The Project Gutenberg EBook of My Queen: A Weekly Journal for Young Women. Issue 5, October 27, 1900, by Lurana Waterhouse Sheldon This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: My Queen: A Weekly Journal for Young Women. Issue 5, October 27, 1900 Marion Marlowe Entrapped; or, The Victim of Professional Jealousy Author: Lurana Waterhouse Sheldon Release Date: October 4, 2018 [EBook #58022] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY QUEEN: A WEEKLY JOURNAL *** Produced by MWS and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) cover MY QUEEN A WEEKLY JOURNAL FOR YOUNG WOMEN No. 5. PRICE, FIVE CENTS. MARION MARLOWE ENTRAPPED OR THE VICTIM OF PROFESSIONAL JEALOUSY BY GRACE SHIRLEY PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY STREET & SMITH, 238 William Street, New York City. Copyright, 1900, by Street & Smith. All rights reserved. Entered at New York Post-Office as Second-Class Matter. MY QUEEN: A WEEKLY JOURNAL FOR YOUNG WOMEN [1] Issued Weekly. By Subscription $2.50 per year. Entered as Second Class Matter at the N. Y. Post Office, by STREET & SMITH, 238 William St., N. Y. Entered According to Act of Congress in the year 1900, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. No. 5. NEW YORK, October 27, 1900. Price Five Cents. Marion Marlowe Entrapped; OR, THE VICTIM OF PROFESSIONAL JEALOUSY. By GRACE SHIRLEY. CHAPTER I. “ILA DE PARLOA.” Howard Everett, musical critic for the New York Star, was just entering the office of his friend, Manager Graham, when he stopped and almost stared at the young lady who was emerging. She was by far the most beautiful girl that Everett had ever seen, and that was saying much, for the critic had traveled extensively. She was not over seventeen, a trifle above medium height, with a brilliant complexion, luxuriant chestnut hair and large gray eyes, that flashed like diamonds as she glanced at him carelessly. Everett gave a long, low whistle to relieve his feelings, then threw open the door and rushed into the office. “Who the mischief is she?” he blurted out, instantly. Clayton Graham, manager of the Temple Opera Company, turned around from his desk and smiled good-naturedly. “So she’s bewitched you, too, has she?” he asked, jovially. “Well, she’s the first woman I ever saw that could rattle the cold-blooded, cynical Howard Everett!” “But, good Heavens, man, she’s a wonder! I never saw such a face. It is a combination of strength, poetry, beauty; and, most wonderful of all, goodness! Why, that girl is not only worldly, but she is heavenly, too! Quick, hurry, old man, and tell me what you know about her.” “That won’t take me long,” said Graham, as he passed his friend a cigar. “Sit down, Everett, and have a smoke. Perhaps it will calm your nerves a little.” “Pshaw! I’m not as much rattled as I look,” said the critic, laughing, “but for once in my life I am devoured by curiosity, as the novelists say—I want to know where you discovered that American Beauty.” “Well, you want to know too much,” was Graham’s answer; “but, seeing it is you, I suppose I’ll have to forgive you. But here’s her story, as much as I know of it—and that, as I said, is mighty little. She came here from the country about six months ago. Was poor as poverty, and had not a friend in the city. Well, one night Vandergrift—you know him, the manager of the Fern Garden—heard her singing on the street in behalf of one of those preacher fellows. Her voice was wonderful, and, of course, he stopped to listen. It was just before his opening and he needed a singer, inasmuch as my present prima donna, ‘Carlotta,’ was engaged to sing at the opening of the Olio, the rival garden just across the street from his place. Well, to make a long story short, he made terms with this girl at once—offered her a big price for one night, thinking that the offer would dazzle her so that she would feel too grateful and all that sort of thing to listen to any future offers. Well, he billed her that night as ‘Ila de Parloa,’ and her song was great; she was the hit of the evening. The very next morning, what do you think she did? Took her money and bolted, and Vandergrift lost track of her entirely.” “What, didn’t she go over to the Olio or to some other concert hall?” “Nit! She just disappeared, leaving no address behind, after politely informing Vandergrift that his place wasn’t respectable.” “But didn’t she know that before she sang there?” asked the critic, in amazement. “It seems not,” was the answer. “She was as green as grass. She thought she was to sing in some Sunday-school [2] concert or something of that sort, I fancy.” Clayton Graham chuckled over what he thought was a good joke, but his face looked somewhat serious, in spite of his laughter. “I made her sit in front and see my show before I talked to her,” he added, shrewdly, “and the little Puritan told me, gravely, that she quite approved of it, and was willing to sing for me a week on trial.” “But where in the world has she been hiding since that night at the Fern Garden? If her voice is so wonderful, I should certainly know if she had been singing.” “Oh, she tells me that at just that time she decided to be a nurse—went up to Charity Hospital, on Blackwell’s Island, for a time, but the sights up there upset her so she had to give it up and look for something different.” “Good Heavens! The idea of that face being hidden in a hospital ward!” cried Everett in horror. “Why, if her voice is half as beautiful as her face, I’ll give her a column and make Carlotta green with envy.” “She’s that already,” said Graham, laughing. “You just ought to see her! Why, that woman would kill her, I believe, if she dared.” “Strange how jealous these professionals are,” said Everett, soberly, “and particularly after they get a bit old and their voices are not quite up to the standard.” “Well, Carlotta is unusually jealous,” said Graham, with a little chuckle. “I suppose it is because she is suspicious of me. Thinks I may get stuck on the new face, you understand, old fellow.” “Carlotta should know the world by this time, if any woman ever knew it,” said Everett, scowling. “Does she imagine you are going to dance attendance upon her forever?” “If she does, she’ll be mistaken,” said Graham, decidedly, “and as for my new singer, Ila de Parloa, she had better not meddle with her. The girl is as pure and unsophisticated as she is beautiful, and, bad as I am, I admire virtue in a woman.” “The most of us can,” said Everett, slowly; “but, by the way, what is the beautiful Ila’s right name? ’Pon honor, Clayte, I’ll never tell it.” “Her name is Marion Marlowe,” was the manager’s answer, “but, of course, for business purposes, we shall stick to ‘Ila.’” CHAPTER II. A JEALOUS WOMAN. The audience had dispersed and the auditorium of the great Broadway Theatre was enveloped in darkness, but Carlotta, the prima donna of the company, was still pacing back and forth in her disordered dressing-room. She was a handsome woman, of the ripe, sensual type. Her eyes were wide and far apart, like a panther’s; her nose aquiline, and her lips red and voluptuous. As she walked excitedly back and forth she threw her gaudy garments aside, leaving only a trailing skirt of rich white silk and a bodice of lace falling low on her shoulders. “What do you mean by it, anyway? Am I to be eclipsed entirely? Is Carlotta to be put in the background and sneered at by the people, while that little country girl is standing in the calcium?” She turned as she spoke and faced a heavily-built man, who sat on a trunk in one corner, gazing calmly at her frenzy. “Answer me, Clayte Graham!” she almost screamed. “What do you mean by showing so much preference to that country snip?” The man shrugged his shoulders before he answered. He was growing weary of his prima donna’s anger. “I believe I am the manager of this company, Miss Thompson,” he said, calmly, “and so long as I hold that position I shall try to fill it, and one part of my duty is to select my singers.” “And why have you selected her, I should like to know?” cried the woman. “She is as green as grass and her voice has never had an hour of training.” “City people like grass,” was his tantalizing answer, “and as for training—her voice don’t need it.” “Oh, of course you’ll stick up for her! I expected it!” was the furious answer. “But I’ll not put up with it! Do you hear me, Clayte Graham?” Again the man shrugged his shoulders and smiled at her calmly. “What will you do about it, Miss Temper?” he asked, very coolly. “You certainly will not be so foolish as to break your contract?” “Oh, I know what you mean,” cried the woman, more wildly. “I can’t sign another for two years without your permission. No manager would dare engage me. Oh, yes, I understand you.” [3] “Well, you’ll understand me better before I am done with you,” said the manager, emphatically, “for I’ll make Marion Marlowe a famous singer yet—so famous that people will forget that they ever listened to a croaker like Carlotta.” “That’s it!” shrieked the woman, who had now grown livid. “That’s right, Clayte Graham. Heap your sneers and slurs upon me! I have made money for you for years in more ways than one—but now that my voice is failing you throw me over.” “You have brought it on yourself, Carlotta, with your fiendish jealousy,” said the man, more gently. In an instant the woman was on her knees before him, the tears streaming over her painted face and her voice quivering with emotion. “Oh, Clayte, Clayte, don’t you know it is because I love you! Don’t you know that there is nobody else in this world for me but you, and yet you reproach and abuse me for being jealous!” “Pshaw!” said the man, indifferently, as he moved away from her. “You are in love with yourself far more than with me, Carlotta. You’d scratch the eyes out of my head this minute if you dared to.” The woman sprang to her feet and confronted him like a tigress. “And you refuse to listen to my entreaties?” she asked, breathlessly. “Am I to understand that in future you will do nothing to please me?” “I shall do nothing that interferes with my success in business,” said the man, very sternly. “I would be a fool indeed to let myself be influenced by a woman.” The singer’s breath was coming in gasps now, and she clenched her hands together until they were bloodless and rigid. “Why do you like this girl so much, Clayte?” she asked, tensely. “Is she so much handsomer than I, or does she sing so much better?” “The public think she is handsomer,” said the man, evasively, “and you have read what the critics say about her voice.” “But you, Clayte, what do you think?” was the woman’s eager answer; “what is there about her that makes you prefer her?” Clayton Graham turned and looked the woman squarely in the eye. “Her greatest charm is her modesty,” he said, slowly and clearly, “and she is attractive to me because she is a virtuous woman.” If he had struck her with a lash the words could not have cut more deeply. The woman shrank away from him, her breath coming shorter and faster. “That is like you, Clayte—to ruin a woman and then insult her!” she hissed between her teeth. “But beware, Clayton Graham. You had better not go too far! Carlotta has blood in her veins, real blood, that will avenge an insult. You may yet live to feel the power of a wronged and scorned woman.” For answer the manager promptly turned his back upon her. The next moment she was alone amid the mocking emblems of mirth. The last vestige of self-control vanished as she fell upon the floor in a perfect frenzy of passion. “Wait! Wait!” she muttered over and over, between her set teeth. “Just wait until Carlotta has gained her self-control, then look out, Clayte Graham and Marion Marlowe, for, innocent though you are, I shall not spare you! I shall have my revenge! Aye, and it shall be a grand one! Leave a scorned woman alone for plotting vengeance! I shall play my cards most cleverly, but each play shall tell. They shall find me no weakling in the game of love and jealousy!” She staggered to her feet and began dressing rapidly. It was time that she was out of the dark, empty building. Suddenly a light tap sounded on the dressing-room door. The woman opened it and confronted a beautiful young girl. It was “Signorita Ila de Parloa,” according to the programme, but in private life, no other than Marion Marlowe. CHAPTER III. CAUGHT IN A TRAP. “Pardon me, mademoiselle, but are you ill?” asked the beautiful girl, kindly. “I thought I heard you weeping, and I could not resist speaking to you.” She looked so sweet and innocent, standing there in the dismal place, that for a moment a flush of shame dyed the black-hearted woman’s features; then a thought of Clayton Graham and the wrong he had done her flashed over her brain, and instantly the flame of jealousy leaped again within her. “I must fool her,” she thought in that one brief moment. “I must play my cards well, if I am to wreak my vengeance on this girl.” Almost like magic, a charming smile took the place of her frown, for Carlotta was an actress as well as a singer. [4] [5] “I am ill, but only from grief,” she murmured, brokenly. “A dear friend has died, and I have only just now heard of it.” She turned her face a little and put her handkerchief before it. She wanted to be sure that she had perfectly controlled her features. “Oh, I am so sorry,” said Marion, sympathetically, as she took a step forward and held out both of her white hands. “It is dreadful to lose a friend. I am truly sorry for you, Carlotta.” By this time the wicked woman had formed her plans, and, as she turned and accepted the young girl’s hand, she said to her, pleadingly: “Dear Miss Marlowe, you are so good and sweet to me that I am almost tempted to ask you a favor.” “What is it?” asked the girl, with impulsive eagerness. “Oh, I shall be so delighted if I can comfort you.” “Come home with me to-night, dear,” begged the woman, brokenly. “I shall grieve myself to death if I have to stay alone to-night. Do come; there is nothing to hinder you, is there?” Marion Marlowe looked astonished at this request from a stranger, but she was not accustomed to stand upon ceremony when the opportunity was offered her to do a kindness. “Only my twin sister,” was her thoughtful answer. “Dollie will expect me, of course, and will be waiting up. You see she is married, and I am living with her at present. I would feel dreadfully to give her a night of anxiety.” She spoke so honestly that once more the woman felt a twinge of shame, but she steeled herself promptly against all feelings of sympathy. “You can send her a message,” she said. “I’ll write it and tell her how kind you are to me. So, now, that is settled, and you are coming. I’ll be ready in a minute and my carriage is waiting.” Marion helped her to adjust her wraps and then followed her to the carriage, the old door-keeper at the stage door staring after them curiously. “That is queer,” he muttered, with a shake of his head. “There is mischief in the wind; I’m as sure of it as I’m living.” But poor, innocent Marion did not dream of mischief; she was only happy to think that she was befriending this woman. Almost the first night of her appearance with the company she had felt that Carlotta disliked her, and her gentle heart had been pained by the thought. She could see no reason why Carlotta should be jealous of her. “She is far more experienced and clever than I,” she said to herself, for she was too thoroughly modest to ever overrate her own talents. Now the woman was smiling at her and chatting pleasantly, and the noble girl’s heart was rejoicing in the belief that she had been mistaken in the prima donna’s sentiments and that Carlotta was really a friend to her. “Is your sister as pretty as you are?” asked Carlotta, after they were seated in the carriage. She was gazing steadily at Marion with an expression of admiration. “Of course you know you are pretty,” she added, quickly. “All pretty women do, so you need not look so horrified.” “I think Dollie is much prettier than I,” was the low, soft answer. “She has golden hair and eyes like the violets; then her form is so plump, and so pretty and graceful.” “Wasn’t there something about the two of you in the papers not long ago?” was the singer’s next question. “Wasn’t she abducted or something, and didn’t you rescue her?” “A man who boarded with us in the country abducted her, yes,” said Marion, slowly, “and I followed and saved her; he was Professor Dabroski, the Hypnotist.” “Heavens! What an experience!” said the woman, feigning great sympathy. “Did he—did he wrong her, Ila? But you need not answer; I see it pains you.” “I do not know,” said the girl, very sadly, “and poor Dollie will never know, because she has no recollection of her experiences.” “Well, a man would not meet with much success in your direction,” said the woman, laughing loudly. “I fancy you’d hold your own and make things lively for the one who tried it.” “I should certainly resent such an attempt,” said the brave girl, sternly, “but I guess I am not so weak as a great many women.” “Oh, no, you are a little paragon of virtue,” thought the woman, bitterly. “You are a wonderful creature, and men love you because you are virtuous.” Aloud she responded, suavely: “Well, I’m glad you are strong, my dear. You will need all your strength to resist the men in our profession.” The carriage stopped before a telegraph office as the woman spoke, and Carlotta leaned over and called to the coachman: “Bring me a blank and a pencil!” Then she turned to Marion and said, smilingly: “You must let me send the message to [6] your sister, dear.” Marion told her Dollie’s address, without a moment’s suspicion, but she could not help wondering why it took Carlotta so long to write the message. “I’ll just write a line of condolence to my friend whose sister is dead while I’m about it,” said the woman, as she scribbled another message and handed the two, with the pad and pencil, to the driver. “I just told Dollie that you are staying with me to-night,” she said, calmly, “but to expect you about noon to-morrow; is that right? I can’t possibly think of letting you leave me before eleven.” “All right,” said Marion, smiling. “I hope she won’t be worried. It’s the first time that I have been away from her since I came from the hospital.” “Well, you’ll be separated more in future,” thought the woman again, and, as the outlines of a fiendish plan developed slowly before her vision, her mouth curved in a sneer, which was promptly changed into a smile for Marion’s benefit. “Here we are at home!” she cried, as the carriage stopped again. “My flat is not beautiful, but it is very cozy, and you shall have a room to yourself, so you will be perfectly comfortable.” “But I shall not feel that I am much company for you if I do not remain in the room with you,” said Marion, smiling. “Oh, I’ll feel all right just to know that you are with me. If I can’t sleep I’ll wake you up and make you talk to me.” “All right,” said Marion, “I’ll agree to that; but, dear me, what a pretty home!” she cried, as she stood gazing into the apartment. “Here’s a negligé for you,” said Carlotta, gayly, as she took a flimsy wrapper from the wardrobe and tossed it to Marion. “It’s a trifle too negligé,” said Marion, laughing, as she tried to pull the dainty lace up over her white throat and shoulders. The woman was busy making herself comfortable also, and as she moved about she talked so gayly and laughed so often that Marion began to wonder if she had forgotten her friend’s death completely. “She must be a queer woman,” she thought to herself. “She doesn’t need me at all. I wonder why she asked me to come.” The more she thought it over the more it perplexed her. “Now we’ll have a bite of supper and go to bed,” said Carlotta, with another laugh. “You’ll have a glass of wine, won’t you, dear, and a cigarette, to help digest your welsh rarebit?” Her guest’s great eyes darkened as she stared at her for the space of a second. “Oh, no, thanks,” she said, finally. “I neither drink nor smoke. You know, I am a country girl,” she added, laughing. “Oh, well, if you won’t, you won’t,” was the woman’s answer, and just at that moment the outer door opened unceremoniously. Marion looked up in astonishment. There were two well-dressed men, both glittering with diamonds, standing in the doorway, gazing at her admiringly. [7] CHAPTER IV. MARION DEFENDS HERSELF FROM INSULT. “Now, Mr. Clayton Graham, I’ll spoil your white dove for you a trifle, I fancy,” muttered Carlotta under her breath, as she half closed her eyes and looked scornfully at Marion. Aloud she merely said: “Some friends of mine, Ila. Don’t disturb yourself, dear; you will find them very agreeable.” It was fully a minute before Marion could control her anger sufficiently to rise and confront her hostess with any degree of calmness, and even when she did, her cheeks glowed like carnations, and her wide, gray eyes had grown black as midnight. She had come to this woman’s home on an errand of sympathy, and now, at midnight, as she was sitting in almost bed- room attire, she was suddenly forced to receive the company of two men whom it was plainly to be seen were both under the influence of liquor. “Mademoiselle, this is outrageous!” were her first indignant words. “How could you allow them to come in here now. Have you no shame, no atom of decency about you?” The base woman almost screamed with laughter, as the young girl spoke. She was fairly gloating over her discomfiture, and the two men joined heartily in her merriment. “Don’t be frightened, birdie!” said one of the men familiarly, as they both stepped inside and closed the door behind them. “We won’t hurt such a pretty creature as you are. No, indeed, we’ve only dropped in to admire your beauty.” “Yes, and to help eat Carlotta’s welsh rarebit,” said the other, going straight to the woman and kissing her. “So glad you invited us, old girl, make as big a one as you can, for we are both hungry and thirsty.” “I’m hungry for a bite of those red lips,” said the other fellow, lurching over and putting his hand on Marion’s bare shoulder. In an instant the young girl sprang back and put the width of the room between them. “If you dare to touch me I will kill you,” she cried sharply, at the same time snatching a small ivory handled revolver from Carlotta’s dressing table. “I believe you would,” said the man, staring at her admiringly. “By gad! but you are a beauty! How I would like to tame you!” “What does ail you, Ila?” said Carlotta, walking toward Marion and speaking very coldly. “Put up that thing, dear, and come and sit down. These gentlemen are my friends—they will not harm you.” “If you expected them here you had no right to invite me,” said the magnificent girl, hotly. “You have inveigled me here for some evil purpose, Carlotta!” She did not move from her position nor lay down her weapon, and there was a flash in her eyes that warned the woman to be careful. “I invited them here to meet you,” Carlotta said, very suavely. “They have admired your beauty and wanted to make your acquaintance, and I must say you are treating them in a very extraordinary manner.” Marion looked at her coldly and held her head a trifle higher. “I’m in the habit of choosing whom I shall meet,” she said, quietly, “and I do not care to extend my circle of acquaintances to this class of society.” “Beware!” cried the now angry woman with a vicious hiss. “I said they were my friends. You had better not insult them!” As the two women stood glaring at each other the men watched them curiously. Such an extraordinary spectacle had sobered them a little. Marion, young, slight, girlish in her trailing white robe; the other voluptuous, sensual, even coarse, in her negligé of flaming scarlet. It was a spectacle of virtue confronted by vice—of innocence menaced by wanton evil. When Marion spoke again her voice vibrated strangely and she was fingering the little revolver nervously. “I hope and believe your friends are more honorable than you are, mademoiselle!” she said, distinctly, “for I doubt if either of them would dare insult a respectable girl, while you have deliberately laid a trap for me—for Heaven alone knows what diabolical motive.” For just a moment Carlotta looked ashamed, but she promptly recovered, and her frame fairly quivered with anger. “Put that weapon down and dress yourself,” she said, with a sneer crossing her face. “Your dress is in the bed-room. I shall be glad to have you leave me.” Marion turned toward the bed-room door, still grasping the pistol. When she reached the doorway she turned and faced them, throwing her head back with a motion of superb defiance. “If either of you dare to cross this threshold, look out!” she said briefly, but with unmistakable decision. [8] As she was hurrying into her street dress she heard the three whispering together. The next second there was a scream from the woman and a perfect volley of curses. Clayton Graham had suddenly opened the door of the apartment and stood glaring at the trio. With a cry for help Marion bounded out and ran to him. “Oh, Mr. Graham! Save me!” she cried, half hysterically. “See, I have had to defend myself from those fiends with this pistol. Oh, what am I to think of this wicked woman?” Clayton Graham looked bewildered for a moment, then a light dawned on his mind—he understood Carlotta’s motive. He had goaded this woman to fury when he spoke to her of Marion’s virtue; now she was doing her best to ruin the young girl’s fair name, and she would have succeeded admirably with one less noble and courageous than Marion. “So this is your revenge,” he muttered, facing the woman. “You are trying to blacken her good name, you infamous creature!” The woman answered nothing, she had been caught red-handed. No one knew her better than Clayton Graham—there was no use trying to deceive him in the matter. “She was weeping in the dressing-room and I spoke to her,” went on Marion, quickly. “She said she was grieving over the loss of a friend and asked me to come home with her, so she would not be so lonely.” “So she was afraid of being lonely—poor Carlotta,” said the manager with a sneer. “Well, it’s lucky for you, child, that I saw you getting into her carriage. I knew she was up to something, and I called the turn pretty correctly.” “So that is why I am honored with your presence,” said Carlotta, sarcastically. “You came here to rescue your new sweetheart Ila from the natural vengeance of your old sweetheart Carlotta.” Clayton Graham looked at her scornfully, but did not deign to reply. Then his glance swept the full length and breadth of her now thoroughly sobered companions. “I knew you were blackguards and loafers before,” he said, coolly, “but I wouldn’t have believed that drunk or sober you wouldn’t respect an innocent girl. Carlotta must have you in good training, you infamous puppies!” He offered his arm to Marion and led her out of the apartment. “Thank goodness I was in time,” he said as they reached the curb, “still, I guess you would have looked out for yourself all right. I wouldn’t want you to come for me armed with even a toy revolver.” He chuckled good-naturedly as he put Marion into a cab. “Don’t fail to be on hand to-morrow night,” he said, earnestly. “Your song is the hit of the evening, and the public can’t spare you. Don’t mind about Carlotta. I’ll watch her in future. She’s a tigress all right, but I know her nature.” Marion thanked him and was soon alighting at her own door. It was nearly two o’clock, and the block where she lived was almost in darkness; as she ran up the steps she felt a trifle nervous. While she was searching for her latchkey she heard a step behind her. She turned around quickly and confronted a stranger, a small, swarthy man, his face badly scarred and hideous. “What do you want?” asked Marion with a frightened gasp. “You,” muttered the fellow instantly, as he laid a long yellow hand on the fair girl’s shoulder. Marion gave a shriek that awoke the echoes. In an instant the man turned and fled down the street; he was out of sight before any one responded. CHAPTER V. A CHINESE GIRL STEALER. When Ralph Moore, Marion’s brother-in-law, opened the door he was astonished to find her trembling with terror. “Why, sister, I thought you were not coming home to-night,” he began, but the girl stopped him with a quick explanation. “Carlotta trapped me,” she said, hotly, “but I escaped from her safely! Now, who do you suppose that fellow was, the dreadful creature that just grabbed my arm right here on the steps. My shriek must have frightened you awfully, brother.” Ralph Moore looked up and down the street, but there was no one in sight, so in another minute they went up to his apartment. Dollie Marlowe, or Dollie Moore, as she was now, had been married only three weeks, but her little flat already had a homelike look, and both she and her husband were radiantly happy. As Marion had said, Dollie’s face was the prettier of the two, but it was a babyish prettiness that meant weakness and [9] uncertainty, while Marion’s was the glorious beauty of decision. As Marion told them of her evening’s experience Dollie’s rosy cheeks paled, while Ralph Moore ran his fingers through his black curls in excitement. “What a bad, wicked woman,” cried the little bride, indignantly. “To think of her subjecting you to such an insult. Why, she is a disgrace to her sex, isn’t she, darling?” “She is indeed,” was her husband’s fond answer as he stopped in his excited pacing to and fro, to kiss his wife’s soft, dimpled shoulder. “It is a shame that our dear sister should have to come in contact with such a creature, and to think that Marion was trying to do her a kindness.” Marion had removed her hat and unbound her beautiful hair, and now sat sipping a cup of chocolate that Dollie had hurriedly made for her. “What puzzles me most is that man,” she said, thoughtfully. “Oh, what a terrible face he had—it was hideously scarred and disfigured.” “He was probably drunk,” was her brother-in-law’s answer. “And no doubt he mistook you for some one else. I’ll tell the officer on the beat to keep a look-out for him in future.” “Well, it is very evident that there was no officer on the beat to-night,” said Marion, laughing, “for I screamed as loudly as I possibly could, and I only succeeded in awakening the echoes.” “Oh, the cop was probably in the corner saloon,” said Ralph Moore, disgustedly; “still, it’s lucky you screamed and scared the fellow. No one knows what he might have done if you hadn’t, sister.” “Oh, I have some news for you,” said Dollie, suddenly. “I got a letter from our old friend, Bert Jackson, to-day. He is coming home to be ready to sail for Europe with his foster-father next week, and in the fall he is going to college.” “That is good news,” said Marion, with a happy smile. “I wondered why we hadn’t heard from Bert since your wedding, but I suppose he has been having such a good time with his new parents in Canada that he did not have time to write to his old friends.” “He is a lucky boy,” said Dollie, thoughtfully. “Why, just think, only a few months ago he was a waif in a county poor farm! Oh, how lucky it was that he ran away. It is not every poor orphan that has such good fortune.” “And I am so glad that I helped him to escape,” said her sister, laughing. “I gave him five dollars the night he ran away —it was all I had, for I was only a country girl then, and you know, sister, that our father did not give us much money.” “Poor old dad,” said Dollie, with the tears springing to her eyes. “He has been a different man since you paid off the mortgage on the farm, Marion. Mother says he is so gentle that we would hardly know him.” This illusion to one of Marion’s many noble deeds made the fair girl very happy. It had been the greatest pleasure of her life to be able to pay off that mortgage on the homestead. “It is a pity that it took him so long to learn that ‘gentleness is best,’” she said, sadly. “Poor old father would have been far happier if he had learned it earlier. We would have all been happier in our life in the country.” They sat and talked a little while longer, then retired for a few hours’ rest before daylight. When Marion awoke in the morning she found that Ralph had already bought the morning papers, and, as usual, she glanced them over before eating her breakfast. “Oh, how kind the critics are to me,” she said as she read the notice of her singing in the Star. “And how dreadfully they speak of Carlotta, saying that her voice has lost its freshness, and all that sort of thing, I can hardly blame the woman for disliking me.” “Well, she has let her professional jealousy go too far,” said Ralph, hotly. “When she tries such tricks as she did last night it is high time she was halted.” “I guess Mr. Graham will read her a lecture to-day,” said Marion, slowly, “It remains to be seen what effect it has upon her.” “Here is a dreadful thing,” said Dollie, who was glancing over a part of the paper. “A young girl has just been rescued from an opium den. It seems she was stolen by Chinamen and kept a prisoner in one of their houses.” “Oh, that sort of thing happens every day,” said her husband, quickly. “There’s a tremendous traffic in ‘white slaves,’ as they call them. Those yellow devils have a mania for white girls in this country.” “I think it is horrible,” said Marion, shuddering. “It is almost incredible that such horrors can exist in a Christian country.” “Nevertheless they do,” said Ralph, a little absently. He was busy at that moment reading the rest of the article. Suddenly he almost sprang from his chair at the breakfast table, and a look of horror overspread his countenance. “Quick, Marion! Describe that fellow that you saw last night on the steps. Was he small and black, and was his face all scars, and was there anything about him that looked like a Chinaman?” [10] [11] Marion thought a little before she answered. “He certainly was small and had a yellowish skin, and his face was all scars, and his eyes black and beady. Come to think of it, he did look like a Chinaman, Ralph, but for goodness sake do tell us what is the matter!” she said, earnestly. “That fellow is wanted by the police,” was Ralph Moore’s prompt answer. “He is a sort of an agent for rich Celestials in the city, he goes around trying to steal young girls, and they say that in several instances he has been successful.” Both Dollie and Marion stared at him in astonishment for a minute, then Marion’s gray eyes flashed ominously, and her lips curved in a smile. “Well, I pity him if he ever tries to steal me,” she said, decidedly, “for I have no special liking for ‘chow-chop-suey.’” CHAPTER VI. A GLIMPSE BEHIND THE SCENES. At half-past seven that evening Marion Marlowe was at the theatre. She was a trifle apprehensive of what was coming. As she tripped around to the stage door every person on the street turned to look at her, for New York was almost mad at the moment with admiration for “Ila de Parloa.” It was not altogether the girl’s magnificent voice that had charmed them, but her beautiful face and natural, unaffected manner on the stage had been a great treat after a long siege of conceited actors and airy prima donnas. During her engagement so far she had sang only simple ballads, which were sandwiched in between the regular scenes in a manner known only to comic operas and vaudeville. But the quaint, modest dress of the charming singer, and, best of all, her freedom from conceit, had won the respect of even the critics, which is a thing not easily done by any singer. Marion felt strange in the atmosphere of the monstrous theatre, yet she was fast becoming accustomed to its shallow mockeries, and deep down in her soul there had always been a desire for fame, which now, for the first time in her short life, was within some possibility of gratification. “If it was not for Carlotta’s jealousy,” she whispered to herself, as she climbed the narrow stairs behind the scenes —“but what can I do if she chooses to injure me?” “Howdy, signorita!” called a voice as she reached the top of the stairs. “You are early, as usual, and yet you don’t ‘make up’ much, either. If it wasn’t for my everlasting complexion, I wouldn’t be here, you bet. I’d have spent another hour in bed wouldn’t you, Miss Kingsley?” The speaker was a chorus girl, whose name Marion did not know. She was standing in the doorway of a big dressing- room, which she shared with a dozen others. “Do you think so much ‘make-up’ is necessary?” asked Marion, pleasantly. “Somehow, I am always afraid of getting my nose too white and my ears too red. I do wish there wasn’t such a thing as having to use it!” “Oh, we’d all look like ghosts if we didn’t,” said the girl. “Those footlights make you ghastly if your face isn’t painted.” “It makes some people look like frights, anyway,” called another voice, shrilly. “It is just too funny to see some folks prink when they can’t be anything but scrawny and ugly, no matter how much they paint and whitewash!” The girl in the doorway glanced over her shoulder scornfully. “You wear ‘symmetricals’ yourself, Miss Impudence,” she said, tauntingly. “I may be scrawny around the shoulders, but my legs are all right, and legs are all that is wanted in the chorus nowadays.” “I thought it was voices that were desired,” said Marion, dryly; “but, then, I am new; I don’t know much about requirements.” “I notice you are mighty careful not to wear your dress short at either end,” called another voice. “What is the matter with your shape, Signorita Ila?” Marion Marlowe flushed a little, but did not reply, so the girl in the doorway promptly answered for her. “Oh, she’s too modest and shy, don’t you understand! But just wait a week, girls—then you may have to look to your laurels. Can’t make me believe that the little ‘greeny’ isn’t all right! She’s fresh from the country, and ought to be as plump as a partridge.” “You are the only girl in the chorus that ain’t jealous, Jennie,” called a coarse masculine voice, as Jack Green, the “property man,” came by at that minute. Jennie was just stepping into her slippers when she caught sight of Jack. In an instant one of them went spinning in his direction. Jack caught it deftly and held it in his hand. “Out on first,” he said, with a grin. “Now, when you want it back you’ll have to kiss me.” [12] “Oh, I don’t mind doing that a little bit,” cried the girl, unhesitatingly, and in a second she had both arms over the property man’s shoulders. “You’re a daisy, Jack, and I’m awfully mashed on you,” she said, candidly; “but you haven’t got enough wealth, so, you see, I must stick to the Johnnies.” “Oh, I don’t want you,” was the fellow’s equally honest answer. “I’m stuck on the new beauty, the charming Ila. I wonder if she would give me a kiss if I asked her.” Marion was standing right in front of him as he made the remark, and in an instant all of the chorus girls came out to see how she took it. “No use to play the prude,” thought Marion, with a shudder. “These people see no harm in kissing, so I must try and get out of it nicely.” “No, Mr. Green,” she said, with a half smile, “I would not dream of kissing you before all these young ladies! Why, they would scratch my eyes out, and I am sure I would deserve it.” “That’s not so bad for a ‘greeny,’” said Jennie. She had got her slipper back now, and was adjusting it carefully. “Make less noise up there, girls!” called out the stage manager from the stairs. The girls scampered back into their dressing-room, leaving Marion and the property man together. “Won’t you kiss me, sweetie?” said Jack Green, in an undertone, as he came closer to her. “I wasn’t joking a little bit, Ila. I’m just dying to kiss you.” Marion looked up at the burly fellow and tried to read his face. She had disliked him from the first, but had always tried not to show it. “I don’t think you mean to insult me, Mr. Green,” she said, after a second. “You professionals do not look upon kisses as a very serious matter, but, you see, I am a country girl, and I have been taught differently. I am saving my lips for the man whom I shall marry.” Jack Green gave a whistle of genuine surprise, for he saw by the girl’s face that she was sincere and honest. “Well, you are a novelty,” he said, after a minute. “Been on the stage nearly a week and don’t believe in kissing.” “That is one reason why I shall never be an actress,” said Marion, sadly. “It does seem awful to me to be kissing and hugging so indiscriminately.” “You’d like it if you tried it,” said Green, with a wicked leer. “Your lips were made to kiss; they are just like cherries— it’s mighty mean of you, I think, to be so stingy with them.” “I shall kiss the man that I love,” said Marion, softly, as she attempted to quietly pass the fellow and go to her dressing- room. “Well, I’m a chump if I let you go that way,” said the big brute, suddenly. “You’re bound to kiss somebody if you stay in this business, and, by the powers, I’m going to be the first one!” His face had reddened with passion as he spoke, and as Marion glanced at him quickly she found his eyes almost devouring her. “Let me pass! It is late!” she commanded, sternly. “Not until I have tasted of those red lips, Ila,” said the fellow. The next second he had caught her in his arms and was pressing her roughly to his bosom. CHAPTER VII. MARION MAKES ANOTHER ENEMY For a second Marion Marlowe was almost paralyzed with fright, but as she felt the fellow’s mustache touching her cheek she raised her right hand and gave him a blow with all the force of her strong young muscles. “Take that for your impudence, you cur!” she whispered, tensely. Jack Green released her and fell back a step, and just at that moment Carlotta came out of her dressing-room. “Hello!” she said, abruptly, as she caught sight of Marion. “You here again to-night, you little simpleton!” Marion Marlowe was now trembling with indignation already, but at the woman’s words she became suddenly calm. “Certainly I am here, Carlotta!” she said, quietly, “where else should I be but keeping my engagements?” “She means that she is engaged to me,” spoke up Jack Green, sneeringly. “I was just sealing our betrothal with a kiss or two,” he added. “How dare you!” cried Marion, turning on him furiously. [13] Carlotta sneered as she came a little nearer. “I thought your goodness was all put on,” she said, coldly. “So you prefer a ‘property man’ to a gentleman, do you?” The beautiful young girl turned on her heel with a disdainful glance. She had had quite enough of this sort of thing for one evening. As she walked deliberately to her dressing-room, both Carlotta and Green stared after her, and in spite of their anger they could not conceal their admiration. “By gad! But she’s a corker!” was the property man’s exclamation. “She thinks because the public likes her that she owns the show,” muttered Carlotta, “but I’ll fix her yet, the little country hussy!” “Well, Graham is dead gone on her all right,” said the man quickly, eying the woman sharply as he spoke to see how she took it. “Clayte Graham is a knave and a fool,” she hissed fiercely. “I’ll teach him to play fast and loose with a woman like Carlotta.” “You ought to have a pretty taut string on him by this time,” said the fellow, shrewdly, “and you ain’t the woman to be cut out by a snip of a girl like that.” “I should say not, Green,” said the woman slowly; then she seemed to think of something, for she turned and looked at him earnestly. Jack Green was too shrewd not to know what he was doing. He had an end to gain or he would not have been neglecting his own duties at that minute. This woman, Carlotta, had never noticed him before. She had always held her head very high where the property man was concerned, and her constant disdain had nettled him sorely. Like many another man, he desired what was beyond him; but now his opportunity had come to accomplish his ends; he had only to help her wreak her vengeance on another. “Green,” whispered the woman, suddenly, as she took a step nearer, “Help me to sully that girl’s character so that Clayte Graham will believe it and I will reward you handsomely. Say, will you do it?” A dull gleam of light flashed from the property man’s eyes as he half closed his eyelids and peered at her through them. Carlotta’s face flushed through her paint and she drew back quickly. She read his meaning. “Think!” urged the man, “your position is at stake! If Graham falls in love with that girl he will drop you in a minute, and, mark my words, it will be a long day, Carlotta, before you get another rich lover.” “Well, how can you help me?” asked the woman, shrewdly. “Dead easy,” was the prompt answer. “I’ll fix that all right. I’ll compromise her myself if I can’t find any one else to do it; but my reward, Carlotta?” “You shall have your reward,” said the woman in a chilling whisper, “when that girl’s character is ruined.” The first “call” was given as Carlotta hurried back to her room, and Jack Green turned hastily to attend to business. A second later there was a slight noise behind a stack of old scenery and after another second a girl slipped out from the mass, and shaking her skirts clear ran softly to her dressing-room. “So that is the kind of a fellow you are, Jack Green,” she murmured to herself, at the same time wringing her small hands in perfect agony. Marion Marlowe was ready to “go on” when this girl reached the dressing-room. It was a little box of a place, but they occupied it together. “Oh, Miss Lindsay, what is the matter?” said Marion, quickly. “You look terribly pale. Has anything happened? Are you ill? Is there anything I can do for you?” To all of these questions Miss Lindsay only shook her head. She was a frail, delicate girl, whom the others had nicknamed “The Feather.” Marion saw at once that the girl did not wish her sympathy, so she said nothing more, but went over by the door to wait where she could hear the call to the wings. Miss Lindsay hurried into her stage costume as quickly as possible, but she took very little pains with it. “What is the use of trying to look pretty?” she said finally. “No one cares how I look, so I’m not going to bother.” “Oh, I am sure somebody cares,” said Marion, quickly, “and really, Miss Lindsay, you should put on more rouge. You are awfully pale. I am afraid the calcium will make you look ghastly.” “I don’t care if it does,” said the girl indifferently, but she did smear a little of the red stuff across her cheeks and eyelids. [14] [15] There was another call and the chorus came rushing from the stairs—in less than a moment the overture would be ended. Marion did not have to go on for some little time, but she followed slowly down the stairs, in order to stand in the wings, as she always enjoyed listening to the chorus. Just as she reached the stairs she observed one of the chorus girls waiting for her. As she peered through the dim light she saw that it was Miss Lindsay. “Perhaps she is going to confide in me, after all,” Marion thought. “Poor thing, she is in some trouble—any one can see it.” “What is it?” she asked, as she reached the girl and put one hand tenderly on her shoulder. There was a curious look in the girl’s eyes as she answered. She put her face up close to Marion’s so that no one would hear her. “If anything should happen to me to-night, Signorita, I want you to tell Jack that I was watching behind the pile of old scenery. I saw him with you and with her, Carlotta,” she whispered, “so if anything happens he will understand it.” “But what can happen?” asked Marion, sharply. The girl darted down the stairs without stopping to answer. “Oh, she is planning something desperate!” murmured Marion, “and great Heaven! she can accomplish it, too, if she wishes, for every one of the chorus carries a sword in this act! Oh, I must go this minute and warn Mr. Graham!” CHAPTER VIII. THE CONQUEST OF A CRITIC. As Marion made her way across the scene-room she was almost trembling with alarm, for her keen intuition had told her that she was right in her surmise and that there must be no delay if she wished to prevent a tragedy. She peered here and there, looking for Mr. Graham, and then it suddenly occurred to her that he would be in the front of the house rather than behind the scenes during a performance, and that she must look for Mr. Brown, the stage manager, instead. She had just caught sight of him in the distance, talking to the “calcium man,” when the awful thing happened. It seemed to Marion that she had been listening for it all the time, yet she stood perfectly still for a moment, her nerves tense with agony. The chorus was going through a sword drill at the time, and everything was moving rhythmically, when there came a sharp scream. Marion heard an order given, the curtain was rung down, and then Mr. Brown’s voice came to her as if from some great distance. He was talking calmly to the audience, telling them what had happened. There was a dim murmur of applause from the front of the house, then Marion heard no more, for she had suddenly come to her senses just as two of the “supers” came “behind,” carry...