Red Rock Opinion (Red Rock, Okla.), Vol. 6, No. 42, Ed. 1 Friday, May 28, 1909 Page: 2 of 10
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Red Rock Opinion.
K 4 Iltrkm*M Editor find I'iiMMk-i
Mr- Annul' Hickman K'lltor PjmwIhI
Ira II W If Irkrniill, Solicitor aikI FleM Mrt.
KYA) Hit K OKI,/ HO IA
PICTURES
WEIL
BRASS
BOWL
£>> £0£//5 JOSEPH VANCE
hands In coat pock''tii; a tall, slender,
Hpaibely bull) figure of a man, clothed
Immaculately In flannels.
When at length he was able to make
himself heard: "Good enough," he said
clearly, though without rasing his
voice. "Sherry's In an hour. Right.
Now, behave yourselves."
"Mind you show up on time!"
"Never fear," returned Maitland over
his shoulder.
other she had passed down the steps' born.- " quoted Mad Maitland, sentl-
and swept by Maitland without giving ; mentally—
him a glance, without even the trem- j •• Two shall be born the whole wld«
bllng of an eyelash. And he had
view of her back as she moved swiftly
away toward the avenue.
Perplexed, he lingered upon the
stoop until she had turned the corner;
after which he let himself in with a
latch key, and, dismissing the affair
temporarily from his thoughts, or pre-
t nj uuui uis luuugius, or pre-
A witticism was flung back at him tending to do so, ascended the single
from the retreating car. but spent flight of siairs to his flat
ltnelf unregarded. Maltland's atten , . , .
tion was temporarily distracted by the heard clumr inT th^h ' * W" 0 be
unusual—to say the least-sight of a I^'Dg ?? ?a «nent steps;
and surmising that the Janitor was
young and attractive woman comingi r0mln* tn n*ht h = nJ "
out of a home for confirmed bachelors ™£ , ,, 8, , ' y0Ung
rB- man waited, leaning over the balus
(Cop/rluht 11*7, The ItuL,>ja-U«rrl 11 Co.)
CHAPTER i.
Oust.
In the dull hot dusk of a summer's
day a green touring car, swinging out
of the East drive, pulled up smartly,
trembling, at the edge of the Fifty-
ninth street car tracks, then more se-
dately, under the dispassionate but
watchful eye of a mounted member of
the traffic squad, lurched across the
Plazu and merged Itself In the press
of vehicles south bound on the avenue.
Its tonneau held four young men,
all more or less disguised In dust, dus-
ters and goggles; forward, by the side
of the grimy and anxious eyed mechan-
ic, sat a fifth, In all visible respects
the counterpart of his companions. Be-
neath his mask, and by this I do not
mean hlB goggles, but the mask of
modern manner which the worldly
wear, he was, and Is, different. He
was Daniel Maitland, Esquire; for
whom no further Introduction should
be required, after mention of the fact
that he was, and remains, the Identical
gentleman of means and position In
the social and financial worlds, whose
somewhat sober but sincere and whole
hearted participation in the wildest of
conceivable escapades had earned him
the affectionate regard of the younger
set, together with the sobriquet of
"Mad Maitland."
Ills companions of the day, fhe four
in the tonneau, were In that humor of
subdued yet vibrant excitement which
Is apt to nttend tho conclusion of a
long, hard drive over country roads.
Maitland, on the other hand (Judging
him by his preoccupied pose), was al-
ready weary of, If not bored by, tho
hare-brained enterprise which, in-
itiated on the spur of an Idle moment
and directly due to a thoughtless re-
mark of his own, had brought him 100
miles (or so) through the heat of a
broiling afternoon, accompanied by
spirits as ardent and Irresponsible ns
/lis own, In search of tho dubious dis-
traction afforded by the night side of
the city.
As, picking Its way with elephantine
nicety, the motor car progressed down
the avenue twilight deepening, arcs
upon their bronze columns blossoming
suddenly, noiselessly into spheres of
opalescent radiance Mr. Maitland
t eased to respond, ceased oven to give
heed, to the running fite of chaff
(largely personal) which amused his
companions. Listlessly engaged with
a cigarette, he lounged upon tiie green
leather cushions, hhlf closing his eyes,
and heartily wished himself free for
tho evening.
Hut he stood committed to tho hu-
mor of the majority, and lacked entire-
ly tho shadow of an excuse to desert;
In addition to which he was altogether
too lazy for the exertion of manu-
facturing a lie of serviceable texture.
And so abandoned himself to his fate,
even though he foresaw with weariful
particularity the programme of the
coming hours.
To begin with, .'10 minutes were to
be devoted to a bath nnd dressing in
his rooms. This was something not so
unpleasant to contemplate. It was the
nfterwards that repelled him: Dinner
at Sherry's, the subsequent tour of
roof gardens, the late supper at a club,
and then, prolonged far into the small
hours, the session around some green-
covered table In a close room reeking
wltli the futnes of good tobacco and
hot with the fever of gambling. . .
Abstractedly Maitland frowned,
tersely summing up: "Itoastly!"—In
u 11 undertone.
At tills the green car wheeled ab-
ruptly round a corner below Thirty-
fourth street, slid half a block or more
east, and came to a palpitating halt.
Maitland, looking up, recognized the
entrance to his apartments, and sighed
with relief for the brief respite from
boredom that was to be his. He rose,
negligently shaking off his duster,
and stopped down to the sidewalk.
Somebody In the car en lied n
warning after him, and turning for a
moment lie stood at attention, an eye-
brow raised qulszlcally, cigarette
The apartment house happened to
be his own property. A substantial
and old fashioned edifice, situated In
the middle of a quiet block, It con-
tained but five roomy and comfortable
suites—in other words, one to a floor,
and these were without exception ten
anted by unmarried men of Malt
land's own circle and acquaintance.
The Janitor, himself a widower and a
convinced miBogynlst, lived alone In
the basement, iiarring very special
and exceptional occasions (as when
one of the bachelors felt called upon
to give a tea in partial recognition of
social obligations), the foot of woman
never crossed its threshold
In this circumstance, Indeed, was
comprised the singular charm the
house had for Its occupants. The
quality which Insured them privacy
and a quiet Independence rendered
them oblivious to its many minor
drawbacks, its lack of many conven-
iences and luxuries which have of late
grown to be so commonly regarded as
necessities. It boasted, for instance,
no garage; no refrigerating system
maddened those dependent upon it
dissipated electric lighting system
never went out of nights, because it
had never been installed; no brass-
bound hall boy lounged in desuetude
upon the stoop and took too intimate
and personal an interest In the ten
ants' correspondence. The inhabl
tants, In brief, were free to come and
Sight of a Young and Attractive Worn
an Coming Out of a Home ftir Con
firmed Bachelors.
go according to the dictates of their
consciences, unsupervised by neigh
borly women folk, unhindered by t.
parasltic corps of menials not in their
personal employ.
Wherefore was Maitland astonished,
and the more so because of the season.
At any other season of tho year he
would readily have accounted for the
phenomenon that now fell under Ills
observation, on the hypothesis that the
woman was somebody's sister or cous-
in or aunt. Hut at present that expla
nation was untenable; Maitland hap-
pened to know that not one of the oth-
er men was In New York, barring
himself; and his own presence there
was a thing entirely unforeseen.
Still incredulous, he mentally conned
the list: Barnes, who occupied the
first Hat, was traveling on the con-
tinent; Conkling, of the third, bad left
a fortnight since to Join a yachting
party on the Mediterranean; Bannister
and Wilkes, of the fourth and fifth
floors, respectively, were in Newport
and lluenos Aires.
"Odd!" concluded Maitland.
So It was. She had Just cloysd the
door, one thought; and now stood
poised as If in momentary Indecision
on the low stoop, glancing toward
Fifth avenue the while she fumbled
with a refractory button at tho wrist
of a long white kid glove. Blurred
though It was by the darkling twilight
and a thin veil, her face yet conveyed
an Impression of prcttlness; an Im-
pression enhanced by careful groom-
Inn. From her hat, a small affair,
something green, with a superstruc-
ture of gray ostrich feathers, to the
tips of her russet shoes—Including a
walking skirt and bolero of shimmer*
l"K gray silk—she was distinctly
"smart" and Interesting.
He had keenly observant eyes, had
Maitland, for all his detached pose;
you are to understand that he com-
prehended all these points In tb*> flick-
ering of an Instant. For the Incident
he
drooping from a corner or his mouth, j was over In two seconds. In one the
bat pushed back from his lurehead, lady s hesitation was resolved; in an-
ters. His guess proving correct
called down:
"O'Hagan? Is that you?"
"Th' saints presarve us! But 'twas
yersilf gave me th' sthart, Mlsther
Maitland, sor!" O'Hagan paused In
the gloom below, his upturned face
quaintly illuminated by the flame of a
wax taper in his gaslighter
"I'm dining In town to-night, O'Ha-
gan, and dropped around to dress. Is
anybody else at home?"
"Nlvver a wan, sor. Shure, th' house
do be quiet's anny tomb
"Then who was that lady, O'Hagan?"
"Leddy, sor?"—In unbounded amaze-
ment.
"Yes," impatiently. "A young wom-
an left the house Just as I was com-
ing In. Who was she?"
"Shure an' I think ye must be
dr'amln', sor. Divvle a female—ray-
splcts to ye!—has been in this house
for manny an' manny th' wake, sor
"But, I tell you—"
"Belike 'twas somewan jist sthepped
into the vesthibule, mebbe to tie her
shoe, sor, and ye thought—"
"Oh, very well." Maitland relin-
quished the Inquisition as unprofitable,
willing to concede O'Hagan's theory a
reasonable one, the more readily since
he himself could by no means have
sworn that the woman had actually
come out through the door. Such had
merely been his impression, honest
enough, but founded on circumstan-
tial evidence.
"When you're through, O'Hagan," he
told the Irishman, "you may come and
shave me and lay out my things, if
you win."
"Very good, sor. In wan minute."
But O'Hagan's conception of the
passage of time was a thought vague;
his one minute had lengthened into
ten before he appeared to wait upon
his employer.
Now and again, In the absence of
the regular "man," O'Hagan would at-
tend one or another of the tenants in
the capacity of substitute valet; as in
the present instance, when Maitland,
having left his host's roof without
troubling even to notify his body-serv-
ant that he would not return that
night, called upon the Janitor to under-
study the more trained employe;
which O'Hagan could be counted upon
to do very acceptably.
Now, with patience unruffled, since
he was nothing keen for the evening's
enjoyment, Maitland made profit of
the interval to wander through his
'►rooms, lighting the gas here and
there and noting that all was as It
should be, as it had been left—save
that every article of furniture and
bric-a-brac seemed to be sadly in want
of a thorough dusting. In the end he
brought up in the room that served
him as study and lounge—the drawing
room of the flat, as planned in the for-
gotten architect's scheme—a large and
well-lighted apartment overlooking the
street. Here, pausing beneath the
chandelier, he looked about him for a
moment, determining that, as else-
where, all things were in order—but
gray with dust.
Finding the atmosphere heavy, stale,
and oppressive, Maitland moved over
to the windows and threw them open.
A gush of warm air, humid and redo-
lent of the streets, invaded the room,
together with the roar of traffic from
Its near-by arteries. Maitland rested
elbows on the sill and leaned out, star-
ing absently Into the night; for by
now It was quite dark. Without con-
cern, he realized that he would be late
at dinner. No matter; he would as
willingly miss it altogether. For the
time being he was absorbed In vain
speculations about an unknown wom-
an whose sole claim upon his consid-
eration lay In a certain but immaterial
glamour of mystery. Had she, or had
she not, been In the house? And, if
the true answer were in the affirma-
tive, to what end, upon what errand?
His eyes focused insensibly upon a
void of darkness beneath him—night
made visible by street lamps; and he
found himself suddenly and acutely
sensible of (he wonder and mystery of
tho City; the City whose secret life
ran fluent upon the hot, hard pave-
ments below, whose voice throbbed,
sibilant, vague, strident, Inarticulate,
upon the night air; the City of which
he was a part equally with the girl In
gray, whom he had never before seen,
and In all likelihood was never to
see again, though the two of them
were to work out their destinies within
the bounds of Manhattan Island. And
yet. . ,
"It would be strange," said Maitland
thoughtfully, "If . . He shook
his head, smiling. " 'Two shall be
world apart—'
A piano organ, having maliciously
sneaked up beneath his window, drove
him Indoors with a crash of metallic
melody.
As he dropped the curtains his eye
was arrested by a gleam of white upon
his desk—a letter placed there, doubt-
less, by O'Hagan In Maltland's ab-
sence. At the same time, a Bplashing
and gurgling of water from the direo-
tion of the bathroom informed him
that the janitor-valet was even then
preparing his bath. But that could
wait.
Maitland took up the envelope and
tore the flap, remarking the name and
address of his lawyer in its upper left,
hand corner. Unfolding the Inclosure,
he read a date a week old, and two
lines requesting him to communicate
with his legal adviser upon "a matter
of pressing moment."
"Bother!" said Maitland. "What ths
dickens—•"
He pulled up short, eyes lighting.
"That's so, you know," he argued.
"Bannerman will be delighted, and—
and even business is better than rush-
ing round town and pretending to en-
joy yourself when it's hotter than ths
seven brass hinges of hell and yo
can't think of anything else. . . .
I'll do it!"
He stepped quickly to the corner of
the room, where Btood the telephone
upon a small side table, sat down, and,
receiver to ear, gave central a num.
ber. In another moment he was in
communication with his attorney's res-
idence.
"Is Mr. Bannerman In? I would like
to—"
"Why, Mr. Bannerman! How do
you do?"
"You're looking 100 per cent, bet-
ter—"
"Bad, mad word! Naughty!—"
"Maitland, of course."
"Been out of town and Just got your
note."
"Your beastly penchant for econ-
omy. It's not stamped; I presume you
sent It round by hand of the future
president of the United States whom
you now employ as office boy. And
O'Hagan didn't forward It for that
reason."
"Important, eh? I'm only in for the
night—"
'Then come and dine with me at the
Primordial. I'll put the others off."
"Good enough. In an hour, then?
Good-by."
Hanging up the receiver, Maitland
waited a few moments ere again put-
ting It to his ear. This time he called
up Sherry's, asked for the head-waiter,
and requested that person to be kind
enough to make his excuses to "Mr.
Cressy and party;" he, Maitland, was
detained upon a matter of moment,
but would endeavor to Join them at a
later hour.
Then, with a satisfied smile, he
turned away, with purpose to dispose
of Bannerman's note.
"Bath's ready, sor."
O'Hagan's announcement fell upon
heedless eai s Maitland remained mo-
tionless before the desk—transfixed
with amazement.
"Bath's ready, sor!"—imperatively.
Maitland roused slightly.
"Very well; In a minute, O'Hagan."
Yet for some time he did not move.
Slowly the heavy brows contracted
over intent eyes as he strove to puz-
zle It out. At length his lips moved
noiselessly.
"Am I awake?" was the question he
put his consciousness.
Wondering, he bent forward and
drew the tip of one forefinger across
the black polished wood of the writing-
bed. It left a dark, heavy line. And
beside, clearly defined In the heavy
layer of dust, was the silhouette of a
hand; a woman's hand, small, delicate,
unmistakably feminine of contour.
"Well!" declared Maitland, frankly,
"I am damned!"
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
OKLAHOMA NEWS
Oklahoma City Wins Big Meet.—
Oklahoma City won the Arkansas Vafc
ley field and track meet at Wichita,
Kansas, making a total of 30% points.
This gives the Oklahoma Cltv high
school the Pierce trophy cup for the
year. Throughout the meet Oklahoma
schools had things all their own way.
Tonkawa preparatory school won sec-
ond honors with 24V6 points. The
Varney cup goes to Tonkawa.
Public Utilities Men Organize.—
Sapulpa was selected as the place
for the next meeting of the gas and
electrical dealers and all owners of
private corporation water works and
lighting plants, who met at Oklahoma
City and organized the Oklahoma Pub-
lic Utilities organization, with the fol
lowing officers: E. C. Reynolds, Sa-
pulpa, president; H. G. Stetmon,
Chandler, treasurer; G. Crow, Guthrie,
secretary. Vice presidents were
elected to represent different sections
of the state.
To Decide Tax Ferret Law.—Geo.
A. Matlock, J. II. Everest and John H.
Wright, attorneys for County Treas-
urer C. H. McCafferty, have filed an
answer in the supreme court to the
petition signed by Attorney General
West, County Attorney Reardon of
Oklahoma county, and C. H. Pittman,
Oklahoma county tax ferrett, in which
a writ of mandamus was asked to com-
pel McCafferty to proceed with the
collection of taxes on property
amounting to $14,000,000, "dug up" by
Tax Ferret Pittman. The answer
brings the question of the validity of
the law squarely before the supremo
court, It being claimed that he tax
ferret bill was not constitutionally
passed by either house. Superior
Judge Sandiin of Logan county has
held that he law did pass legally, and
that the courts cannot ge behind the
journals of the legislature and the
signed copy of the bill. Other points
are raised by McCafferty, but most
of them question only the work o'
Pittman as done In Oklahon.a coun-
ty.
EDUCATION OF FRENCH GIRL.
First Care Is to Shield Her from All
Knowledge of Evil,
Education is under the mother's
constant supervision. The Bible Is
never put into a child's hands. Scrip-
tural history is very much bowdler-
ized, and no story is told in the works
reserved for the young that would im-
ply that any of the kings of Judea
had ever been guilty of the slightest
indiscretion. The expurgation of pro-
fane history is still more complete,
and the average French girl grows
up with no idea that any scandal ever
occurred In the days of the Bourbon
kings. As the "jeune fille" advances
In years she may have male profes-
sors of history, Latin, dancing or mu-
sic, but no carefully brought up girl
Is ever left alone with a professor. If
she wishes to pass examinations an*
has to attend courses of lectures, she
Is always accompanied by her gov-
erness, who Is bound to report if any-
thing in any shape or form bordering
upon Impropriety has been said.
When, therefore, a^French girl first
goes into the world she knows very
little.—London Saturday Review.
For Pensions of $1 a Day.—Adopt-
ing resolutions favoring a dollar a day
pension bill, opposing the erection of
the Wirtz monument at- Anderson-
ville, Ga., and congratulating Musko-
gee as a convention city the G. A. R,
of Oklahoma completed its nineteenth
annual session at Muskogee. Alva
was selected as the meeting place in
1910. Following are the officers
elected: Department, commander,
William Higgins, Bartlesville; senior
vice commander, B. N. Turk, Enid;
junior vice commander, Luther Jen-
kins, El Reno; medical director, H. A.
Baker, Miami; chaplain, M. B. Wood,
Stillwater; delegate to national en-
campment, Salt I-ake City, George
Williams. Dover; J. A. Tait, Guthrie;
J. C. White Oklahoma City; J. G.
Unges, Enid, William Thompson, No-
wata. W. R. C.—President, Mrs. Mae
S. \ ampner, Guthrie; senior vice pres-
ident. Mrs. Myrtle Demlng, Wood-
ward; junior vice president. Mrs.
Laura Lindley, McAlester; treasurer,
Mrs. Sarah Wiikins, Chandler; chap-
lain, Sarah Thompson, Pawnee; ex-
ecutive council, Mrs. Little, Okmul-
gee; Mrs. McHenry, Tulsa; Mrs. Bolt,
Wagoner; Mrs. Webster, Oklahoma
City. Ladles of G. A. R.—President,
Mrs. Alice Fielder, Enid; senior vice
president, Mrs. Rhoda A. Warren,
Edmond; junior vice president. Eliza-
beth Soward, Guthrie; treasurer, Miss
Belle Koehendorfer, Hinton; secre-
tary, Mrs, Flora Benton, Enid; coun-
cil of administration, M. Alice Adams,
Oklahoma City; Mary P. Herrod,
Guthrie; Georgia Brower, Kingfisher;
delegates to national convention, Eliz-
nbeth Furrow, Guthrie; Blanche Barth-
bouse, Guthrie; Nancy Taylor, Enid.
Alternates, Elizabeth Soward, Guth-
rie; Malinda Cummin, Kingfisher;
Nancy Taylor, Enid. Counsellor,
Clara M. Brown, Kingfisher.
Section 13 Cash Available—An
opinion of great interest to the state
educational institutions of tho west
side of the state is that rendered to
Secretary Charles Barrett of the state
board of agriculture which holds that
the schools can continue to use tho
revenues from the rental and sales
of section 13 of the school lands of
the state, or lands taken In lieu there-
of. Secretary Barrett, on behalf of
the agricultural and mechanical col-
lege at Stillwater, which gets $31,293
a year of this fund, asked the attor-
ney general for an oplnon as to
whether the funds are still available.
Attorney General J. C. West holds
that the act of 1907-8 was virtually a
continuous appropriation, to extend
until It should expire by limitation,
and that the money could be collected
annually until November 10, 1910.
The schools that benefit from this
fund are the three west side normals,
the A. & M. and colored agricultural
colleges, the state university, and the
university preparatory school at Ton-
kawa. The total revenue per year to
be divided between these schools is
$104,310.
1
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Hickman, E. J. Red Rock Opinion (Red Rock, Okla.), Vol. 6, No. 42, Ed. 1 Friday, May 28, 1909, newspaper, May 28, 1909; Red Rock, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc131842/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.