Piccadilly Jim
imousine, or while enjoying ten cents worth of fresh air on top of a green omnibus, it jumps out and bites at you. Architects, confronted with it, reel and throw up their ha
n than the complacent animals which guard New York's Public Library. It is a house which is impossible to overlook: and it
en of a fine Sunday morning, but the Sabbath calm which was upon the house had not communicated itself to him. There was a look of
rn
ed but little here below. At that moment all that he wanted was a quiet spot where he might read his Sunday pa
lie Partridge, who was working on a new explosive which would eventually revolutionise war-she had gradually added to her collections, until now she gave shelter beneath her terra-cotta roof to no fewer than six young and unrecognised geniuses. Six brilliant youths, mostly novelists who had not yet started and poets who were about to begin, cluttered up Mr. Pett's rooms on th
ty and the absence of anything approaching discipline had given him a precocity on which the earnest efforts of a series of private tutors had expended themselves in vain. They came, full of optimism and self-confidence, to retire after a brief interval, shattered by the boy's stodgy resistance to educat
e door of the morning-room, but, a remark in a high tenor voice about the essent
es later the process of elimination had brought him to what was technically his own private library-a large, soothing room full of old books, of which his father had been a great collector. Mr. Pett did not rea
erienced that ecstatic thrill which only comes to elderly gentlemen of solitary habit who in a house fu
lo,
awling in a deep c
p, come in.
the latter was lounging in his favourite chair. Even from an aesthetic point of view the sight of the bulging child offended him. Ogden Ford was round and blobby and looked overfed. He had the plethoric ha
manded Mr. Pett, his disappoin
an
ould not eat
silenced the enemy's battery. Mr. Pett grunted, but made no verbal comment.
his morning, ha
be spoken to
ly. "I can always tell. I don't see why you want
s sniffing
been s
e!
g cigar
, s
wo butts in
t put th
them i
a warm
there when you h
ws was in here before me. They're always swiping your coffin-nails. Y
sandth time he felt himself baffled by this calm, goggle
the open air this lovely
go for a walk. I
o do," said Mr. Pett, re
ated anyway. Where's the sense of ha
have been out on a morning l
ok at y
do you
r to l
bago," said Mr. Pett, who
r own way. A
er m
aying what
qu
her researches
some
N
ot to be carefu
do you
ou used to be. Come in, pop, if you're c
lly different man on Riverside Drive from the person he was in Pine Street? Why should he be able to hold his own in Pine Street with grown men-whiskered, square-jawed financiers-and y
ll to find a place wh
ay p
at the end of it. From behind this door, as from behind those below, sounds proceeded, but this time they did not seem to discourage Mr. Pett. It was the tapping
called a gi
ues and browns smiling cheerfully at whoever entered. The walls were hung with prints, judiciously chosen and arranged. Through a window to the left, healthfully open at the bottom, the sun streamed in, bringing with it the pleasantly subdued whirring
thing humorous, a kind of demure appreciation of itself. When it smiled, a row of white teeth flashed out: or, if the lips did not part, a dimple appeared on the right cheek, giving the whole face an air of mischievous geniality. It was an enterprising, swashbuckling sort of mouth, the mouth of one who would lead f
er," she said. "W
errupting
ry for aunt Nesta. I promised her I wo
said he w
and everything. You would never think aunt Nesta had such a feverish imagination. There are detectives and kidnappers in it and all sorts of
rithed into what was inte
lace as this house. It looks big enough outside for a regiment. Y
ibrary? Isn't tha
Ogden's
a sh
ir," said Mr. Pett morose
had promised aunt Nes
o good my talking to him. He-he patronises me!" concluded Mr. Pett indignantly. "Sits there on his shoulde
le br
nfined for the most part to letters and presents. In the past few years she had come almost to regard Mr. Pett in the light of a father. Hers was a nature swiftly responsive to kindness; and because Mr. Pett besides being kind was also pathetic she pitied as well as loved him. There was a lingering boyishness in the financier, the boyishness of the boy who muddles along in an unsympathetic world and can never do anything right: and this quality called aloud to the youth in her. She was at the valiant age when
Ogden is in a class by himself. He ought to b
ent to Sing-Sing,
you send hi
idnapped. It happened last time he went to school. You can'
gers meditative
times thou
es
get on with this th
red him to Ann always led him to open his Sabbath reading in this fashion. Grey-headed though he was, he still retained both in art and in real life a taste for the slapstick. No
corridor came a muffled thuddin
Mitchell punc
said M
d hear Jerry Mitche
he's t
ughtfully for a moment. Then she
le P
slowly from the
E
re? I forget his name. Smithers or Smethurst or something. People-old ladies, you know, and people-bring him thei
word. "There might be something in that if one got behind it. Dogs
y on the market. It only works when the dog has be
er with them. It looks to me as if I might do busines
when any one brings him a fat, unhealthy dog is to feed it next to nothing-just the simplest kind of food, you k
Mr. Pett, d
e keys of her
because we had been talking of Ogden. Don't you t
's eyes
can't have a we
tune with her fing
him good, w
r he was a baseball fan of no lukewarm order. The claims of business did not permit him to see as many games as he could wish, but he followed the national
said Ann, turni
E
sta's is all about an angel-child-I suppose it's meant to be Ogden-being stolen and hidden an
long ago, when half the kidnappers in America were after him. She sent him to school in England-or, rather, her husband
smuggle him away now and kee
Mr. Pett
were once more on his paper. She gave a
ing, typing aunt Nest
deas into o
n the magazine section, for he was a man who ploughed steadily through
t God
her uncle in concern. He was
s the
es of a young man in evening dress pursuing a young woman similarly clad along what appeared to be a rest
LY JIM O
entures of You
York an
looking at was a small reproduction of a photograph which had been inserted in the body of the article. It was
esta F
ciety Leader
She frowned as she caught sight of the heading of
have they got aunt N
hed a deep and
was afraid they would. I don't know w
let her
ownstairs. She's pro
cing through
ey have published before. I can't understand why th
newspaper man, and the Chronicl
flus
she said
tone arrested Mr.
e," he said hastily
ng Mr. Crocker's erstwhile connection with the New York Chronicle
e was your nephe
" corrected Mr. Pett
r Eugenia marr
t makes me a s
tant c
e too dista
hurried footsteps o
g a paper in her han
s sympath
d backing. "Ann and I wer
was a large woman, with a fine figure and bold and compelling eyes, and her personality crashed disturbingly into the quiet atmosphere of the room. Sh
she demanded, sinking heavily into th
office hours essentially a passive organism, and it was his tendency, when he found himself in a sea of troubles, to float plaintively, not to take arms against it.
where he was working too hard to get into mischief and let him run loose in London with too much money and nothi
o marry an obscure and middle-aged actor named Bingley Crocker. Mrs. Pett had never seen Bingley Crocker, but she had condemned the proposed match in terms which had ended definitely and forever her rela
t. The past could look after its
ught it would have
of twenty-one nee
o come out of his s
and this sentim
said. "Every boy
There was that breach-of-promise case, and that fight at the political meeting, and his escapades at Monte Carlo, and-and ev
oaned symp
s aunt, and I suppose they will print my photog
s felt his responsibilities as chorus keenly during these wif
ough,"
d on him like a
saying that? It's no
refraining from pointing out that
t do som
er least when she was bullying Mr. Pett. There was something in Mrs. Pett's character with whic
Peter possibly d
merica and make him work. I
it pos
urse i
he do here? He couldn't get his place on the Chronicle back again after dropping out for all these year
d, don't make
These are
ered her father had always been-a little too ready for combat. She was usually as quickly remorseful as she was quickly pugnacious, like most persons of her colour. Her offer to type the story which now lay on h
boy a job in my of
e six brilliant youths living in his house and bursting with his food at that ver
llie's late father had been a great inventor, but he did not accept the fact that Willie had inherited the dead man's genius. He regarded the experiments on Partridgite, as it was to be called, with
t, delighted at the sugg
said Mr. Pett, basking in the s
to in a letter. No, the only thing is to go over to England and see her. I shall speak very plainly to he
star
an live here-
the boy all the way over from England if he wa
oughed dep
would be very plea
of goodness sho
towards
any case I'm quite certain that you won't be able to get him to come over here. You can see by the paper he's having fa
door as it closed behind
hy wouldn't it be pleasant for her if
tt hes
or girl. It all happened before you and I were married. Ann was much younger then. You know what
er! What are you t
s only
rose in sl
! Don't try to
poetry and I had it
ank back in
with relief or disappointment. "Whatever did you make
s in print and be able to give the book to her friends. She did give it to her friends," he went on ruefully, "and ever since she's been trying to live it down.
goodness, what has al
cke
of work and inspirations and what not. We never suspected it wasn't the straight goods. Why, that very evening I mailed an order for a hundred copies to be sent to me when the thing appeared. And-" pinkness came upon Mr. Pett at the recollection "it was just a josh from start to finish. The young hound made a joke of the poems and what Ann had
ot intend to alter my plans because of a trivial incide
dear," said Mr.
say. Er-jus
den, of
pasm with a powerful effort of
me." The late Mr. Ford had spent most of his married life either quarrelling with or separated from his wife, but since death he had be
ming, I'd like
hy
e sought for
e only known antidote for Ogden, but he felt it would be impolitic to say so.
to say to you, which this dreadful thing in the paper drove comp
rt. "She didn't tell me." A
d to think it over, and give him his answer later. Meanwhile, he had come t
t was f
n't acce
defin
she do
Peter. It would be
shuffled
's something too darned
ct, I agree with you. I shall do all in
hat Ann is if you try to force her to do anything. She gets her ears back and w
er. As if I should dr
do an
s fellow. Two weeks ago we did
ed to know bey
m Hammond Chester, Ann's father, whom he had met in Canada, where the latter was at present engaged in the comparatively mild occupation of bass-fishing. With their business talk the acquaintance would have begun and finished, if Mr. Pett had been able to please himself, for
uch now. However, it is entirely her own affair, and there is not
beach, who, even if he had had no faults at all, would be objectionable in that he would probably take her
ner, who had had artistic leanings, for a studio. The tap-tap-tap of the leather bag had ceased, but voices from within told her that Jerry Mitchell, Mr. Pett's private physical instructor, was still there. She wondere
s Ann entered. "I heard Biggs a
im down," said Jerr
hould she? Biggs is an a
alking about, O
s asked Celestine to go for
ock off," muttered
ughed de
if you touched him. She wouldn't sta
s obliged to rely exclusively on moral worth and charm of manner. He belonged to the old school of fighters who looked the part, and in these days of pugilists who resemble matinee idols he had the appearance of an anachronism. He was a stocky man with a round, solid head, small eyes, an undershot jaw, and a nose which ill-treatment had reduced to a mere scenario. A narrow strip of forehead acted as a kind of buffer-state, separating his front
ue in characteristic
Ogden,"
been able to understand, but it was a fact that she was the only person of his acquaintance wh
tered. "You'r
ick, O
ig idea-order
ently behind you," sa
the order
n bothering
ell wiped h
when I'm working in the gym-You heard wh
, a name which Mrs. Pett stoutly refus
g it all up. He spends his whole time wandering about till he finds some one he can tormen
l sighed a si
llow to have you in
ooked down the passage, then, satisfied a
ou. I have an idea. Somethi
Miss
not going to have it. I warned him once that, if he did it again, awful things would happen to h
n Smithers,
Smithers or Smethurs
an you ca
. I've known him s
to send Ogden to him for treatment, and I w
e love
ing admiration. He had always known that Miss Ann possessed a mind of no common order, but
you're going to ki
ou are-if I can persuad
send him to Bud Smit
rs' methods. I think they would d
as enth
But, say, isn't it taking big chances
that sort of
's mighty
t it isn't that one. You run the risk of losing your job here, and I should certainly be sent to my grandmother for an indefinite sentence. You've never seen my grandmother, have you, Jerry? She's the only person in the world I'm afraid of! She lives miles from anywhere and has
d extended a
do we
k the ha
I don't think we can do anything till they come back fro
oing to
ust now of sailing to try and persuade a y
my Crocker? P
, do you
he Chronicle here. Looks as if he was cutting a wide s
ver. Of course, there isn't the remotest chance that
o, when I went over to train Eddie Flynn for his go with Porky Jones at t
s drinking,
used to be a regular fellow, Jimmy Crocker, but from what you read in the papers it begins to look as if he was hitting it up too swift.
Ogden. If he's allowed to go on as he is at pre
in't in Ogden's clas
absolutely no diffe
you, Miss Ann?" Jerry looked at her wond
about Ogden, Jerry. I knew I could rely on you. But I won't let you do it for nothing. Uncle Peter shall give you something
e boss in o
tell him now. Hush! T
in. He was still
g, Mitchell-your aun
want you to
o help intervie
l be such a help with Ogden, Ann. You can keep him in order. Ho
encouraging grin. Ann was constrained to make he
lf a moment, Jerry?" she said winningly.
e. S
Mr. Pett as th
ke Ogden a different boy,
it was p
lot lately, hasn't he?"
sighed
y. "I was afraid that you might not appr
es by the superior will of his boyhood's hero, Hammond Chester. In the boyhood of nearly every man there is a single outstanding figure, some one youthful hypnotic Napoleon whose will was law and at whose bidding his better judgment curled up and died. In Mr. Pett's life Ann's father had filled this role. He had dominated Mr. Pett at an age when the mind is most malleable. And now-so true is it that though Time may blunt our boyish memories the traditions of boyhood live on in us and an emotional crisis will bring them to the surface as
away to that friend of his I told you about who keeps the dog-hospital: and the
rightfulness of reality
t,
to complete the terror of the moment, he knew, even while he rebelled against the insane lawlessness of her scheme, that he was going to agree to it,
ut I promised him that you would give him something for
n! . . . Suppose your au
lendid thing for you. You know you are much too kind to every one, uncle Peter. I don't think there's any one who w
es risen up from its grave to haunt him. Patient Pete! He had thought the repulsive title buried forever in the same
ent P
e!" said Ann
thos in Mr. Pett's voice
ht. You do let every one trample on you. Do you think father would let Ogden worry him and have h
father contradict a man weighing two hundred pounds out of sheer exube
or later. You're going to turn all these loafers out of the house. And
s a long
f a man who has been solving a problem. "It's your red hair t
laug
I have red hair, uncle P
shook h
s misfortune,
Romance
Romance
Romance
Romance
Romance
Romance