, wants 
 to give his wife a boom, and no cheaper way 
 could be found to advertise her.” 
 
 Nita would have interrupted, but her volu- 
 ble visitor left her no opportunity to reply. 
 
 ‘‘ Miss Caramel, of the Folly Theatre, 
 offers us the exclusive right to the story that 
 she is to be waylaid and robbed in the cathe- 
 dral. Offer refused. Public would be sure 
 to suspect something fishy. 'Nother actress 
 wishes to get robbed of her diamonds in some 
 dramatic manner. Offer also refused. Game 
 played out.” 
 
106 A Bargahi in Souls 
 
 Mr. Gargoyle referred thoughtfully to his 
 notes. 
 
 ‘‘Ah, Yes. New play at the Odeon. Same 
 manager that refused your drama last year, 
 you remember. Til tear the piece to tatters 
 and have a fling at the manager, with some 
 side remarks about the theatre being unsafe 
 and a general warning to the public. Oh, 
 you leave it to me to fix him !’’ chuckled Mr. 
 Gargoyle. “It’s just nuts to me to go for 
 these fellows.” 
 
 “But was the new play bad?” asked Nita, 
 referring to her blank-book. 
 
 “Bad? No. One of the best this year; 
 but that don’t matter. You leave it to me 
 to pick holes in the production — that’s all,” 
 with a knowing leer. 
 
 “ But is it right, out of a spirit of revenge 
 to condemn a play? ” 
 
 “Eh, what’s that?” pricking up his long 
 ears. “ Why, the last orders I had from you 
 since the day your drama was returned was 
 to hammer ’em. Those were the identical 
 words you used — ‘Hammer ’em’ — and I have 
 
The Editor's Busy Day 107 
 
 been making it precious hot for them ever 
 since/’ grinning. 
 
 ‘‘ I am afraid this paper needs moral re- 
 construction,” said Nita. 
 
 ‘‘Moral nuthin’,” said Mr. Gargoyle, 
 bluntly. It’s making lots of money.” 
 
 “ But that is not everything,” referring to 
 the blank-book. • “ The stage has come to be 
 a great public educator, and it should be the 
 mission of the dramatic critic to encourage 
 and popularize that which is best in 
 stage literature. What do you intend to 
 give us as the leader in your department to- 
 day ? ” 
 
 “Well, I’ve got three ready, and you can 
 take your choice. There’s ‘ Toes and Tights,’ 
 with illustrations of the legs of queens of the 
 burlesque and diagrams of their feet —a very 
 interesting article that will please the men. 
 Then I have another graphic description of 
 ‘ Actresses Bathing,’ with views of each lady 
 disporting in her tub at home. That’s a 
 corker?” rubbing his hands enthusiastically. 
 “The other paper is called ‘Confessions of a 
 
108 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 Soubrelte/ gathered from experiences of some 
 of my friends on the stage.” 
 
 ‘‘And nothing on dramatic literature— the 
 advancement of the stage?” moaned Nita, 
 clasping her hands with a gesture of sadness. 
 
 “ What’s the use of such stuff in a popular 
 paper ?” said Gargoyle, bluntly. “ Who’s 
 goin’ to read it ? What they want to know is 
 what actors and actresses eat and drink and 
 smoke ; if they fight with their husbands and 
 wives; what colored stockings Miss Montrose 
 prefers; and who the mysterious lady is that 
 carries Mr. Marmaduke away in a cab after 
 the show.” 
 
 “ But you have an opportunity, when there 
 is a revival of the Shakesperian and Eliza- 
 bethian drama, to encourage it, to show the 
 public its beauties, and slowly inculcate in 
 them a desire for the best dramatic liter- 
 ature ?” 
 
 “Perhaps,” said Mr. Gargoyle. 
 
 “ Now there was a production of ‘ Cymbe- 
 line ’ last night. Give an elaborate analysis 
 of the performance; the history of the first 
 
The Editors Busy Day 109 
 
 productions in England; anecdotes of the 
 company who performed itT 
 
 “You have changed your opinions decid- 
 edly, Mr. Vaness, since last week,” ventured 
 Gargoyle, mildly. 
 
 ‘‘ What do you mean ? ” 
 
 ‘‘Well, as the Temple Theatre has a stock 
 company that never gets talked about, and 
 its members are painfully respectable, you 
 instructed me only to giv^ a few lines to the 
 productions of that house.” 
 
 “ Well, oblige me in the future by paying 
 more attention to the classic drama. Write 
 a strong leading article on this production.” 
 
 “I can’t very well.” 
 
 “Why not?” 
 
 “ Well, because I sent the office-boy.” 
 “Oh!” 
 
 She would have said more if another vis- 
 itor had not been announced at that moment. 
 Mr. Gargoyle, surprised at the turn the con- 
 versation had taken, managed to escape dur- 
 ing this moment of hesitation. 
 
 The new arrival was not of prepossessing 
 
110 
 
 A Bargam in Souls 
 
 appearance. He had a long pink face framed 
 in sandy whiskers, and a striped suit of 
 clothes that hung in disordered folds on his 
 bony frame. He was chewing the end of a 
 cigar, and swaggered in with an assuring grin 
 on his face. 
 
 “Say, are you the editor?’’ he asked, 
 plumping into the nearest chair. 
 
 " Yes,” said Nita. 
 
 “ I’m Boodleby,” he remarked, with that 
 confidential grin. 
 
 “ Well, what of it ? ” said Nita, slightly ir- 
 ritated. 
 
 The visitor was disappointed at the lack of 
 enthusiasm his presence produced. 
 
 “ Why you don’t seem to remember me. 
 You wrote me up in this here paper only a 
 few weeks ago. Don’t you remember when 
 Judge Nixon’s wife o’ Slagtown, eloped with 
 a tall, handsome stranger?” pulling his 
 stubby whiskers with caressing fingers. 
 
 “Yes, I remember the incident.” 
 
 “ Well, I was the ‘ tall handsome stranger,’ 
 as you put it in the paper. The identical 
 
The Tdiior'^s Busy Day 111 
 
 individdle that bore off the Judge’s wife.” 
 
 No ! ” echoed Nita, incredulously. 
 
 Yes,” he said. I don’t know what there 
 is about me that always fetches the women. 
 Lor’ bless you, I don’t go out of the way to 
 fascinate ’em ; all I got to do is to stand un- 
 der a family tree, and they just plumps down 
 into my arms like so many ripe plums.” 
 
 “Well, I don’t see what your personal 
 charms have got to do with me or ‘ The Even- 
 ing Owl,’ ” said Nita, freezingly. 
 
 “ Well, that’s just what I came here to ex- 
 plain,” remarked the stranger. “ I know 
 there must be lots of men who would like to 
 get rid of their wives, only they don’t know 
 how to go about it. Well, I propose to make 
 arrangements with this paper to conduct the 
 elopement department. You get exclusive 
 stories, and I get all the glory. It’s easy 
 enough to find out when a couple don’t get 
 along well together, and, after sizing up the 
 female, I can charm her away in a few weeks. 
 I dare say there’s lots o’ husbands who 
 would be willin’ to come down handsome 
 
112 A Bai'gain in Soitls 
 
 to get rid of their wives without the trou- 
 ble of payin’ for evidence in a divorce suit. 
 What do you say? I’ll begin to-morrow, 
 if you say so, and give you a sensation for 
 next Tuesday’s paper.” 
 
 “ You mistake Mr. Boodleby, I am afraid, 
 the object of a great newspaper. Its mission 
 
 is, not to encourage scandal, but to suppress 
 
 it. ” 
 
 Oh ! thats new to me.” 
 
 ‘The daily journal should be a reflex of 
 all that is noblest in life, that its readers may 
 be lifted up to higher things, and learn the 
 sacred character of their mission in the 
 world,”’ reading from her blank-book. 
 
 Mr. Boodleby looked around the room, and 
 then at Nita, with astonishment. 
 
 “ Say,” he remarked with a drawl, “ are 
 you sure I didn’t stray into the Methody Book 
 Concern by mistake, instead of the oflice of 
 ‘ The Evening OwT ? ” shifting around in his 
 chair uneasily. 
 
 “ No mistake whatever. This is the office 
 of the paper. 
 
The Editor's Busy Day 113 
 
 “ Well, rm d d ! in a hoarse whisper. 
 
 And you don’t want my services to work up 
 sensations ? You don’t need me as elopement 
 editor?” 
 
 “ I am sorry to say I must decline your 
 services.” 
 
 ‘‘W^ell, he said, gathering himself together 
 with an effort, ‘‘ it ain’t my fault if you starve 
 your readers, when you got a good chance to 
 stir ’em up. I dare say I won’t be long out 
 of an engagement.” 
 
 He lounged towards the door, and then 
 turned towards Nita and eyed her a moment 
 critically. 
 
 “Say, are you married?” 
 
 “Well— yes.” 
 
 “Perhaps you might need my services 
 some day, in case you wanted to get rid of 
 your wife.” 
 
 “Sir ! ” indignantly. 
 
 “ Oh, no offence. I like to oblige members 
 of the profession Here’s my card;” and 
 dropping a piece of pasteboard on the desk, 
 
 8 
 
114 
 
 /I Bargaiji in Souls 
 
 Mr. Boodleby, still chewing liis cigar, ambled 
 out of the room. 
 
 ‘‘ Oh ! ” cried Nita, pressing her hands to 
 her forehead, “ are these the sort of people I 
 must meet every day? I shall go mad in a 
 week. My head aches already from the con- 
 stant babble. The excitement of last night 
 must have unnerved me.” 
 
 She sat there for a moment with her face 
 buried in her hands. 
 
 “Ah! I see it all,” she said suddenly. 
 “ Out of a spirit of mean revenge, Arthur has 
 instructed these people to come here and 
 worry me. He wanted to disgust me with the 
 situation on the very first day, in hopes that 
 I would get on my knees to him and acknowl- 
 edge my mistake. But I won’t give in — 
 won’t!” decidedly; “I will stand the siege 
 as long as he, if I die by the way ! ” with a 
 half sob. 
 
 Then her eyes fell on the clock ticking 
 noisily on the top of the desk. 
 
 “ Four o’clock,” she murmured. “ All the 
 morning gone, and so little accomplished ! 
 
The Kdifor^s Busy Day 
 
 115 
 
 Well, anyway, I have made a beginning. 
 They must be just arriving now — Arthur and 
 all those girls. That horrid Miss Olcott will 
 be seated on his right, and — oh ! ” 
 
 The picture seemed to choke her utterance. 
 She rose, and walked up and down the room 
 impatiently, finally pausing in the middle of 
 the floor. 
 
 ‘‘I — I can’t do any work,” she murmured, 
 plaintively, “ for thinking of him alone with 
 all those girls. I know what I’ll do. I’ll 
 stop for the day, and hurry home and sur- 
 piise them. Yes, if the paper never comes 
 out. There ! ” dashing a tear out of her eye ; 
 ‘‘I’ll^” 
 
 Mr. Miggins,” announced the office-boy, 
 ushering in a scraggy young man with flaming 
 red whiskers, who looked at Nita, a little sus- 
 piciously. 
 
 Mr. Vaness,” he said, timidly. 
 
 I can’t listen to you now,” dragging on 
 a silk hat with trembling fingers. “ I — I have 
 particular business up-town, and cannot de- 
 lay a minute.” 
 
116 
 
 A Bai'gaAi iii Souls 
 
 ‘‘ But I have a very important story,” said 
 Mr. Miggins, ‘‘ that won't keep. If it appears 
 in the first edition, we shall be ahead of all 
 the other papers.” 
 
 “ Very well, very well. Write it up and 
 send it downstairs. Now go ! I have not a 
 moment to spare,” dragging the stovepipe 
 down over her ears. 
 
 Mr. Miggins departed with a smiling 
 face. 
 
 “Are the letters ready to be answered?” 
 asked the offensive type-writer, sticking her 
 nose in the door. 
 
 No— yes — that is, no,” stammered Nita; 
 “ you will have to answer them as you see fit. 
 Take them to the city editor. I have a very 
 important engagement that I must keep,” 
 hurrying towards the door. 
 
 “ Is that story of Mr. Miggins’s to go in ?” 
 bawded a voice over the partition. 
 
 “ Certainly,” answered Nita. 
 
 ‘‘ But—” 
 
 ‘‘Go and do as I say, and don't keep me 
 waiting.” 
 
The Editor^ s Busy Day 117 
 
 Some growling was heard from without, 
 and then silence. 
 
 ^‘Mr. Skewey, the society editor, would 
 like to see you,” put in the office-boy. 
 
 “ I won’t see anybody. Get out ! ” ex- 
 claimed Nita ; and thrusting her hat over her 
 eyes she rushed out of the room. 
 
 “ Well, did you ever see such a roaring tor- 
 nado ? ” remarked the type-writer. He give 
 me quite a turn. I wonder what’s up ? ” 
 
 ‘‘ Some woman. I’ll bet,” said the dramatic 
 editor. You should have heard him lect- 
 uring me about the dignity of my position ! 
 Of course I am not going to pay any atten- 
 tion. Had your lunch. Miss Holloway ? ” 
 
 ‘‘ Not yet.” 
 
 “ Well come out with me, and then we’ll 
 take in a matinee.” 
 
V 
 
 GREAT TRIBULATIONS. 
 
 Vaness settled himself on the sofa, with a 
 novel, for a long, lazy read. He had hardly 
 finished the first page, how^ever, when the cook 
 entered, a formidable-looking party with red 
 hair and a stormy eye. She was dressed, 
 evidently for a holiday, in a green dress 
 spangled with daisies, and a pink bonnet 
 covered with large blue roses. 
 
 “ I thought, mum, Fd drop in an’ tell yez 
 I wuz goin’ for the day,” she said with a cour- 
 tesy. 
 
 “Going for the day!” murmured Vaness, 
 aghast. But you can’t, Mary ; I’m going 
 to have company.” 
 
 118 
 
Great Tribulations 
 
 119 
 
 ‘‘Faix, yez told me only yesterday that I 
 might go to Weehawken, to see me brother 
 Dinny, that gotlmrtedi]i the brick-yard. Is 
 it a liar ye’re tryin’to make me out, mum?” 
 taking a firmer hold on her umbrella. 
 
 ^‘No— 0,” stammered the other, appalled 
 at the glare in these awful eyes : “ But really 
 
 “Faix, I haven’t had a blessed day off 
 since Chewsday, an’meworkin’ me knuckles 
 to the marrer noight an’ day, wid the wash 
 big enough for a regiment, an’ Mr. Vaness 
 cornin’ in for somethin’ to ate at two of a 
 mornin’. There’s work enough for two gerls 
 here, let alone one, in a kitchen that I wouldn’t 
 bury a cat in, an’ the gaspipes leakin’ so I 
 ain’t got any shmell left in me nose at all, at 
 all; and a shtove that smokes so I can’t tell 
 whether I’m cuckin’ pig’s feet or biled inions ! 
 No lady’d stand it for tin minutes but me, 
 that has such a gentle-loike dishposition. An’ 
 now yez object to for me takin? a few hours 
 off for me health, when it’s to the mountains 
 I ought to go or the sayshore, at your own 
 
120 
 
 A ]>aygain in Souls 
 
 expinse, for breaking down my constitootion. 
 Slmre, when yez wanted to go off for an after- 
 ]ioon, wasn’t I always ready to oblige yez 
 like a lady by stayin’ at home— eli?” with 
 another glare. 
 
 “ Yes, yes. I — I believe you were,” retreat- 
 ing behind the novel, with a shiver. 
 
 “ Ah ! ye’ll go a good ways to find another 
 gerl as conshidarate as me,” wagging her 
 head. 
 
 Vaness thought it best at this moment to 
 assert his authority. 
 
 ‘‘Well, you can’t go, Mary ; so that settles 
 it. I expect company, and you must be here 
 to prepare the supper.” 
 
 The cook took a still firmer hand on her 
 umbrella, as if she intended to use it. 
 
 “And I’m to have company of my own, if 
 ye plaze, an’ quite as important as thim dudes 
 an’ shtuck-oop things I’ve had to cuck for this 
 mony a day. Often have I been timpted to 
 to drop a sup o’ pizen in their vittles, bad 
 cess to ’em ! — and it ’ud be a good thing for 
 the warld, I’m thinkin’, if they wuz out of it. 
 
Great 7'ribulations 
 
 121 
 
 Well, divil a hand will I lay to a pot or pan 
 the day, after spindin’ two hours on me toi- 
 let. Yez can cuck for yer company yerself ; 
 an’ if they don’t doi av the efficts, may I 
 never live to see another Sint* Pathrick’s 
 Day ! ” 
 
 “ Mary, I will not have another word. You 
 are a very impudent creature.” 
 
 “ So it’s a quarrel ye’d like to pick wid me, 
 eh ? ” resting her hands on her hips. “ Well, 
 yez can save your breath, for I’ve made up 
 me moind that this house wasn’t ilegand 
 enough for a lady of moy talents for some 
 time. Me friends have often said it’s a shame 
 for a foine gerl like me to be wastin’ me life 
 slavin’ for common people that don’t know 
 how to trate a guest. An’ instead of thankin 
 me for puttin’ up wid yer didoes, I’m trated 
 like a common manial. Yez ought to get a 
 Chinaiser, or one o’ thim Eyetalian divils, 
 bad luck to ’em ! For it’s not fur a lady like 
 meself to be livin’ in a bedroom like a cup- 
 board, that narrer I have to put me fate out 
 the w’indy whin I want to go to sleep — ” 
 
122 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 “ Mary, you are very impudent. Come 
 around for your wages to-morrow. I will not 
 have any more of your insolence,’’ said Van- 
 ess. 
 
 Miss Flaherty sniffed scornfully, and 
 brought her umbrella down on the floor with 
 such a bang that the lady on the sofa jumped 
 with apprehension. 
 
 “ Oh, I know the reshpict that’s due one 
 lady to another, more perhaps than thim that 
 sets themselves up to be me betters, though 
 by what right they do it I don’t know, for I 
 never knew of a family being supported by 
 the stub of a pencil that ever come to any 
 good at all, at all. It shtands to raison that 
 there must be somethin’ crucked, so it’s a 
 gud thing I’m goin’ before I’m dragged into 
 court an’ get sintenced for an aliboy.” 
 
 “ Will you go?” howled Vaness. 
 
 “Oh,” I’m going; don’t excite yourself,” 
 said Miss Flaherty, with offended dignity. 
 “ Wudyez like to go through me trunk to say if 
 I’ve carried off any of yer shpoons, though divil 
 a one in the place is worth carry in’ off, for 
 
Great Tribiilatlo}is 
 
 123 
 
 they’re all plated, the first I ever ate off of in 
 me born days since I took sarvice. I don’t 
 wonder yez’ll feel relaved gettin’ me out of 
 the way, for it’s embarassin’ to have yer 
 guests takin’ me always for the lady o’ the 
 house, an’ the master makin’ eyes at me that 
 hard that if I hadnff been an honest gerl an’ 
 known me place — ” 
 
 This time Vaness rose in a rage, and tak- 
 ing Miss Flaherty by the shoulders, pushed 
 her forcibly out of the room and locked the 
 door behind her. 
 
 Then he sank down on the sofa bathed in 
 perspiration and gasping heavily. Miss Fla- 
 herty could still be heard mumbling outside ; 
 but as he did not answer, she finally walked 
 across the hall and went out the street door, 
 banging it heavily behind her. 
 
 “ Ah,” he sighed, with relief, “ at least I’ve 
 got rid of that ogress, I thought she was go- 
 ing to stay here all morning. A pleasant 
 outlook for my little company ! No cook and 
 nothing to eat in the house. I shall have to 
 get a caterer to send in the supper,” wiping 
 
124 
 
 A Bargain 271 Souls 
 
 his l)row with a trembling liand. ‘‘ I feel ex- 
 hausted already, and I expected to have such 
 a quiet morning.” 
 
 He settled himself back among the cush- 
 ions, and began to read again, soon absorbed 
 in the interest of the story. 
 
 “ Ting-a-ling-a-ling ! ” went the door bell, 
 Vaness continued to read on. 
 
 “ Ting-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling ! ” 
 
 “Oh dash that bell ! ” jumping up angrily. 
 Then he remembered that the cook was out 
 and that the maid had been discharged. 
 
 With a groan and a face flushed with anger, 
 Vaness obeyed the summons. 
 
 His frown changed to a sunny smile as his 
 eyes met those of a charming girl who tripped 
 lightly over the threshold and kissed him 
 noisily on both cheeks. The flush of anger 
 was supplanted by a rosy blush at this junct- 
 ure, but, strangely, he did not find the attack 
 as unpleasant as it was unexpected. 
 
 “ I dare say you did not think I should be 
 around so!early ” chirped the fair visitor, put- 
 ting her arm around his waist familiarly as 
 
Great Tribulatlo7ts 
 
 125 
 
 they passed into the parlor. But I just re- 
 ceived this dress from Madame Fogarty’s and 
 I knew you were just dying to see it. Isn’t 
 it just too lovely for anything?” and she 
 sidled up to the pier glass turning and twist- 
 ing and shaking out the tournure to display 
 the costume to an advantage. Pa growled 
 awfully about the bill, but then he always 
 does. Don’t it become me beautifully ? ” 
 
 You look charming in it,” unable to re- 
 sist the temptation of smoothing out the 
 sleeves and arranging the collar about the 
 firm white throat with his own hands. 
 
 “ I think there is too much tournure, don’t 
 you ? ” asked Miss Olcott, trying to get a back 
 view of herself by looking over her shoulder. 
 
 ‘‘Eh, what’s that?” asked Vaness slightly 
 puzzled. 
 
 “ Too much tournure. It may be the fash- 
 ion but I don’t believe in going about looking 
 like a female centaur. Wouldn’t you have 
 it taken in a little ? ” 
 
 “What in thunder is she talking about?” 
 he asked himself. Then aloud, “ yes — yes, 
 
126 
 
 A Ha 7' gain in Souls 
 
 but I dare say that after you have worn it 
 awhile you will sort o’-sort o’ grow into it.” 
 
 Miss Olcott looked at him somewhat in 
 surprise but did not reply at once. 
 
 ‘‘ I think those plastrons are just too sweet ” 
 she murmured. “ And those tiny reveres 
 down the front. How are you going to have 
 the front of your dress made ? ” turning to- 
 wards him quickly. 
 
 ‘‘ I haven’t made up my mind ” he stam- 
 mered, reddening. “ Possibly with Irish pip- 
 ings, a fluted apron and a shirred seam,” try- 
 ing to look as if he was high up in dress- 
 making. 
 
 Irish pipings— fluted apron and shirred 
 seam ? ” 
 
 “ That’s it — and a bouffant waist and re- 
 trousse collar.” 
 
 “Why I never heard of such things,” 
 aghast. 
 
 “ Possibly not. My dress-maker is just 
 from Paris and brought a lot of new ideas 
 along with her.” 
 
 “ Well I shan’t get Madame Fogarty to 
 
Great Tribulations 
 
 127 
 
 make me anything more — she’s behind the 
 age. Just to think I haven’t any bouffant 
 waist or retrousse collar or any of the things 
 you mentioned. I’ve a good mind to send 
 this dress back and tell her I don’t want the 
 nasty old-fashioned thing.” 
 
 Miss Olcott stamped her foot and looked 
 ready to cry. 
 
 Never mind, my dea»%” said Vaness, 
 soothingly. ‘‘ You couldn’t look any sweeter 
 than you do to-day, so don’t think any more 
 about it.” 
 
 It took some time for Vaness to console his 
 fair visitor but he did not seem to mind the 
 task a bit. 
 
 As your other dress is an illuminated 
 silk” said Miss Vaness, ‘‘it would be real 
 cute to have a Spanish jacket with dove-col- 
 ored vest underneath. Just the thing, you 
 know, to show off your statuesque bust.” 
 
 “So it would,” thoughtfully. “Eeally I 
 never thought of the burst — I mean the bust, 
 but now I come to think of it I guess I will.” 
 
 “ And filagree buttons of iron and gilt with 
 
128 
 
 A Bargain in So 21 Is 
 
 a plain skirt. Go upstairs and get the stuff, 
 I v/ill pin it on you just to show the effect.” 
 
 ‘‘ Oh, I couldn’t really, I don’t know where 
 it is. It’s locked up” he stammered, appalled 
 at the thought. 
 
 Why you are blushing like a school-girl 
 at her first ball,” cried Miss Olcott. I only 
 wish I could get rosy so easily, for it’s very 
 becoming. It’s not much use pinching your 
 cheeks just before you enter a room for that 
 passes off so quickly and then it never looks 
 like the real article. How do you manage it 
 anyway? Teach me how; I’m afraid my 
 blushing days are over ” with a profound 
 sigh. 
 
 ‘‘ I’m afraid they are,” said Vaness not 
 thinking how uncomplimentary the speech 
 sounded ; “ Oh, I’ve had such a time this 
 morning with our cook, she got so impudent 
 that finally I had to take her bodily and push 
 her out of the house.” 
 
 “ Weren’t you afraid ? I should have been 
 awfully. You’re a plucky little thing if you 
 do look so slight,” 
 
Great Tribulations 
 
 129 
 
 “ Oh, servants are easy enough to manage 
 if you put your foot down. But come over 
 here to the sofa and tell me what you have 
 been about for the past week.” 
 
 “Oh I’ve had such a narrow escape,” said 
 Miss Olcott when they were comfortably 
 seated, “ you know of course that I was just 
 as good as engaged to Horace Sedger.” 
 
 “ Yes I heard a rumor to that effect, but I 
 didn’t know it was settled.” 
 
 “Well, the affair is off anyway. You see 
 we heard some queer stories about him from 
 friends in the West, but then a young man 
 who don’t get talked about in these days 
 don’t amount to much. Well, the other night, 
 at Mrs. Brompton’s, I was introduced to a Mrs. 
 Faxton, a long, snaky sort of a woman with 
 dyed hair. Somehow the name of Mr. Sedger 
 happened to be mentioned, and she said, ‘ oh 
 he’s a very good sort of a fellow ; I married 
 him in ’76, but as we didn’t travel very well 
 in double harness we got the law to cut the 
 traces and skipped out.’ Think of that,” 
 Miss Olcott sobbed, “ a nice story for his 
 
 9 
 
130 Bargain iti Souls 
 
 fiancee to hear. And when I spoke to Horace 
 about his marriage to this person, this lemon- 
 colored thing, what do you suppose was his 
 reply? 
 
 “ Can’t imagine.” 
 
 ‘‘ He took out his note-book and said, ‘ Fax- 
 ton ? Faxton ? That must have been Aline — 
 no it was Elaine — here I have made a note of 
 it. Yes, I believe I did marry her in 70, 
 though I’d almost forgotten the occurrence. A 
 very pleasant sort of a person if my memory 
 serves me right, I advise you to cultivate her, 
 Alice. You see, she was married to me and 
 you never have been. You might profit by 
 her experience,’ did you ever hear of such 
 impudence — think of the man I was engaged 
 to standing up and telling me all that ? ” 
 
 ‘‘ And what did you do ? ” 
 
 ‘‘ Do ? Why I w^alked out of the room like 
 an injured Queen, and the next day I wrote 
 him a letter breaking off the wdiole affair.” 
 
 “ That was right.” 
 
 “But I’m notout of his toils yet - far from 
 it. You see he wanted all his presents back 
 
Great Tribulations 
 
 131 
 
 and sent an itemized bill to papa for so many 
 carriage-rides, so many theatre tickets and 
 so many dinners, setting down the price of 
 each dish.” 
 
 “What did your father say to that?” 
 
 “ Well you know how he hates any trouble 
 or fuss. He grumbled around and finally 
 said Horace would probably bring suit for 
 that bill and might win it, and as we were 
 awfully in debt he didn’t know but that I’d 
 better marry the man and be done with it. 
 But I won’t ! I won’t ! I won’t ! ” stamping her 
 foot savagely. “ I don’t think I shall ever 
 get married now,” she said, after a moment’s 
 thought, “ it’s such a terrible risk. Not one 
 of my friends has made a success of the 
 speculation. Just take your own case. Could 
 any one be so miserable as you, my poor 
 darling, chained to that unfeeling creature 
 for life.” 
 
 “ You are very wrong,” cried Vaness brid- 
 ling up, “ I am very much in love with my 
 husband. He is all that is kind and noble 
 and good !” 
 
132 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 Miss Alcott looked at her friend full in 
 the face for a moment and then burst into a 
 peal of laughter. 
 
 Well I don’t see what you find to laugh 
 about,” he said very much offended. 
 
 ‘‘ I was only amused to think what a silly, 
 confiding, little goose you are, my dear. 
 Why, the very last time I saw you, you were in 
 tears. You didn’t tell me in as many words 
 that Mr. Vaness had been brutal to you that 
 morning but I could easily read it in your 
 face. And so you have made up again and 
 are as loving as two turtle doves,” poking at 
 him with the handle of her parasol in the 
 most maddening way. There is something 
 I might tell you that might shake your child- 
 ish trust in your husband,” said Miss Alcott 
 carelessly tracing out a pattern in the car- 
 pet with the tip of her varnished shoe, but 
 I wont.” 
 
 “ Oh, do,” pleaded Vaness eagerly wonder- 
 ing what this vague insinuation meant. 
 
 “ But it wwldn’t be right/’ protested Miss 
 Alcott shaking her curly head. 
 
Great Tribulations 
 
 133 
 
 ‘‘Does it concern Mr. Vaness? ’’ 
 
 “ Well — slightly.’’ 
 
 ‘‘ Then I have a right to know.’’ 
 
 Miss Alcott looked furtively around the 
 room a moment and then, bending over her 
 companion with a pitying glance, whispered, 
 “ My poor darling, I have positive proof that 
 Mr. Vaness is attentive to another woman ! ” 
 
 “It’s a d — lie ! ” roared Vaness quite for- 
 getting his position. 
 
 “ Oh, Nita,” covering her ears with her 
 pretty hands, ‘‘ why, you said a swear word.” 
 
 “I — I forgot myself” blushing, “ but it’s 
 so very terrible what you are telling me 
 about Mr. Vaness that I was quite unmanned 
 — I mean unwomaned.” 
 
 “ I suppose you hear your husband swear 
 so much at home that you get used to it.” 
 
 “You are very wrong — I assure you, Olive, 
 that Mr. Vaness never swears. His language 
 is always refined even when he is angry.” 
 
 “ That is very kind in you to condone his 
 faults, but I know he has the reputation of 
 being very profane.” 
 
134 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 ‘‘ Oil he has, has he?’’ growled Vaness to 
 himself, “ I fancy you are responsible for it, 
 you little huzzy.” 
 
 “ Not that I mind swearing,” continued 
 the visitor, “ not at all ; it must be quite re- 
 freshing I should think when you are real 
 angry. I think somebody ought to invent a 
 Polite Profanity that the upper classes could 
 adopt. It seems rather hard that the poor 
 and vulgar have such a vocabulary of strong 
 language wdiile we have to content ourselves, 
 when we are just burning up with rage, by 
 exclaiming, “ How very annoying,” or “ Oh 
 how very vexing.” Why, do you know that 
 sometimes I just feel like rushing off to my 
 rooms and having a good swear for half an 
 hour at the top of my lungs.” 
 
 “ Oh, you do, do you,” mumbled Vaness to 
 himself. “ A nice sort of person you are to 
 be my wife’s chosen friend and acquaintance, 
 ril soon freeze you out.” 
 
 Then he added aloud “But you haven’t 
 told me how you heard of the terrible secret 
 about my husband.” 
 
Great Tribulations 
 
 135 
 
 ‘‘ It came about in the queerest way,” pur- 
 sued Miss Alcott glibly; But I am glad to 
 be able to open your eyes to the truth — you 
 have been deceived long enough, poor dear,” 
 stroking her friend’s hair in the most exas- 
 perating manner. ‘‘You know my brother 
 Jim belongs to the same club as Mr. 
 Vaness.” 
 
 “Yes, I know, the Bounders’ Club, well 
 what of it ? ” 
 
 “ The other night when your husband was 
 leaving the billiard room, he dropped a piece 
 of paper, a note, and Jim brought it home 
 and showed it to me. I knew you wouldn’t 
 be satisfied unless you had the most circum- 
 stantial proofs, young wives are all such 
 geese, so I brought the letter around for your 
 own inspection, and here it is,” drawing a 
 piece of crumpled paper out of her bosom, 
 “ a love letter of the most ardent kind ar- 
 ranging for an elopement, read it,” thrust- 
 ing it into her hands, “What do you think 
 of that?” 
 
 Vaness took the paper with an expression 
 
136 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 of doubt, but at a glance he seemed to rec- 
 ognize it. 
 
 « Why you infernal fool,“ he blurted out, 
 again forgetting his position, this is a letter 
 from a love story he was writing ; this must 
 be part of the manuscript which your broth- 
 er obligingly picked up.” 
 
 “ And you believe that,” incredulously. 
 
 “ Why of course, don’t I know all about it.” 
 
 “ That’s all the thanks I get for warning 
 you,” exclaimed Miss Olcott, almost ready to 
 cry and very much hurt that she had not 
 produced the expected effect. “I might have 
 known that you were so much in love, you’d 
 not believe anything against your husband. 
 Well that’s the last time I ever try to do you 
 a kindness, Nita Vaness, there ! And I don’t 
 care if your husband runs off with a whole 
 female seminary or the cook— And I won’t be 
 called an infernal fool. I wonder you can 
 speak so coarsely to a lady ; but I suppose 
 you pick up such bad habits from that brute 
 of a husband — And I don’t want any of your 
 nasty pink supper — And I shan’t speak to 
 
Great Tribulations 
 
 137 
 
 you again, for I’ve begun to thmk, with 
 many others, that your not a proper person 
 for me to associate with.” And bubbling 
 over with anger. Miss Olcott flounced out of 
 the room in a whirl of silken skirts, leaving 
 Vaness overcome on the sofa. 
 
 “Well!” he exclaimed, after she had gone 
 out, “There’s a nice sort of a friend for my 
 wife to have, I must say. Why she’d do 
 credit to an Academy for blackmailing in 
 partnership with her precious brother, who 
 goes around picking up people’s papers and 
 reading them and trying to make trouble. I 
 think I shall start a black list of Nita’s friends 
 if Miss Olcott is a fair specimen. No won- 
 der the poor little thing is miserable with 
 such a confidential adviser and comforter 
 and he began walking up and down in a 
 nervous state of irritation. 
 
 Ting-a-ling-a-ling ! 
 
 “Confound that bell, there it goes again — 
 am I not to know a moment’s peace,” with a 
 groan. “Give me back my old busy life in 
 Printing House Square, and I will resign. 
 
138 
 
 A Bargahi in Souls 
 
 without a pang, this quiet existence of the 
 home,” shaking his head dolefully. 
 
 “We haven’t got any cold victuals,” he 
 growled after opening the door to a seedy 
 individual with a large mourning band on 
 his hat and a red nose. 
 
 “I only called,” said the seedy person 
 meekly, “on a matter of business, my dear 
 Mrs. Vaness,” putting his foot, clad in rusty 
 gaiters, across the sill, so that Arthur could 
 not shut the door. 
 
 “Great heavens, can this be another one of 
 my wife’s friends,” growled Vaness, as he re- 
 luctantly admitted this unwelcome visitor. 
 
 “I came in the interest of the cause,” 
 murmured the red nosed man, as he seated 
 himself on the edge of a chair with his hat 
 between his legs. 
 
 “What do you mean by the cause ?” asked 
 Vaness bluntly. 
 
 “Surely, my dear madam, you have at- 
 tended enough of our meetings to understand 
 the purport of my words. Have you not 
 yourself spoken eloquently in the interests 
 
Great Tribulations 
 
 139 
 
 of the Society for the Promotion of Female 
 Freedom 
 
 “Never opened my mouth on the subject,” 
 said Vaness freezingly, resolved at one blow 
 to sever Nita’s connection with her club. 
 ‘‘Old man, you have been drinking — I am 
 utterly opposed to your Society, root and 
 branch. It ought to be suppressed by the 
 police. It is the cause of all the divorce 
 suits in the city. You ought to call it the 
 Society for the Promotion of Female Suffer- 
 ing, for its only influence is to make women 
 dissatisfied with their life and discontented.” 
 
 “I had hoped that you would give me the 
 subscription you had promised,” murmured 
 the seedy man timidly, drawing up his knees. 
 
 “I never promised a cent— What for, to 
 support you in idleness? Why don’t you 
 go to work like other men, instead of hang- 
 ing on to the skirts of a lot of silly women, 
 and wheedling money out of them, which I 
 dare say you spend m no good purpose. 
 
 “My — my— dear madam — really—” 
 
 “Shut up ! I have not had mT say. If 
 
140 
 
 A Baro-aln in Souls 
 
 o 
 
 you had come to me for money to suppress 
 this Society, you should have it freely, though 
 I would rather trust it to better hands. Go 
 home and try and make an honest living, if 
 you know how and don’t play the bunko 
 steerer in respectable homes or you will gel 
 me in trouble.” 
 
 “You -you— are excited,” murmured the 
 red nosed man, tremulously ; “per — haps I 
 had belter call another day,” edging towards 
 the door. 
 
 “If you do, you will not find me as good 
 natured as I am this morning. There, you’ve 
 dropped your lunch out of your hat,” as a 
 parcel fell out of the stovepipe in his hasty 
 exit. 
 
 “Perhaps I have made a mistake in the 
 house,” looking around him very much be- 
 wildered. 
 
 “I think you have. I suppose it 'was East 
 instead of West, that you were looking for. 
 Good morning!” and the missionary was 
 hurried through the door, which slammed 
 1 ehind him. 
 
G/'cat Tribulatio7is 
 
 141 
 
 ‘‘Ah!’’ gasped Vaness faintly, as he sank 
 down in a huddled heap on the sofa, “I got 
 rid of him easily, and I fancy Nita will meet 
 with a cold reception if she ever visits the 
 Female Freedom party again with her proper 
 spirit. My morning has not been altogether 
 spent in vain. I have cut one unworthy 
 friend off her list of acquaintances and 
 routed a whole army of parasites that made 
 her unhappy. But mercy ! it is already two 
 o’clock, and I have not even ordered the sup- 
 per or made any preparations, and I’ve got 
 to dress myself aloneT with a shudder. 
 
 A three-volume novel might be written 
 about the trials and tribulations of Vaness 
 on that dreadful day. It would appear that 
 all the tradesmen and peddlers in the city 
 had conspired to make his life miserable. 
 They assailed the house at the front door, at 
 the back door. The bell kept ringing as if 
 the devil himself were dancing on the wire. 
 And every time Vaness answered, he came 
 up more dishevelled and furious and profane 
 than before, until the butcher and the baker 
 
142 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 and the candlestick-maker made up their 
 minds and told their neighbors that Mrs. 
 Vaness was insane; and, by evening, people 
 sped timorously by the house, or chose to 
 take another street for fear of a sudden out- 
 burst of the maniac. 
 
 It was three o’clock before the agony of 
 perfecting his toilet had been accomplished. 
 And when, heated, furious, and excited, he 
 sallied forth to lind tlie caterer, the neighbors 
 were satisfied, as they beheld this strange 
 figure appear in the street, that the poor lady 
 had indeed gone mad, and retreated precipi- 
 tately behind their curtains. 
 
 The supper ordered, he returned almost in 
 a fainting condition to the house, just in 
 time to be worried by the sudden influx of 
 seven young ladies, who gave him the head- 
 ache by their constant chatter. And they 
 looked at each other in an alarmed way at 
 the dishevelled appearance of the hostess, 
 and the most worldly shook their heads and 
 said they were sorry that such a nice woman 
 as Mrs. Vaness had taken to drink, and 
 
Great Tribulations 
 
 113 
 
 expressed strong sympathy for the husband. 
 And when the party sat down to supper, it 
 w^as more blue than rosy. Each young lady 
 seemed ill at ease, and eyed Vaness askance 
 as if he were some dangerous animal. It 
 was discovered also that the caterer had sent 
 some one else’s dinner, consisting of pig’s 
 feet and chocolate eclairs, which did not add 
 to the gaiety of the assembly, who had ex- 
 pected something delightful, and had dressed 
 elaborately for the occasion. 
 
 So the funereal meal was hardly touched, 
 and the young ladies soon found various ex- 
 cuses to depart after it was over. 
 
 And when the last skirt had fluttered 
 through the doorway, Vaness rose fainting 
 from the sofa and stormed the buffet, and 
 broke open the doors, and drew forth a box 
 of cigars and a bottle of Hennessy, and sat 
 down amid the ruins of the repast with his 
 feet cocked up on a chair in the most unlady- 
 like attitude, and smoked and groaned, and 
 drank and groaned, and then began all over 
 again, occasionally varying the monotony by 
 
114 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 cursing Uncle Oliver and the day he made 
 that bargain in souls. 
 
 Then like a knell of doom he heard the 
 cry in the street : 
 
 “Las’ edition — ‘ Sun ’ — ‘ World’ — ‘News’ — 
 ‘Owl.’ Las’ edition !” 
 
 Why did a sudden chill strike his heart as 
 he rushed to the door, bought a paper, and 
 returned to the sofa? 
 
VI 
 
 IN PERIL 
 
 A moment later, Nita, flushed M'ith her 
 rapid walk, hastily entered the room. Vaness 
 was stretched out on the sofa, speechless. 
 
 “Why, Arthur, dear, what is the matter ?” 
 she murmured, kneeling down by his side, 
 alarmed at the apoplectic color of his face 
 and heavy breathing. 
 
 “The paper — the paper,” he gasped, shak- 
 ing a damp newspaper in front of her face. 
 Then he turned toward the wall and 
 groaned. 
 
 “What can the matter be?” Nita asked 
 herself, in an agony of alarm. “Something 
 dreadful has occurred, I am certain. Is — is 
 
 10 
 
 115 
 
146 
 
 A lyaj'gahi in Souls 
 
 niamnia (lead ? Tell me, tell me/’ Bliaking 
 him vigorously by the arm. 
 
 “Worse — mucli worse,” he moaned, liis 
 voice sinking almost to a whisper. 
 
 Nita hurried over to the table and poured 
 out a glass of wine. Her hand was trembling 
 so violently that she spilt most of the con- 
 tents over his face when she raised it to his 
 lips. He choked and spluttered, but what 
 he swallowed seemed to revive him. He sat 
 up on the edge of the sofa and glared at her 
 wildly. 
 
 “Go away, miserable creature !” he cried. 
 “Bury yourself in the woods or some corner 
 of the earth wh^re you will be forgotten, and 
 let me toil out my miserable days alone,” 
 mopping his face and forehead with a scarlet 
 handkerchief, while he groaned an accom- 
 paniment. Suddenly he started up wild- 
 
 ly- 
 
 “What is it, Arthur ?” she asked, implor- 
 ingly. 
 
 “What is it? You ask me that question?” 
 with a stony glare. “Look at that paper!” 
 
In Pe7H 
 
 147 
 
 he howled, holding up the copy of “The Even- 
 ing Owl.” “Look at that paper !” 
 
 “I — I see it,” murmured Nita, plaintively. 
 
 “Eead it, unhappy creature!” thrusting 
 the sheet into her frightened face. “Gaze 
 upon the ruin you have wrought 1” sinking 
 back on the sofa. “Unlucky was the day 
 when 3 ^ou started to revolutionize the press !” 
 
 “Why— why — what’s the matter, Arthur 
 dear ? Isn’t it all right ? I’m* sure I spent 
 all day in that nasty, dirty office, working 
 like a galley-slave.” 
 
 “Onhappy creature,” he moaned, “you 
 jave ruined me forever 1 Never shall I be 
 able to hold up my head annobg my fellow- 
 men again. You have made me the laughing- 
 stock of the town.” Then he snatched, up 
 the paper and said, “Listen ; this must be 
 some of your brilliant work; listen : 
 
 “^Afew moments before gofiig to press 
 we have received information regarding a new 
 scandal which implicates some well-known 
 people. The principal in this unfortunate 
 affair is the editor of a disreputable evening 
 
148 
 
 A Bargain in Sonls 
 
 paper whose symbol is the bird of wisdom, 
 but should have been a carrion crow. This 
 journalist, who has long disgraced his guild, 
 has accumulated a handsome fortune through 
 bribery and corruption, and now contem- 
 plates flight from this city with his ill-gotten 
 gains, to escape the just penalty of his nu- 
 merous crimes against law and society. 
 
 “ ‘This alleged journalist resides in a 
 handsome house in Thirty-fourth Street, 
 between Seventh and Eighth avenues.’ You 
 heard that?” howled Vaness — “‘between 
 Seventh and Eighth avenues.’ That is this 
 house — this house ; and I— I am the unhappy 
 individual singled out for attack in my own 
 paper !” 
 
 He retreated behind the journal and groan- 
 ed loud and long. 
 
 “But that is not all,” starting up with an- 
 gry energy. “The worst is yet to come. My 
 cup is brimmed with more bitterness. I 
 must quaff still more gall and wormwood. 
 Listen ! 
 
 “ ‘ This vampire, who lias sapped the life- 
 
In Peril 
 
 149 
 
 blood of Ills patrons, who has fed like a ghoul 
 on the bodies of the unfortunates slain by 
 his iDen — this assassin of truth and justice, 
 with the Janus face, as a final act of villainy 
 intends to desert his charming wife, the 
 daughter of one of our most respected citi- 
 zens. This unfortunate lady, who three 
 years ago fell under the spell of this design- 
 ing ruffian may at least be congratulated 
 that she will be freed from the tyranny of 
 one who has long ago forfeited all claims as 
 a husband. From authentic sources we 
 learn that the leading danseuse of a Bowery 
 theatre is to accompany the recreant hus- 
 band across the border, leaving behind her 
 three divorced husbands and six twins. The 
 sympathies of the entire public will be with 
 the \^ife of this bravo of the pen, and yet it 
 is a merciful relief that she will be freed at 
 last from the daily insults of a degraded de- 
 bauchee.’ 
 
 ‘^Now, what do you think of that?” cried 
 Vaness. ^‘What — do — you — think — of that ? 
 Could anything be plainer? I am the de- 
 
150 A JyargaiJt in Souls 
 
 graded debauchee, and you — you, the cause 
 of this awful article, you are the lovely and 
 deserted wife. Oh, I shall certainly go 
 mad ! ’’ waving his arms frantically in the 
 air. “But the worst of it all is that this ter- 
 rible tale appears in my own paper — my own 
 paper ! ’’ sinking, with many moans, a help- 
 less heap among the cushions. 
 
 As for Nita, her w^ords entirely failed her. 
 She could only sit there holding the copy of 
 “ The Evening Owl ” in her trembling hand, 
 speechless with dismay, while a large tear 
 trickled down her cheek. 
 
 “Why, Arthur, I — I didn’t know anything 
 about this — awful article. Indeed I didn’t,” 
 very plaintively. 
 
 “Didn’t know about it ! ” he groaned. ”Is 
 that any excuse ? It was your business to 
 keep such things out of the paper. That’s 
 what an editor’s for. How can I sue my own 
 paper for libel? Nobody ever heard of such 
 a thing. Who was the wretch that perpetra- 
 ted that paragraph ? Tell me ! I shall not 
 be able to sleep comfortably to-night uniil 
 
In Peril 
 
 151 
 
 he is done away with. Tell me his unholy 
 name. ” 
 
 “I don’t know. I — I didn’t wait until the 
 paper came out. The sound of those horrid 
 presses clanking in the basement gave me a 
 headache.” 
 
 “But whom do you suspect ? Whom have 
 you spoken with to-day in the office ? ” 
 
 “Well, there was the sporting editor a — a 
 very horrid person,” with a shudder of remi- 
 niscence, “and the dramatic editor — and — ” 
 
 “But the reporters ? ” 
 
 “Oh, just as I w'as going away a young man 
 entered in a great hurry. He said he had 
 brought a very interesting story, and so I 
 told him to write it up and send it down to 
 the composing room.” 
 
 “Was he red-headed, with a long pink 
 face ?” 
 
 “Ye— es.” 
 
 “And wore gaiters with plaid tops?” 
 
 “I— I believe he did.” 
 
 “Oh!” groaned Vaness, burying his face 
 in his hands. “ It must have been Miggins. 
 
152 
 
 A Bargain in Sonls 
 
 I was going io discharge him to-morrow. He 
 must have got wind of the fact, and took 
 this opportunity of being revenged. Misera- 
 ble woman, you have made me absurd. All 
 the papers will be laughing over this to- 
 morrow.” 
 
 Nita in vain tried to console him. Her 
 tears made no impression on the fire of hi^ 
 anger. Suddenly he sat up and took the 
 offending sheet again in his hands. 
 
 ‘‘I may as well know the worst first as 
 last,” he sighed. “Let me see what further 
 destruction you have wrought this melan- 
 choly day. Why did I ever allow myself to 
 be persuaded into making such a bargain ? 
 Why, we shall be in jail before the week’s 
 out, if things continue at this rate. Ah ! here 
 is an editorial paragraph that bears the 
 stamp of your genius. I am almost afraid 
 to read it, for no doubt some deadly peril for 
 us both lurks in every line. Ha ! ha !” with a 
 wild laugh. ‘‘I thought so. 
 
 “ ‘We can not find enough censure for the 
 Mayor having allowed such a disorderly rah- 
 
In Peril 
 
 153 
 
 ble to assemble in Union Square last night, 
 when the Socialist leader Ivan Ogereff ad- 
 dressed the crowd. In no other city would 
 such a concourse of ex convicts, outcasts, 
 and murderers be permitted to hold a public 
 meeting. The revolutionary sentiments ex- 
 pressed by the Eussian ruffian who presided 
 and by his cut-throat companions were of 
 the most inflammatory character; the speak- 
 ers urging their hearers to pillage Fifth Ave- 
 nue and string up the capitalist from every 
 lamp-post. During an attempt on the part 
 of the police to maintain order they were 
 severely handled as they were not permitted 
 to carry arms on this occasion. If such 
 meetings as this are to be permitted, 
 we demand that the police shall attend 
 fully armed, and at the first sign of trouble 
 from the rabble they should fire on the 
 crowd. 
 
 “ Uf we had our own way, prison bars 
 should keep the leaders of the New York So- 
 cialists from attending any meetings for some 
 time to come ; and as for Ogereff, five minutes 
 
154 A Bargain in Sonis 
 
 in the electric cliair would soon cure him of 
 his oratory’ ” — 
 
 Vaness threw down the paper, gasped, 
 opened his mouth to speak, but no words 
 came from his lips. He took a glass of wine 
 . and seemed revived. 
 
 ‘‘Anything worse than that in the paper?” 
 he howled. “Anything that will hang me or 
 send us both up for life ? If you have, trot 
 ’em out now while I am composed,” gritting 
 his teeth. “Not satisfied with holding your 
 own family up to ridicule, and libelling your 
 poor, unhappy husband, you must needs 
 draw down on his innocent head the ven- 
 geance of the populace. We shall both be 
 ornamenting the top of an electric light pole 
 before the night is over. Miserable unfortu- 
 nate, what possessed you to place our lives 
 in peril?” 
 
 “I am sure,” sobbed Nita, “I only, ex- 
 pressed the highest sentiments,” referring to 
 her little book. “‘The press should be a 
 sturdy ally in maintaining pure government, 
 in disseminating the true doctrine of law 
 
In Peill 
 
 155 
 
 and order. Its voice should be always raised 
 against the foes of society and the misguided 
 fanatics who sow the seeds of discord among 
 the people. They should reap what they 
 have sown, and those who preach the sword 
 should die by the sword. Now you yourself 
 have often told me that you wished that all 
 the socialists and anarchists were driven out 
 of the city.’’ 
 
 “Well, I may have said so, but I didn’t go 
 so far as to express my sentiments on paper 
 for all the world to read. Why, if you keep 
 on you will plunge the city into a social 
 revolution, and we shall be the first to suffer 
 How would you like your head, or rather the 
 one you now wear, to adorn tlie top of a long 
 pike ? For heads on pikes are quite the rage 
 during such times.” 
 
 ‘‘Oh !” exclaimed Nita, shuddering at the 
 thought, and raising one trembling hand to 
 her face. 
 
 “It’s not at all unlikely. Eevolutions have 
 begun from much slighter causes than this. 
 I shouldn’t wonder if even at this moment a 
 
15G 
 
 A Bargain in Son Is 
 
 raggCMl mol) were sacking the office of the 
 paper and feeding the staff into the presses. 
 Oh, you have distinguished yourself admira- 
 bly for one day rising and walking up and 
 down the room hurriedly. Then he stopped 
 and picked up the offending paper again. 
 
 “But that cannot he all,” severely. “You 
 cannot have been satisfied with simply dis- 
 gracing us and imperilling our lives. Why, 
 where is the account of the Sullivan-Smith 
 fight that was to take place this morning? I 
 don’t see a line of it — not a word, and we had 
 two correspondents on the spot. Where is 
 it ?” thumping the paper with his fist. “Show 
 it to me.” 
 
 ‘T — I left it out,” said Nita, almost in a 
 whisper. 
 
 “Left it out !” he screamed, “left it out ! 
 Why ? Wliy ? It would have sold thousands 
 of papers. Every journal will have a page 
 about it. A crowd will be waiting in front 
 of the bulletin-board to see the news, and 
 there won’t be a blessed word. Oh, this is 
 too much, too much !” falling with a thud into 
 
In Peril 
 
 157 
 
 an arm-chair. ‘‘Why, wha — at prompted you 
 to keep out the only valuable news-story 
 that could be procured to-day 
 
 Nita was not ready just then with an an- 
 swer ; but having resorted to her little blank- 
 book, her face cleared and she began to read 
 in a composed voice : 
 
 “ ‘The press should always encourage 
 healthful exercise and manly sports, but it 
 should strongly condemn, under all circum- 
 stances, brutal exhibitions of animal strength, 
 such as the prize ring, and degrading per- 
 formances in which dogs and roosters are 
 slain to please inhuman crowds.’ There!” 
 triumphantly. 
 
 “Bosh ! That sounds all very well. But 
 an editor’s first duty is to build up the 
 sale of his paper. He cannot feed a starving 
 family on lofty sentiments, or clothe himself 
 properly with resounding rhetoric. Here you 
 have filled up the space that should have been 
 allotted to the fight with a dreary account of 
 a game of croquet. Bah 1” 
 
 And he threw the paper down under foot 
 
158 
 
 A IJargahi in SgziIs 
 
 and trampled on it in liis rage. “We shall 
 bo ruined before the week is out; I know it, 
 
 I feel it,” he moaned. 
 
 “But really, Arthur, I did the best I could,” 
 Nita interposed, wiping her tearful eyes. \ 
 “ Wait until I have reorganized the 
 office.” 
 
 “Unhappy creatures! they must be disor- 
 ganized enough already. What a wretched 
 lot is theirs 1 You say you have done the 
 best you could ? Do you think that the read- 
 ers of ‘The OwT are to be fed on milk and 
 mush? They have tasted blood, and their 
 thirst is aroused. Can a tiger be satisfied 
 v/ith a diet of tea and toast ? They ask for 
 gore, and you smother them with a spring 
 bonnet. They call for crime, and you gag 
 them with the latest thing in corsets. They 
 ask for battle, murder, and sudden death, 
 and you stifle them with tea-parties and 
 games of croquet. Oh, Uncle Oliver, unlucky 
 was the day when we made this bargain in 
 souls 1 Hunger and ruin will soon be our 
 portion ; we shall soon need bodies to hold 
 
In Peril 
 
 159 
 
 our souls,” wringing his hands. ‘‘Ah ! what 
 was that 
 
 A murmuring sound of many voices and 
 the tramp of feet were heard from the street 
 Vaness rushed to the window. He peeped 
 out through the curtains with a vague feeling 
 of apprehension. 
 
 “What is it?” asked Nita, anxiously. 
 
 Just then a paving-stone crashed through 
 the panes and rolled noisily at her feet. 
 
 “That’s the first reply from your friends 
 the socialists,” he said calmly. “The street 
 is full of people, dirty and howling. As you 
 are the author of that offensive paragraph, 
 you had better go out on the balcony and 
 address the crowd. Your eloquence may 
 soothe them, but they may kill you first.” 
 
 “Oh, really, I couldn’t. I shouldn’t know 
 what to say,” she answered from her retreat 
 under the sofa, where she had scrambled 
 hastily. 
 
 “You — you go. You are used to such 
 things. They will listen to you. You are a 
 man,” 
 
ICO A Bargain in Souls 
 
 “Oil ! no, I’m not ; I’m a woman. They 
 don’t know me from Adam. It’s you they 
 want. Hear ’em !” and a loud roar sounded 
 from the street, ‘‘Vaiiess ! Vaness ! Come out !” 
 
 The occupants of the drawing-room trem- 
 bled. It was a moment of dread peril for 
 them both. 
 
 “Don’t you think we had better try to es- 
 scape through the back way?” asked Nita. 
 “We might climb over the \vall and get into 
 a side-street, and take refuge at mother’s. 
 If they find that no one appears, they may 
 get tired and go away.” 
 
 “Yes, after smashing everything in the 
 house,” said Vaness, looking around the 
 charming room with a groan. “Well,” after 
 a moment’s consideration, “I don’t suppose 
 anything can be gained by stopping here, 
 and I can summon the police while we are 
 escaping; that is, granting that we can 
 escape, for they are furious, and may have 
 blocked us in. Take a last look at the bric- 
 a-brac, for when you see this house again it 
 will be a smoking ruin.” 
 
In Peril 
 
 161 
 
 ^‘Oh, don’t say such horrible things!” 
 moaned his companion, looking around with 
 a distracted air. “Don’t you think we ought 
 to try and save something?” 
 
 “Well, the piano is the most valuable thing 
 in the parlor. You might carry that off,” 
 with grim humor. 
 
 A roar from without warned them that the 
 mob was getting impatient. 
 
 ^‘Come,” he said, taking Nita’s trembling 
 hand in his. “Our lives are the most precious 
 things we can save just now.” 
 
 They left the room noiselessly. It was 
 getting dark, so with dijfficulty they made 
 their way down into the basement. 
 
 They wanted to tell the cook that they 
 were going out to make a call, but they could 
 not find her ; she had disappeared. 
 
 “Oh, I forgot I turned her out,” murmured 
 Vaness to himself. “Could it be possible 
 that she had gone over to the enemy?” 
 
 Just as they were deserting the house, 
 another thought occurred to him, and he 
 turned resolutely back. 
 
 ti 
 
162 
 
 A Bargain i?i Souls 
 
 ‘‘What is it now?” asked Nita, anxiously. 
 
 “I had forgotten all about Uncle Oli- 
 ver.” 
 
 “Oh, let him alone. They will not harm 
 him. If we delay any longer it may be too 
 late. Come, Arthur,” dragging him away. 
 
 “What, would you leave him to his fate, 
 after bringing down this ruffian horde about 
 his ears ? For shame ! We must save him.” 
 
 “And be lost ourselves?” 
 
 “If he is killed,” said Vaness, “the secret 
 of our souls will die with him. We shall 
 never be able to break this awful bargain and 
 be ourselves again. What a fearful future 
 will be ours !” 
 
 “Oil !” cried Nita, with a shudder, “I never 
 thought of that. You are right ; he must be 
 saved !” and in another moment they were 
 bounding up the stairs towards Uncle Oliver’s 
 room with hearts beating high with excite- 
 ment. 
 
 “We ought to get his life heavily insured,” 
 said thoughtful Nita, when they gained 
 the landing. “Then, if anything happened. 
 
In Peril 
 
 163 
 
 we should have some money with which to 
 console ourselves.” 
 
 “Could I buy back my intellectual head 
 and graceful form with money?” he asked 
 bitterly ; and she said no more. 
 
 They found the sage clad in his embroid- 
 ered dressing-gown, working in the midst of 
 a cloud of smoke that rose from several re- 
 torts and crucibles. There was something 
 uncanny about his appearance as he loomed 
 up before their eyes like a genie on a cloud. 
 His safifron-colored hands, like the claws of 
 a strange bird, fluttered here and there 
 through the smoke, sprinkling powders and 
 essences on the flames. 
 
 At his elbow Guzko stood, as silent as the 
 brazen Buddha in the corner, ready to wait 
 upon his master. Uncle Oliver turned angri- 
 ly upon his visitors as they entered. 
 
 “Why do you come bursting into my room 
 at such a critical moment?” he demanded 
 angrily. “I was just in the midst of a deli- 
 cate experiment.” 
 
 “But, uncle, the house is besieged by an 
 
164 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 infuriated mob. We have come to save your 
 life. Hasten or it will be too late,” said Nita. 
 
 never saw you so much interested in my 
 welfare before,” the old man chuckled. 
 ^‘Wliy this sudden display of affection ?” and 
 he laughed loudly, with a queer cackling 
 noise. 
 
 ‘‘Don’t delay,” pleaded Nita, earnestly. 
 “Just hear them !” as a roar sounded from 
 below. “They are thirsting for blood.” 
 
 “But where do you propose to go?” he 
 asked, peeping cautiously out on the scene 
 in the street. 
 
 “We thought of taking refuge with dear 
 mamma until the trouble was over. Do 
 hurry, for your own sake as well as ours” — 
 in an agony of impatience. 
 
 “What ? Leave this comfortable room and 
 take up my quarters with Mrs. Sowerby ? 
 Let me die right here if that is the alterna- 
 tive,” sinking into a chair. “Better face an 
 army of socialists than that one woman.” 
 
 “It’s very cruel of you to speak so of dear 
 mamma,” said Nita, with a sob. 
 
In Pe7'il 
 
 165 
 
 “Oil, you need not stay on my account,” 
 said the old man with a chuckle, as he pre- 
 pared to return to his work. “I don’t want 
 to detain you for a moment.” 
 
 “But we — we won’t go without you.” 
 
 “We — we want to save you,” they quavered. 
 
 “Ha ! ha ! now I know the reason for your 
 disinterested kindness, my dear children. 
 You are afraid I may die, and the secret 
 with me. Well, I hear them already at the 
 door, so escape is too late. We can die here 
 together ; and though your souls have been on 
 earth divided, they will pass unchanged to 
 the spirit-world.” 
 
 Far from comforting the unfortunate pair, 
 this speech only added to their alarm. 
 
 “Unhappy man,” cried Vaness, “we must 
 leave you to your fate. It is too soon to 
 give up all hope. We will try to escape. 
 Come;” and he led his companion av/ay. 
 They passed quickly down the stairs, feeling 
 their way in the dark to the basement, just 
 as the front door burst open, and the sound 
 of heavy boots was heard in the hall. Vaness 
 
ir >6 A Bargain in S 021 Is 
 
 and liis trembling companion had reached 
 the door leading into the tiny garden none 
 too soon. Then, as he laid his hand on the 
 knob to turn it, a shiver of dismay ran like 
 a chill through his heart. It was locked ! 
 
 “Oh, Arthur, what is to be done?’’ wept 
 Nita, clinging to his arm. 
 
 “Nothing,” he muttered, hoarsely. “That 
 door is of iron, with a spring lock. It can- 
 not be forced. We are trapped.” 
 
 Just at that moment the sound of heavy 
 boots was heard drawing nearer their retreat. 
 
 “Vaness ! Vaness !” roared several voices. 
 
 He started at the sound. “We can barri- 
 cade the door leading to the hall,” he muttered 
 hastily. “Come, help me as quietly as 
 you can. They may think we have escaped.” 
 
 They piled every available piece of furni- 
 ture against the door. The last piece had 
 just been set against the panels, when the 
 tumult was heard only a few feet away. 
 
 “ Vaness ! Vaness ? ” shouted a hoarse 
 voice. A hand tried the knob for several 
 moments. Then there was a sound of mut- 
 
In Peril 
 
 167 
 
 tered growling and the shuffling of many 
 boots on the stairs. The marauders made 
 no further attempt to break in, but seemed 
 to be beating a retreat. 
 
 The fugitives breathed more freely. Vaness 
 had found a piece of candle and lit it. Then 
 he helped Nita out of the wash-basket of 
 clean clothes, where she had been hiding. 
 
 don’t think they will come back here,” 
 he said. “They will be satisfied with pillag- 
 ing the house. There is nothing here worth 
 taking.” 
 
 ‘‘Oh, Arthur,” said Nita, very plaintively, 
 “can you ever forgive me for having brought 
 all this trouble upon you ?” crouching down 
 at his side. 
 
 “My dear, there is nothing to forgive. Let 
 us forget what is past, and think only of the 
 common danger that threatens us. We may 
 neyer escape alive. Who knows but the at- 
 tack on our house was the beginning of a 
 revolution, and that even now the city is 
 being pillaged by the mob ? At least, if we 
 
1(18 
 
 A Barfrain in Souls 
 
 o 
 
 perish, this odious bargain in souls will be 
 broken/’ putting his arm tenderly around his 
 trembling companion. 
 
 “Who could have imagined, twenty-four 
 hours ago, that we should now be in danger 
 of our lives?” murmured Nita. “Ah, it is 
 a just visitation of Providence for having 
 been discontented with onr lot, for having 
 tried to reverse the plans of our Creator.” 
 
 She subsided in a huddled heap on the 
 floor, and only an occasional sigh reminded 
 Vaness that he had a companion. Having, 
 to his joy, discovered a cigarette, he was 
 calmly smoking, and thinking very hard 
 over their unlucky predicament. 
 
 Finally, after a few moments’ silence, he 
 felt a hand plucking timidly at his sleeve. 
 
 “Arthur.” 
 
 “Well ?” 
 
 “You won’t feel angry with me ?” 
 
 “What for?” 
 
 “I — I am awfully hungry,” plaintively. 
 
 “Already?” with a growl. “Why we may 
 be blockaded here for a week. May have to 
 
In Peril 
 
 169 
 
 eat each other. This is only the beginning.” 
 
 “But won’t there be anything to eat to- 
 morrow ?” 
 
 “Dunno !” 
 
 “I might look around,” said Nita, timidly ; 
 “there must be some scraps in the closet.” 
 
 “Plenty of rats, I dare say.” 
 
 “Ough!” with a start. 
 
 “Well, you’ll be very glad to fall back on 
 them before the week’s out.” 
 
 “Never ! I will die first.” 
 
 “Oh, you’ll get to like them exceedingly. 
 When young they are said to be quite as 
 appetizing as rabbits. Well, we may as well 
 amuse ourselves by looking after the pro- 
 visions — that is provided there are any.” 
 
 He took up the candle and made a tour 
 of the small room, stopping to rummage 
 every closet and corner; while Nita gave a 
 tiny scream every now and then at an imagi- 
 nary rat. 
 
 “There’s plenty of water, anyway,” said 
 Vaness, turning on a pigot. 
 
170 
 
 A Barg a 171 i/i Souls 
 
 “And pepper and salt,” cried Nita, draw- 
 ing two large boxes out of the closet. 
 
 “1 had no idea our larder was generally 
 so empty.” 
 
 “You forget that you have had seven hungry 
 girls to supper, and did not order anything 
 for to-morrow. When I managed the house 
 it was very different.” 
 
 Vaness thought best to change the conver- 
 sation. 
 
 “What a pity our cat died! We might 
 have trained her to catch sparrows for us. 
 I have read of such things in books. Anyway, 
 we might eat her as a last resort. If I ever 
 get out of this predicament I shall keep a 
 regular menagerie, just to fall back on in 
 case of necessity.” 
 
 “Here are half-a-dozen bottles of Wor- 
 cestershire sauce,” said Nita, dragging some 
 bottles out of the table-drawer. 
 
 “That’s good. We shall be able to make 
 some very nice mixed drinks with those. Ah, 
 what’s this ?” stumbling over something soft. 
 “By Jove, it’s a fur rug !” 
 
In Peril 
 
 171 
 
 “Well, what good is that ? We can’t eat it.” 
 
 “Why not ? They did in the siege of Paris, 
 You scrape off all the hair and then boil the 
 skin for a couple of days, and there you 
 have a bowl of nice clear soup.” 
 
 “I couldn’t be tempted to touch it,” shiv- 
 ered Nita. 
 
 “Well, considering you used to board on 
 West Eleventh Street, I should think you 
 would be able to eat it with relish. There’s 
 no use looking any further ; we have scoured 
 every corner and cupboard.” 
 
 Just then Nita gave a joyous cry. 
 
 “Well, what is it? Have you found a 
 Perigord pie or Westphalian ham ?” 
 
 “No ; a turnip. Will you have some of 
 it?” 
 
 “Thanks ; you are more hungry than I am.” 
 
 Nita sat down and began munching the 
 turnip. Never had she tasted anything so 
 good. 
 
 They talked for a long time over their 
 troubles, and at last nature triumphed over 
 their fears, and they fell asleep in each 
 
172 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 other’s arms like the babes in the woods. 
 
 Daylight was filtering through a crack in 
 the shutters when Vaness awoke and looked 
 around him, a little alarmed at his surround- 
 ings ; but the events of the night before soon 
 recurred to him. 
 
 Nita was still sleeping peacefully on the 
 rug he had spread out for her. He had no 
 idea what time of the day it was, but from 
 the sun, which he could see by peeping 
 through the shutter, he judged it to be around 
 eight or nine o’clock. He performed his 
 ablutions at the sink, and then sat down to 
 think what they should do for breakfast. 
 
 He knew that there was generally a cold 
 lunch laid out on the top of the dining-room 
 buffet, and the thought that it was so near, 
 and yet impossible to reach, was maddening. 
 The house w^as very still now. Could he not 
 open the door gently, crawl upstairs, and 
 reconnoitre while Nita slept on? It would 
 ])e dangerous, but he might be able to seize 
 a pie or something on the way, if there was 
 no one in the dining-room. 
 
In Peril 
 
 173 
 
 He opened the door carefully and listened. 
 Not a sound. Slowly the stairs were ascend- 
 ed, and he was in front of the dining-room 
 door, which stood ajar. With a heart beat- 
 ing high with excitement, he raised himself 
 on tiptoes and peeped in. Not a soul was 
 visible. But what caused his eyes to glisten 
 w^as the sight of a tempting breakfast laid 
 out on the table — a pile of brown toast, an 
 omelette, and a steaming pot of coffee. The 
 maddening incense of the fragrant Mocha 
 drifted towards him, and he sniffed the per- 
 fume in a state of ecstasy. He was tempted 
 to rush in at any peril, grab the omelette and 
 coffee, and run away to his retreat, to enjoy 
 it with Nita. Then reason came to his aid. 
 It would be better, after all, to be discreet. 
 Perhaps some of those cut-throats were idl- 
 ing in the front parlor ; they would shut off 
 his retreat, and perhaps send him where 
 breakfasts are not. He resolved on a piece 
 of strategy. Eight behind him on the hat- 
 rack was a long alpenstock, the souvenir of 
 a tramp trip he had taken through Switzer- 
 
174 
 
 A Bargai)i in Sonls 
 
 land. It was surmounted by a single chamois- 
 horn, which made an admirable hook. In a 
 moment it was in his hands. Listening to 
 hear if anyone was stirring, he poked it in 
 the door and began fishing for the coffee-pot. 
 His hand was trembling so violently that it 
 was some time before he could hook the 
 handle of the pot with the horn. Then he 
 raised it slowly — slowly, to draw it towards 
 him, his face beaming with hope and ex- 
 pectancy. 
 
 Just as it was in reach of his hand, a voice 
 cried out from the parlor : 
 
 ‘‘Hello! where is my breakfast going?” 
 
 The coffee-pot fell Avith a crash on the 
 floor. Vaness paused in terror, unable to 
 move hand or foot. When he looked up, he 
 was facing, not a ragged revolutionist, but 
 a stylish young man in broAvn tweeds, Avho was 
 eying him with a smile on his handsome face. 
 
 “Follansby?” he cried. “What are you 
 doing here ?” 
 
 “And what are you doing stealing my 
 breakfast ?” 
 
In Peril 
 
 175 
 
 “But the mob,” gasped Vaness, unable to 
 understand the situation. 
 
 “Oh, that crowd disappeared last night 
 quite early. You see, I was coming around 
 to invite Vaness to dinner at the club. I 
 saw the mob in the street, and summoned 
 the police. It didn’t take ten minutes to 
 scatter them. The front door happened to be 
 open, so I walked in with a couple of police- 
 men and took possession. We stayed here 
 all night, to protect the place in case you 
 should return.” 
 
 Vaness almost fainted in his arms, much 
 to that young man’s surprise. He had al- 
 ways considered his friend’s wife an unap- 
 proachable woman. 
 
 “Take care ; Mr. Vaness may see us,” he 
 murmured, in a discreet whisper. And as if 
 in answer to his words, Nita’s frightened 
 eyes could be seen glaring through the door- 
 way on the strange scene. “Come in,” called 
 Follansby, cheerily. “Now that you are both 
 here, let me ask you to breakfast with me ; 
 that is, unless you have already had some — ” 
 
176 
 
 A Ba7'gain in Souls 
 
 Nita waited to hear no more. The sight 
 of that well-spread table was enough. Some- 
 thing — she had not the vaguest idea what — 
 had happened, but she was too hungry to 
 question. The breakfast was enough to 
 think about just then. 
 
 As for Follansby, he felt relieved at the 
 thought that he had not been seen with Mrs. 
 Vaness in his arms. The greatest possible 
 good-nature reigned among the party as they 
 sat down to the table. Husband and wife 
 had never enjoyed a meal so heartily in their 
 lives. It was necessary for the host to send 
 out again to the restaurant to supply hiis 
 hungry guests. 
 
 ‘‘I couldn’t help thinking.” he said, “when 
 I took up my quarters here and found nothing 
 to eat, that the family would have a hard 
 time in case of a siege.” 
 
 “Yes,” said Vaness, with his mouth full. 
 “Do you know, that thought occurred to us 
 too !” 
 
Til 
 
 A NEW QUIXOTE 
 
 Although Nita had won her coveted free- 
 dom, ’she was far from happy. In spite of 
 the wholesome meals she daily prepared for 
 the patrons of “The Owl,” there were many 
 vacant chairs at the feast, and even those 
 who still surrounded the hoard had begun to 
 murmur at the fare provided and showed 
 symptoms of stampeding to the caterer across 
 the way, who served up sensations fiery hot 
 with a curry of redundant rhetoric. 
 
 The subscription list was rapidly falling 
 off, in spite of her well meant efforts to keep 
 her clientele, and grumbling by letter deluged 
 the office every morning. 
 
 177 
 
 12 
 
178 
 
 Jyargaiji in Souls 
 
 When not employed at the desk, she sallied 
 forth on long rambles in search of adventure 
 like a Knight of old, to redress the wrongs 
 of the weaker sex, should an opportunity 
 offer. The result was not always satisfactory, 
 for the giants she tried to conquer often 
 turned out to be only windmills, and her 
 chivalrous efforts met frequently with de- 
 feat; but still she was satisfied that the time 
 would come when she might prove a champion 
 of the weak and oppressed. 
 
 Meanwhile, until a really stirring advent- 
 ure turned up, she was forced to content 
 herself with small courtesies towards the 
 oppressed sex. She road frequently in horse 
 cars in order to be able to give up her seat 
 to tired working women (who did not thank 
 her), thus disgracing the male brutes who 
 were absorbed in the contents of their papers. 
 She was always ready to assist tired looking 
 women with their arms full of bundles, and 
 once, having become separated in a crowd 
 from an old lady whose parrot she had 
 insisted on carrying, she was hauled off to 
 
A A^eio Quixote 
 
 179 
 
 the nearest police station where it took all her 
 eloquence to convince the Sergeant that she 
 was not a sneak thief but only a journalist. 
 Whereupon the old lady remarked that there 
 wasn’t much difference, and the parrot swore 
 at her. 
 
 But Nita had read in books of chivalry, 
 that Knights who went out into the world to 
 redress wrongs must expect to meet with 
 ingratitude and even defeat; the conscious- 
 ness of having tried to do what was right 
 should be enough satisfaction. 
 
 Her ardor in searching for opportunities 
 to aid weak women continued unabated, for 
 on every hand she saw fresh evidences of 
 man’s tyranny and new forms of oppression 
 of the white slaves of society. 
 
 One day, an opportunity to be heroic arose. 
 While passing through a quiet street, a 
 sudden alarm of fire sounded. She ran in 
 the direction of the smoke, her heart beating 
 high with excitement. Already the doorways 
 near the scene of disaster were thronged with 
 people. Arriving before a house over which 
 
180 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 a cloud of smoke hovered she rushed in and 
 bounded up the stairs. She burst into the 
 first room on the second floor, where a lady 
 was reading a novel in bed, not at all dis- 
 turbed by the presence of such terrilde peril. 
 
 Nita had often read in romances that some 
 women, when confronted with danger, grew 
 paralyzed with fear, stupefied with despair, 
 unable to move or even speak. 
 
 The lightly clothed young woman on the 
 bed had evidently resigned herself to a mis- 
 erable death, for she was reading out loud 
 to herself. Undoubtedly her mind had be- 
 come unsettled by the deadly peril that sur- 
 rounded her, for she mumbled — 
 
 “And they laid the untutored child of 
 nature in a sunny corner of the village 
 church-yard, where Marmaduke often came 
 to shower repentant tears on his lost love’s 
 grave. Thus — ” 
 
 “Eouse yourself,” cried Nita, shaking the 
 poor creature vigorously and tearing away 
 al>out half a yard of Spanish lace from the 
 robe de nuit. 
 
181 
 
 A Nevj Quixote 
 
 “Eouse yourself,” she shouted. a 
 
 moment, escape may be impossible. The 
 flames are at your door.” 
 
 “Eh ! what’s that ?” remarked the young 
 woman, looking at her sleepily. Then see- 
 ing that her visitor was a man she gave a 
 shriek and disappeared under the bed 
 clothes. 
 
 There was no time to be lost. Perhaps 
 even now the staircase might be on fire. In 
 spite of the lady’s continued howls, Nita 
 dragged her out of bed, rolled her up in the 
 coverlet and staggered with her burden down 
 stairs. Whether it was the smoke or the 
 burden of bearing such a stout young person 
 down the flight that made Nita’s brain reel, 
 she could not tell but a sense of faintness 
 came over her before she had accomplished 
 half her journey and then she slipped and 
 rolled the rest of the way, in a whirl of 
 muslin and Hamburg edging. In a moment 
 she had regained her feet, satisfied that she 
 had saved a life and that even now the crowd 
 without were praying over the unconscious 
 
182 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 form she had wrested from the devouring 
 flames. 
 
 But there were more unfortunates above — 
 they must be saved too. She would have 
 been glad to have discovered a bed-ridden 
 old lady of about ninety, some one very old 
 and very light whom she could easily carry. 
 Then she would stagger tow^ards the window 
 sill just as they do in the popular novels and 
 stand in view of the crowd framed in fire, 
 wdiile a loud cheer of thanksgiving rose from 
 the assembled multitude. Then some brave 
 heart wwild place a ladder against the build- 
 ing and she would make her way slowly 
 down the blazing rungs wdiile— “God bless 
 you” sounded in her ears from the grateful 
 hearts below\ Ah ! Arthur would have reason 
 to regret that he had ever accused her of 
 having been faint hearted, he should learn 
 to his discomfiture of what bravery she w^as 
 capable. Already one life was saved— one 
 soul plucked like a brand from the burning; 
 this glorious day should not close until many 
 more were w^eeping grateful tears at her feet. 
 
A New Quixote 
 
 183 
 
 All these thoughts encouraged her and 
 strengthened her as she rushed up the stairs 
 again on her life-saving mission — her whole 
 heart aglow with glorious exultation. But 
 unfortunately for her hopes every room she 
 entered seemed to be empty. The dear old 
 bed-ridden lady, muttering prayers, must 
 have escaped, or she did not live there. And 
 Nitawas puzzled because all the burning 
 houses she had ever read about contained at 
 least one helpless old woman, and sometimes 
 a blind father. She rather felt that she was 
 not being squarely treated. 
 
 As she returned from the top floor after a 
 fruitless search and with a large bump over 
 the left eye, wdiere she had collided with a 
 piece of furniture, she caught sight of a 
 flying figure in white in the dim lit hall below. 
 
 ‘‘Ah!’’ cried Nita, “Some poor helpless 
 woman crazed by the sight of the flames,” 
 and she bounded to the rescue. 
 
 “Let me save you, poor darling,” she said 
 soothingly, clasping the bundle of white in 
 her arms. 
 
184 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 “But I don't want to be saved," howled 
 the unfortunate. “I’ve just been saved." 
 
 “Calm yourself, dear," clasping the strug- 
 gling form firmly and dragging it screaming 
 towards the stairs, “A few moments and all 
 will be well.” 
 
 But the miserable creature continued to 
 struggle and howl until the hallway had 
 been reached, and Nita, in a very dismantled 
 condition, stood panting with the excitement 
 of the journey. Already she could feel her- 
 self clasped in the arms of a grateful father 
 while the poor mother wept at her feet. 
 
 “There he is — there he is,” cried a number 
 of voices. 
 
 The friends were peering in the doorway 
 to grasp her hand to tell her in a few broken 
 words how deeply they felt their obligations 
 for that signal act of bravery. 
 
 “What in thunder are you doing with my 
 wife?” howled a harsh voice, and Nita sud- 
 denly felt a large and brawny hand grasp 
 her shoulder. 
 
A New Quixote 
 
 185 
 
 It was not exactly the welcome she had 
 expected, but doubtless the unhappy husband 
 was excited. 
 
 ‘‘Let me restore her to your arms,’’ she 
 said, lifting the limp, white burden she had 
 dragged down that long flight of stairs. “She 
 was crazed by the sight of the flames ; she 
 w^as rushing to destruction when I arrived 
 in time to save her,” and Nita drew herself 
 up modestly just like a hero in one of The 
 Duchesses novels. 
 
 “Are you the infernal fool that dragged 
 me out of bed and pushed me down those 
 stairs about ten minutes ago ?” angrily de- 
 manded the lady in white who had returned 
 to her senses. 
 
 Nita looked at the flushed face, somewhat 
 disconcerted. Yes, it was certainly the un- 
 fortunate being whom she had found calmly 
 reading in bed when she first set out on her 
 mission of salvation. This complicated mat- 
 ters considerably. Nita had never read in 
 any novel of the hero saving a beautiful 
 young woman twice from the same fire, but 
 
186 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 then it was all the more dramatic and her 
 courage was none the less commendable. 
 
 ‘‘My poor lady, you were crazed with the 
 danger of the moment— stupefied with des- 
 pair. “ 
 
 “Stupefied humbug,” retorted that ungrate- 
 ful creature. “A pretty state of things when 
 a strange man is allow^ed to burst into a 
 lady’s room and drag her out of bed and 
 push her dowm-stairs.” 
 
 “Tve a good mind to give you in charge,” 
 howled the husband, shaking a formidable 
 fist in close proximity to Nita’s nose. 
 
 “And just wdien I was in the midst of a 
 most exciting chapter of ‘ The Haunted 
 Honeymoon,” whimpered the lady in white. 
 
 Nita w’as reeling with astonishment. 
 
 “But the fire,” she gasped. “I saved your 
 wife from the flames, A moment more and 
 she w’ould have been reduced to cinders.” 
 
 “Humbug! there ain’t no fire,” he howled. 
 
 “No fire !” 
 
 “No! It’s back on the next street.” 
 
 Nita had made a mistake in the house. 
 
A New Quixote 
 
 187 
 
 Crushed in spirit she turned away and 
 slunk through the crowd ; and for many days 
 after that she did not sally forth on her 
 chivalrous errands of mercy. The most 
 terrible thing about the whole affair was 
 that it got into the papers and Nita was so 
 graphically pictured by the reporters that, 
 though no names were mentioned, those who 
 knew the editor of '‘The OwT’ personally 
 had no trouble in deciding who the mysteri- 
 ous person was who had blundered into a 
 peaceful house in a mistaken mission of 
 mercy. 
 
 As for Arthur Vaness he or rather she was 
 never tired of bringing up the painful sub- 
 ject. For when she started away to the 
 office of a morning he would gravely suggest 
 that she take with her a fire escape in case 
 an opportunity to visit a fire should occur on 
 the way down town; and he often asked 
 anxiously if she had received a medal yet 
 for her bravery in saving the same woman 
 twice on Thirty-Fourth street. 
 
188 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 These taunts were sufficient to stir up 
 Nita’s sensitive soul to such a pitch of des- 
 peration that she would have rushed pell- 
 mell into any burning building that offered 
 to retrieve her reputation. Now more ar- 
 dently than ever did she pray for a chance 
 to show her valor. 
 
 After many weary days of waiting the 
 longed-for opportunity at last arrived. 
 
 Nita had been dining at The Bounders’ 
 Club, had played cards all the evening, and 
 now, with a brain somewhat confused, she 
 had wandered down to the river’s edge to 
 clear her head of the tobacco fumes that she 
 had been breathing all the evening. 
 
 It was verging on midnight and a light 
 mist hung over the waters and draped the 
 shipping in soft gray folds. She sat down 
 on a mooring-post and looked dreamily down 
 into the black waters that laved the spiles of 
 the dock with a soothing murmur. 
 
 She thought sadly of the life that she had 
 led only a month ago — that quiet existence 
 where there were few cares to worry her sensi- 
 
A New Quixote 
 
 189 
 
 tive nature, far removed from the noise of the 
 world, where its jarring sounds only reached 
 her ears like the wave beats of a far-off sea. 
 
 The friction of the crowds worried and ir- 
 ritated her ; she was fast losing all the ami- 
 able qualities in her nature and becoming 
 fretful and peevish. She had made a mis- 
 take and yet was too proud to acknowledge 
 it. The liberty for which she had sighed 
 had proved a delusive snare. The privilege 
 of going to a club where cards and tobacco 
 and drinking employed the attention of its 
 members was no recompense for the loss of 
 the quiet existence from which the brutal 
 sides of life were discreetly hidden. Her 
 new knowledge of the world as viewed from a 
 man’s standpoint only disgusted her; she 
 would have gladly given years of her life to 
 have been as ignorant of its mysteries as of 
 old. She was tired already of battling in 
 the stream and sighed again for the placid 
 shallows. As she sat there with black care 
 for company, the sound of a light footstep 
 arrested her attention. 
 
190 Bargain in Souls 
 
 The moon had struggled through the ragged 
 clouds, and l)athed the pier in silvery light. 
 Close to the water’s edge and peering down 
 into the black waters stood a woman. From 
 lime to time she turned lier face in the 
 direction of the street and started affrighted- 
 ly as a carriage dashed along the highway. 
 
 Nita could see that she was deadly pale 
 even in that uncertain light, and that she was 
 handsomely dressed in some dark silk even- 
 ing costume that displayed her finely mould- 
 ed arms and white neck. 
 
 AVhat could her purpose be in standing on 
 that lonely pier at midnight. What purpose 
 but to find death in the waters at her feet ? 
 
 This was the question that Nita asked her- 
 self and answered. Here was an opportunity 
 to save a woman weary of the world who 
 sought in death the rest that had been denied 
 her in life. 
 
 It should be Nita’s task not only to save 
 this despairing soul but to heal her wounded 
 heart and show her life was still worth the 
 
A New Quixote 
 
 191 
 
 living. That the world was still as full of 
 love and light as when the older poets sang 
 its praise. 
 
 The woman on the pier had turned with 
 bowed head toward the river that, at that 
 moment, seemed sprinkled with golden stars. 
 Nita rose and glided noiselessly toward her 
 but suddenly, as the moonlight faded, the 
 figure disappeared. 
 
 Had she taken the final plunge ? YetNitafelt 
 sure the splash would have reached her ears, 
 as she stood on the edge of the pier searching 
 the waters below with straining eyes. 
 
 She was not aware that a carriage had 
 stopped in the street, not far from where she 
 stood, until a harsh voice roused her. 
 
 ‘‘A moment if you please.’’ 
 
 She turned and confronted a portly gentle- 
 man in a dress suit whose sharp eyes glit- 
 tered in the moonlight as they surveyed her 
 searchingly. His fat hands toyed with a 
 huge gold watch chain and his large, brutal 
 mouth, half hidden by a stubby mustache, 
 snapped out the words like a threat. 
 
192 
 
 A Bargain i7i Souls 
 
 “ What is it ? said Nita calmly. Already 
 she felt a decided aversion for this pompous- 
 looking vulgarian. 
 
 “I am searching,” he puffed, “for a woman 
 whom I believe has hidden herself some- 
 where hereabout. She wears a black silk 
 dress without sleeves and, I believe, carries 
 a lace mantilla. Have you seen any such 
 person?” eying Nita severely. 
 
 “Might I ask your reason for knowing?” 
 she asked, hoping to gain time to think. 
 
 “No, you might not. And you will do 
 well, young man, if you know what you are 
 about, to give me any information that will 
 lead to this person’s discovery. Have you 
 seen her — yes or no, for my time is valuable ?” 
 
 “Yes,” replied Nita who had made up her 
 mind that right or wrong she would give this 
 disagreeable person a long chase. 
 
 “Ah !” said the portly gentleman rubbing 
 his hands. 
 
 “The person you describe was here only 
 a few moments ago. I was smoking on the 
 
A New Quixote 
 
 193 
 
 pier and I am sure she did not see me. 
 After a few moments, she got into a carriage 
 at the corner and was driven rapidly away 
 in the direction of down-town.” Was it 
 imagination or did Nita really hear a sigh 
 of relief from the shadows. 
 
 “Ah, that’s good,” cried the other ; “May 
 I ?” putting his hand in his pocket as if to 
 draw out some money ; but seeing the ex- 
 pression on Nita’s face he withdrew his hand. 
 
 “Well, thank you, anyway,” he growled, 
 and started off at a rapid gait for his carriage. 
 
 “Keep to the river front,” he yelled to the 
 driver, “and hustle down-town.” The door 
 slammed and the coupe rolled rapidly away 
 into the darkness. 
 
 “You may come out,” said Nita, after the 
 sound of the wheels had died away. 
 
 The woman who had been concealed be- 
 hind some bales of cotton near-by, glided 
 out into the moonlight. She was a handsome 
 creature with wonderful black eyes that now 
 shone with a restless fire. 
 
 13 
 
194 
 
 A Jhirgain in Souls 
 
 “Oh, how can I thank you,’’ she murmured, 
 covering Nita’s hand with kisses. “You have 
 saved me from a terrible predicament.” 
 
 “1 am not sure that I have done right,” 
 said Nita, trying to calm her. “Tell me 
 your trouble in your own way.” 
 
 “I will, and then you shall judge for your- 
 self,” said the stranger in a choking voice. 
 “That man who was here, whom you spoke 
 to a moment ago, is my husband. To-night 
 there was a ball given at our home, on Madi- 
 son Avenue ; it was necessary that I should 
 be there, and yet while I w^as forced to dance 
 and appear merry, the fate of one I loved — 
 my brother — was in danger, and I alone 
 could save him — warn him that he must fly.” 
 
 She paused, overcome with emotion, and 
 her sobs were long and painful. Nita did 
 her best to comfort the poor W’oman who 
 finally dried her eyes and continued. 
 
 “My brother had done wrong, he was 
 implicated in the transactions of some swind- 
 ling stock-company. I overheard the chief of 
 police, who happened to be one of the guests. 
 
A New Quixote 
 
 195 
 
 tell a friend that a warrant for George’s 
 arrest had been placed in the hands of a 
 detective. My husband caught the remark 
 as well as I, and, as he hated my poor brother, 
 he must have made up his mind that I should 
 not have an opportunity to warn him. For 
 an hour afterwards, he followed me about 
 keeping his eyes on my face. 
 
 was in despair, for every moment was 
 precious. How could I contrive to escape ? 
 At last, my husband was called away for a 
 moment into the hall by one of the servants. 
 I pretended to become faint, too ill to dance 
 any longer, and begged to be excused. I did 
 not wait to regain my room, but snatching up 
 a shawl in the dressing room I rushed out 
 into the night. A few minutes later, he must 
 have discovered my absence and followed me 
 in a cab ; for one moment, we were only a 
 block apart, but owing to the darkness I 
 eluded him and rushed down to the pier 
 where I thought I might hide until I saw 
 which way his carriage was going. But for 
 you, I should have been lost. Had he found 
 
196 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 me, it would have been an excuse to put me 
 away in some private asylum, for he is tired 
 of me as I am of him,” bursting into tears. 
 
 Nita’s warm little heart l)led for this 
 unfortunate woman. 
 
 What a happy freak of fortune had led 
 her down to this pier on this particular night ! 
 She would be the means of saving an erring 
 brother from prison and a poor wdfe from 
 her husband’s tyranny. What a grand night’s 
 work ! 
 
 “ Come,” she said, gently putting her arm 
 around her trembling companion. “At any 
 moment your husband may discover his mis- 
 take and be on our track. Come with me 
 and we shall see if two women cannot outwit 
 a single man.” The stranger looked at Nita 
 in astonishment when “two women” was 
 mentioned, but said nothing. 
 
 They were fortunate enough to find a car- 
 riage only a block aw'ay into which Nita 
 helped the stranger, who was almost fainting 
 with the fatigue and excitement of the last 
 half houi. 
 
A New Quixote 
 
 197 
 
 They bad scarcely taken their seats, when 
 the sound of wheels was heard, and looking 
 out Nita saw that they had been observed and 
 that the pursuit had already begun in earnest. 
 She whispered some quick directions to the 
 driver and the carriage tore along the quay. 
 
 “What is the matter” asked her companion 
 who had relapsed into a semi-unconscious 
 state in the corner. 
 
 “Nothing” said Nita carelessly. 
 
 But the stranger was not satisfied, and 
 thrust her head out of the window, 
 
 “He has discovered his mistake, ‘^she cried 
 in a fever of excitement,” and is following 
 us. I caught sight of his face as the carriage 
 rolled under an electric light.” She took a 
 handful of money out of her pocket and thrust 
 it into the driver’s hands, 
 
 “It is a matter of life and death,” she cried^ 
 “drive as fast as you can.” 
 
 He whipped up his horse and for some 
 moments only the sound of rolling wheels 
 rattling over the uneven pavement disturbed 
 the stillness of tha night. 
 
198 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 Nita and her companion sat listening with 
 bated breath to hear if the carriage in per- 
 suit was drawing nearer. At last, she could 
 bear the suspense no longer and peeped out 
 of the window. The cab that was following 
 them was slowly gaining ground, it was now 
 only a block away. 
 
 “Oh, what is to be done,” moaned the 
 stranger when she heard this intelligence. “I 
 would rather fling myself into the river than 
 fall into his hands again. You saved me once. 
 Save me again,” imploringly. 
 
 “At least I will try,” said Nita, overcome 
 with pity for the helpless woman beside her. 
 “Let me think.” 
 
 She sat for a moment in deep thought while 
 those dreadful wheels seemed to be rolling 
 nearer. Then she rose and whispered some 
 directions to the driver who turned the next 
 corner sharply and drove away in a Wester- 
 ly direction across the city. 
 
 “Have you thought of a plan to escape,” 
 asked her companion anxiously. 
 
A New Quixote 
 
 199 
 
 “Yes ; but I am not sure it will succeed. In 
 a few blocks, the driver will turn the corner ; 
 there we must alight and find shelter in a 
 doorway while the carriage goes on. I am in 
 hopes that your husband will not discover 
 his mistake but will continue the pursuit 
 which will give us an opportunity for escape 
 and find your brother/’ 
 
 “How good you are,” murmured the un- 
 known gratefully. “Ah if I had only had 
 the fortune to have known a man like you, I 
 should not be the miserable creature that 
 I am,” with a faint sob. 
 
 Nita consoled her as best she could, and 
 felt amply repaid for all the trouble she had 
 gone through by this poor woman’s gratitude. 
 Her own gloomy thoughts vanished before 
 this greater grief; at least her new life with 
 all its trials had not proved utterly worthless. 
 
 The corner was turned and Nita, supporting 
 her companion, found refuge in a dark alley 
 leading into a dirty court while the cab rolled 
 rapidly away. The ruse worked like a 
 charm. They had the satisfaction of watch- 
 
200 
 
 A Bar gam m Souls 
 
 ing their empty carriage still pursued by the 
 husband whose angry face could be seen in 
 the window as he urged on his driver with 
 oaths and threats. 
 
 Their hiding place however could be only 
 temporary. 
 
 The husband’s carriage would soon over- 
 take the one they had deserted; he w^ould 
 discover the mistake and, understanding the 
 trick that had been played on him, return to 
 the chase with fresh energy and a new feel- 
 ing of rage. 
 
 Nita looked searchingly at the houses on 
 the other side of the street in hopes that a 
 new hiding place might occur to her, but the 
 black windows offered no solution to the pro- 
 blem she was revolving in her mind. 
 
 She recognized by many familiar signs in 
 the dim light that she was in her own neigh- 
 borhood, that she was only a block from her 
 own house. 
 
 She might have offered the stranger a 
 temporary refuge there, but unfortunately 
 she had mislaid her night key, and to rouse 
 
A New Quixote 
 
 201 
 
 up the house at that hour with a strange 
 woman was not to be thought of. Some pry- 
 ing neighbor would be on the watch and draw 
 his, or her, own evil conclusions; besides, 
 Arthur might refuse to let them in. But time 
 was passing, the husband might even now 
 have discovered his mistake, something 
 must be done and at once. 
 
 Near the corner by which they stood, a 
 brilliantly lit building with many colored 
 lights over its portals attracted her eye. 
 There was a large illuminated sign hung 
 above the entrance where she read in blue 
 letters : 
 
 GRAND BALL MASQUE. 
 
 At once her plan was made and she com- 
 municated it in a low voice to her companion. 
 They could go to the ball, hire some disguise, 
 and when the dancers dispersed, escape with 
 the crowd. It would be impossible for the 
 husband to discover their identity even if it 
 occurred to him to search the hall. 
 
 Taking her companion’s trembling arm in 
 hers they set out. Nita was well provided 
 
202 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 with money, and, after paying the entrance 
 fee, she hired a blue domino for the unknown 
 and a white folly costume for herself ; having 
 assumed their masks, they boldly entered the 
 hall, confident that escape was now assured. 
 
 A quadrille was just being formed and 
 though neither felt much in the mood for 
 dancing they thought it best to join one of 
 the sets in order to divert suspicion, for 
 there were scarcely fifty people present. 
 
 The music struck up and they were soon 
 in the whirl of the dance, which diverted 
 them from their own disagreeable thoughts. 
 
 Nita found herself, during the pauses, 
 surveying with a languorous interest the 
 various couples that made up her own set. 
 There was one lady directly vis-a-vis, a 
 slender creature robed in the white garments 
 of a Eoman vestal who particularly attracted 
 her attention. Somewhere, she felt instinct- 
 ively, she had seen that slight figure and 
 those glistening curls before. 
 
 A white mask trimmed with lace closely 
 hid every feature of the unknown face, but 
 
A New Quixote 
 
 203 
 
 a pair of flashing eyes could be seen twink- 
 ling through the crevices. Of course it was 
 very absurd in Nita to fancy that she knew 
 her neighbor, but she still continued to study 
 the lady in white through all the changes of 
 the dance. 
 
 Once they were very close to each other 
 and in changing partners she clasped the 
 stranger’s hand in hers. 
 
 She regarded the slender fingers and deli- 
 cate wrist a moment as they swung around 
 into their places. Then started with a stifled 
 cry. She had recognized her own engage- 
 ment ring on the stranger’s hand. There 
 was no doubt about it. Her vis-a-vis was 
 Arthur ! What if he should recognize her 
 and in the company of a strange woman? 
 That would give him a fresh opportunity to 
 make fun of her, to scoff at her chivalrous 
 attempts to protect her oppressed sex. 
 
 But fortunately the lady in white seemed 
 to be too particularly engrossed in her com- 
 panion to pay much attention to the other 
 couples. This gentleman who wore a dress 
 
204 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 suit aiiJ a simple black mask Nita v/as quite 
 certain was Jack Follansby, in fact the lady 
 in white addressed him more than once as 
 ^‘Jack.’’ 
 
 The dance was drawing to a close and Nita 
 was congratulating herself that her incognito 
 had l)een successfully preserved, when a new 
 danger presented itself. 
 
 As the music died away and the dancers 
 were returning to their places, the floor-mana- 
 ger stepped upon the stage where the 
 musicians were gathered, and clapped his 
 hands for silence. Every attention was 
 drawn towards him as he opened his lips to 
 speak. 
 
 “Ladies and gentleman,” he began, “I 
 have been requested by a detective from 
 Police Headquarters to ask you to unmask. 
 A great diamond theft was committed only 
 a few hours ago during the progress of a ball 
 on Fifth Avenue. The criminals suspected 
 are a man and a woman, both young. They 
 were pursued within a few doors of this hall 
 and it is thought that they may have sought 
 
A New Quixote 
 
 205 
 
 a hiding place here. The treasurer and cos- 
 tumer are almost certain that two such per- 
 sons secured tickets and dominoes, only a 
 few moments ago. Therefore in the cause 
 of justice, I must ask you that wear dominoes 
 to lay them aside for a moment, and every- 
 one, the masks. It will only he for a little 
 while and you will greatly facilitate the dis- 
 covery of the real criminals.” 
 
 He bowedandretired. The guestsof theeve- 
 ning looked at each other interrogatively as if 
 to say “Are you the thief?” but without delay 
 they began to remove their masks and such 
 part of their costumes as could be laid aside. 
 
 Nita stood as if nailed to the spot. The 
 danger of the situation did not strike her so 
 forcibly at that moment as the thought that 
 she had been deceived, that the unfortunate 
 wife whom she had sought to save from the 
 clutches of a cruel husband, had turned out 
 to be only a vulgar thief. She was ready to 
 cry from sheer vexation. She looked around 
 in vain for her companion — the unknown 
 had disappeared ! 
 
206 
 
 A Bargain ui Souls 
 
 Her eyes met instead those of the detective 
 who was standing only a few paces away 
 surveying the scene with his sharp eyes, and 
 the glance he cast at Nita seemed full of 
 suspicion and malevolence. 
 
 It was no time for hesitation for the others 
 had already taken off their masks. The 
 detective was still regarding her curiously; 
 if she hoped to escape it must he done at 
 once. 
 
 Every second she expected to feel a hand 
 upon her shoulder and be compelled to 
 identify herself. But what explanation could 
 suffice under such circumstances. She had 
 shown herself to be this woman’s accomplice 
 in aiding her to escape. Not even the fact 
 that she was a journalist could have saved 
 her from gaol. In fancy she saw herself 
 arraigned before the judge and sentenced to a 
 long term of imprisonment, while reporters 
 from her own paper were standing near at 
 hand to take down notes of the case. 
 
 She remained there, stupefied by this 
 confusion of thoughts not knowing which way 
 
A New Quixote 
 
 207 
 
 to turn to escape. The door was guarded 
 and the detective with the implacable eyes 
 was striding toward her with deliberate steps 
 one hand in his pocket as if he were getting 
 a revolver ready in case of any resistance. 
 
 Yet still she did not move. 
 
 Just as a large and hairy hand was reached 
 out to grasp her arm one of the dancers in a 
 folly’s dress capered between them and 
 struck at Nita playfully with the bladder he 
 carried in his hand. 
 
 It seemed to rouse her from her stupor to 
 the danger of her situation. She scanned 
 the hall rapidly and then noticed to the 
 right a small garden filled with imitation 
 tropical plants and tin palm trees, lit with 
 colored electric lights. She ran with the 
 hopelessness of despair into this garden not 
 knowing whether there was any exit or not 
 through which she might hope to escape. 
 
 The place seemed deserted, but as she 
 threaded her way rapidly among the plants 
 she came upon a woman in white seated 
 under a palm tree eating an ice. She looked 
 
208 
 
 A Bargain hi Souls 
 
 up a moment and Nita caught a glimpse of 
 the face. It was Arthur again ! 
 
 The sight only added to her fever of mind. 
 What if they should bear her away to gaol 
 before his very eyes ! What a disgrace for 
 them both ! 
 
 In the midst of these terrifying thoughts, 
 as she ran around the garden like a squirrel 
 in a cage, she suddenly perceived a narrow 
 flight of stairs that must have been used in 
 summer by the workmen when the sliding 
 roof was thrown open. 
 
 Nita darted up the steps without a mom- 
 ent’s thought, only eager to get away from 
 the vicinity of the lady in white who was 
 still calmly consuming her ice under the 
 tree. 
 
 Nita had almost reached the scuttle and 
 was lifting it, when she heard the sound of 
 many voices in the garden below. 
 
 ‘‘Did a man pass by you within the last 
 few minutes?” roared the detective, evi- 
 dently addressing the only occupant of the 
 place. 
 
A New Quixote 
 
 209 
 
 ‘‘Yes/’ was the reply. “A very suspicious 
 looking character ran up those stairs only a 
 moment ago.” 
 
 Arthur had unconsciously betrayed her ! 
 
 She crawled through the scuttle just as the 
 sound of heavy feet clattered on the stairs 
 below. A faint light in the east showed her 
 that it was nearly daybreak as she paused 
 for a moment to take breath. 
 
 Beyond her, in an uneven line, stretched the 
 roofs and chimneys of a long block of houses. 
 Surely in these acres of chimney-pots and 
 towering gables she could find some place of 
 temporary refuge. 
 
 A battering sound beneath her showed 
 that the pursuers would soon force open the 
 scuttle. She turned and made her way as 
 rapidly as she could over the broken tiles 
 and rusty tin, stumbling and falling over 
 bricks and bits of mortar and keeping well 
 out of sight behind the tall chimneys. 
 
 It seemed years since she had begun tra- 
 velling along in this aimless fashion, when a 
 cry from behind warned her that her pursuers 
 
210 
 
 A J Mir gain in Son Is 
 
 had forced open the scuttle and were scouring 
 the roof in search of her. Once as she turned 
 the corner of a chimney she caught sight of 
 the detective roaring out orders to the men 
 who accompanied him. They divided their 
 forces so as to hem her in— no escape seemed 
 possible ! 
 
 She was almost tempted to try and climb 
 down one of the chimneys, but as a faint 
 smoke could be seen hovering over many, 
 the possibility of dropping into a fire or 
 landing on top of somebody’s breakfast 
 caused her to resign the thought. 
 
 Matters were getting more and more des- 
 perate. In five minutes at the most she 
 would be in the hands of the enemy. 
 
 At last she found herself on the top of a 
 flat roof, protected from her hunters by tall 
 chimneys and gables on either hand. To 
 her joy, she saw that the scuttle was partly 
 raised for ventilation. In a moment she 
 had swung it open, crawled in and bolted it 
 behind her. And none too soon, for as the 
 bolt clicked a voice she recognized was heard. 
 
A New Quixote 
 
 211 
 
 ‘‘I am sure I saw him on the roof a mom- 
 ent ago. Take a good search around the 
 chimneys and any hole that looks like a 
 hiding place.” 
 
 A hand rattled the door above her head 
 but finding it would not open the owner went 
 away,, as she could tell by his footsteps. 
 
 Nita sat very still on the uncomfortable 
 ladder, resting herself after that terrible 
 flight over the roof. She was exhausted and 
 ready to faint with fatigue. 
 
 If the redoubtable detective had appeared 
 at that moment, she would have been tempt- 
 ed to give in without a struggle. 
 
 In a very confused state of mind and half 
 asleep, she made her way slowly down the 
 ladder into the hall. She seemed to be still 
 haunted with the consciousness that she was 
 being pursued and every shadow caused her 
 to start in affright. The very air seemed 
 peopled with enemies who stretched out their 
 long arms to seize her as she crept silently 
 along. 
 
2V2i A Bargain in Souls 
 
 Sbe bad reached tbe second floor still 
 IMirsued by these imaginary foes, wdien she 
 perceived a door standing ajar. Without 
 pausing to examine if tbe room was occupied, 
 sbe glided into it, locking tbe door securely 
 behind her. It was scarcely light enough to 
 see distinctly, but tbe bed was empty and 
 hastily tearing off that hateful fooFs dress 
 she flung herself upon it, and a moment later 
 was sound asleep. 
 
 No dream filled her slumbers; she lay 
 there as if insensible, dead. How long, she 
 never knew, but she was roused by a wild 
 thumping on the door. 
 
 She started in affright. Had they dis- 
 covered even this retreat? Was she never 
 to find peace? She sank back on the bed 
 with a groan of despair. Well, let them 
 break tbe door in and seize her, she had no 
 heart to try and escape any longer. 
 
 The thumping on the door continued; 
 finally a voice roared out : 
 
 “Say, are you going to get up?” 
 
 That voice ! That voice ! It was Arthur’s ! 
 
A New Quixote 
 
 213 
 
 “Is that you, my dear,” she asked. 
 
 ‘‘Yes. It’s nine o’clock.” 
 
 . She rolled on the bed and laughed from 
 sheer delight. She was in her own house, 
 in her own room, she could have screamed 
 with joy. The pursuit, the strange woman, 
 it had all been a dream, a terrible dream. 
 Then her eyes fell on the tattered fool’s dress 
 that lay on the floor and she knew that it 
 had all been true, that every moment of 
 agony in that experience had been real. 
 But she was safe now ; no one could find her 
 within the four walls of her own home. She 
 rose, and picking up the hateful garb she had 
 worn at the ball, she locked it safely away 
 in the closet and began to dress for breakfast. 
 
 Half an hour later, a distinguished-look- 
 ing young man lounged sleepily into the 
 pretty dining room and sat down at the 
 dainty breakfast table where his wife, in a 
 pearl-colored peignoir was poring over the 
 morning paper. 
 
 “Great excitement,” said the lady, raising 
 her face for a morning kiss; “Mrs. Brighton 
 
214 
 
 A Bar gam in Souls 
 
 Caslimore gave a ball last night and all her 
 diamonds were stolen. The culprits were 
 chased all across the city but managed to 
 escape by disguising themselves and joining 
 a Ball Masque at the ‘Parisian Gardens’ on 
 the next block. But they finally got the 
 woman. Here, do you want to read about 
 it tossing over the paper. 
 
 The young man hid his blushing face 
 behind the sugar bowl and hastily glanced 
 over the article. 
 
 “Do you think they stand any chance of 
 catching the man asked the wife biting a 
 piece of toast. 
 
 “No, not the slightest,” said the husband. 
 
VIII 
 
 TWO TETE-A-TETES 
 
 All this time the Socialists had not for- 
 gotten Nita’s editorial ; and after an illustrat- 
 ed description of the attack appeared, in 
 which they were ridiculed and laughed at 
 while Vaness was lionized, they were with 
 difficulty persuaded from burning his house 
 down. 
 
 They contented themselves, however, the 
 following day, by besieging the press-room 
 
 r 
 
 of “The Owl,” and that afternoon it appeared 
 very late, printed on wrapping-paper, as the 
 basement had been barricaded by the mob. 
 
 Instead of discomfiting the editor by these 
 measures, and forcing him into subjection, 
 
 215 
 
216 A lyargahi in Son Is 
 
 they were the means of further advertising 
 the paper, and copies that had been printed 
 on the wrappers were eagerly bought at a 
 premium as curiosities by the crowd. 
 
 The offended parties then changed their 
 tactics and began to harass the poor editor 
 in his home. Misfortunes were of daily 
 occurrence in that once peaceful household, 
 and it was evident that the cook, who sym- 
 pathized with the Socialists, had become 
 their ally. It was decidedly embarrassing 
 at a dinner-party to have a large turkey 
 explode with a startling report, just as the 
 guests were comfortably seated ; and what 
 adequate apology could be made to a visitor 
 when a dynamite cartridge went off under the 
 sofa, and he found himself reluctantly soar- 
 ing towards the ceiling in a shower of 
 splinters and bits of blue plush? 
 
 The Vaness family were soon afraid to sit 
 down to a meal for fear of its being poisoned, 
 and they had already lost two poodle-dogs 
 and a tortoise-shell cat whom they had 
 
l^wo Tete-a~tetes 
 
 217 
 
 induced to sample various suspicious-looking 
 viands in which certain death seemed to lurk. 
 
 But though Nita was the ostensible editor 
 of “The Owl,” Vaness had too good a nose 
 for news not to turn these daily persecutions 
 to account ; and the readers of the paper were 
 daily informed of every fresh outrage, written 
 up in his most sensational style. The anti-so- 
 cialists at once rallied to his assistance, and 
 in spite of Nita’s mismanagement, the paper 
 slowly began to increase in circulation. 
 
 Her sublime disregard for news had dis- 
 couraged the old editors, who finally sent in 
 their resignations and retired from the field 
 in disgust. Their places were promptly 
 filled with women, and the office was once 
 more established on an amicable footing. 
 
 This change, which she had long looked 
 forward to, created many extra expenses. 
 For while the young ladies on the staff were 
 content with small wages, she was reluctantly 
 compelled to employ a small army of men 
 to act as their escorts when there was work 
 to be done after dark. 
 
218 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 While the general character of the paper 
 had changed, it was astonishing what a num- 
 ber of scandals were unearthed by these 
 petticoat-reporters. Each had her grievance 
 against some other woman, and took the first 
 opportunity to be revenged in print. In 
 fact, one day, when Nita was away, the 
 paper came out entirely filled up with personal 
 attacks ; and the following day the office was 
 invaded by an army of victims, who fought 
 a pitched battle with the young ladies on 
 the paper, and were not satisfied until they 
 had completely routed them and borne off 
 pounds of switches and at least a bucketful 
 of hair-pins as trophies of their triumph. 
 
 But Nita felt that her labors had not been 
 entirely in vain. Now, when she came down 
 to the office of a morning, her senses were 
 no longer offended by smoking men in their 
 coat-sleeves, keeping up a running fire at 
 cuspidors, and punctuating their remarks 
 with sulphurous exclamations. Instead, she 
 confronted a line of rosy-cheeked girls with 
 bewitching aprons of many pockets, chewing 
 
Two Tete-a-tctes 
 
 219 
 
 gum or sipping tea as they went about their 
 various duties, singing softly to themselves. 
 
 The files of old papers that had lined the 
 w'alls were discarded because they were dirty 
 to handle, and had been replaced by en- 
 gravings in neat frames, mottoes in worsted, 
 and plaques painted by the young ladies 
 themselves. About twenty office-cats snoozed 
 on the piles of rejected manuscripts, and as 
 many cages of canary-birds depended from 
 the ceiling. 
 
 Even the great presses were ornamented 
 with pink ribbons, and the printer’s devil 
 (the most charming little devil you ever saw) 
 was actually clean, each member of the staff 
 scrubbing her at least once a day. 
 
 Though the office and press-room appeared 
 in this gala attire, Nita’s troubles had not 
 ended by any means. 
 
 She was perpetually being called upon to 
 settle quarrels among her fair allies; for 
 discussions and resignations were of daily 
 frequency. For instance, the dramatic 
 editor— a sweet young thing of nineteen — 
 
220 
 
 A Bargai}! hi Souls 
 
 having been jilted in love by the leading- 
 man of the Fourth Avenue Theatre, took 
 every opportunity to make fun of his acting 
 in the columns of the paper. Other members 
 of tlje staff, who had been won over by his 
 classic features and Hyperion curls, at 
 once arrayed themselves against the critic, 
 and finally, after a severe attack on their 
 idol, the young lady was unceremoniously 
 hustled out of the office, minus a bang and 
 many hair-pins. 
 
 Mrs. Brighton Cashmore, the millionaire’s 
 wife, who paid the paper a thousand dollars 
 a year on condition that her costumes should 
 be conspicuously described on every social 
 occasion, at once cancelled her contract wdien 
 she found herself written up after the 
 Patriarchs’ Ball as “a bilious-looking woman 
 with a face like a hawk, who made an absurd 
 display of her scrawny neck and hired 
 jewelry.” 
 
 Nita herself was to blame for the latter 
 expensive mistake, because she had in- 
 structed her young ladies that in gathering 
 
Tzvo Tete-a tetcs 
 
 221 
 
 news they were always to tell the truth; and 
 they acted. accordingly, even when a member 
 of the Four Hundred was involved. 
 
 When Clarence Delaney ran for mayor 
 against Patsey Flaherty of the Fourth Ward 
 he won the race, not by “a neck,” as the 
 sporting men would say, but by a mustache. 
 This delightful facial adornment carried the 
 office by storm. He caught every trusting 
 female heart in the place on its points. 
 From that time they were with him to a 
 man — ^that is, a woman. Of course if he 
 kissed the political editor behind the ice- 
 cooler, that was nobody’s business: it was 
 part of the campaign-fund. Anyway, the 
 young ladies of the staff were so w^on over 
 by the charms of that mustache that they 
 woriied their brothers and husbands and 
 lovers to vote and work for him at the polls, 
 and Delaney went through with flying colors. 
 
 It was only necessary to glance over ‘‘The 
 Owl,” in its present condition to see what a 
 great change had been wrought by the new 
 administration. The news-columns were no 
 
222 A Bargain i7i Souls 
 
 longer coruscated with crimes, and prize- 
 fights were never fought over again in its 
 pages. Every paragraph was pervaded with 
 peace. Articles on ‘‘How to Keep a Hus- 
 band at Home,” contributed by a divorcee 
 on the staff, ran with great success through 
 several weeks. ‘‘What to Do With Our Girls” 
 also found many appreciative readers, 
 though it evoked some malicious replies 
 from rival newspapers. 
 
 Yet, in spite of all Nita’s well-meant efforts, 
 the public seemed to be very unenthusiastic 
 over the change in tone the paper had taken, 
 and seemed to feel very little interest in this 
 organ of homelife. The paper pleased 
 women ; but their husbands wouldn’t buy it ; 
 and Nita had long ago antagonized the 
 political leaders in the city because they 
 chew^ed tobacco and swore in the office before 
 her pure-minded young ladies. 
 
 As the subscription-list began to fall off 
 at an alarming rate, Nita finally decided 
 that a little mild news would not hurt the 
 paper much, and might possibly do it some 
 
T'wo Tete-a-tetes 
 
 223 
 
 good. But here a new difficulty arose. 
 The sweet young things could not be per- 
 suaded by tears or threats to interview 
 criminals, or enter bar-rooms or other resorts 
 where news was supposed to lurk; and so 
 Nita had to let them return to their essays 
 and Greek lexicons, while she tried to think 
 out some other plan of raising the circulation. 
 
 The rival journals caused Nita many tears, 
 for hers was a sensitive soul, and their 
 gibes wounded her sorely. They were never 
 tired of poking fun at the paper. She was 
 nicknamed ‘‘The Petticoat Editor,’^ and her 
 staff “the editorial harem.” One paper even 
 insinuated that the police w^ould do well to 
 look into the affairs of such an office, as 
 they had seen the chief with the dramatic 
 editor in his arms, pla inly in view of the street. 
 
 Poor Nita had forgotten for a moment her 
 physical change, and, at the time, was com- 
 forting the poor little woman with all the 
 resources at her command. 
 
 So it was that her reputation suffered. 
 OncOj while trying to soothe a young wife 
 
224 A Bargain in Sonls 4 
 
 Avlio had come to lier for advice in a divorce 
 suit, the irate husband surprised them to- 
 gether in the private office and severely 
 pummelled the editor, who was unable to 
 explain the harmless character of his caresses. 
 
 Altogether, Nita’s lot was not a happy 
 one, for the stockholders of the paper had 
 begun to murmur against her management 
 of their interests, and even insinuated that 
 a padded cell was the best place for her to 
 seclude herself in. 
 
 As for Vaness, he roamed about the house 
 like an uneasy spirit, longing to be again 
 in the hustling atmosphere of the city, dy- 
 ing of inanition in his dainty prison. To 
 add to his misery, he had been forced to 
 entertain a maiden aunt from the country 
 during the past fortnight : a wealthy though 
 terrible person with a false front, who 
 frowned on his frivolity, and dragged him 
 off at all hours of the day on shopping ex- 
 peditions, and once, finding him smoking a 
 cigarette, promptly cut the whole family 
 out of her will. 
 
7^wo 7 ete-a-tetes 
 
 225 
 
 That smoke cost at least fifty thousand 
 dollars; and the awful aunt took great pains 
 to let the other relatives know what a fast 
 young woman Arthur’s wife had become— a 
 suspicion she had always entertained from 
 the very first, she said. 
 
 Now that the enemies Nita had created by 
 her ill advised eloquence had ceased hostili- 
 ties, Vaness decided to give a small party, 
 to make up for his aunt’s disastrous visit. 
 
 At least two hundred invitations were 
 sent out, and Vaness had hoped that at least 
 half of that number would respond ; but, by 
 ten o’clock, only twenty men and about half 
 a dozen women had made their appearance. 
 Not even the elegant brocaded costume that 
 the hostess wore for the first time on this 
 occasion was a consolation for the failure 
 of the entertainment. The sight of the 
 melancholy gathering was a severe dis- 
 appointment, for the Vanesses had been 
 very popular with a certain set and their 
 invitations eagerly sought for. 
 
 15 
 
220 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 Vaness was not destined to remain long 
 in ignorance as to the cause of this derelic- 
 tion on the part of their friends. Passing 
 the smoking-room on the way to complete 
 arrangements for supper, two men were 
 overheard talking. It Avas wrong, of course, 
 to listen, but they spoke so loudly that 
 Vaness could not help hearing. 
 
 “What a relief to get out of that parlor !” 
 said one, with a yawn. ‘'I never was so 
 bored in all my life. I am so glad I didn't 
 bring my Avife along." 
 
 “So am I. In fact I shouldn’t have 
 allow^ed her, for they do tell some terrible 
 stories about Vaness and his Avife of late." 
 
 “Yes ; I suppose that is the reason Avhy so 
 feAV women are present. They all sent ex- 
 cuses, except a feAV Avho Avere indifferent 
 about their characters." 
 
 “But Mrs. Vaness used to be such a charm- 
 ing, affable little Avoman, I can hardly be- 
 lieve -" 
 
 “Yes, I knoAv all that ; but I haA^e seen 
 her smoking on the balcony with my own 
 
Two Tcie^a-tctcs 
 
 227 
 
 eyes where anybody could see her ; and our 
 cook, who left here only last week, says she 
 swears like a trooper.” 
 
 ‘‘I know Vaness has greatly changed,” 
 said the other, thoughtfully. “I suppose 
 having such a vicious wife has driven him 
 out of his senses. He seems to have lost all 
 his manliness of character, and they do 
 talk scandalously about the manner in which 
 that olBSce is run, filled as it is with young 
 women. It can’t he entirely proper.” 
 
 ‘‘Well, no; that stands to reason,” with a 
 laugh. 
 
 They continued their uncomplimentary 
 remarks, but Vaness had heard quite enough, 
 and he glided noiselessly away to the dining- 
 room with a flushed face and a beating heart. 
 
 Was it possible that the fair name of the 
 family was in danger? that they had become 
 objects of suspicion in the eyes of their 
 neighbors ? regarded as disreputable charac- 
 ters, not worthy of association with their 
 wives? Vaness groaned in spirit; he had 
 no idea matters had reached such a terrible 
 
228 
 
 A Bai'gain in Souls 
 
 climax. Bitterly did he curse the day when 
 Uncle Oliver and his petrified cats had ever 
 found lodgment within those peaceful walls. 
 That dreadful bargain had brought them 
 endless misery, and the future was dark 
 before them. He felt as if he w^ould take 
 great pleasure in wringing Uncle Oliver’s 
 neck if he had not been the guardian of their 
 precious secret. 
 
 Vaness saw that the supper-table was 
 properly arranged, and with a heavy heart 
 returned to the melancholy guests in the 
 parlor, who already began to show signs of 
 uneasiness, and looked terribly bored. 
 
 “Ah, there you are !” cried JackFollansby, 
 as the hostess appeared, with a melancholy 
 expression on her face. ‘T have been look- 
 ing all around the place for you. Come, I 
 want to have a good long talk with you ; it is so 
 many months since I have had an opportuni- 
 ty,” leading the lady in rose towards an 
 embrasure in the window, where they were 
 half-hidden from the guests in the parlor. 
 
Two Tete-a-tetes 
 
 229 
 
 “Do you know/’ he said, with a nervous 
 laugh, “I have fancied that you have been 
 trying to avoid me for the past six weeks? 
 Anyway, you have changed decidedly in your 
 manner, and w^e used to be such very good 
 friends.” 
 
 “Yes, I feel the change myself,” said Van- 
 ess, with a long-drawn sigh. 
 
 “It has worried me exceedingly,” Follansby 
 replied, edging nearer. “You remember 
 what delightful tete-a-tetes we used to have 
 together in this very window w^hile Arthur 
 was down-town— when you wore that be- 
 witching tea-gown of blue silk with its 
 cascade of lace, and you sang to me and 
 brought me tea in the most delightful Sevres 
 cup ?” 
 
 “Did I?” asked his companion with a wild 
 stare. 
 
 “Ah, you have forgotten so soon!” said 
 Follansby, sadly, taking the fair white hand 
 in his and stroking it caressingly. “Why, I 
 have cherished still a souvenir of one occa- 
 sion when you allowed me to keep one of your 
 
230 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 gloves. Here it is now/’ taking one from 
 Lis pocket. ‘‘See, I have carried it ever 
 since next to iny heart.” 
 
 “Let me have it,” exclaimed the lady in 
 pink, almost snatching it out of his hand. 
 
 “Why, what a dreadful passion you are 
 in !”he cried, teasingly, yet somewhat startled 
 at the angry expression in his companion’s 
 eyes. “I can hardly believe you are the 
 same little woman who sang to me that 
 night, when we sat here in the moonlight, 
 one of those delightful Spanish love-songs 
 that seemed to be so suited to the occasion. 
 Have you forgotten that too ?” 
 
 “I — I remember very well,” said the lady 
 in pink, in a hollow voice. 
 
 “Yes ; and one of your arms was bare and 
 I stooped and kissed it, and you w^ere not 
 angry a bit — were you ?” 
 
 If the light had not been so dim he might 
 have seen that his companion was eying him 
 with a stony glare. 
 
 “Ah, you have been very cruel of late,” 
 sighed Jack ; “and x\rthur is away so much. 
 
Two Tete-a-tetes 
 
 231 
 
 surely we could arrange to meet here fre- 
 quently. I could console you for his 
 absence,” drawing nearer and taking the other 
 hand in his. “Tell me, Nita,” he murmured, 
 “when can I seeyou again, in thisplace, alone ?” 
 
 “Don’t, don’t,” murmured his companion. 
 “Let me go; I must return to my guests. 
 Our absence will be noted.” 
 
 He freed her reluctantly. 
 
 “But the day ? Fix a time,” he murmured. 
 
 “I will write to you,” in a choking voice; 
 and she was gone. 
 
 “So,” said Vaness, when the hall was 
 reached, “Nita found a consoler during my 
 absence, and one whom I least expected — 
 Jack Pollansby. Anyway, my eyes have 
 been opened to his perfidy ; I shall know 
 whom to trust if I ever become my old self 
 again. As for you, madam,” shaking a 
 jewelled fist in the direction of the drawing- 
 room, “won’t I have it out with you with a 
 wet towel when we go to bed !” and the lady 
 in pink was forced to resort to the punch- 
 bowl in the corner to suppress her emotions. 
 
232 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 Nita, all oblivious to the scene that had 
 just been enacted in the bow-window, was 
 entertaining Miss Olcott in a corner of the 
 library. The latter wore a peculiar costume 
 of white satin and gold, her yellow hair, ris- 
 ing above the white points of the broad collar 
 surrounding her slender throat, lent her the 
 appearance of a huge sunflower. 
 
 She seemed to be more interested in her 
 companion than in the ice at her elbow. In 
 fact she was regarding Nita with such a 
 languishing expression that it was rather 
 uncomfortable. 
 
 Nita even stammered out uneasily, — 
 
 “Why — why do you look at me that way, 
 Miss Olcott?’’ 
 
 “Does not the sunflower alwaye turn her 
 face to the sun ?” she asked, flashing a most 
 killing glance at her interlocutor. 
 
 “Y — es, I believe she does, though I don’t 
 understand much of botany.” Then to her- 
 self, “Why, I believe this young person has 
 indirectly proposed that I shall kiss her. I 
 
Two Tete-a-tetes 
 
 233 
 
 will see if Arthur has had anything to do 
 with bringing about this situation.” 
 
 Miss Olcott sighed when she found he was 
 not going to avail himself of the opportunity, 
 and began nervously drumming on the arm 
 of her chair with her white fingers. 
 
 “How changed you are during the past 
 month !” she said, finally. “I can hardly 
 believe you are the same person.” 
 
 “Indeed ! and why not ?” asked Nita a little 
 brusquely. 
 
 “Well, I used to see you very frequently, 
 but now you seem rather to avoid me ; and 
 we used to have such lovely times together !” 
 
 “Did we?” abruptly. 
 
 “Why, don’t you remember?” 
 
 “Oh, yes. I beg you pardon ; I am getting 
 so absent-minded.” 
 
 “Ah, it is so easy for a man to forget,” said 
 Miss Olcott, with a sigh. “Better for us poor 
 women if our memories were as short.” 
 
 “Now, I wonder what particular occasion 
 she is alluding to?” Nita asked herself. 
 “Evidently Arthur is mixed up in this. I 
 
234 
 
 A Bargain i7i Souls 
 
 must try and draw her out.” Then turning 
 to her companion she said: “Ah, you mean 
 those evenings — ” 
 
 “Yes; when we used to dine at Torretti’s, 
 in that funny little room that overlooked 
 the square. I remember at the time you 
 were very absent-minded, as you are now. 
 I suppose everything had not gone just right 
 at home. I could read as much in your 
 face. Ah ! these frivolous young wives are 
 a sore trial to men of your brains and 
 intellect !” 
 
 “You are entirely mistaken,” said Nita, 
 rather savagely. “Mrs. Vaness is a woman 
 of great intelligence, and with a knowledge 
 of life much beyond her years.” 
 
 “Bravely spoken !” said Miss Olcott, with 
 a laugh. “It is only right for a husband to 
 stick up for his wife ; but we know,” tapping 
 her companion playfully with her fan. “We 
 know, don’t we?” 
 
 “How I should like to scratch her face !” 
 said Nita to herself. “I wonder what she is 
 insinuating by ‘We know’?” 
 
Tvjo Tete-a-tetes 
 
 235 
 
 the way,” said Miss Olcott, after 
 another pause, “I am not so sure that you 
 do not owe me a very abject apology.” 
 
 ^‘What for ?” 
 
 ‘^Do you remember the eighth of May, six 
 weeks ago?” 
 
 Did Nita remember it ? What a question 
 to ask ! She wished in her heart that she 
 might forget it, for it was on the evening of 
 that day that she had made that terrible 
 bargain in souls. 
 
 “Oh, I remember it perfectly well,” thought- 
 fully. ‘‘What of it?” 
 
 “Only this, 0 man of uncertain memory: 
 you met me that afternoon on Fifth avenue, 
 and arranged to drive me out to High Bridge 
 to dinner the next day. Now, what have you 
 to say for yourself ? Ought I to forgive you 
 after such a disappointment? And ever 
 since you have studiously avoided me. I 
 have had no chance to get an explanation.” 
 
 “I suppose I was ashamed of myself,” 
 stammered Nita, almost ready to burst into 
 sobs. “I -I had such important business 
 
236 
 
 A Bar gam in Souls 
 
 complications on hand at the time that they 
 drove everything else out of my head/’ 
 
 ‘‘And I waited for you almost in tears, 
 heartless creature, for two mortal hours, 
 expecting you to come. I had pictured to 
 myself another al fresco dinner, such as we 
 liad enjoyed there.once before, when we had 
 the table spread under the trees in a lovely 
 arcadian grove by the river. And you in- 
 sisted on feeding me like a baby, and we 
 laughed and chattered like a couple of 
 children let loose for a holiday, and were 
 just as foolish and happy. And you crowned 
 me with roses just as they do in romantic 
 poems, and we both sipped champagne out 
 of the same glass; and w^hen we parted, you 
 gave me this seal from your watch-chain — 
 see, I have kept it ever since,” taking the 
 little jewel out of her bosom. 
 
 “I think I had better keep this,” said Nita, 
 taking it and putting it away in her pocket. 
 
 “Ah !” sighed Miss Olcott, “those beauti- 
 ful days will never come again.” 
 
Two Tete-a-tctes 
 
 237 
 
 “Not if I can help it,” said poor Nita, to her- 
 self, grinding her teeth savagely. “Just leave 
 it to me that they will never come again.” 
 Controlling herself with an effort, she said 
 aloud, “Oh, I dare say we shall see a great 
 deal of each other this summer. There 
 may be many such pleasant days in store 
 for us both.” 
 
 “You don’t know how much that hope 
 cheers me,” said Miss Olcott, gushingly. “I 
 have now something to look forward to and 
 dream about when I am alone.” 
 
 “And so have I,” said Nita to herself, with 
 a frown. 
 
 “We can meet very often,” continued Miss 
 Olcott, “and no one need be any the wiser. 
 Your wife never sees anything; she is too 
 much blinded with love, poor little thing !” 
 
 “Not so blind as you think, you hussy !” 
 said Nita, under her teeth. Then, fearing that 
 her feelings would betray her,she said hastily, 
 “I think we had better go back to the par- 
 lor now or we shall be missed. It is just as 
 well to be discreet in these matters. 
 
238 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 ‘‘Oh, I know !” with a significant smile, 
 tapping her companion playfully with her 
 fan. “We understand, don’t we?” 
 
 Nita thrust her hands firmly in her pockets, 
 lest the temptation of having that smiling 
 face so near hers might prove stronger than 
 her self-control. 
 
 “Oh, yes, we understand,” she said, grim- 
 ly, as she lifted the portiere for Miss Olcott 
 to pass into the room heoynd. “And there 
 is some one else whom I shall come to an 
 understanding with before this night is 
 over” — grimly to herself. 
 
 It was with a sense of relief that she got 
 rid of Miss Olcott. Then, no longer able to 
 control her tears, and sick at heart, she 
 crept up to her room and flinging herself 
 on the bed burst into a flood of tears. 
 
 “Ah! it has come at last,” she murmured 
 brokenly, after the first paroxysm had passed 
 away. “I knew Arthur was concealing 
 something from me all along, and now the 
 terrible truth is made clear. Oh, how 
 miserable I am !” hiding her burning face 
 
7'wo Tete-a-tctcs 
 
 239 
 
 among the pillows. ‘‘How unhappy I am 
 and tears again choked her utterance. “To 
 think that Alice Olcott, my dearest friend, 
 should have plotted to make me unhappy ! 
 Hateful thing ! she shall never set her foot 
 across the threshold of this house again 
 while I am in it. And as for Arthur — I will 
 tell him what I have heard. He will attempt 
 to defend himself, but I will not listen. I 
 Avill leave him— I will go back to dear mamma 
 and try to find in her a solace for my poor 
 wounded heart. And when it is possible, I 
 will get a separation, and Arthur shall never 
 see me again— never !” And then she began 
 to cry afresh, and moaned and sobbed as if 
 her very heart were breaking. 
 
 How long she lay in this condition she 
 did not know; but she had forgotten all 
 about the party below, and was only occupied 
 in thinking of her own misery. 
 
 At last a thought roused her. She was 
 eager to see him, to confront him with the 
 details of his guilt, and to tell him that all 
 was over between them forever. 
 
240 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 She bathed her eyes hastily in some cold 
 water, for they were swoDen with crying, 
 and then hurried downstairs. The guests 
 had departed early, glad to get away from 
 such a gloomy entertainment. 
 
 Arthur was walking nervously up and 
 down the parlors, and started angrily as she 
 entered. 
 
 ‘T am glad to see you have been crying,” 
 he said, looking at her eyes. “But tears, 
 madam, will not wash away the scandal you 
 have brought upon your name.” 
 
 “And angry words, sir, cannot stifle the 
 voice of your coward conscience, that must 
 torture you at this moment for the wrongs 
 against your wife in the past.” 
 
 “What do you mean?” he demanded. 
 
 ‘‘What do you mean ?” she cried. 
 
 “I can read guilt in her face,” he said to 
 himself, eying Nita suspiciously. 
 
 “He is trembling already with shame” — 
 to herself as she boldly confronted him. 
 
 “You have deceived me!” they cried, 
 almost in the same breath. 
 
Two Tete-a-tetes 
 
 241 
 
 “Is he mocking me ?” she asked herself. 
 
 “Is it attempted bravery that she echoes 
 my words ?” he repeated to himself, with a 
 frown. “Let the sight of this bring a blush 
 to your cheek,” taking a long mousquetaire 
 glove out and waiving it triumphantly in 
 close proximity to Nita’s nose. “What have 
 you to say to this?” 
 
 “And what have you to say to fhuV' cried 
 the lady in pink, who was decidedly put out 
 at the sight of her glove in his hands. 
 
 “Where did you get my seal?” he stam- 
 mered. 
 
 “Where did you get my glove ?” 
 
 “I found it in possession of your dear 
 friend Jack Follonsby — mine no more. It 
 seems that you did not dislike him quite so 
 much as you pretended in the old days when 
 your soul had not changed places with mine. 
 He told me much of the past which you 
 would not care to have me repeat — of tete- 
 a-tetes by moonlight, etc. Ah, it was well for 
 you to complain of your household cares while 
 youwere singing andflirtingwithFollansby !” 
 
 16 
 
242 
 
 A Bar gam iii Souls 
 
 ‘‘And you did well to murmur about your 
 hard work on the paper when you were driv- 
 ing Miss Olcott all over the country, and 
 dining with hei^aZ fresco in arcadian groves ! 
 At least I have gained something by this 
 odious bargain in souls — I have found you 
 out.’^ 
 
 “My discoveries have been quite as num- 
 erous as yours, and more unpleasant,” he 
 cried. “My conscience is entirely clear of any 
 wrong. Adinnerunder the trees with my wife’s 
 intimate friend — what does that matter?” 
 
 “And I only entertained one of your stupid 
 associates because you were not here to take 
 him off my hands.” 
 
 “Evidently you did not find the duty as 
 unpleasant as you would have me think.” 
 
 “And I am not so silly as to believe that it 
 was through a desire to please me that you 
 dined and wined with Miss Olcott.” 
 
 And they both began walking angrily up 
 and down the room like two caged animals, 
 stopping in the middle of the floor to snap 
 out retorts. 
 
Two Tete-a-tetes 
 
 243 
 
 “Heartless woman !” 
 
 “Cruel deceiver !” 
 
 “To betray a trusting heart !” 
 
 “To take advantage of S young wife’s 
 innocence !” 
 
 Then she paused in the middle of the 
 floor and said : 
 
 “If you had shown any sign of repe.ntance, 
 I might forgive you ; hut no, you are hard- 
 ened ; you do not care if I break my heart.” 
 
 “If you showed some regret for your flir- 
 tation, I should be merciful ; but you have 
 the boldness to brave me out. Very well, I 
 have no more to say.” 
 
 “But I have. The law shall set me free.” 
 
 “The sooner the better.” 
 
 “I will return to my mother.” 
 
 “You have my full consent.” 
 
 They paused in the wrangle as a figure 
 suddenly appeared in the doorway. It was 
 Uncle Oliver’s Indian servant Gusko ; he was 
 very much agitated. 
 
 “Sahib,” he stammered, addressing Nit^, 
 “my Lord is dying.” 
 
244 
 
 A Bargain ui Souls 
 
 Then with a bound he disappeared up the 
 stairs again. 
 
 The husband and wife stood for a moment 
 regarding each other in stony silence. Sud- 
 denly Arthur started and seized Nita by the 
 arm; all hostility was forgotten. 
 
 ‘‘Did you hear he blurted out ; “Uncle — 
 
 Oliver — is dying 
 
 “Dying !” she murmured, vacantly. 
 
 “Yes,” seizing her arm, “he is dying, and 
 the secret of our souls will die with him.” 
 
 Then they broke away from each other 
 and rushed madly up the stairs, forgetting 
 their quarrel — everything but the new danger 
 that threatened their future ! 
 
IX 
 
 THEY AGEEE TO AGREE 
 
 It was quite evident to the husband and 
 wife, when they burst into the bed-room, 
 that Uncle Oliver’s last hour had come. Two 
 candles at the foot of the bed cast a pale 
 blue light over his withered features as he 
 lay there. 
 
 Over the old wizard’s brow hovered an 
 expression of utter abandonment, like that 
 of a man whose hours upon this earth are 
 counted. The breathing was short and pain- 
 ful, and the dry lips and pinched nostrils 
 almost gave to the face the aspect of a corpse. 
 
 In the corner the Indian was kneeling be- 
 fore a brass idol, pouring incense into a 
 
 245 
 
246 A Bargain i)i Soiils 
 
 brazier that burned at the base, and mutter- 
 ing prayers in an unknown tongue. 
 
 A strange shudder of apprehension ran 
 through the visitors as they noted the 
 preparations for the last hour. A sudden 
 feeling of helpless terror made them tremble. 
 He would die, and the secret with him ! 
 
 ‘‘Ah, my children,” he said, feebly, “it is 
 well that you have come while some life 
 still burns in this w^orn-out body. The light 
 of the candle flickers in the socket before the 
 breath of the destroyer.” 
 
 “Oh, uncle,” cried Nita, in a flood of tears, 
 “you must not die, you shall not.” And she 
 knelt down at the foot of the bed and clasped 
 one of the claw-like hands firmly, as if to 
 hold him back from the unknown abyss. It 
 seemed at that moment that the phantom of 
 a smile wreathed the withered features of 
 the old man as his eyes fell on the kneel- 
 ing figure. 
 
 “Allah Achbar ! God is great! There is 
 but one God, and Mahomet is his prophet. 
 Alahuma subahana hu ! The will of God be 
 
They Agree to Agree 
 
 247 
 
 done !” he murmured, piously. And the 
 Indian in the corner bowed his head toward 
 the east, and struck his forehead three 
 times, while he beat his breast despairingly. 
 
 “My children, I am sick unto death. 
 Draw near to me, for my breath is faint and 
 my voice is feeble. I would have you both 
 see that the bequests in my will are properly 
 bestowed. The bulk of my property I leave 
 to the Society of Historical Kesearch. The 
 revenues of my tea-garden on the Hoang-ho 
 you will pay in quarterly installments to my 
 faithful servant Guzko.” 
 
 Husband and wife heaved a dolorous sigh 
 at this point, but it was occasioned probably 
 by their melancholy surroundings and the 
 presence of death. 
 
 “But I have not forgotten you,” said the 
 old man. “I bequeath to you my greatest 
 treasures, that I have spent many long years 
 in collecting.” 
 
 “Ah!” murmured his nephew and niece. 
 
 “Yes,” he continued. “Now that my last 
 hours have come, let all past hostilities be 
 
248 JDargaifi in Souh 
 
 forgotten. I leave to you my priceless collec- 
 tion of petrified cats from the temples of 
 Thebes. 
 
 “Oh !” exclaimed husband and wife, look- 
 ing at each other blankly. “Oh !” they re- 
 peated. 
 
 “It is only just,” said the sage. “Be not 
 overcome Avith the magnitude of my gift. 
 It is the greatest reparation I can take for 
 your unselfish kindness toward me these 
 two years past.” 
 
 “Oh ! thank you, uncle, thank you !” 
 stammered Nita, feeling that she ought 
 to say something at that juncture. “We shall 
 cherish the cats for your sake.” 
 
 “Yes,” blurted out Arthur ; “they will al- 
 ways remind us of you, dear uncle.” 
 
 The old man looked up a little severely to 
 see if thei’e was any personal allusion in- 
 tended in the last remark, but the speaker’s 
 face was calm and placid. Arthur, in fact, 
 had been thinking very hard for the last few 
 moments. He could not reconcile himself 
 to the fact that Uncle Oliver was about to 
 
They Agree to Agree 
 
 249 
 
 die with their secret locked up in his breast. 
 Something must be done. They could not 
 resign him to the tomb without a desperate 
 struggle. He must live — he should live, at 
 least long enough to dissolve their odious 
 bargain. After that it would not so much 
 matter. 
 
 His resolution having been taken, he sud- 
 denly cried, gayly : 
 
 “Why do you talk of dying. Uncle? You 
 have many happy years in store for you. 
 We will pull you through, and in a few days, 
 at the most, you will be as lively as ever.” 
 
 Uncle Oliver looked at him in consterna- 
 tion from beneath his bushy eyebrows. 
 
 “Let me die in peace,” he murmured 
 “Allah Achbar. God is great. Let no one 
 dispute His will. My end has come. So it 
 is written in the book of fate.” And he 
 turned his face to the wall. 
 
 But they were not going to let him off so 
 easily ; too much depended on his living. 
 What a terrible future they must face if he 
 should pass away, and his secret with him ! 
 
250 
 
 A Bargain i?i Souls 
 
 Nita, too, seemed to grasp her husband’s 
 intention. Certainly it would never do to 
 resign him as long as a breath remained in 
 his body. They would fight with the grim 
 destroyer over the body of the victim he 
 would claim. 
 
 “Come, uncle,” cried Arthur, “the battle 
 is not half over. Be not faint-hearted ; we 
 will save you yet. The best doctors in the 
 city shall be called to consultation.” 
 
 “I won’t have them !” roared the dying 
 man, with astonishing vehemence for one 
 who had seemed so exhausted a moment 
 ago. “If you bring one in the house, I will 
 take poison and hasten matters.” 
 
 “Very well,” said Arthur resignedly ; “then 
 Vve must doctor you ourselves. I know by 
 the sound of your voice that you are many 
 miles off from death’s door.” 
 
 The invalid groaned and buried his face 
 in the pillows. 
 
 “Come, Nita, we must do all we can to 
 save our poor uncle. Go and get that copy of 
 ‘the Household Doctor’ that your mother 
 
They Agree to Agree 251 
 
 gave you. It is downstairs on my secretary. 
 Courage, uncle; we will save you;’’ as she 
 departed hastily on her errand. 
 
 “Go ’way and let me die,” howled Uncle 
 Oliver. 
 
 “Not if your loving relatives can help it,” 
 firmly. “We will outwit the gentleman on 
 the white horse yet. Have no fear.” 
 
 “Oh !” moaned the sufferer. 
 
 “First,”‘said Arthur, resolutely, “You want 
 more air. The room is charged with smoke.” 
 
 Guzko had now finished his devotions, and 
 had resumed his stolid position at the foot 
 of the bed. Arthur turned to him and said 
 hastily, “Guzko, we are going to save Lord 
 Oliver. Will you help me ?” 
 
 “Sahib, I swear it by the sacred arms of 
 Vishnu,” bowing solemnly. 
 
 “Guzko,” cried the old man from the bed, 
 “I forbid you. Obey me. I am still your 
 master.” 
 
 “If you would save his life, follow my 
 instructions, or you will be responsible for 
 
252 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 his death/’ said Arthur. “Pay no heed to 
 his words. They are the ravings of delirium.” 
 
 The servant nodded, and, placing his 
 forefinger on his forehead, bowed as if he 
 understood. 
 
 “Put out that smoking stuff !” cried Arthur, 
 vigorously. “We must first clear the room of 
 this incense;” and going to the windows he 
 raised the curtains and opened them wide 
 to the evening breeze. 
 
 “Oh !” howled the invalid, “I shall freeze 
 to death. Would you kill me before my 
 time ? Go away and let me die in peace.” 
 
 “Why, you are reviving already,” said 
 Arthur. “That is a good sign. Let me feel 
 your pulse,” rushing to the bed and taking 
 the old man’s wrist in his hand, much against 
 the other’s wishes. 
 
 “Ah, I thought so,” looking at his watch , 
 “a high fever. We must proceed to more 
 heroic treatment. Guzko — ” 
 
 “Sahib,” rising from his kneeling posture 
 where he had been extinguishing the fire on 
 the altar before the idol. 
 
They Agree to Agree 
 
 253 
 
 “Prepare a bath, and then bring up all 
 the ice there is in the refrigerator and put it 
 in the tub. We must reduce this fever.” 
 
 Again the sufferer broke out into groans 
 and protestations ; but they paid no attention, 
 and Guzko departed hastily on his mission. 
 
 “Do not excite yourself,” said Arthur, 
 calmly, holding the struggling invalid ; “it 
 will only aggravate your fever. Ah ! there 
 you are,” as Nita entered the room, her arms 
 laden with books and bottles. “Uncle is 
 already much better.” 
 
 “I’m not; I’m worse,” howled the dying 
 man. 
 
 “The fever has mounted to his brain,” 
 said Arthur. “I am going to give him an 
 iced bath to reduce it.” 
 
 “I have always heard mother say that a 
 mustard-plaster at the base of the brain was 
 excellent to draw away the blood from the 
 head. See how flushed he is.” 
 
 And in truth Uncle Oliver’s countenance 
 was as read as a lobster with the exertion of 
 screaming at his nephew. 
 
254 
 
 A Bargain ifi Souls 
 
 “Yes, I think half-a-dozen mustard-plasters 
 would be just the thing,” said Arthur, after 
 a moment’s thought. “Three on the chest, 
 two on the back of his neck, and — oh, yes, 
 one on the top of the head. The time has 
 come for the most heroic measures.” 
 
 “Oh, look at him!” cried Nita, as the suf- 
 ferer began to struggle and scream at the 
 thought of what was coming. 
 
 “I shall have to tie his hands. Y"ou see, 
 he is crazed with delirium,” said Arthur, 
 calmly; and he proceeded to tie the old 
 man’s wrists together with a silk handker- 
 chief in spite of Uncle Oliver’s profane 
 protestations. Nita had meanwhile pre- 
 pared the mustard-plasters and proceeded 
 to decorate him with them. Arthur having 
 threatened to put one over his mouth if he 
 persisted in screaming, silence was finally 
 restored; in fact the sick man was almost 
 too much exhausted to do anything but groan. 
 
 “His face is still very much flushed,” said 
 Nita, who had been consulting the medical 
 book, “Let us begin right here on this 
 
They Agree to Agree 
 
 255 
 
 chapter on fevers, and work our way through ; 
 by that means we shall be sure of hitting on 
 the right remedy.” 
 
 It required all Arthur’s strength at this 
 juncture from keeping Uncle Oliver from 
 bounding out of bed ; but the young guardian 
 was strong, and such a withered old man 
 was like a toy in his hands. 
 
 “A very sensible idea, Nita. Let us be- 
 gin at once.” 
 
 “There are several ways of bleeding,” 
 referring to the book ; “but if we try them 
 all at once we shall be sure to hit the right 
 one.” 
 
 “A very wise conclusion.” 
 
 “I think if you bled him on the soles of 
 his feet, on the chest, and put a dozen leeches 
 on each temple, it will do for the present.” 
 
 “Oh, why did I not die before you came 
 in ? Unhappy man !” murmured the sufferer. 
 
 “Now, while you are getting your lancet 
 ready — ” said Nita. 
 
 “I suppose an ink-eraser will do just as 
 well?” asked Vaness, 
 
256 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 “Oh, certainly ; the only thing necessary 
 is to have it sharp and make a deep incision, 
 so that there will be a good flow of blood.” 
 
 “I understand perfectly.” 
 
 “Good-bye, uncle, for the present,” said 
 Nita, bending over him lovingly. “You will 
 be well in a few days, thanks to our care. 
 While Arthur is bleeding you I shall be 
 preparing a nice tea that will make you 
 sleep. It’s made from my dear mother’s 
 own recipe, and has been handed down for 
 many generations in our family. It doesn’t 
 smell nice, but then it is all the more certain 
 to do you good. It contains pennyroyal, 
 molasses, boiled onions, cloves, and — and — 
 Dear me ! have I forgotten what the com- 
 pound was? Arthur — ” 
 
 “Yes, my dear.” 
 
 “Is there some kind of stuff with a Latin 
 name beginning asa— -assa.” 
 
 “Assafeetida.” 
 
 “Oh, yes, that must be it — assafeetida. 
 Now keep quiet, dear uncle, until I return. 
 
7'hey Agree to Agree 
 
 257 
 
 You are to take three pints every hour until 
 well and she bounded away gayly on her 
 mission of mercy. 
 
 “Arthur,” gasped the uncle, feebly. 
 
 “Yes, yes,” bending over him. 
 
 “Kill me before Nita gets back.” 
 
 And he sank exhausted among the pillows. 
 
 But Arthur paid small attention to the 
 old man’s ravings. Having bled him in four 
 or five places, and after Nita had forced him 
 to swallow several quarts of her decoction, 
 which had become burnt in the brewing, 
 they ran him up and down the room for a 
 half-hour, having read in the book that vio- 
 lent exercise was excellent to restore circu- 
 lation. 
 
 Then, having plunged him in the bath of 
 cracked ice, he was finally put back to bed 
 more dead than alive. 
 
 “Now you can take a short nap,” said 
 Nita, “and you will find yourself much better. 
 We will rouse you in half an hour, because 
 too much sleep is not good in your feeble 
 condition. You might fall into a comatose 
 
 17 
 
258 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 state from which there will be no waking 
 you. In a half-hour we will return and re- 
 new the treatment, because so far we have 
 only gone a page in the chapter on fevers.” 
 
 The uncle groaned and rolled his face 
 toward the wall, too feeble to make any re- 
 tort; while husband and wife went down- 
 stairs together, well satisfied with their work. 
 
 The excitement and worry of the last hour 
 had exhausted Nita. She sank down on the 
 sofa with a sigh of fatigue. 
 
 “I am afraid all of our efforts have been 
 in vain,” she murmured, plaintively. “He 
 seems to be slowly sinking.” 
 
 “And with him dies our secret,” said her 
 companion, with a groan. 
 
 “It is all your fault,” said Nita. “If you 
 had never brought him into the house, our 
 lives would not now be bound by this terrible 
 bargain. We could call our souls our own.” 
 
 “But it was you,” angrily, “who worried 
 him into the ceremony of changing them. I 
 was indifferent. Yon have only yourself to 
 blame that you have made your life wretched, 
 
They Agree to Agree 259 
 
 and dragged me down as well. Think of the 
 future before us. You have been well punished 
 for your discontent with your lot. 
 
 But Nita was too choked with tears at that 
 moment to make a reply. 
 
 “At least we have seen each other in our 
 true lights,” she said, after a moment’s 
 silence. “We understand each other better 
 than ever before.” 
 
 “Much good may that do us in the years 
 to come ! Better a life-time of ignorance than 
 those few weeks that have given us knowl- 
 edge.” 
 
 “A nice ornament to the gentle sex you 
 have made !” said Nita freezingly.” 
 
 “A beautiful example of manhood you 
 have displayed!” growled her companion. 
 “But for you, this bargain in souls would 
 never been brought about.” 
 
 “Don’t, don’t 1” cried Nita, in a flood of 
 tears. “Don’t try and make me feel more 
 miserable than I am. If I have done wrong, 
 let these tears show my deep repentance, 
 This is no time for mutual recriminations. 
 
260 
 
 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 We share a common danger. Let us de- 
 clare a truce until Uncle Oliver’s fate has 
 been decided.” 
 
 “Perhaps you are right ; but oh !” with a 
 pang of recollection, “if I could only have 
 my beautiful life back again ! Never would 
 I murmur at fortune, if it were only restored.” 
 
 “I deserve my fate,” said Nita, with a fresh 
 flood of tears, “I had everything to make life 
 happy, but I was spoiled and discontented. 
 The punishment is just, but it is hard, so 
 hard to bear !” wringing her hands despair- 
 ingly. 
 
 “Our repentance comes all too late.” 
 groaned Arthur. “We should have thought 
 of this before we made that terrible 
 bargain.” 
 
 He paused in the midst of his lamentations 
 at the sight of a strange apparition. Hus- 
 band and wife shrieked at the sight ; and in- 
 deed it was enough to appal the stoutest 
 heart. It was Uncle Oliver, or his ghost — 
 Uncle Oliver swathed in mustard-plasters, 
 and his brow crowned with leeches, his feet 
 
They Agree to Agree 
 
 261 
 
 wrapped in numerous white cloths. He 
 tottered to a chair and sank into it with a 
 groan. 
 
 “How imprudent of you !” murmured Nita, 
 rushing to his side. “Arthur, we must carry 
 him back to his room.” 
 
 “Never !” exclaimed the patriarch, smiting 
 his beard. “Not until I have had my say. My 
 children, I give in ; you have conquered me. 
 I have deceived you.” 
 
 “Deceived us?” 
 
 “Yes, I am not sick — that is, I was not 
 until you began to treat me, or rather mal- 
 treat me, for the fever,” making a wry face. 
 “The thought that Nita might arrive at 
 any moment and force me to take another 
 quart of her tea, or that Arthur would try to 
 dissect me again with a dull pen-knife, de- 
 cided me to demand a truce of hostilities 
 while some life still remained in my poor 
 old body.” 
 
 “Explain,” said the nephew; “you speak 
 in riddles.” 
 
 The old man cleared his throat and said : 
 
262 A Ba^'gain in Souls 
 
 “I feigned sickness to frighten you. I 
 did not think you had been punished enough,” 
 directing his glance particularly towardsNita. 
 ‘‘But you turned the tables on me complete- 
 ly, and almost made me wish that death would 
 indeed come to my relief. What was intended 
 only as a joke came near having a serious 
 ending. Another day of such treatment and I 
 should be ready for tlie last rites. I have come 
 dovm here to propose a truce ; to make a new 
 bargain with you — to give you back your souls 
 if in return I am permitted to live in peace 
 the little while Allah permits me to remain 
 on earth.” 
 
 “Agreed,” cried the husband and wife, 
 almost in the same breath. 
 
 The sage smiled. 
 
 “Are you quite sure this time that you 
 will not repent the exchange ?” 
 
 “We have suffered enough,” said Arthur. 
 “Give us back our old lives, and we will 
 never murmur at our lot again.” 
 
 “I have spoken ill of you, uncle,” cried 
 Nita, kneeling at his feet. “I have said 
 
They Agree to Agree 263 
 
 cruel things that I now regret. I am well 
 punished, I have learned a severe lesson 
 during these weeks. Eestore me to my old 
 place and you will never have cause to regret 
 it.” 
 
 “This experience has not been in vain,” 
 said the sage. “Verily the mummy’s secret 
 was not without value. It has given you an 
 insight into your own lives, and shown you 
 how you had despised the most generous 
 gifts of God. Let this lesson suffice. Be 
 content to live out with unmurmuring pa- 
 tience your several lives in that condition 
 it has pleased the Creator to call you to, con- 
 tent to sup on honey and on rue, for love 
 shall make the bitter sweet.” 
 
 They kneeled like two penitents ■ at his 
 feet, thinking dreamily of the sweet hope 
 held out to them by his words. And the 
 sage drew from his sleeve the famous box 
 and the tattered scroll ; and, again, as on 
 that fateful day, the lights flickered in the 
 clouds of incense, and. the pale blue flames 
 danced above the stooping figures, and then 
 
2()4 A Bargain in Souls 
 
 the mist of perfume floated away into thin 
 air, and the patriarch, raising his hands 
 towards heaven, murmured : 
 
 “Allah Achbar ! It is done/’ 
 
 Nita opened her eyes with a glad cry. A 
 great feeling of joy and rest came over her 
 as she looked up into Arthur’s eyes brimmed 
 with happy tears. Then, hiding her charm- 
 ing face in his bosom, she cried, “A — Arthur !” 
 ‘‘Darling !” pressing her lips. 
 
 “I — I am so glad we are us again !” 
 
 THE END. 
 
t 
 
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