The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 24, 1897, Page 18

1897 [Copyri ) 4 CHAPTER V.—CoONTINUED. Why bad the woman duped me? How could it have been possibie for her to sim- alate sll that I had n in her conduct ? And then, why have given the counter- feiting tools to me? If, being hard pressed, the counterfeiters desired to be rid of them, there were a bundred safer I'he blindfoldi d rly to prevent my conduct- ers (o the house. How could and simple been done ¢ ing the offi W I clear myself by finding the real crimi- | Is? | How did you come to know or suspect | t this valise wasin my possession?’’ I at is my own affair,” replied Martin. Somwe mystery, as yet impenetrable, was certainly in the background of this extra- ordinary affsir. 1 was groping for the WO s hand in it. How long,”’ 1 asked, “have you been ware of these counterfe: % opera- tions?” | is a silly question,” answered “Do you want to make a state- I bung my head. I hated to betray the woman, and yet a bitter resentment was boiling within me. *I 'want more time to think,” 1 said. “Tuis is a very strange case. Do you in- | tend to lock me up?’ *Certainly.” “My arrest will be published 2" “For the information of your confeder- ates? No, indeed]” “Dio you suspec: who they are?” I asked eageriy. You may tell me if you choose.” *1 do not know; I am their blind and inngcent tool.” “Of course!” “I suppose I may be liberated on bail?”’ | “So that you may warn your pals? Per- | haps!” ironically said Martin. “Very well; 1 shall resort to habeas | corpus. i Habeas corpus be hanged! How can | sou get habeas corpus with no one in-} ormed of your arrest and none to apply | for the writ?” | *“Wha'! Do you mean to say that Iam not to be permitted to empioy an attor- ney?” “You've guessed it precisely. Now, come along, and don’t tryv anything funny.”’ In jajl I found abundant time for re- dection. It happened that I was nearly | a stranger in San Francisco, and hence | my disappearance would not likely be | noted. Two days and nights in prison, with no visitor except the guara who | brought my meals, broke my spirit and | filled me with an immeasurable sense of | desolation. Oun the third day I sent for Martin ana the United States District At- torney and demanded of them tbat Ibe | arraigned. The District Attorney looked | Martin, who said to me: { e a statement to make we | will hear it.” “What do you expeci? A confession?” | I asked. | “Yes, if you choose."’ the name of common sense,” I cried, | “do not 1ake me for u fool! If Iam guiity | I will not confess, and if I am innocent there is no confession 1o make. I bave | sent for you merely to ask that for the sake of all that is just and decent you arraizn me.” “Are you so anxious that the fact of vour arrest be mzde public?”’ asked Mar- tin, | the blow. “How absura your question! Tf your theory that I have been sacrificed by the | no favors on my own account, but will | Disirict Atiorney, when I bad finished, persons whom you term my accomplices is correct they must know without publi- cation that I am under arrest, seeinz that they havé taken pains to be sure that I should be arrested.’” Martin looked perplexed, and the Dis trict Aitorney smiled. “The prisoner is 11ght, Mr. Martin,” he said, nd for the matter of that, there is always a chance that a suspected man may be innocent. Ycung man,” headded, turning to me and speaking very kindly, “if you have been brought into these operations against your better nature it is your duty to assist us in bringing the greater criminals to justice, for we know | that you have confederates and we know them. to be shrewd and dangerous. You are young, and young men are sometimes afflicted with perverse ideas of loyaity to their criminal associates. Loyalty to a friend is admirable, but you seem blind to the fact thatyour betrayal by your asso- ciates proves that they are not your friends. Hence, no obligation of friend. sbip can possibly rest upon you.” “How did you learn,” I asked, *“(hat 1 had the valise in my rooms? Inform me on that peint and I will know how 1o pro- ceed.”" The two men hesitated and whispered together. At last tne District Attorney said: “‘Mr. Martin received a note informing him of tue fact.” “Who signea the note?’ I asked, eagerly. *“No one; it was anonymous.” “Was it written by a woman?” “It was.”’ 1 sank back upon my cot, crushed by face. It was some time before a word was said. Undoubtedly my conduct had con- fessed a vital connection with the case, and my emotion was easily translated into history by these two shrewd men. The District Attorney resumed his quiet, friendly talk. “Mr. Martin and his assistants,” he said, “have been pressing the counter- feiters hard, aud in self-defense they were forced to sacrifice one of their number to ure the safety of the others. Knowing you to be young and chivalrous, they | selected you, believing that your loyaity wou!d lead you to keep silence until they might escape. It was exceedingly sharp in them to empioy a woman to put a double sea! on your lips by managing | matters so as to have you fail in love with her. **Your position is very clear; you would rather suffer than sacrifice the woman. No douit she and the others are now laughing in their sleeves over into which you fell, and feel secure of your silence because of yvour love fir her, ¥or, of cours might make would involve her. In shoit, | they have wlayed you ior a fool, and you apparently fill the role quite cheersully. At the same time every moment that you | delay making a fuil statement confirms their convietion of your folly, brings vou | nearer to tue penitentiary and increases the difficulty of apprebending tbe others. | In view of all the facts as they appear I| now propose that if you will deliver the others over to us we will permit you to turn State’s evidence.” ‘‘Gentlemen,” 1 replied, after some | thought, *‘while it is impossibie for me to | | turn State’s evidence I will give you all A half-amused, half-quizzical | light broke over the District Attorney's | the trap | , any disclosure that you | | the assistance in my power and will ask | | cheer.ully take my chances with convic- tion if you will agree to permit another of the party to turn State’s evidence in my { | | stead.” | “And that is the woman!” snapped | Martin. “*Certainly,” said L. “We will agree to thet.” responded the | District Atterney, with surprising alac- | { rity; and I reflected afterward that he be- | | lieved she would not testify against her other confederates, and that hence he | would havea pleasant opportunity to in- | clude her among the candidates for co | vicilon, i But it was the best Icould doj; it would | give her a chance at least to show whether | | she was the thoroughly unprincipled | creature whom even I bad come to ve- | [lieve he was. Thereupon I told the whole story, omitting only my infatuation for the woman, and that was non-essen- | tial, and, I suppose, fully apparent. | { | A DAY WITH THE WOMEN SHOPPERS OF SAN FR Having spent a whole long, warm, sun- shiny October day in pursuit of informa- tion, Iam convinced that the San Fran- | cisco shopper is m of the feminjne | gender, is decided!y plural in number, and in the nominative, objective or pos- sessive case, according to the bargains offered. I find that the most popular shopping hours are 10 in the morning'and ‘batween 4 and 6 o’clock in the affernopn, the tide being the highest atabout 5. The 10 o'clock people are those wha *come early 10 avoid the rush,” thus hoping to secure the cream of the day’s sales, and the after- noon customers are those who are philo- sophically certain that there are bargains enough in town somewhere to go around, and prefer to do their hunting therefore in more leisurely fashion and ata mere ! convenient season. “It is a good sign,” said an -astute floor-walker 10 me in the course of my in- ves igations, “when you see only ladies in the siores; it shows that'the gentle- men are busy elsewhere.” And if the un- escorted appearance of the gentler sex really meaps this the men.of San Fran- cisco must usually be as busy Bs a certain not- to-be-mentioned-in-polite-soerery in- dividual is said to be in a whiriwind. At any rate, they must Lave. been eon this particu ar day, for in all my journeys in and around our most, frequented stores 1 saw less than a baker’s dozen of mascu- line shoppers buying things.on' their awp | responsibility. 5 % Occasionally an ont-of-town woman had her husband;in tow, but he ususily played but a small part in the gctive, proceedings | of the exvedition. He generally held the baby while his companion flitted - from flower to flower on the bargainm tables, or not Laving any baby to hold sat solitary on a siool and looked miserable without any excuse, until he laden with bun- dles and piloted again into the swift cur- rent of life outside the door. Of the few unaccompanied men whom I did see one was a youthful benedict, who had slipped away from his law office to at- tend 10 a number of small commissions or his better hall. He managed, by en- listing th~ good offices of & young lady clerk, to buy some needles and pins and thread according to order, and then some *drives” in union suils caught his speca- lative eye. They were marked down ruinousiy “for this day only,” and it struck him that they were a good thing to invest in. “What size?” queried the young lady in charge, and that posed him. He eved the garments doubtfally for a moment and then recovered himseif. **Well, she wears a 53{ glove and a No. 3 ehoe,” he said; ““you cau judge from that, can’tyou?” And the clerk, accustomed evidently 10 solving such problems, pre- ” and then “judged,” I sincerely hope, to tion of the absent lady. 1 found several youths of the “Johnnie” order, who, howev=r, do not count as men, | figuratively immolating themselves before the shrine of especially charming sales- adies. It was extremely pleasing to see that these young iaiots were being treated by the objects of their adoration on strict- ly business principles. If they wanted to ogle and sigh and say silly things they must perforce buy something and do tneir “mashing” while bargaining and waiting for their change, “1f they like to come and buy things,” said a demurely pretiy girl to me confi- dentiaily, ‘‘s0 much the better for us, for the more we sell the better we stand with the house. And if they make too big geese of themselves there is always the floor-walker at hand.” “Don’t they trouble you outside?” I asked, and she flashed me a glance which showed that there was a sturdy and hon- est spirit behind those extremely “fetci- ing’ dimples. “It's a kirl’s own fault if they do not,” BUTSHE WOULDN'T FLIRT, served a sweet seriousness of demeanor while she asked another question or (wol she said decidealy. *'In the stor» and out of it are two different matters. Here any ‘ one can speak to us, but elsewhere—well, there is usually a big brother of our own, | or somebody else's big brother, or a po!ice- | man, you know,” ana she laugned, a s little gurgle of a laugh, which nortended no end of mischief to the callow youth who should dare presume on astore ac- quaintance outside of legitimate limits. In the furniture department of one of | our stores 1 foun ! a prospective bride and | | grocm purchasing the outfit for their new | | home. Tuae gentlen: sheepish | and apologetic, as most engazed gentle- | men do when on exhibition, save when | they meet one of their fiancee’s old ad- | ers, when they rufils up mi-htily ana | try to look baugnty aud triumphant, and | tremendously happy and self. ed. The bride to e, however, was quite evi- dently convinced ‘that she had secured “‘the oniy pebble on the beach’—that is, the only pebble worth picking up, and she moved about with a proud conscious- ness of superiority to the rest of her sex which it was really uplifting to behold, SEE OUR AUTOMATIC DOLLS AMIWLING Success CHILDREN CRYy EOR THEM at WHILE MAMMA DOES THE. SHOPPING | even cescribe them. | vour account is true, “It is certainly interesting,” said the “and there are ways of determining its trath. Uniortunately for your own safety, you have not given us the vital informa- tion in the case; you have not told us who and where the persons are, nor can yon | But, assuming that | the men were un- | doubtedly disguised, but the woman was | not. la escapmg they would reverse the | operation. Do you think, under these circumstances, that you would be able to | identify ner?” “1 sbould know her under any circum- stances,” I replied. “Even if she wers made upas an old woman and wore goggles?” This made me tremble, but without may realizing it my evidentdiscomfiture went far toward strengihening cenfidence in me. The two men agreed that 1 should go | abroad in the city with Martin and if pos- | sible secure descriptions of the criminals. I therefore disguised myself as an_elderly clergyman andyMartin: made up as a tour- ist. The first thing we did was 1o adver- tise for a furnished house, describing such an establishment as that I had visited. After somre search - based on the replies we received we found the very, hquse which Martin correctly rezsoned had béen vacaied by the ccunterfeiters immediately a ter my escapade there; but 1o our surprise we discovered that the occupants bad been in possession only two or three days, and hence we could find no tradespeople who had served them, and accordingly couid se- cure no description. A minute search for the young woman who had helped to bind and gag me was equally tutile. These facts had a value, however, in.convines ing Martin of my sincerity thus far. It was possible that the criminals had left the city, out telegrams more or less vague, caliing for information concerning a young woman and two men, had been sent broadcast and no replies came from them. Martin and I visited every nuk_zlic place in the city, but nowherecouid I find « certain glorious pair of hazel eyes. Mar- tin was now exceeding!y kind to me, but I was still a prisoner and had tosleep in the jail every night. Finally he became sus- picious again, giving me creait for. a shrewdness and cunning In concocting an elaborate story that was utteriy’beyond my deserts. The District Attorsey, how- ever, appeared still to have faith in me, aud it was his unchanging kindness that kept my spirit awaike. The whole affair presently took quitea | dramatic turn. VL Two weeks aiter my adventurs in the mysterious house the first steamer for Australia lzay at her moorings preparing OLD WOMAN ADVANCED. to s Martin, the District Attorney and I, standing in the shadow of an aisle in the boxes of merchandise which crowded the dcck, watched all who went abozrd. We had stood thus waiing for hours, when I saw something which mede me start and give a signal. A feeble_ old weman, supported by two slal- wart young men, advanced toward the gangplank, and as she did so she glanced swiftly around with an anxious look that diselosed a glorious pair of hazel eyes. She had.-neglected the precaution of gog- gles. z Upon _ receiving my signal Martin stepped forward and politely requested the three to step into the alley, in which I stood bebind tbe District Attorney. The men were evidently siricken with dismay, but one of them whispered hurriedly to the woman, who discovered only a high- bred indignation, ana with some remark referring to the insolence of Americans she attempted to drag the two men with her up the gangplank. Martin, throwing back the lapel of his coat, uncovered his badge and quietly remarked: “'If you desire to make a scene you may do so, in which event I will handcuff you all ana ring up the prison van. If you desire this thing to pass off quietly you will step into this alley. Take your choice.” The men were evidently wholly un- nerved. Not so the woman. Her eyes flashed angrily and a certain flerce cour- age animatea her speech. : *My sons and I are going on this ship,” she cried, “and I will suffer no insolent | interference.” At this juncture she happened to look more closely into the corner in which I stood, and then an expression, combining amusement, annoyance, and perhaps something eise, lighted up her face. To my amezement she came straight up to me and said in so low a tone that no one else could hear: | “Was the explanation in my letter to you sa unsatisfactory that you must needs gratify your small revenge on a woman by turning her over to herenemies to be ruined 2"’ With that she turned scornfully on her | beel ana thus addressed my companions: ““This gentleman, who, of course, is the cause of our detention, will inform you | that you have made a mistake, and that we should not be made to lose this ship.” It wasa pold play, but I bad hardened my heart against her, and was not again to be fooled by this adroit apneal both to my shame and my generosity. “The officer knows his daty,” I re. marked. Then, turning to Martin, I added, “These are the persons whom we wan “Very well,” seid Martin. “You are all under arrest on a serious charge and will accompany us to the Appraiser's | vuilding. I wiil cancel your passage.” Thbe two male prisoners made a picture of wretched dejection, bur the old woman | wore simply a hard and angry look as we all drove in carriages to the Appraiser's building, she, at my suggestion, being kept apart from the men and given no op- por tunity to confer with them. After the men had been putunder guard in the building, Martin, the District At- torney and I went into the lawyer's pri- vate office. The .nfirm-looking old lady sat for awhile very stern and rigid, and then with charming insolence she sprang nimbly to her feet and demanded: “Well, what is all this ebout? Am I to be shiot or hanged? Or is it merely that I am 1o be robbed 2" elther,”” answered the District Attor- ney, smiling. *‘You have an uncommonly pleasant voice for your years, however, and it would be very agreeable to us to hear you exercise it if you desire to say anything.” “The idea of your trying to flatter an old woman!” she exclaimed, with a girl- ish mock indignation. “Ugh! My face feels as sticky and glued up as it did that night I shot myself. Is there a lay- atory convenient? I can’t talk with a mask on my face!” | She emerged frcm the dressing-room a radiant and blcoming girl, her wig gone and her glorious brown hair struggling | for freedom from the thralldom of rins, If she was at all alarmed she concealed ber feelings admirably, but I was in mental condition now not to be surpri. e’l lat acy turn which ber whimsical nuture might suggest. Her calm selt-reliance was indescribably becoming. She seated hers | self and crossed her hands over her knecs | with a demure show of resignation. The | District” Attorney’s manner wes meom, | monly serious as he said: “No one,” to look at you, wonid easily take you to be the leading spirit or ti shrewdest gang of criminals tnat ever in- | fested this country, and I must confe-s that, accomplished actress as you have already shown yourself to be, it is exe tremely ditficufv for me to bzlieve it.”’ Notwitbstanding his sternness, which warned her that Jevity was naw out of the question, there was a kindly tone in his voice. His words, evidently more tnhan nis manner, had a startling effect, The girl, apparently as though she had beard something incredible, turned slowly a | faced him, her eyes widening and her at first crimsoning and then blanching, 1 prepared myself to witness the finest com= bat between two acute intellects that ever | it has been my tortune to see; and I could not but feel a certain sympathy fcr the girl, knowing what an enormous advan- tage the officer oi the law enjoyed in his consciousness of right and power. Was there no other feeling behind my sym- pathy? Was there no contrition that in order to save myself I bad broucght a young girl into so hopeless a vpositicn? And was there notyet a sen iment deeper aud tenderer, that a full knowiedge of my own sense of wrong was ineflicient to efface? *You look like a gentleman,” she said gazing firmly at the officer, and she sp almost in a whisper, as though awy. rather than frightened. *You look likdh gentleman, and yet—and yet—you insnft me! Idon’t know what the good God has put it into your heart to mean! Rob me if you will and leave me a beggar; I car submit to that, but not to insults,” Her lip quivered and her voice came fuller as she added in a despairing burst: “Does it not seem pretiy hard for three big men to—to browbeat one poor giri—in this way ? And yet I bad thought that there was at least one gentleman among you!” And she sank into‘her chair, The District Attorney firmly but kindly assured her there was no intention either torob ‘or browbeat herand that he was grieved only to observe that although she must know the hopelessness of her posi- tion she was so hardened as to be willing to zo down cheerfully in the crash which had overtaken her; he had hoped she might be glad of an opportunity to aban- don evil ways and enter upon a better life. “I don't understand you,”’ she cried, springing to her feet and trembling in an agony of emotion. “If you are a man speak out like a man.” “Very well,”” he said, with the utmost coolness, “we know that you are the genius of a gang of counterfeiters who | bave given us infinite trouble. Not only that, but you have made a miserable dupe of this gentleman by pretending to be his friend in order that you might divert sus- picion from yourself and your confed- erates by turn:ng over the counter eiting tools to him in a valise and then sendinz us a note that you knew would insure his arrest and possibiy bis conviction, so tiat attention might be diverted from you, and vou and your confederates thus be enabled to escape. Could any plo. be more despicable?"” The girl’s face became whiter, and what seemed like unutterable terror came mnto her eyes. She stared at us by turns most | pitifuily. Surely I had never seen so ex- quisite, though so hopeless, acting ! “Counterfeiters?”’ she exclaimed; “I never saw a counterfeiter in my life.” She turned and looked at me, her eyes swim- mmng. “And they were going to conviet you a8 & counterfeiter bacause I give you thatvalise! Why, I weuld not knowingly have brought you into danger for all the world!" She paused, and I could not get aword out of my throat. “And so vou are having vour revenge!” sho cried bit- terly. She buried her face in her hands and we all sat strangely silent. Presently | she said, very quietly but apparently somewhat bewiluered: “I Delieve I understanc it all now, though none of you will help me. Oh, whata fool I have been! I have been treated far more shamefully than I have treated another.” [To be concluded next week.] | and bargained and chaffered and aisputed valuesin a way which sbowed that the family purse was sure to oe safe in her possession, and that it was pretty sure to be in her possession during the whole of her matrimonial career should her Lus- band be prevailed upon to yield it to her during the honeymoon. It is astonishing the number of women who drae babies sbout with them on shop- ping tour-. From the tiny red-faced in- fants whose mothers are just abls to carry | them about to ths plump little picces of | mischief large enough to run about and | tumble over and get in everybody they corn te in our stores and make | things v for all concerned whenever the fancy takes them. | I saw a giriish looking mamma with a vouncing child of six months tryiug to purchase some biue silk, evidently against the youngster's wishes, for he howled like a coyote while she tried to tell the obse- quious young salesman what she wanted and look at what he brought fQr her in- spection. Among the peculiar shoppers whom OUR FURNITURE WARRANTED EXTRASTRONG OR TAE FURNITURE DEALER'S BONANZ A, one meets is the overloaded woman who carries all her purchases and always rests her bundles instead of herself. She comes into a store laden down almosi to exhaustion with the prizes which she has | won in various hand-to-hand struggles with other bargain-hunters, aud carefully and solicitously piles them on ail the ad- jacent seats—tben she bherself leans wearily over the counter and proceeds to add to their number. The very poor are not often seen in our e stores, 1or on the rare occasions when they bave money to spend they pre- fer to spend it in the less pretentious es- tablishments, where they feel more at home and better able to hoid their own with the salespeople. It is the great middle class to whom our stores sell the most, and they are the best customers to deal with from the mer- chants’ point of view. Oddly enough it is the people who have the most money who generally want the most for it, and it is more often the woman with real dia- monds in her ears and on her fingers who besitates over a few cents’ difference in BARGAINS —EVERY' ‘ONEOF'EM. SRS THAT SAMPLE. ! [CUSTOMER AT THE END OF THREEAOUR price than it is the woman to whom that difference means an appreciable part of her income. : Isaw one solid citizeness in black satin (Why do over-plump women affect that fabric and make themselves look like black beetles thereby?) refuse to buy a paper of pins at four cents because she was sure that she had seen soma adver- | tised elsewhere ‘‘two papers for seven | cents,” and she sailed majestically out of | the store where she was being overcharged | and walked four blocks in :earch of the | bargain which I trust she was jated not to find. ‘Do people cften do like that?’ I asked the young woman with two pencils in her hair, who had incurred the dispieasure of | ber would-be patron because of the high | price c¢f her goods, and she smiled plessantly. “They have a perfect right to spend their money as they please, and where they please,’’ she answered in non- committal fashion, *‘but”-—this with a burst of candor—'‘sometimes a very few cents makes a greatdeal of difference, 41 5- KNEW YOU COULON'T maTcy ANCISCO. even when the quality of the article is better for the price. It all depends on the person, you know.”’ The fond mamma who takes not only her baby but her whole family with her when she has money to spend is, to put it mildly, Tar from being a favorite in the shopping world. While she prices dress goods her irrepressible progeny generally swarm over all the seats in her vicinity, vull ariicles off the counters for closer in- spection, go on tours of investigation in as many different directions as there are individuals in the party, and disport themselves generally in a manner the re- verse of pleasing to those cold-eyed ob- servers who seen nothin **cunning'’ in mur pranks of other people’s children. Then there isthe mamma who brings her one small daughter along to assist 1n the purchase of her own garments, and this® duo isusually what is commonly known as a “terror' {o the salespeople. The child ordinarily selects what her mother does not want her to have, no matter what the article in question may be, and argument, coaxing, sulks and tears aiversily tue ordinarily prosaic routine of bargain and sale. As a usual thing the child wins the battle, unless the mother 13 excep-gf tionally strong minded or her demands quite out of reech of the maternal parse, and the tired clerk waiches them depart feeling devoutly thankful that that special ordeal is over. Another trying person to deal with is the woman who has a sample she wishes to match. She carries it about crumpled up in her pocketbook, and she assures the | olerk that it *must match exactly or it will notdo at all.” Then there are the girls and women who shep in pistoons. as it were. Four or five of them go together, and it takes the con- sideration and advice of them all, joinaly and severally, to make the purchase of a yard of ribbon an accomplished fact. Each hus her own views as to shade, and quality, and width, and genera] desira- bility of the goods Which are spread be- fore them, and toarrive at a verdiet which shall justify the snip of the clerk’s scis- Sors ta n amount of time wholly dise propertionate to the amount of capital ine vested. It is cheering since there is so mueh of sorrow in this world that eannot be ar- ranged to see the fashivnable young widow with ber white ¢tp, surmounted by a orape bonnet of the latest style and tied undcr) her fair chin in & wide and immensely b- coming bow, coming 1o ouy her second mourning. She has lost the appearance of drooning sadness which characterized her a few months since, and now, looking like a flower refreshed by a summer shower, contemplates silken wonders in gray and lavender and black and white com bin. tions with eyes which—obeying the in- junction to “look forward and not back- ward’'—seem 01l the brizhter for ‘he tears they bave shed. FuseeaL McVauon.