Jane Cable | Page 3

'Goodness me, Garrison, there must be
someone else!' Then, to her delights she is informed that Mr. Jackson
has just come in; and he is requested to come to the 'phone, Garrison
being dismissed with thanks and the expectation of seeing her butler in
the morning."
"How perfectly delicious!" came from the girl. "I can almost hear Mrs.
Rowden telling Jackson that he will be the dearest boy in the world if
he will dine with her."
"And bring someone with him, as she is one man short," laughed
Graydon, as he wound up lightly; "and here is where the professional
comes in. We're all onto Medford! Why, Garrison has half a dozen
requests a night--six times five--thirty dollars. Not bad--but then the
man's a 'who's who' that never makes mistakes. I won't be positive that
he does not draw pay from both ends. For, men like Medford, outside
of the club, probably tip him to give them the preference. It would be
good business."
There was so much self-satisfaction in the speaker's manner of uttering
these last words, that it would not have required the wisdom of one
older than Miss Cable to detect that he was thoroughly enjoying his
pose of man of the world. He was indeed young! For, he had yet to
learn that not to disillusion the girl, but to conform as much as possible
to her ideals, was the surest way to win her favour; and his vanity
surely would have received a blow had not David Cable at that moment
come out of the doorway across the sidewalk, pausing for a moment to
converse with the man who accompanied him. The girl's face lighted
with pleasure and relief; but the young man regarding uneasily the
countenance of the General Manager of the Pacific, Lakes & Atlantic
R.R. Company, saw that he was white, tired and drawn. It was not the
keen, alert expression that had been the admiration of everyone;
something vital seemed to be missing, although he could not have told
what it was. A flame seemed to have died somewhere in his face,

leaving behind a faint suggestion of ashes; and through the young
man's brain there flashed the remark of his fair companion: 'He's in
there now, working his dear, old brain to pieces.'
"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Jane," said Cable, crossing to the
curb. "Hello, Graydon; how are you?" His voice was sharp, crisp, and
louder than the occasion seemed to demand, but it was natural with him.
Years of life in an engine cab do not serve to mellow the tone of the
human voice, and the habit is too strong to be overcome. There was no
polish to the tones as they issued from David Cable's lips. He spoke
with more than ordinary regard for the Queen's English, but it was
because he never had neglected it. It was characteristic of the man to do
a thing as nearly right as he knew how in the beginning, and to do it.
the same way until a better method presented itself.
"Very well, thank you, Mr. Cable, except that Jane has been abusing
me because you were not here to---"
"Don't you believe a word he says, dad," she cried.
"Oh, if the truth isn't in me, I'll subside," laughed Graydon.
"Nevertheless, you've kept her waiting, and it's only reasonable that she
should abuse somebody."
"I am glad you were here to receive it; it saves my grey hairs."
"Rubbish!" was Miss Cable's simple comment, as her father took his
place beside her.
"Oh, please drive on, Jane," said the young man, his admiring eyes on
the girl who grasped the reins afresh and straightened like a soldier for
inspection. "I must run around to the University Club and watch the
score of the Yale-Harvard game at Cambridge. It looks like Harvard,
hang it all! Great game, they say---"
"There he goes on football. We must be off, or it will be dark before we
get away from him. Good-bye!" cried Miss Cable.
"How's your father, Gray? He wasn't feeling the best in the world,
yesterday," said Cable, tucking in the robe.
"A case of liver, Mr. Cable; he's all right to-day. Good-bye!"
As Jane and her father whirled away, the latter gave utterance to a
remark that brought a new brightness to her eyes and a proud throbbing
to her heart; but he did not observe the effect.
"Bright, clever chap--that Graydon Bansemer," he said comfortably.

CHAPTER II
THE CABLES

The General Manager of the Pacific, Lakes & Atlantic Railroad System
had had a hard struggle of it. He who begins his career with a shovel in
a locomotive cab usually has something of that sort to look back upon.
There are no roses along