The Girl from Farriss | Page 5

Pursen, "there is an occasional
note of encouragement that makes the fighting of the battle worth
while."
"For example?" suggested the assistant.
Mr. Pursen turned again to the "Monarch of the Mornings."
"Here is a quarter of a column devoted to an interview with me on the
result of my investigation of conditions in supposedly respectable
residence districts. The article has been given much greater prominence
than that accorded to the misleading statements of the assistant State
attorney. I am sure that thousands of people in this great city are even
this minute reading this noticeable heading--let us hope that it will bear
fruit, however much one may decry the unpleasant notoriety entailed."
Mr. Pursen held up the newspaper toward his assistant, who read, in

type half an inch high:
PURSEN PILLORIES POLICE
"The ointment surrounding the fly, as it were," suggested the assistant.
Mr. Pursen looked quickly at the young man, but discovering no sign of
levity in his expression, handed the paper across the table to him and
resumed his attack upon the cantaloup. A moment later the
telephone-bell sounded from the extension at Mr. Pursen's elbow.
"Yes?" inquired Mr. Pursen.
"Hello. Dr. Pursen?"
"Yes."
"This is Doarty."
"Oh, yes; good morning, officer," greeted Mr. Pursen.
Mr. Doarty came right to the point. He knew when to beat about the
bush and when not to.
"You been tryin' to close up Farris's place for six months; but you ain't
never been able to get the goods on him. I got 'em for you, now."
"Good," exclaimed Mr. Pursen. "Tell me about it."
Mr. Doarty unburdened himself.
"The girl will be in court this morning to appear against Farris," he
concluded. "You'd better get to her quick, before they do, and stick
until she's called. She'll need bolstering."
"I'll come down right away," replied Mr. Pursen. "Good-by, and thank
you."
"And say," said Doarty, "you can give it out that you tipped me off to

the whole thing--I'd just as soon not appear in it any more than I can
help."
'"Just so," replied Mr. Pursen, and hung up the receiver.
As he turned back his assistant eyed him questioningly.
"My friend Mr. Doarty has started something which he is experiencing
difficulty in terminating," guessed Mr. Pursen shrewdly.
At a quarter before ten the clergyman entered the court-room. He had
no difficulty in locating the girl he sought, though the room was well
filled with witnesses, friends, and relatives of the various prisoners who
were to have their preliminary hearings, and the idle curious.
"I am the Rev. Mr. Pursen," he said with smiling lips as he took her
hand.
The girl looked him squarely in the eyes.
"I come as a friend," continued Mr. Pursen. "I wish to help you. Tell
me your story and we will see what can be done."
There were three young men with the clergyman. They had met him, by
appointment, at the entrance to the courtroom. The girl eyed them.
"Reporters?" she asked.
"Representatives of the three largest papers," replied Mr. Pursen. "You
will be quite famous by to-morrow morning," he added playfully.
When Mr. Pursen had introduced himself a great hope had sprung
momentarily into the girl's heart--a longing that three months at Farris's
had all but stifled. Vain regrets seldom annoyed her now. She had
attained a degree of stoicism that three months earlier would have
seemed impossible; but with contact with one from that other world
which circumstances had forbidden her ever again to hope to
enter--with the voicing of a kind word--with the play of a smile that
was neither carnal nor condescending came a sudden welling of the

desire she had thought quite dead--the desire to put behind her forever
the life that she had been living.
For an instant a little girl had looked into the eyes of the Rev. Mr.
Pursen, prepared to do and be whatever Mr. Pursen, out of the fulness
of brotherly love, should counsel and guide her to do and be; but Mr.
Pursen saw only a woman of the town, and to such were his words
addressed with an argument which he imagined would appeal strongly
to her kind. And it was a woman of the town who answered him with a
hard laugh.
"Nothing doing," she said.
Mr. Pursen was surprised. He was pained. He had come to her as a
friend in need. He had offered to help her, and she would not even
confide in him.
"I had hoped that you might wish to lead a better life," he said, "and I
came prepared to offer you every assistance in securing a position
where you might earn a respectable living. I can find a home for you
until such a position is forthcoming. Can you not see the horrors of