And the Law Goes A-Glimmering.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 78, 28 September 1907, Page 14

And the Law Goes A-Glimmering.

Diily Tappington was imaginative, romantic, twenty-sevon and — single! To multiply her contradictiveness, she was five feet one, a blonde by divino right, and — a lawyer. Add to this that sho looked not a day over twenty-one, and had a real sense of humour, and you cap ths climax of her individuality. With a handicap so great as this, it was nevertheless a tact that ever since the- Thompson versus Lloyd trial, old John Bloodgood was uot tho only lawyer who laughed on the wrong sido of his mouth when "Diminutive Delicia" — a court-room appellation— was his opponent on a case. That Delicia at tho bar and in the pursuit of justice was quite a different person from Dilly off her dignity and in the pursuit of happiness, passes without amendment. Dilly's single .state was not d.ue to_ any lack of suitors, but rather to an intense desire on her part for a truly romantic love affair. So it will be ssen that Delicia, the logical writer of briefs, tho pleader on circumstantial evidence, was always peeking into the futuie, seeking the apparently unattainable. Taking a lasfc satisfied peep at her pretty face in a long mirror, aud rearranging her square little tie, she 6tarted out on a certain eventful morn- 1 ing, much as sho had startefl on a nun- j dred or more other mornings. | Athlotio strides brought her quickly ! to a car, and she was hurried along, all j unconscious of the wicked little demon who was marking time for her ,that morning. At just what moment each day, rol- ] licking, jolly, dreumy Dilly Tapping- 1 ton was metsmorpho&od into dignified Delicia it would be difficult to ascertain. But the curious fact remains that \ always, when she reached the ten-story pile of masonry where sho spent tho major part of her days, tho change was wrought. It was 'Delicia, then, who braced her small figure against the heavy swinging door that, by its very weight, seemed to deny the right of entrance to such a dainty individual. By long experience she knew how heavy tho door really was, and exerted all her strength against it. Just as she did so, a fat man loomed up behind her, and hastily, though uot ungallaiitly, pushed' open the door. Unexpected assibtance 's often disastrous to dignity. The weight of her body 'meeting no resistance, Delicia stumbled forward, and would have fallen headlong, but for tho obstacle of a big I broad-shouldered young man against : f.'honi she ignominicusly sh.9t liko a ' bolt from a catapult. I His kpeee gave, and the good-bye he was saying wa3 nsver Inished. But ho kept his ieetj and, thank fortune, had the grac& not to laugh, as ho grabbed j an unwieldly leather case from a rnaa, I and followed an apologetic and .apoplectic looking young woman to the elovator. Confused, Dilly was only vaguely conscious that the fat man, who h^d plung* ed her into this abyas of humiliation by his untimely aid, iiad a carbunclo on his nose, stared at her amusedly, and got out on the- second floor. .A blea-chedr blondo and ,an anaemic-looking young man went past the third floor and had to be taken back. On the fourth floor a messenger-boy with a telegram, the laEt remaining passenger except the big young map, got cti. She was just com-ing-to enough to give him a sidelong look and wonder wnat he thought'of her as a human battering-ram, when bump — bump — whi? ! The elovator stopped short! "Oh!" Delicia's mind cleared with a jerk, as she was knocked back against tho sido of tho car. "Allow me!" tho big man jumped toward her. Delicia gave him an unseeing stare, but Dilly grew red again to the tip of I her atti active litttle nose. I "What's up, Tom?" tho big man had turaed quickly to the elevator boy. "Stuck!" was the elucidative, laconic rtjply, and Tom began to shout in a Voice that waved uncertainly from a fine falsetto to a deep bass : — "Sam! Sam! Sam!" They wc-re bslvecu tho sixth and seventh floors— the only placo iv tho running vthero tho walls of the building were so high that neither the door above nor the door below was visible whea in tho elevator. , Tho slioit interval peiore Sam answered allowed Delicia to becoino herself again, and grasp tho situation. Hero was she, Dcliqa Tappington, lawyer, forced to face, for no one knew how many lingering minutes, a man whose legs she had nearly knocked from under him, and that sums man the ono who had been her idoal for over a year. Noarly every day during that time sho had seen him, and quite every day sho had said to herself that he was "her style of a man." Ho was the horo of a I dozen of her "dish-pan dreams." She I had imagined that they had been introI 4ucod, that he nad culled, and that they I had become great friends. Onco she had I ijone far enough to plan — I "WhalJ in thunder do you want, i Tom ':" was wafted up to thorn in stertorinn tones. '•I'm stuck!" ■ "What'd you say?" "You deaf? I'm stuck, stuck! Now do you hear. Stuck. S-T-U-C-K-, stuck!" "I know it, you chump! you ain't thc> only pebbl&! Thf-y'ie ail stuck! "We're going 't get tho available ones out by ladders, but your load'll have t' wait 'til tho power's oji. Dilly smiled, Seeing ifc tho Big Man grinned." That grin was too previous. Delicia bethought herself of her dignity. "Why don't you pull the lover?" asked the Big Man. "Ain'l I been a-pullin'? Xow if you 1 think that jest pullin' this lever is goin' 1/ do any good, why you jes come right here and pull/ Frightened little screams, confused voices, and scurrying footsteps cam© from below. Tho elevator-boy turned around, and leaned comfortably against the door. •Tower's 'oft! bomething broke. Y'might r,s wnll take it easy! 1 ' The muffled sounds below continued. "Jlow long — " began tho Big Man. "Dunno how long; I was stuck two hours onct." "Two hours!" Dilly started forward. Down dropped a small parcel she was cariyinsj, and dowii went Dilly just in time to bump heads with tho Big Man, . who also went down to pick it up. "Hurt?" grinned the elevator boy. Surely this was Dilly's unlucky day, fOl no sooner had she grabbed her parcol and come up triumphant than she loosened che- hold on her muff, which slipped quietly to Iho floor. | This timo the Big Man did not stir. ] Ho looked on amused, whilo a bewitching bunch oi confusion struggled with an overgrown elevator boy for an elusive mutt. "Hero's your — " begun the elevator boy, and they both straightened up, but stopped abruptly as ;i pocket-book slid from- Lho muff's smooth interior to the floor with a dull imul. No ono stirred lor a seroncl. Each waited for th» other. Then simultaneously and with ono accord they nil bent for i<i together. "Allow me!" tho Big Man was rod. \ His shoulders shook, out he struggled

manfully, and the laughter within got no further than bis twinkling eyes. lie wos thorougnly enjoying the situation. A half-hour alone — the elevator boy didn't count — with 'Miss Demurity vias compensation for anything. Sho had been a threo-hundred-and-s.ixty-five days' wonder to him, and — he still vvondeied. "Hi! Tom. How many' s in y'r car?" from below. "Two besides me-. When y'r goin 1 t' get us out of bhie?" "Can't say. Better make yourself comfortable. Dynamo's down and out!" "You don't mean to say — " but tho Big Man was ruthlessly interrupted, » "I don't; mean to say nothin', bosß. We're doin' the best wo can!" "You better tako it easy." "'Yould yez loiko a sandwich!" "Or a rockingrchair?" The entire janitor torce of the building seesn,ed to be yelling the consolation of Job's conifovters to the prisoners. "Why, oh why," thought Delicia, "did I get this particular elavator?" The little demon that had dogged her footsteps all 'the m<?rning probably chuckled as Dplicia leaned back against tho elevator with & sigh. If any ono had bean asked to read the Big Man's thoughts just then, they would piobably ;havo been up against it. One is fjee to Buj-pose, however, that he didn't have a case on for that very afternoon, * for there were no deep wrinkles of anxiety on his brow. In fact, whatever his thoughts, they must have been pleasant, for a broad 'grin stole over his jolly smooth-shaven faco, his broad shoulders shook, and he suddenly broke out into a laugh that fairly jarred the car. "Well here's a how-de-do !" "Here's h, pretty mess!" Delicia's gloved hand new to her lips, which she bit till they ached., and her eyes grew big iv horrified astonishment at the sound of Bor own voice. "Oh, Delict* ! Delicia ! what have you done? But Delicia had suddenly, mysteriously left the N elevator, while Dilly and tho Elevator Boy joihed unrestrainedly ip the 'nearty, infectious, but totally uncalled for, laughter of the Big Man. "Enjoy yourselves !" "Tell us the joke !" "What' in the world are you laughing at' up there?" Dilly stepped midway in a peal of laughter tlfat slid uncompleted into nothingness. ' Her face was a study: What was she laughing at? Mr. Smith, her stenographer, was undoubtedly waiting for her at that, very moment. She did have an important fcase on for that very afternoon. Here "she was penned in a se^'en-by-eight 'space, like a rat in 'a trap, and she was laughing — actually laughing — with a, man whom she had never met," whoso name she did not even know! Bui— work of tho demon — away wont the conventions. Sho smiled again. "" Flying opportunities caught by the | coat-tail- had madeHhe Big Man, young as he unßoubtadly was, 'a factor 1)1 the financial world. ', Her sniilo raised the ante and ho called her. "Looks as tkough we'd have to make the best 6f it." -- - Dilly's smile .this time was decidedly t non-committal* but lie gavo the leather I case, an extra laj'ftCi queerly-shapod affair, a contented Jcick further into the corner. Then kicked- ib out again quickly. . . "You might as* w.ell be comfortable whilo .we are Waiting. Won't you sit ; down?" Ho might have been offering her a seat of state. "On the floorf" thori remembering how nearly she had precipitated him into that ridiculous posture, she blushed. "Hardly. On Jimraie Mason's case." "0, .thank you !" ■ Very caref-ally the. .big tnaja^fixed the case, which was larger than a small stool, so;6ho could, sit on the top of it. Very carefully sho sat dowh — vefy quickly, with a s>udden jerk sho came up 1 From tho * interior of tho bos, which; had unclasped a? ehe sai> down, came a deep, rumbling noise; The abruptness with which she jumped away from it allowed it to open flat and expose a perfectly-shaped model automobile fifteen inches high. The big man stooped hastily to shut tho caso. He was too late. With a loud "honk" that juvenile auto, the pride of its fond inventor, set oui on its wild career, unhindered and unchecked. It made straight for Dilly, who jumped nimbly to one side. Hitting tho sid" of the- elevator it backed with a rush at tho open-oyed Tom. ,who give a wild whoop of terror at the onslaught and attempted to climb tip the elevator's side. Tiien the big man did a buck and wing end double-barreled side-step, as, striking the opposite wall, it flew back at him. Thoroughly alive to all its possibilities, the thing made another pass to the now hysterical Dilly v "Look out !" yelled tho big mnn, and Dilly jumped, just in lime to escape being run down. Back and forth in tho tiny space it flaw, caromed from one bide of tho car to tho other, while every thirty seconds it gave vent to a "honk" all out of proportion to its size. First a wild dash at Dilly, then a charge at the big man, followed by a flying leap at the heels of the climbing boy, each of whom, dishavollod, hysterical, mad, and jubilant, according to age, sex, and condition, soon looked like tattered remnants of an Indian war dance. ' And still tho thing cavorted and rarcoiod, until poor Dilly lost all her hairpins ; pencils flew from tho big man's pockets, and the elevator boy, fiom his perpendicular "post, viewed it all with gloe. Konk .'—Bunt !— Bunt I— Honk ! "Stop it ! Stop jt, or'"— houk— "l shall certainly luugh myself to death!" shrieked Dillv. Tho «i.t»_ man, meanwhile, was execrating Jimmie M.isqn — tho elevator, hirasplf~-for ever promising to look after the foolish inventor's model that morning. Dilly didn't know it, however, for ftlortd, between his own jump 3 and the honk of the'fiyiug car, ho was giving her hasty instructions. "She's coming ! Jump left ! Steady ! Now wait ! Thore sho comes ! To your right ! ' To your right !" "Back and forth, and back and forth,' il wont, untij Dilly was dizzy and lighthraded with tryinsr to keep out of its siigsag path. Fijinljy, msb as sho, worn out wit.h laughter and hysterics, would hsvo fallen in an exhausted heap, *o bo ruthlessly travelled over by that little infernal machine, the big man caught her up m his stiong arms and held her there. "Sir! Oh! Please—" He had acquired nn easy movement now, and only jumped when tho auto' wns directly upon him. "Thoro now you can rest n minnto, for goodness on!v knows how long that uarned tiling will go. It 'may bo a perpetual motion affair. Jimmio Mason is capablp of "it." "Oh! please, plcaso!" but the big man did not please. Honk, honl,-, honk! Morqover, he was decidedly too bußy to pay much attention to even 50 eloquont a young lavyej-. Honk, honhj honk! Tight in tha arms of a Big man with twiuklißj; eyes anrl n sympathetic voice, namo unknown, Dilly felt (he remains of her dignity sail out from her to follow tho refractory Deliria. She grew pink and lod »nd blue all over when she thought of it, but sho was too exhausted jind too I\\ll of gigcler. to jemonstiato. After tho firat horrified squirm sho -was perfectly' still. Honk, honk, honk! "Salt, render, vinegar, mustard I"

sang out the elevator boy in derision at tbe big man, who was moving with tho agility of ' a. professional rope -jumper. "Its a good thing"— jump— "that you aro liUle !" The elevator bqy craned his neck to hear, but the words were lost in the whiz, bumps, and honks of tho auto. "I guess it's a"— jump— "good thing that you are"— honk — "big!" Dilly shrieked the last word. "Tom, Tom ! What in thunder's loose up there?" "A law-breaking automobile without no chaflev," yelled the boy to the thoroughly alarm?d and mystified crowd below. Honk, benk, honk! "Are you" — jump — "comfortable?" he was looking into a pair of wondorf ul blue eyes as he held her stretched out across his arms in the way a man holds his first baby. "Perfectly !" then she ad"clod ruefully, "but I must be dreadfully heavy." Honk, honk, honk ! "'Not, a bit!" — jump- — "I like it." "But you'd better put me down."— jump — "I'm sure it's going slower !" "Slower! It's gathering velocity at every bump!" Honk, honk, honk ! Now the big man was almost panting in his exertion to keep his feet from under the machine. "Is'nt there — " "I'm afraid not"-^jump — "It will have to run down !" — jump — "Wail till I see Jimmie Mason 1" Jump. Jimmie Mason never knew what asimple meeting of two pairs of ej'es at that crucial moment saved him. ' Dilly turned white- She was obliged to turn spme colour and was already as red as was consistent with nature. Honk, honk, honk! "What" — jump — "Will you do to him?" she asked idiotically, and would immediately have kicked Herself, if tuch a feat had been compatible with her peculiar position. "I think I'd bless him !" "Please lot me down !" and two quivering lashes hurriedly concealed tho two half-ashamed, half-pleased blue eyes. "To be"--3ump — "upset by a raging, diabolical red devil ! Never !" "But I — you'll get—" "The blooming thing must" — jump— "run down soon 1" "Run down!" the elevator boy fairly raised the roof as he caught those words. "Run down ! It looks like running down don't it? If it don't quit in about oix jerks, I'm going t' fall down ! Why don't y' stop it, y' chump? Put down Miss Tappington and throttle 'er, can 1 * ye? I want educated in no zoo! I can't cling t' elevator sides like a longtailed monkey. Kick it"! Darn it! Why don't f lack it?" "Tom," the big man was as dignified as possible between hops. "Torn, if you are so versed in stopping perpetual motion, you just fall down into tho ceptre of this seethipg arena and do it !" Miss Tappington! So this was the the "lady lawyer" that he had so often ridiculed? This dainty bit of feminity whooe name ho had never known, but with whom he had been falling- in lovo for a year, was the much-talked of "Diminutive Delicia!" lie might have known it! She was saving something. "You mu&t'lct me down ; the boy is—" "You'd get .run over !" "Then why haven't — why don't you kick it?" reproachfully. "Why, Miss Tappington, I wouldn't injure that macliine unless far harder pressed than this. Jimmie Masoa has been half a lifetime — " ! The exasperated boy's. boot had given a vicious thrust at the* offender that land, ed it against the opposite side of >he car. Vengeance, swiftly pvfertoolc^ainij however, for he !ort 'his nold au<* crtme to the floor with a thwack ! But cuffs and kicks were as lost on the mechanism of thht- devilish machine as jibes and jeers on the drivers of its lifesize disabled prototype?. Built for travel, it went — a libel on the shape it bore. Honk, honk, honk ! Heretofore it had simply see-sawed back and forth. Xow 't 'dashed backward, forwnid, and sidewise. It was impossible to know when, how, or where it was coming. Diablery was rampant, within it. "Oh! do. do please let me down! I insist ! You are panting for breath !" And the dance of the tbreo was on again ! lionk, honk, honk ! Suddenly Dilly -gave a frightened gpsp, jsnd clutched nervously at the back of her skirt. Her face, now surrounded by a disorded muss of yellow curls, fcrew a duller, deeper red than ever beforo. Consternation, tint would have been funny to see had there been time to look, ebone out of her eyes. BUMP ! ' Ths engine of torture Lit her and fcbied off iit the big man. She cried out in agitation, but did r.ot jump. Again it made f<Jr her. The second time she did not offer to budge. And then, after another wild go at the big man and tho boy, it shot into tbe furthest cprner-r-not so far oiihe;- — and started at her full tilt! It .-corned to Dilly that it fairly exuded mnlico ns it came. "Jump !" shouted tbe big mm. "I can't" groaned c-xcitctlly. Instantly he was at her side. "What—" "It's comiu' !" yelled tho boy. This time, involunlarilv, §he' did jump. Then the bip man, following her chagrined plaiice, looked at her f«et. Tneie. in all the profusion of dainty ruffles and shimmering silk, was a dark" green petticoat. ■ ' Honk, honk, houk ! The ele\-fltor boy Rav«r one fulsome ehout of cl6c. Ho didn't" give another. "Hi, there: Boss! You needn't shake my daylights out!" Then, in the confusion and in spite, of her dreadful humiliation, Dilly had an idea. She stooped down, grabbed the offoudinp petticoat, stepped hastily out of it and stood waiting. Tho nest second, as the hilarious autdcar, in its rounds, sped at her daintlyshod feel, and side-stepped, dropped en l^er knees, and threw the skirt over it, and had the thumping machine securely in her arms. The inau \yns still shading the boy. ''I've got it "' die sjioke triumphantly, but in a low. subdued tone of wonder sis .-t a miracle. "What <3o you intend to do with it?" tho bit; inaa towered above her. "If I let it go, it will run away !" "I expect it will !" somewhere behind his ere>; he was laughing- at her. "It wiints to go ««>\v !" Into tho laugh behind his eyes there cnvn?. ;t t?nderiifSs jind rlntcrniination. "I (•iin'c huid it alone!" She was nearly crying. "It's deitlny, darling. We'll hold it together.' 1 He dropped on lire knees at the oppobile side of tho j>nlo. A man below— ble&s him — began a loud, exclamatory conversation with the elevator boy. "Sir!" Startled and frightened were tlie blue ejes that now looked into his. Delicia of the convcniions was struggling to come bnckj but a muffled nonk, sent her flying away again into tho unknown. "l'leon. 1 , please, Us — " "If I help, will you promise, dear, that you will not struggle when next I have you in roy armsi" . ' Something in his gaze hold Delicia breathless. She was loanung — learning comething that wa6 beyond tlw law, beyond justice, beyond ' convent idgs, and jjiecious tib'ove tfiem all r I "Prouu&g V'