Argosy All-Story Weekly, 4 February 1922 — page 33: what you’re looking at

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

es mwas AC GENTLEMAN, 4 you'll always ‘be welcome right back here to home if things might just happen to go wrong up there in Chicago.” . A NEw world, rich and opulent, teeming with splendid activity, was opened up to Chester Gibbs within the ornate hotel at which he had registered in Chicago. Upon each and every guest was an indefinable aura of prosperity, of success. a time he had read somewhere it was both ethical and profitable to present an ap- pearance of well-being when in distress. It was a pleasant philosophy, and it had lured him into quarters entirely disproportionate in cost to his purse. At the longest, he could remain but a few days, yet in that time he was pre- pared to enjoy his surroundings to the full- The delicious resiliency of his bed, the stinging needles of his cold shower, great thick towels, soft rugs, mahogany furniture—all conspired to create the illu- sion that he was a natural part of his sur- | The etchings on the walls of his room, the shaded lights, gave him a sense of infinite achievement—and the total effect of it all was personified in the rotund figure of Mr. Francis X. Tally, who -oceupied a suite across the corridor from Chester’s room on a court. Chester had observed the distinguished man at a distance in the lobby and at close range in the elevator; had marveled at the razor-scraped pinkness of his jowls and the elusive elegance in the fit of his garments. The time would come, he was confident, when Chester Gibbs, too, would be bland and smiling, correct, a man among men— Always a gentleman. So great was his veneration that he went numb with astonishment on the evening of ‘his second day when some one opened bis door without knocking and a Francis X. wilted, craven, tottered and a gentleman. Tally, blanched, into the room. “ Young man, I need help, and I need it ” he said in ghastly tones. “ My wife’s just come in from home and she’ll be up on the elevator any minute.” Mr. Talley endeavored to clear the dew from his forehead with a silk handkerchief “ And I got a hell-roaring party going 0 across the hall. There’s a couple of fri of mine in there with a case of Scotch 2 en BX five or six cabaret girls—all lit.” ae Se = = He advanced and clung to the shoc os lapels of Chester Gibbs. —— % “You got to save me, boy! Thank G id —my brain still works. Lay down on t i. bed and pretend you're sick. I'll bring her = in and tell her Pm ‘tending to you—that I~ was called in—and Mrs. Tally, she'll eS. = right down and begin to nurse you while I clean that gang out. I’ll pay you well—” = oS. Chester extended a hand, which Tally pressed fervently. ‘“ You can’t pay me = cent—”’ : a “‘ Heaven bless you!” The frantic « or — lumbered hastily to the door. “ Goat he threw over his shoulder. “ Groan double up in agony!” : r “i Masi 4 nN ! - any 4 t ; AM, ~ 1G, B f in ‘et z { ~~. it he , "tw 17 The patient, by midnight, was aata out ae danger. From the moment she had bets ushered into the room the alert, ‘Maternal eye of Mrs. Francis X. Tally, “the ‘best nonprofessional nurse in Queensberg, [li- © nois, had not been diverted from the hypo- — critical sufferings of Chester Gibbs. Taking advantage of her concentrated at- a tention, Tally had escaped from Chester’s ~ a room long enough to hustle his riotous gue: protestingly from his apartment. Sumnon- = ing a maid he had the place cleaned and — aired, restored to the Puritanical sanctity = befitting the husband of a plain, honest wile Se = Chastened and humble, he returned to — the sick bed; sat sympathetically through — = the long hours of Mrs. Tally’s relentless S ministrations. “There now,” she said kindly at ha; *“ T guess you can get tosleep. Your cramps. had me puzzled all right, but I knew those — peppermint bitters would knock ’em if yo took enough. Land sakes!” She turned to her hovering husband. “ This poor child = swallowed almost a pint before I co aie: ld == stop him.” a It was true. Dosed and drugged into bodily inertia, Chester lay under the s ts = wan and drowsy. From time to time h gathered rome energy to moan cee we = ii AN sue ~ ‘é V8 seal ‘4 ys ty a4 oe G meas oy “4 ANH ut Aye ih 2) ay hy =e —y 2 if