Buck Hawk, Detective | Page 2

It's not in she is, at all."
"Bah! ye can't stuff me. I've got a message for her."
"Let me have it thin."
"Like blazes! The boss sent me, and said I was to wait until his gal came in."
"Thin come along wid ye an' wait on the cheer in the hall till the young miss returns; an' mind, lad, I'll have an eye kept onto yez."
"Kerect, Biddy. But ain't you goin' to ax me into the parlor?"
"Not a bit of it. Sit yez right forninst the cheer in the hall, and if yez stir an inch I'll send the nagur up to bounce yez."
Presuming that Miss St. Clair was in the house, Turk took possession of the proffered chair in the richly-furnished hall, and with a parting nod of warning Biddy retired to the domestic quarters.
Turk had not waited long when a young woman, or, more appropriately, a girl, of about the boy's own age, came down the winding stairs.
She was neatly, yet rather plainly attired, but this fact did not detract from her exquisite beauty. A perfect mold of face and petite figure, with soft, dreamy, blue eyes, a tempting mouth, and rare health-tinted complexion, made her at once an object for attraction and admiration.
She uttered a little cry at sight of Turk, who was staring at her in wondering admiration.
"Great guns! ain't she a stunner? Ef my bank account were a little larger I'd go fer her, regular Cupid style," were his unuttered thoughts as he paused at the foot of the stairs in evident astonishment.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Sittin' down," Turk replied, with a grin. "The Irish stew sed as how I should wait here; didn't ax me into the parlor."
"Oh! you are a telegraph boy?"
"Not much. I'm a telegraph young man, if you please," Turk declared with self-conscious pride.
"Oh, why yes! Pray excuse my mistake," the young lady said, amusedly. "Have you a message to deliver?"
"Yes, I've got a letter here fer Miss Aurelia St. Clair, what her gov'nor sent, and sed I was to hurry back with a package what you would give."
"I have not the good fortune to be Miss St. Clair," the girl replied quickly and in a half scornful way, Turk fancied. "I am Etta Evelyn, Mr. St. Clair's niece. Miss St. Clair has gone riding in the Park, and will not be back for a couple of hours."
Turk scratched his head.
"Dunno what a feller's goin' to do?" he asked. "The boss sed I could deliver the letter to one of the servants, who would give me the package to fetch to him."
"If that is so, I can perhaps act for my cousin," Etta said, "though I know very little about uncle's affairs. Come in here."
She led the way into the grand parlor, and bade Turk be seated while she received from him the letter, and gave it a hasty perusal.
"What kind of a looking man gave you this?' she asked, as she finished.
Turk gave a rapid, minute description of the person in his off-hand way.
"That's uncle, to a dot," Miss Evelyn declared. "I can't imagine who is to purchase those costly diamonds, though."
"Diamonds!" echoed the messenger lad.
"Why, of course. Uncle has sent for the hundred-thousand-dollar set of diamonds, which he has tried so long to dispose of. I guess it will be all the same if I give them to you. Wait!"
She left the parlor, and Turk heard her tripping up the stairs for the jewels.
"It's a shame," he muttered, "how sum folks can waste their cash on gew-gaws, while the rest o' us have to dig like fun to get enuff ter eat! Wish I were rich as Jay Gould! I'd pop the question to Miss Etta, sure!"
Wishing had never made Turk rich yet, and so he knew there was no use for him to consider such a thing.
Miss Evelyn soon returned and handed Turk a jewel-case, wrapped up in paper.
"There! You are to take that direct to Mr. St. Clair," she enjoined, "and be very careful that you don't lose it, or make a mistake whom you give it to, for if you should, mercy only knows what they would do with us."
"Oh, never you fear! He'll get this box all hunky, if I don't get struck wi' lightning," was his confident assertion. "I suppose ye'll reckernise a feller, ef I should happen to meet ye, at the Bi-Centen?"
"Of course I shall," responded the young lady, as she ushered him out. "Be careful of the diamonds."
"But I will!" Turk replied, as he strode away down the street, whistling merrily, and wishing he was a millionaire.
At the Broad Street Station of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Turk found the man who had employed him for the errand pacing to and fro in the waiting-room, as if in great impatience.
His face lightened, however,