Part 8 (1/2)

”I haven't thanked you, Mr. Van Bibber,” said Miss Cuyler. ”It was really fine of you, and most exciting. You must be very strong. I can't imagine how you happened to be there, but it was most fortunate for me that you were. If you had not, I--”

”Oh, that's all right,” said Van Bibber, hurriedly. ”I haven't had so much fun without paying for it for a long time. Fun,” he added, meditatively, ”costs so much.”

”And you will be so good, then, as not to speak of it,” she said, as she gave him her hand at the door.

”Of course not. Why should I?” said Van Bibber, and then his face beamed and clouded again instantly. ”But, oh,” he begged, ”I'm afraid I'll have to tell Travers! Oh, please let me tell Travers! I'll make him promise not to mention it, but it's too good a joke on him, when you think what he missed. You see,” he added, hastily, ”we were to have gone out together, and he forgot, as usual, and missed the whole thing, and he wasn't _in it_, and it will just about break his heart.

He's always getting grinds on me,” he went on, persuasively, ”and now I've got this on him. You will really have to let me tell Travers.”

Miss Cuyler looked puzzled and said ”Certainly,” though she failed to see why Mr. Travers should want his head broken, and then she thanked Van Bibber again and nodded to the officer and went in-doors.

The policeman, who had listened to the closing speeches, looked at Van Bibber with dawning admiration.

”Now then, officer,” said Van Bibber, briskly, ”which of the saloons around here break the law by keeping open after one? You probably know, and if you don't I'll have to take your number.” And peace being in this way restored, the two disappeared together into the darkness to break the law.

Van Bibber told Travers about it the next morning, and Travers forgot he was not to mention it, and told the next man he met. By one o'clock the story had grown in his telling, and Van Bibber's reputation had grown with it.

Travers found three men breakfasting together at the club, and drew up a chair. ”Have you heard the joke Van Bibber's got on me?” he asked, sadly, by way of introduction.

Wainwright was sitting at the next table with his back to them. He had just left the customs officers, and his wonder at the dirtiness of the streets and height of the buildings had given way to the pleasure of being home again, and before the knowledge that ”old friends are best.” He had meant to return again immediately as soon as he had arranged for the production of his play in New York; his second play was to be brought out in London in a month. But the heartiness of his friends' greetings, and the anxiety of men to be recognized who had been mere acquaintances. .h.i.therto, had touched and amused him. He was too young to be cynical over it, and he was glad, on the whole, that he had come back.

His mind was wide awake, and s.h.i.+fting from one pleasant thought to another, when he heard Travers's voice behind him raised impressively.

”And they both went at Van hammer and tongs,” he heard Travers say, ”one in front and the other behind, kicking and striking all over the shop. And,” continued Travers, interrupting himself suddenly with a shrill and anxious tone of interrogation, ”where was I while this was going on? That's the pathetic part of it--where was I?” His voice rose to almost a shriek of disappointment. ”_I_ was sitting in a red-silk box listening to a red-silk opera with a lot of _girls_--that's what _I_ was doing. I wasn't in it; I wasn't. I--”

”Well, never mind what you were doing,” said one of the men, soothingly; ”you weren't in it, as you say. Return to the libretto.”

”Well,” continued Travers, meekly, ”let me see; where was I?”

”You were in a red-silk box,” suggested one of the men, reaching for the coffee.

”Go on, Travers,” said the first man. ”The two men were kicking Van Bibber.”

”Oh, yes,” cried Travers. ”Well, Van just threw the first fellow over his head, and threw him _hard_. He must have broken his ribs, for the second fellow tried to get away, and begged off, but Van wouldn't have it, and rushed him. He got the tough's head under his arm, and pummelled it till his arm ached, and then he threw him into the street, and asked if any other gentleman would like to try his luck.

That's what Van did, and he told me not to tell any one, so I hope you will not mention it. But I had to tell you, because I want to know if you have ever met a harder case of hard luck than that. Think of it, will you? Think of me sitting there in a red-silk box listening to a--”

”What did the girl do?” interrupted one of the men.

”Oh, yes,” said Travers, hastily; ”that's the best part of it; that's the plot--the girl. Now, who do you think the girl was?” He looked around the table proudly, with the air of a man who is sure of his climax.

”How should I know?” one man said. ”Some actress going home from the theatre, maybe--”

”No,” said Travers. ”It's a girl you all know.” He paused impressively. ”What would you say now,” he went on, dropping his voice, ”if I was to tell you it was Eleanore Cuyler?”

The three men looked up suddenly and at each other with serious concern. There was a moment's silence. ”Well,” said one of them, softly, ”that _is_ rather nasty.”

”Now, what I want to know is,” Travers ran on, elated at the sensation his narrative had made--”what I want to know is, where is that girl's mother, or sister, or brother? Have they anything to say? Has any one anything to say? Why, one of Eleanore Cuyler's little fingers is worth more than all the East and West Side put together; and she is to be allowed to run risks like--”

Wainwright pushed his chair back, and walked out of the room.

”See that fellow, quick,” said Travers; ”that's Wainwright who writes plays and things. He's a thoroughbred sport, too, and he just got back from London. It's in the afternoon papers.”