Marion Marlowe in Chicago, or, Trapped by a Lunatic — page 10: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

MY QUEEN. end.’ Bert is a very smart fellow, and I imagine the girls all agree with me.” “Miss Ellis and Miss Watson do, I am confident,” replied Olcott, otf those two girls don’t turn his head, he is made of pretty good stuff. Here he comes now !” ’ cried Bert, coming grinning. “He’s not in there,’ back from the baggage-room, in charge says he hasn’t seen him.” “and the man “Probably he’s up to his ears in work at the theatre and overlooked the fact that it was time for us to arrive,” said Dr. Brookes. “Well, keep the girls amused and I'll run sia over there in a cab and find out where we s take me long, and we will get settled ever so ~ — are to locate,” volunteered Bert. “It won’t much sooner than if we hung around here.” Dr. Brookes nodded, and he and Olcott ' turned- back into the depot as Bert sprang into a hansom that was waiting. It seemed hardly ten minutes before he came rushing into the waiting-room. “Say, this is the queerest thing I ever Fr é “If he had, he would certainly have tele- graphed to us or would have had some one here to meet us in his place,” said Dr. Brookes, in a puzzled manner. “I can’t understand it at all.” “[ can understand one thing,” said Bob — Hinton, gruffly, “and that is that I wish | -had made sure that was Bill Jones I saw in the smoking-car of that train. If he put. up some game to get the best of Mr. Temple, our manager may have been sand-bagged or black-jacked or anything by now. That fel- low is a sneak and he is dead sore on Mr. “Temple. He would not stop at anything to make trouble for him.” “It looks to me as if he had never reached Chicago. Has there been any accident on the railroad?” asked Dr. Brookes. Bert shaok his head. “No; I asked them that in the baggage-room the first thing. There hasn’t even been a train late for a week,’”” Olcott, who had slipped quietly away from the groupa few minutes before, now re- struck!" he exclaimed, as he approached the «turned with a bit of information. “T’ve been talking with the men jn the © group. “What do you think! not been at the theatre, at all, and they don’t Temple has know where he is. The box-office isn’t open and they have been wondering if we meant I can’t under- What could have be- to cancel the engagement. stand Temple at all! come of him?” “He left for Chicago all right,” remarked Bob Hinton. train began to move, and the last thing he said “I stayed with him until the to me was to be sure and see that the prop- erty-man had his traps in shape, because he wanted to have a rehearsal of the third act with costumes and scener y this afternoon, SO as to be sure everything would go all right to-night.” a3 Something must have happened to him,” declared Marion. “I do hope that he has not met with any accident.” and one of them remembers Mr. Temple perfectly. baggage-room,” he said, “ He got here all right yesterday morning and claimed his hand- -bag. That is the last they saw of him. His dress-suit case is still there, un- claimed; I saw it myself.” . Well, of all the strange experiences since We started, this is the strangest!”’ said Alma Allyn. “Tt’s simply beyond any explana- ‘tion !”’ “It’s a pretty kettle of fish! Here we are and no manager, no theatre, no hotel, no any- thing. Why, Temple must have gone crazy!” cried Bert, in bewilderment. “He’s been worried half sick by troubles of one sort or another ever since we started on this trip,” said Marion, anxiously. “Tt ig just possible that he has Ss) COMMCD OO KS CO im