The Girl from Farriss | Page 3

eyes of the plain-clothes man had not failed to detect the
little shudder of horror that had been the visible reaction in the girl to
the sudden recollections induced by mention of that unpleasant affair,
and while he had no reason whatever to suspect her or another of any
criminal responsibility for the man's death, yet he made a mental note
of the effect his words had had upon her.
Had she not been an inmate of the house at the time the thing occurred?
And was it not just possible that an excellent police case might be
worked up about her later if the exigencies of the service demanded a
brilliant police coup to distract the public's attention from some more
important case in which they had blundered?
For a moment the girl was silent. How badly he had frightened her with
his threat Mr. Doarty had not the faintest conception, nor, could he
have guessed the pitiable beating of her heart, would he have been able
to conjecture the real cause of her alarm. That the policeman would
assume criminal guilt in her should she allow her perturbation to
become too apparent she well knew, and so, for the moment of her
silence, she struggled to regain mastery of herself. Nor was she
unsuccessful.
"It wouldn't get you anything," she said, "to follow that lay, for the
report of the coroner's physician shows that Mr.--that the man died of
heart disease. But, cutting out all this foolishness, I'll swear to a
complaint against Farris if you want me to--if you think that it will get
you anything. Though, and you can take it from me who knows, it's
more likely to get you a prairie beat out Brighton way--there's many a

bull pullin' his box to-night out in the wilderness who thought that he
could put one over on Abe Farris--and Farris is still doin' business at
the old stand."
As they talked they had been walking toward the street and now Doarty
crossed over to the corner with the girl and pulled for the wagon.
"What did it stand you to forget the guy's name?" he asked, after they
had stood in silence for a time awaiting the wagon's tardy arrival.
"They offerred me a hundred," she replied.
"An', of course, you didn't take it," he ventured, grinning.
The girl made no response.
"The newspapers sure suffered an awful shock when they found the old
bloke was one of the biggest stockholders in two State Street
department stores," continued Mr. Doarty reminiscently. "They say his
family routed the advertising manager of every paper in the city out of
bed at one o'clock in the morning, and that three morning papers had to
pull out the story after they had gone to press with it, and stick in a
column obituary tellin' all about what he had done for his city and his
fellow man, with a cut of his mug in place of the front page
cartoon--gee! but it must be great to have a drag like that."
"Yes," said the girl in a faint voice.
Faintly in the distance a gong danged.
"Them guys is sure takin' their time," observed Mr. Doarty.
A little crowd had gathered about the couple at the police-box, only
mildly curious, for an arrest is no uncommon thing in that section of
town; and when they discovered that no one had been cut up, or shot up,
and that the prisoner was scandalously sober they ceased even to be
mildly curious. By the time the wagon arrived the two were again
alone.

At the station the girl signed a complaint against one Abe Farris, and
was then locked up to insure her appearance in court the following
morning.
Officer Doarty, warrant in hand, fairly burned the pavement back to
Farris's. It had been many a month since he had made an arrest which
gave him as sincere personal pleasure as this one. He routed Farris out
of bed and hustled him into his clothes. This, he surmised, might be the
sole satisfaction that he would derive, since the municipal court judge
before whom the preliminary hearing would come later in the morning
might, in all likelihood, discharge the defendant.
If the girl held out and proved a good witness there was a slight chance
that Farris would be held to the grand jury, in which event he would
derive a certain amount of unpleasant notoriety at a time when public
opinion was aroused by the vice question, and the mayor in a most
receptive mood for making political capital by the revocation of a few
saloon licenses.
All this would prove balm to Mr. Doarty's injured sensibilities.
Farris grumbled and threatened, but off to the station he went without
even an opportunity to