SHORT STORY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 9, 5 October 1907, Page 11

SHORT STORY.

The Lady in the Park. It was a pleasant cay In June when Mr. Harold Clancy strolled in St. James's Park, London. Mr. Clancy was an American. lie was a Now Yorker. He was a clubman and a niodcntely wealthy man and a bachelor. A few times in his life ho • had been taken for a flat, but had satisfied the taker that he cut his eyeteeth at a very early age. He flattered himself that he could read character, at a glance, and that there was no danger" of his mixing ministers and blacklegs in the same'. bag. As he strolled and twirled his cane and patted himself on the back for being tho sharp, shrewd fellow that he • was, Mr. Clancy saw a devilish goodlooking woman seated on it bench. The adjective was his own. She was a woman of 30, well dressed and paying no heed- to the world around her. As the stroller strolled past her he decided that she was an American. Few devilish good-looking ladies sit on (he benches of St. James's Tark all by their lonesome at 3 o'clock in tho afternoon or any other hour of the day or night. It was not considered quite tho thing, don'cher know. Had this person been English it would have immediately occurred to Mr. Clancy that she was looking for an adventure, and that she might look in vain ;,s far as he was concerned, but ho had no sooner settled her nationality in his mind than a fellow-feeling was • born in his breast. That sentiment was succeeded by a fatherly feeling, although her age was certainly equal to his. The devilish good-looking woman was a 1 nig wiy from home- She might bo in London alone. She might bo in want of sympathy and advice. Of course, she would hesitate to appeal to an Englishman in her troubles, but when she learned that. Mr. Clancy was an American and fresh from the Stars and Stripes she would greet him as the. thirsting traveller greets the oasis in the desert. He had passed the lady by a hundred feet when these thoughts, drove him back. Sho was looking at his back. When ho turned she looked him in the lace and continued to do so until he stood before her. Then, as he dolled, his hat and bowed, she smilingly and sweetly slid— , "I knew that you were an American and would 'come back. Will you sit down?" Mr. Clancy rat down after'excusing himself. Tho nurse girls in the vicinity giggled, and a policeman passing along winked at him in a, solemn manner, but he refused to-be perturbed. In a few minutes he discovered that he had made-no mistake in-.entertain--ing that fatherly feeling. The devilish good-looking lady was t not only an American; hut a resident of Chicago when at home. She was also a widow of two years' standing. She had como % over to London, chaperoned by her mother and escorted by her lawyer, to see about some property. Her mother had been taken ill and was then unable to leave her b?d in tho lodgings ■ tho . lawyer had secured for them. She hersdf had got out that day for the first limb in a week to get a breath of fresh air. Tho story up to this point did not ca'ii for any great amount of sympathy, ; but there was more to it. The lawyer | had.suddenly and mysteriously disappeared, for a week nothing had been heard of him. He hadn't played any shyster trick on them, but had pro--1 bably been murdered. , The devilish good-looking lady had not gone to the police, nor had she iiolificd the American Minister. She was i feeling helpless in the matter, and wish-' [ ing had the adrico of a compatriot in ".er troubles. I 'fncro sat Mr Harold Clancy. He i was a compatriot.- He was willing and anxious to advise. He had a whole- . barrel of advice bottled up within him and anxious, to explode. He d:':V 1 .iuU'isj, and lie showed such a grasp'ef > .the situation as to draw words of a'd- ' miration.from tho ot'ier. L . Ho convinced her almost at.once, but i it was an hour later when she :asked him to convince her mother. The poor convalescent was worrying her heart 1 oat and would probably have a i- relapse unless' alio was convinced that, the lawyer had been abducted and held for ransom instead of being robbed and flung over the embankment, to float around in the muddy "waters of the Thames. I Could she—dare she, ask Mr. Clancy I. to call at her house and cheer and coni- ; f oft her mother ; Mr. Clancy promptly replied that she [ could, lie would-go with her. at right away. His motto, was—" Mothers ! comforted and cheered whibj you wait." ■ ' There were tears of gratitude in the lady's eyes, but his promptness was a ' little too prompt. She must,- for ssvornl reasons, some of which she. mentioned, and some she didn't, ask him to defer his call until evening. When this point had been settled they rose and separated. ' The nurse girls giggled again, and the | policeman came back with his solcmii, L wink, but tho devilish ' gcod-look.iig lady pretended not to see nor hear, ami | Mr. Clancy scowled at the nurse's and I clenched his fist at the guardian of the. 1 peace and vowed that he would lick him if'ho .ever caught the fellow in i America. I There were, four hours to waif. ; Mr.. i Clancy wont to his hotel to think and' dine.' '. The lady (without the adjective this ! time) had not.lisped, tho .remotest.hint that money was needed. On the con- ' trary, she had carried the opposite.idea. 1 Mr. Clancy was an astute man, how- \ ever. He "could sec through a square hole in a round grindstone, He had often been heard to say that the want of money caused nine-tenths of the trouble in this world. He had money in the hotel safe. He. drew it out and shoved it dorm a hind pocket ■ and felt himself heslcd.- . ■ i He would advise and comfort and s cheer the mother, with words, but not with words alone, When the proper moment came ho would spring' his ;. .'•' wad " and bog mother and daughter ' ;o accejit a few hundreds .as a loan. ' As he thought of their tears and,sobs of gratitude he had to use his own '. handkerchief to chas: away the welling i tears. '. The hour arrived. So did Mr. Clancy. ' It was a walk of only a quarter of a mile, and he stepped out briskly. Ho 1 was told that he was' expected and to ; walk upstairs and knock at the first' ■ door to tho right. 1 ' He followed instructions, and the > doeii was opened, but he had scarcely set foot inside the room when he received a blow from a sandbag and knew no \ more for hours. - When ho regained consciousness n policeman had him on a hand-barrow i and on his way lo a police station. He hadn't any clothes on worth men- > Honing, and, of course,, his money and jewellery had disappeared. , . The police called it a " plant,"-and. l they chuckled over its being a good p "plant" too. St. James's Park was watched for the next month, but the [ woman of the devilish good looks came , no more. [ . For a month llr. -Clancy had tho headache and couldn't do any astute thinking. Then the ache let up, and he announced to himself that he was a devilish idiot from over the pond, and ? wanted to forget tho whole thing as soon as possible—M. Quad, in the i "Boston Globe."