The Secret Mark / An Adventure Story for Girls

ls of black water where sewers were choked, Lucile dashed. With no thought for health or safety she exposed herself to the blinding tempest

t be frightened away by her appearance, she hurried up the stairs. The train came thundering

ade a dash for that car and made it. A moment later, with her ulster t

was, hugging a bulky package wrapped in oilclo

rip-drip to the floor below. With the question came a blind resolve to see the thing through to the end.

, the thunder seems to be speaking to the universe. Flashing from a thousand windows to ten thousand others, the lightning seems to be searching the haunts and homes of men. The whole wild fury of it seems

a night like this the elevated t

e flashed not one tremor, not a falling of an eyelash, which might be thought of as a sign of fear of law

Lucile's eye saw the sea of dreary, water-soaked tenements and tumbledown cottages that, like cattle left ou

her. She suspected nothing. It would be so easy to say to the policeman, "Stop that child. She is a thief. She ha

a corner, up a second street, down a third, still narrower, and up to

d a garret. The window was within her range of vision. After a glance from left to right, she stepped beneath the porch, which gave her an opportunity to peer th

was scrupulously clean and tidy, there were but two persons, the child and the old man who had visited the library. Through the grate of a small stove a fire glea

surprised to recognize it as the second Shakespeare. From turning it over and over, he paused to open i

and in its center was a picture of a gargoyle. A strange looking creation was this gargoyle. It was with such as these the ancients were wont to decorate their mansio

as it," sh

om and, save for a single foot of space, were entirely filled with books. The striking fact to be noted wa

books," sh

decision was confirmed at last as the tottering old man made his way to the shelf and filled some

ion on his face was startling. In the twinkling of an eye, it appeared to pr

over the return of a long-l

another part of the cottage to retire for the night. She was left with two alternatives: to call a policeman and ha

e and fixing certain landmarks in her mi

certain," she told herself. "The course

n, she was surprised to find her roommate aw

ence!" she

ron. She would have notified the police and then things would have been fine. Grand! Can you see it in the morning papers? 'Beautif

Lucile, "you

I to know what had happened? Yo

he rug and stared at her roommate. For once in her life,

I should have told you about it, but it was something I was quite sure you wouldn't understand, so I didn't, t

r that I'll help you into dry cloth

he girls were still deep in

hat is the value of the Shakespeare. Perhap

but I am awfully afraid it is. Let's see-w

Frank M

re in this city. Got a cute little shop on the fifteenth floor of the Marshal Annex build

him to-morrow, or I mean to-d

d into bed. Lucile followed her example