WHEN SHORTY INTERFERED

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12517, 12 June 1906, Page 5

WHEN SHORTY INTERFERED

» I By A. S, Richardson. I "Hoav is Cartwright doing?" inquireel James Graliam, president of the Gra-ham-McKean Newspai>er League, as he ] lighted a fresh cigar and leaned back in the mcst comfortable chair the business office of "The Planet" afforded. "Rotten," was the terse reply of Kingsley, business manager of "The Planet," wdiich had been established recently in Omaha, and which promised to become one of the league's most profitable properties. "Wh-what's that?" thundered "the old man," as he was popularly known throughout the offices of uio GrahamMoKean- League. Ho sat up very straight and allowed his cigar to go out. "Why, a likdier cub Aye never ground out at the Clevedanel offices! I thought he was just the chno to make things hum in the advertising line for you fellows down here." "Oh, he did very well for about ten Aveeks, then he went bad. Girl in tho case." "Nice.girl?" inquired "tho old man," ns if sparring for time in which to recover from the shock. "Well, rather," answered Kingsley, dryly. "Judge Crump's only daughter." The president of the league leaned

back in his chair and roared with j laughter. j ••J3e-t the boy wins her out—and bcr ! grumpy old father, too. By Jove, the : rie-i-ve "of him! And it was just that j cool norvo. combined with a certain j 'win-or-die' method of going at things, ■ that made mc think he was just the ' right man for th:* office. A new paper j n-.vds an advertising man with s-::me- ■ thing more than mere nerve—a hang- ; ou-by-the-throat chap, you know." ; ••That's all A*ery well," said Kingsloy ; to>:ily. "hut lie cui't win bc:h ti,e airl , and lug advertising contracts for this ; pawl. One or the r.:hrr is to; suffer—and just now it is -'The Planet. , Hi. re's a big contract hanging lire with ti: ■ t.:ir pefi)!-.'—a neve ("rui opeeir.g up with all the htc-t wrinkles in bargain sales to exploit. We want half_ a page from them for the evening edition and a full pige for the Sunday. nn<l we'd get it, too. if Cartw-ight would cut nut lunch and pink tea elates with Mtss Crump—-and get down to hia-inces." '■Th-> eld men"' looked gr.iA-e. "Well, if it has come to that pass we j will have to ttiKe a hand in the game, i I'll have a talk with the boy iv mo : morning, and, by Jove, if he lets this ; Fair c< ntr .ret dido through 'his fingers lor a gill—he'li have to bo 'broken,' th.:'> all. It will be a Los Angeles or Salt Lake sheet for him, a.s a lesson in bu-inii-i ethics." The two men turned their attention i to other mat tens and dismissed Cart- j wright, the delinquent, from their ! minds. Not so the only other figure in the j big otfice. i '111 its was a thin, sharp-featured lad I of thirteen, bending over a box en the ■ other side of the partition which sepa- j rated the business offices proper from j tho circulation department. Evidently j the box had been serving as a table, j It was placed where the full strength j of the single gas-jet fell upon it, and \ scat-tend over its rough top were books, j shoots of copy paper and stubby i pencils. I T'p to the time Cartwright's namo I had been mentioned on the other side | cf the partition the sharp-featured bey had worked scowlingly OA-er the task of computing interminable columns in compound interest. Not that ho had any compunctions about eaA-osdropping, but he felt no particular interest in office politics or in the big man in the adjoining office who came around once in so often to make sure that the league was draAving its full diare of profits from "The Planet." But in Cartwright he felt a vital, an abiding, an alert interest, so as Graham and Kin.g.sley drew on their overcoats and passed through the great front door. the lad sat with his hands thrust deep into his packets, his shrewd mind turning over and over the conversation which he had just overheard. Shertv Donovan Avas the mascot cf "The Planet"' offices. He had been the finst "newisy" to grab copies of the first edition of the sheet, and he had beaten j all his fellow- to tho nearest corner, j yelling like mad. j The head of the circulation depart- I ment, who had started as a newsboy i had become interest ed in Shorty, and ! when he had found that the boy had neither parents nor guardian, and just "lived 'round any old place," he had seen to it that Shorty was adopted with duo co iv in on v by tho entire staff of "Tho Planet/ Shorty had accepted gratefully tho invitation to sleep in tho bunk provided for him in tho steam-heated cir-culation-room, but he had viewed with suspicion certain appliances, including half a dozen new towe's, a nail brush and a cake of soap which the typewriter from the front office had informed him Aye re placed in tho cabinet OA-er the washstand for his especial use. The business manager had given him a new suit of clothes on condition that lie attend night school three evenings in each week. The young lady who "diel" society and nomen's clubs had stopped one day on her way home to present him with some very nice underAvear, which ho considered highly unnecessary, and tho suggestion that she would allow him twenty-fivo cents .a week with which to take a bath at the barber shop around tho corner. Tho exchange editor had contributed a brand new pair of shoes and the advice that a boy who expected to succeed in life ought to learn to clean his teeth. Shorty had jnst about deckled to cut it all and go back to hogsheads filled with straw, which always stood in the rear of a certain obinawa.ro store, when Cartwright had loomed upon his horizon —and for Cartwright's sake he had stayed and washed and taken a weekly bath, and finally bought a tooth-brush. Cartwright had given him a number of neckties for which tho Avell-dreesed , young advertising man had felt no further iise. and instead of good advice he had giA-en his promise that tickets for tho vaudeville house would be forthcoming each week, adding the suggestion that "Peg" White, who had stolen two of Shorty's customers ono day Avhile the latter Avas doing special errand duty for the budness manager, stood j in line for the licking of his life. Since that auspicious day the supply j •of neckties had grown until Shorty had I been obliged to "swipe" an empty shirt box to keep them in good shape, and the Aveekly visit to the vaudevillo theatre had never failed. Hence, anything that affected CartAvright interested Shorty, and tho thought that his idol might be removed j to another piper in the league's chain struck the lad's soul with dismay. First, ho would miss the off-hand j good humour and ready sympathy of J tho young advertising man. Then there j wfs the girl! In a vague way Shorty realised that the girl meant more to Robert Cart- , wright than everything else in the world combined. For one long evening Shorty ha<l studied that girl as she sat between her father and GartAvright in a box at the theatre. Shorty had Ijeon located in the front

row of the gallery, but he had. said to himself that h-e needed neither "op'ry glasses" nor a closer inspection to "spot'" the girl as a ''queen." To-night the two were at the theatre again. Shorty knew, beciuso Cartwright had sent him to the hex office for tho tickets. And after the play they would go to a certain restaurant, where big plants stood a round the door ami the candle shades glowed redly. Shorty glanced up at the office clock. In ten minutes the curtain would fall. The-re was not an instant to wr.ste. He polished his shoes with a piece of waste, washed and rubbed his face until it glowed, jerked a ch-mi shirt o\;er his cio*e cropped head—and then hesitated. The shirt box filled with neckties in A-arit-u.s stages of semi-dilapidation presented a momentous question. In tho j evening Mr Cartwright always wore j what Shorty considered a very cheap j tie of white'wadi stuff, but ho had neglected to include this soit in his protege's equipment, so Shorty fell back on a silk tie of Alice blue as the least sombre of the lot. and with many screwing*: and moutkings of his sharp, salli/w face, he tied it into what ho considered a knot worthy of such a great occasion. Then dusting his derby (a gift from the sporting editor) Avith the underside of his ecat—leeve. he turned down the gas and slipped out into the blustery biackm.-K of tho night. "Bobby, do look at that funny boy sticking his head into the door every timo any one comes in. I do believe lie is tlying to attract your attention. Oh, just see, tho head waiter is driving him away." By the time young Cartwright had swung around at the table, the head waiter had flung Shorty, scowling and muttering, into outer darkness, but the boy managed to make one frantic signal to his idol. "By George, that's Shorty ._ Must be something wrong at the office if he's looking mc up. Would you mind " "Certainly not. Do go and see what he wants. I remember now that he was the boy who watched you instead of the stage at the theatre the other night." Cartwright had risen and was n ♦diing for his hat. Miss Crump flung him a mischievous glance. "Oh, do bring him in here and give him a real after-theatre supper. It would be such a lark." Cartwright hesitated. "What would people say?'' "Oh, they would think it just one of your funny stunts. Do, please! Send the head waiter for him. It will teach the disagreeable old thing a lesson." So it happened that Shorty, with Avidoning eyes, but no other sign of perturbation suddenly found himself sitting beside Cartwright's "queen." Some one tugged at his hat, and he tugged back. Looking up. he met the supercilious stare of a waiter. •'l'll keep mc lid." said the hoy shortly, and stilling the action to the word, he _lid his precious derby unde r hi 6 chair. "The queen" was saying something to him in a voice which, despite his cmlxarrassment, he compared mentally to "peaches an' cream goin' down." "Yes'm." ho replied median ioailiy, and then ho looked imploringly at Cartwright. / Thifs was not fair. Here he was, trying to save his idol's job, and said idol was placing him in a position so uncomfortable and unexpected that Shorty i felt the very chair .sliding out from ! under him and the ceiling closing down upon him. | Tho soft, "peachy" voice at his right Avas rippling on again. | "Yes'm." he renlied, and reached for I his hat in a wild desiro to fleo tho scene. I "Mies Crump is asking you what. 1 you'd like for supper, Shorty/ explained Cartwright, his eyes dancing. | "Mc? Supper," gasped Shorty, and his grip on his hat loosened. "Say, I jes' come to toll you -" I "And now that you're hero, what shall it be?" "Oh," replied Shorty, looking helplessly at the red shades, "beans an'—or steak -with French fries " Here his knowledge of delicacies failed him. "How would some fried oysters strike you?" suggested Cartwright, "and the French fries and some cold slaw?" "Gee!" almost shouted Shorty. Then he caught the gleam of laughter in "tho queen's" eyes, and jerked the knot in his Alice-blue tio until it almost choked him. When the Avaiter had taken Cartwright's order trouble broke out afresh j for the unhappy youth. 1 "And noiv, Shorty, what's Avrong at the office?" "De ol' man' 6 here," said Shorty, looking very hard at the red shades. "Oh, is that all?" said Cartwright lightly. "Naw, it ain't all, an' you kin bet yer everlastin' life " Shorty's glance roved from tho red shades to a slim white hand on which three or four rings sparkled. It rested on the table so dose that he could touch it with his elboAV. It was a pretty hand, and he Avondered if Cartwright had bought ono of the "shiners." "Well go on. Tho paper isn't going to shut down to-night, is it?" inquired Cartwright chaffingly. The boy looked at him in dumb misery. This was worse than he had dreamed. WTiy couldn't Cartwright como out like a man and talk it over on the sideAvalk ? "No, it ain't, but " Shorty swallowed something round and hard that had risen in his throat and roached for his hat again. He would rather forego the joys of real oysters and French fries and cold slaw than endtiro this inquisition a moment longer. The hand with the sparkling jewels was withdrawn from proximity to his elbow, and the "peachyV tones floated over tho table to Cartwright so softly

that Shorty could not hear just what she said.

"I think, Bobby, that if you had to talk to some one at the telephone right away, and used about two calls, don't you know, I might do something." Cartwright gavo her an adoring glance. Her gentle femininity had been Helen Crump's chief attraction to this s elf-made young man, and when she adopted this tone he could refuso her nothing. To Shorty he flung an "Excuse mc, o!d"*chap; back in a minute,"' and then the bewildered boy watched him disappear in the direction of the men's cafe. . "That is a very pretty tie you haA-e on. Shorty." "Yes'm, he give mc this." ••You are vorv fond of Mr Cartwright ?'' were tLo girl's next words. Shorty twisted his legs tightly about the rounds of the chair, and raised his eyes to her face. "Yon bet. -Say, he's white clear through. Why, ef I had a pape of mc own " '•Well, why don't you tell mc what the trouble is at the office? Sometime.-, you know, wo Avomen understand «ueh things."' If she had asked Shorty to knock down the offensive head waiter, he would havo essayed the task without hesitation. Another individual had passed into Shorty's pei-sonal pronoun class. Hereafter "the queen" would be ".she" to tho boy, as Cartwright had always been "he." "Do ol' man says ef he don't get that Fair contract to-morrow, it's out to Utah or Californy for him." "Tho Fair contract?" echoed tho girl wonderingly. "Yes'm—de page ad outen do new store on Sixteent' street." "Well, why cannot he get it? Can you toll him how?" Shorty looked straight into her eyes. They were nice eyes, and now they were not laughing, but they looked grave and troubled. "You're on de square, ain't you?" The girl nodded. "An' I'm tellin' you how it is, see? De ol' man says as how he can't chase petticoats an' pink teas an' wiolets an' the-ay-ters, an' get de ads, too, an' now it's de ads or de gran'# bounce West, see?" "Petticoats? What do you mean by chasing petticoats. Shorty?" inquired the girl, a faint glimmer of amusement in her eyes. "Petticoats is goils, see? But you ain't no petticoat—you're a queen, take it from mc."

"Does—does Mr Cartwright chase many—many petticoats, Shorty?" she inquired in a tone which the boy had never before heard her use. It had a tiny ripple of laughter in it, and yet there was something very like* a tear, an anxious tear there, too. "Saw," was tho prompt and scornful reply, "but didn't he take you out fer lunch to-day, an' drive wit' you to de country club dis afternoon, an' to do the-ay-ter? How'so goin' to get ads, I Avant t' know? Do youse want him bounced to Los Angeles?" "Mercy, no," replied the girl impulsively, and then she flushed in a way that made Shorty's eyes open Avider than eveT. Never had he seen a girl who could look so many different ways in such a bewildering short space of time. After that came silence for a full minute, then Shorty heaved a mighty sigh. She was so quiet that he decided he had made another mistake. "Guotti I'll mosey 'long. I hadn't oughter butt in." The pretty white hand with its sparkling rings rested just a few seconds on his arm. "Oh, no; you niust stay for supper. •But if I were you, I -would not tell Mr eartwright about this—antil—until tomorrow." "All right; jes' as you 6ay," replied Shorty, reseating himself for the third time, just as Cartwright strolled back. • After all, it was not such a bad evening for Shorty. It was somehow borne in upon him that she woulH straighten the matter out. To bo sure, Cartwright might get sore and withhold both the neckties and the theatre ticket, but one must sacrifice something to 6ave a friend. So Shorty ate h's real oysters and French fries and slaAv in philosophic happiness, and, incidentally watched Miss Crump sidling daintily at some creamy white, stuff in red paper cases that matched the candle shades, -vliile Cartwright, curious but happy, watched tho girl and wondered* why she kept her eyes on her'plate. Shorty held open tho carriage door, while Cartwright helped Miss Crump across the sidewalk, now a glare of frozen sleet. The girl paused at the door and gave Shorty her hand. "Good night, Shorty—and thank you 1"

The boy walked away slowly, turning his hand this way and that as if expecting to see this useful member transformed by the magic of its brief contact with hers. A gust of wind tossed the Alico-bluo tie into his face, and he ducked into a friendly alley which ran straight to the back door of "The Planet" offices. In the Crump carriage an ode! quiet prevailed. For once, speech failed the light-hearted, quick-tongued Cartwright. He felt that the air of the cozy coupe was charged Avith something more vital than the perfume of the violets which the girl was fingering nervously. For lack of something better, he was juit about to remark that the weather had changed suddenly, when the girl broke the silence. "Bobby." Her voice was a trifle ten6e. "Funny little chap, isn't he?" interrupted CartAvright volubly. Why had he not thought of Shorty before, as a topic of conversation? "Bobby," persisted the girl in a voice that had turned appealing. Or was the note ono of embarrassment? f'lf you really meant —what you said th? other night, don't you think it is about time Aye—we Avere more businesslike? Don't you. think you ought to spend less time—amusing me—and more time Avorking for me—for us—for our future, I mean? I never realised until to-night—that—that I had been playing with you like a child—and I'm a . woman." 1 "Helen, dear girl, do you mean this?" tie was groping for her hands and his voice had broken strangely, i The girl raised her eyes to his. It was a pity that S'licrty, sitting disconsolately on the edge, of his bunk in the circu-lation-room of "The Planet," could not have seen what followed. It Avas five that next afternoon before Shorty caught a glimpse of him. Tho boy was calling the first sporting extra on a windy corner when the familiar figure swung toward him. Cartwright's hand came down on the boy's shoulder, and Shorty dug his toes into a mound of half-frozen slush. It avhs coming—the caution not to butt in again. "Shorty." There was the old ring in his idol's voice. "Shorty, I thought you'd like to know I just closed a big oontract with the Fair people." The boy looked up, but something in Cartwright's face paralysed Shorty's ready tongue. "I thought. Shorty, you would like to know it fiist—even before I telephoned the news to—her." And then he was gone. Shorty, standing stock still, was suffering Avith an emotion and an ailment which had never beset him before. A most annoying blurr had come before his ey.s, and some organ of whesa existence he had never known was pumping and climbing up, up, into his very throat. "Golly, but ain't she the queen? She dona it all right," was all he 6aid, when his normal powers of speech had been • restored.