The Owl Taxi. Footner Hulbert
third floor of the hotel: "I daren't go in until he goes to bed. Do you mind if I wait here with you?"
"Do I mind—!" said Greg.
His tone was perhaps a little too warm. She glanced at him suspiciously. Greg tried to look unconscious. Meanwhile he was revolving the significance of what she had just said. So she lived here too, and was, she implied, a member of the tall foreigner's household. It occurred to Greg that her speech resembled the man's: they used the same phrases as people do who live together. Certainly in no other respect was there any likeness. Greg frowned. He resented the thought that man and girl might be related.
She broke in on his thoughts by saying in her abrupt, boyish way: "You don't seem like a common taxi-driver."
"Well, I haven't been one long," said Greg smiling.
He reflected that the surest way to win a person's confidence is to offer one's own, and he proceeded to tell her the story of his meeting with Hickey Meech, and how they had changed places, stopping short, however, of the grim dénouement.
The girl was charmed. "Oh, I like that!" she cried bright-eyed. "I'm glad you didn't want to leave America! I love America. I'm an American."
He wondered a little what impelled her to state this fact so defiantly, as if it had been called in question. It cheered him though, for certainly the man they had been following was not an American. So they could not be close relatives.
"I'm so glad it was you!" she went on.
"So am I!" he said smiling.
"A person like you can understand."
"But I understand nothing."
"Ah, don't ask me!" she said with a painful air. "I can't explain. It's a family affair!"
That put Greg back where he had started from. He was silenced but not satisfied.
"Suppose I need you again?" she asked. "Would you be willing——?"
"Try me!"
"How can I get you?"
"Well, I haven't any address yet. The man I bought the cab from told me where he kept it, and I suppose I'll hang out there. Have you anything to write it down with?"
She nodded, and produced a tiny note-book and pencil.
"Elmer Fishback," he began.
She wrote it down, smiling to herself at the comical sound of the syllables.
"My right name is Gregory Parr," he hastily added.
"That's better," she said.
He continued: "Care of Bessie Bickle—he didn't say whether she was Miss or Mrs."
"I'll just put B. Bickle."
"Gibbon Street south of Houston."
She wrote it all down.
All this while Greg was wondering how she expected to get across the lighted lobby and by the hotel desk without discovery. The question tormented him. Finally he could contain it no longer.
"You can't go in—like that," he blurted out.
She instantly mounted on her high horse. "What do you mean?"
"Well, you know—anybody could see——" he stammered, "anybody could see that you were—well, that you were not a boy."
She sharply averted her head from him. He saw the crimson tide creep up from her neck.
"I don't see what reason you have for saying that," she murmured.
He strove stumblingly to put her at her ease. "Oh, it isn't your clothes. They're all right. You look out o' sight! But—but—well, a girl is different. It's not altogether a matter of looks. I mean the charm of a girl sticks out all over you."
She ignored this. "I'm not going through the lobby," she said abruptly, "but through the service entrance. I bribed the watchman on the way out, and he will let me in again."
Greg breathed more freely. A constrained silence fell between them.
"I'm not altogether a fool!" she presently burst out sorely. "I didn't venture out until long after dark. And I kept away from all brilliantly lighted places. Nobody found me out but you."
"That's all right," said Greg. "But suppose—well, suppose I hadn't been, well—decent."
"I would have known exactly what to do!" she said with an intimidating air that made him smile broadly. "But I knew you were the instant I looked at you," she added.
"Thanks," said Greg.
She was still sore. "I don't see how you could have guessed!" she went on. "At home when we have theatricals everybody says I make a perfectly dandy boy!"
"That's different," said Greg smiling.
"What must you think of me!" she murmured in an humbler tone.
"Nothing but what is good," he said quickly. "I would be a fool if I thought otherwise. I was only anxious for you because I supposed you did not know the risks you ran."
"I knew," she said. "I armed myself."
Greg was both amused and thrilled at the diminutive size of her and her unquestioned courage.
"It seemed necessary for me to do it," she explained further, "though after all I have accomplished nothing. I did it for some one—some one I cared for very much."
A sharp little pang of jealousy shot through Greg's breast.
Another cab drew up at the entrance to the Meriden in their rear. Greg's companion stuck her head out to see who it was. She quickly drew it in again.
"Two of the gang!" she said excitedly.
"What gang?" asked Greg involuntarily.
"His gang, the politicians. They've come after him, I suppose. We'll know in a minute."
Leaning forward in front of his companion Greg saw two men entering the Meriden, one of whom carried a heavy suit-case. They were inconspicuous-looking men, soberly dressed, both under the average height, one stocky, one thin. They had a foreign look like the man they came to see. As they passed back into the hotel they came within range of the big window beside Greg's cab, and the two could sit back and watch them at their leisure. They proceeded to the desk and made an inquiry. The clerk took down his telephone receiver. After a brief colloquy over the 'phone, he nodded to the two men, who thereupon seated themselves near by.
"He's coming down-stairs to them," murmured the girl.
Sure enough, Greg's former fare, the tall foreigner, presently stepped out of the elevator. He had his hat and overcoat on and carried a valise.
"Going out again!" said the girl excitedly. "Going away, it seems!"
When the men met no greetings were exchanged; it was as if they had but lately parted. The three moved away from the vicinity of the hotel desk engaged in low-voiced conversation. They came to a stand not far from the window through which Greg and the girl were watching them. Here they stood talking with guarded expressions, never thinking of looking out into the dark street.
He who carried the suit-case exhibited it to the tall man, who thereupon called the single sleepy boy on duty at this hour and gave instructions. The boy took the suit-case and the tall man's own valise and, proceeding to the entrance, summoned a cab; the bags were put inside. Meanwhile the three lingered a moment to finish their talk. The heavier of the two newcomers took from his breast pocket a rather bulky little black book and handed it over to the tall man. The latter's eyes visibly gleamed with satisfaction as he hastily ran over the contents. He pocketed the book.
At sight of the book a startled exclamation escaped from the girl beside Greg. "Why—why, that's my uncle's book! How did they get it?"
Greg marked well the look of the book. It seemed