The Voice in the Fog | Page 5

suffragette." Sob. "I don't want to vote."
Sob.
And for the first time that night Killigrew smiled.
"Where's Kitty?"
He started to his feet. "She hasn't got back from the opera yet. She'll be
the death of me, one of these fine days. You know her. Like as not she's
stepped out of her cab to see what's going on, and has lost herself."
"But the Crawfords were with her."
"Would that make any difference with Kitty if she wanted to get out? I
told her not to wear any jewels, but she wouldn't mind me. She never
does. I haven't any authority except in my offices. You and Kitty. . . ."
"Don't scold!"
"All right; I won't. But, all the same, you and the girl need checking."

"Daniel, it was only because I wanted something to occupy myself with.
It's no fun for me to sit still in my house and watch everybody else
work. The butler orders the meals, the housekeeper takes charge of the
linen, the footman the carriages. Why, I can't find a button to sew on
anything any more. I only wanted something to do."
Killigrew did not smile this time. Here was the whole matter in a
nutshell: she wanted something to do. And there were thousands of
others just like her. Man-like, he forgot that women needed something
more than money and attention from an army of servants. He had his
offices, his stock-ticker, his warfare. Not because she wanted to vote,
but because she wanted and needed something to do.
"Molly, old girl, I begin to see. I'm going to finance a home-bureau of
charity. I mean it. Fifty thousand the year to do with as you like. No
hospitals, churches, heathen; but the needy and deserving near by. You
can send boys to college and girls to schools; and Kitty'll be glad to be
your lieutenant. I never had a college education. Not that I ever needed
it,"--with sudden truculence in his tone. "But it might be a good thing
for some of the rising generations in my tenements. I'll leave the choice
to you. And when it comes to voting, why, tell me which way to vote,
and I'll do it. I'll be a bull moose, if you say so."
"You're the kindest man in the world, Dan, and I'm an old fool of a
woman!"
Kitty burst into the room, star-eyed, pale. "Mother!" She sped to her
mother's side. "Oh, I felt it in my bones that something was going to
happen!"
"Think of it, Kitty dear; your mother, fighting with a policeman! Oh, it
was frightful!"
"Never mind, mumsy," Kitty soothed. She rang for the maid, a thing
her father had not thought to do. And when her mother was snug in bed,
her head in cooling bandages, her face and hands bathed in refreshing
cologne, Kitty returned to her father, "Dad, you mustn't say a word to
mother about it, but I've been robbed."

"What?"
"My necklace. And I could not identify the thief if he stood before me
this very minute. The interior light was out of order. He entered,
pretending he had made a mistake. He called me Enid and told me to
put up my collar; touched my neck with his hands. I was so astonished
that I could not move. Finally I managed to explain that he had made a
mistake. He apologized and got out; and it is quite evident that the
necklace went with him."
"Can't you remember the least thing about him?"
"Nothing, absolutely nothing."
"Where were the Crawfords?"
"I did not wait to see them. My cab was ahead of theirs. What shall we
do?"
"Notify the police; it's all we can do. They cost me an even ten
thousand, Kitty. And I told you not to wear them on a night like this.
I'm discouraged. I want to get out of this blasted country. I'm
hoodooed." Killigrew walked the floor. He took out a cigar, eyed it
thoughtfully, and returned it to his pocket. "Because they happen to be
born in this smoke, they think the way they do things is the last word
on the subject. I'd like to show them."
"Dad,"--with a bit of a smile,--"I know what the trouble is. You want to
go home."
"And that's the truth. This is the first trip abroad I ever took with you
and your mother, and it's going to be the last. I can't live out of my
element, which is hurry and bustle and getting things done quickly. I'm
a fish out of water. I want to go home; I want to see the Giants wallop
the Cubs; and I want my two-weeks' bass fishing. But I'll hang on till
the end of June as I promised.