A short walk round the block brought them into a shaded, wide street with one of Middleville"s parks on the left. A row of luxuriant elm trees helped the effect of gloom. The nearest electric light was across on the far corner, with trees obscuring it to some extent. At the corner where Pepper halted there was an outside stairway running up the old-fashioned building. The ground floor shops bore the signs of a florist and a milliner; above was a photograph gallery; and the two upper stories were apparently unoccupied. To the left of the two stores another stairway led up into the center of the building. Pepper led Lane up this stairway, a long, dark climb of three stories that taxed Lane"s endurance.
"Sure is a junk heap, this old block," observed Pepper, as he fumbled in the dim light with his keys. At length he opened a door, turned on a light and led Lane into his apartment. "I have three rooms here, and the back one opens into a kind of areaway from which I get into an abandoned storeroom, or I guess it"s an attic. To-morrow afternoon about three you meet me here and I"ll take you in there and let you have a look through the peep-hole I made. It"s no use to-night, because there"ll be only boys at the club, and I"m going to take you right in."
He switched off the light, drew Lane out and locked the door. "I"m the only person who lives on this floor. There"re three holes to this burrow and one of them is at the end of this hall. The exit where the girls slip out is on the floor below, through a hallway to that outside stairs. Oh, I"ll say it"s a Coney Island maze, this building!
But just what these young rakes want.... Come on, and be careful.
It"ll be dark and the stairs are steep."
At the end of the short hall Pepper opened a door, and led Lane down steep steps in thick darkness, to another hall, dimly lighted by a window opening upon the street.
"You"ll have to make a bluff at playing poker, unless my b.u.t.ting in with you causes a row," said Pepper, as he walked along. Presently he came to a door upon which he knocked several times. But before it was opened footsteps and voices sounded down the hall in the opposite direction from which Pepper had escorted Lane.
"Guess they"re just coming. Hard luck," said Pepper. ""Fraid you"ll not get in now."
Lane counted five dark forms against the background of dim light. He saw the red glow of a cigarette. Then the door upon which Pepper had knocked opened to let out a flare. Pepper gave Lane a shove across the threshold and followed him. Lane did not recognize the young man who had opened the door. The room was large, with old walls and high ceiling, a round table with chairs and a sideboard. It had no windows.
The door on the other side was closed.
"Pepper, who"s this you"re ringin" in on me?" demanded the young fellow.
"A pard of mine. Now don"t be peeved, Sammy," replied Pepper. "If there"s any kick I"ll take the blame.
Then the five young men glided swiftly into the room. The last one was d.i.c.k Swann. In the act of closing the door behind him, he saw Lane, and started violently back. His face turned white. His action, his look silenced the talk.
"Lane! What do you want?" he jerked out.
Lane eyed him without replying. He thought he read more in Swann"s face and voice than any of the amazed onlookers.
"d.i.c.k, I fetched Lane up for a little game," put in Pepper, with composure.
Swann jerked as violently out of his stiffened posture as he had frozen into it. His face changed--showed comprehension--relief--then flamed with anger.
"Pepper, it"s a d.a.m.n high-handed imposition for you to bring strangers here," he burst out.
"Well, I"m sorry you take it that way," replied Pepper, with deprecatory spreading of his hands. He was quite cool and his little eyes held a singular gleam. "You never kicked before when I brought a stranger."
Swann fiercely threw down his cigarette.
"h.e.l.l! I told you never to bring any Middleville man in here."
"Ahuh! I forgot. You"ll have to excuse me," returned Pepper, not with any particular regret.
"What"s the matter with my money?" queried Lane, ironically, at last removing his steady gaze from Swann to the others. Mackay was there, and Holt Dalrymple, the boy in whom Lane had lately interested himself. Holt resembled his sister in his dark rich coloring, but his face wore a shade of sullen depression. The other two young men Lane had seen in Middleville, but they were unknown to him.
"Pepper, you beat it with your new pard," snarled Swarm. "And you"ll not get in here again, take that from me."
The mandate nettled Pepper, who evidently felt more deeply over this situation than had appeared on the surface.
"Sure, I"ll beat it," returned he, resentfully. "But see here, Swann. Be careful how you shoot off your dirty mouth. It"s not beyond me to hand a little tip to my friend Chief of Police Bell."
"You d.a.m.ned squealer!" shouted Swann. "Go ahead--do your worst. You"ll find I pull a stroke.... Now get out of here."
With a violent action he shoved the little man out into the hall. Then turning to Lane he pointed with shaking hand to the door.
"Lane, you couldn"t be a guest of mine."
"Swann, I certainly wouldn"t be," retorted Lane, in tones that rang.
"Pepper didn"t tell me you were the proprietor of this--this joint."
"Get out of here or I"ll throw you out!" yelled Swann, now beside himself with rage. And he made a threatening move toward Lane.
"Don"t lay a hand on me," replied Lane. "I don"t want my uniform soiled."
With that Lane turned to Dalrymple, and said quietly: "Holt, I came here to find you, not to play cards. That was a stall. Come away with me. You were not cut out for a card sharp or a booze fighter.
What"s got into you that you can gamble and drink with _slackers_?"
Dalrymple jammed his hat on and stepped toward the door. "Dare, you said a lot. I"ll beat it with you--and I"ll never come back."
"You bet your sweet life you won"t," shouted Swann.
"Hold on there, Dalrymple," interposed Mackay, stepping out. "Come across with that eighty-six bucks you owe me."
"I--I haven"t got it, Mackay," rejoined the boy, flushing deeply.
Lane ripped open his coat and jerked out his pocket-book and tore bills out of it. "There, Hardy Mackay," he said, with deliberate scorn, throwing the money on the table. "There are your eighty-six dollars--_earned_ in France.... I should think it"d burn your fingers."
He drew Holt out into the hall, where Pepper waited. Some one slammed the door and began to curse.
"That ends that," said Colonel Pepper, as the three moved down the dim hall.
"It ends us, Pepper, but you couldn"t stop those guys with a crowbar,"
retorted Dalrymple.
Lane linked arms with the boy and changed the conversation while they walked back to the inn. Here Colonel Pepper left them, and Lane talked to Holt for an hour. The more he questioned Holt the better he liked him, and yet the more surprised was he at the sordid fact of the boy"s inclination toward loose living. There was something perhaps that Holt would not confess. His health had been impaired in the service, but not seriously. He was getting stronger all the time. His old job was waiting for him. His mother and sister had enough to live on, but if he had been working he could have helped them in a way to afford him great satisfaction.
"Holt, listen," finally said Lane, with more earnestness. "We"re friends--all boys of the service are friends. We might even become great pards, if we had time."
"What"s time got to do with it?" queried the younger man. "I"m sure I"d like it--and know it"d help me."
"I"m shot to pieces, Holt.... I won"t last long...."
"Aw, Lane, don"t say that!"
"It"s true. And if I"m to help you at all it must be now.... You haven"t told me everything, boy--now have you?"
Holt dropped his head.
"I"ll say--I haven"t," he replied, haltingly. "Lane--the trouble is--I"m clean gone on Margie Maynard. But her mother hates the sight of me. She won"t stand for me."
"Oho! So that"s it?" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Lane, a light breaking in upon him.