Raspberry Jam | Page 9

can be parked."
"Go ahead, Gus," said Eunice; "we'll be all right here, but don't go far. I'll be nervous if you do."
"No, ma'am; I won't go a dozen steps."
"Extry! Extry! All about the Great Magic! Hanlon the Wonderful and his Big Stunt! Extry!"
"Oh, get a paper, Eunice, do," urged Aunt Abby from the depths of her fur coat. "Ask that boy for one! I must have it to read after I get home--I can't look at it now, but get it! Here, you --Boy--say, Boy!"
The newsboy came running to them and flung a paper into Eunice's lap.
"There y'are, lady," he said, grinning; "there's yer paper! Gimme a nickel, can't yer? I ain't got time hangin' on me hands!"
His big black eyes stared at Eunice, as she made no move toward a purse, and he growled: "Hurry up lady; I gotta sell some papers yet. Think nobuddy wants one but you?"
Eunice flushed with annoyance.
"Please pay him, Aunt Abby," she said, in a low voice; "I --haven't any money."
"Goodness gracious me! Haven't five cents! Why, Eunice, you must have!"
"But I haven't, I tell you! I can't see Alvord, and Gus is too far to call to. Go over there, boy, to that chauffeur with the leather coat--he'll pay you."
"No, thanky mum! I've had that dodge tried afore! Pity a grand dame like you can't scare up a nickel! Want to work a poor newsie! Shame for ya, lady!"
"Hush your impudence, you little wretch!" cried Aunt Abby. "Here, Eunice, help me get my purse. It's in my inside coat pocket--under the rug--there, see if you can reach it now."
Aunt Abby tried to extricate herself from the motor rug that had been tucked all too securely about her, and failing in that, endeavored to reach into her pocket with her gloved hand, and became hopelessly entangled in a mass of fur, chiffon scarf and. eyeglass chain.
"I can't get at my purse, Eunice; there's no use trying," she wailed, despairingly. "Let us have the paper, my boy, and come back here when the owner of this car comes and he'll give you a quarter."
"Yes--he will!" shouted the lad, and he'll give me a di'mon' pin an' a gold watch! I'd come back, willin' enough, but me root lays the other way, an' I must be scootin' or I'll miss the hull show. Sorry!" The boy, who had no trouble in finding customers for his papers, picked up the one he had laid on Eunice's lap and made off.
"Never mind, Auntie," she said, "we'll get another. It's too provoking--but I haven't a cent, and I don't blame the boy. Now, find your purse--or, never mind; here comes Alvord."
"Just fell over Mortimer!" called out Hendricks as the two men came to the side of the car. "I made him come and speak to you ladies, though I believe its holding up the whole performance. Let me present the god in the machine!"
"Not that," said Mr. Mortimer, smiling; "only a small mechanical part of to-day's doings. I've a few minutes to spare, though but a few. How do you do, Miss Ames? Glad to see you again. And Mrs, Embury; this brings back childhood days!"
"Tell me about Hanlon," begged Miss Ames. "Is he on the square?"
"So far as I know, and I know all there is to know, I think. I was present at a preliminary test this morning, and I'll tell you what he did." Mortimer looked at his watch and proceeded quickly. "In at the Free Press office one of the men took a piece of chalk and drew a line from where we were to a distant room of the building. The line went up and down stairs, in and out of various rooms, over chairs and under desks, and finally wound up in a small closet in the city editor's office. Well --and I must jump away now--that wizard, Hanlon, being securely blindfolded--I did it myself--followed that line, almost without deviation, from start to finish. Through a building he had never seers before, and groping along in complete darkness."
"How in the world could he do it?" Aunt Abby asked, breathlessly.
"The chap who drew the line was behind him--behind, mind you--and he willed him where to go. Of course, he did his best, kept his mind on the job, and earnestly used his mentality to will Hanlon along. And did! There, that's all I know, until this afternoon's stunt is pulled off. But what I've told you, I do know--I saw it, and I, for one, am a complete convert to telepathy!"
The busy man, hastily shaking hands, bustled away, and Hendricks told in glee how, through his acquaintance with Mortimer, he had secured a permit to drive his car among the front ones that were following the performance, which was to begin very soon now.
Gus