Through Doubt and Debris: A Story

THROUGH DOUBT AND DEBRIS. BY JOSEPHINE SPENCER.

'You can make no mistake marrying Carol Drew, dear. ' He is man who will go as straight to the mark as the ships through a Golden Gate to the sea. He has hardly begun yet, and already people say he is one of the cleverest brokers in San Francisco.

Boyd says he will make as much money turning deals in one day as John Stetson could in a month. John is a dear fellow, of course; honest and all that — and awfully in love with you. But he thinks too much of the other man's side, and that means, usually, falling between two stools. It wouldn't take me a minute to

make my choice, if the case were mine. There's another view besides the business one, too; think of the privilege of having the special right to gaze into Carol Drew's glorious brown eyes for life!"

Ellis Landon's pretty chaperone heaved a deep sigh, and leaned back, luxuriously sipping her tiny glass of claret with true San Franciscan enjoyment. About them soft-shod waiters glided, carrying trays of tempting viands to the small tables on either side, spread with their snow-white linen and rich services. An orchestra on the balcony overlooking the cafe played a tingling quickstep, and mingled with it the hum of many voices, soft feminine tones with a deeper masculine complement, mingled in a delicious murmur. Across from them sat a party of four, the two women in evening dress, with heavily jeweled white hands playing daintily with the tempting spread, the men in half-dress suits and carrying the expansive air that spoke of affluence. Ellis recognized in the taller of the two women their apartment neighbor at her own

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hotel, a handsome, richly dressed brunette, whose interest in her husband's friend, the blonde, good-looking fellow opposite —a full five years younger than herself, had been noticed by everyone, it

was whispered, but the husband himself. Bits of the quartette's talk came to Ellis across the aisle, a veritable keynote of the scene and its atmosphere. ''This ta^k of living in this world to get ready to live in another may go with those who want it," said the blonde woman. ' 'My theory is, get all you can out of this, and when the next one comes, if it comes to any of us, get all you can out of that, too. People can't be doing two things at once, and if one goes around with his ,head in one sphere and his feet in another, he's going to trip here, and bump his head in the other place too. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." f

"Pleasure — to my soul, " responded the pretty brunette, "is what food is to my body. Without it, I should go into a decline. To put it in a nutshell, I'm never good but when I'm happy." ' ' *I bear witness to her veracity, ' laughed her companion, a plump young widow of the lucern kind, with whom the other was inseparable. "She never goes to church that she is not vixenish for three days at least; and as for charity work — it turns her into an old-time Fury — more to be dreaded than—Hades." Before their laugh ended, Ellis' companion leaned forward with a contented smile. "Here's Boyd at last, " she said, "and he's bringing Carol Drew. Thank heaven we won't have to wait for him. You've just saved yjourself by a thread, Boyd; the waiter was just here to say our order was ready, and rather than have it spoiled by you unreliable men,I was about to have it served with- ' out you. The two men took the vacant chairs, and Boyd Lees signalled to the black-clothed personage at the rear. "Serve it up, Gibson," he said; and then to his wife — "I'm going to prove to you now what a saving of time and other things it means for us business men to have you come down town and order dinner for us to a dot, instead of our doing the gallant for you. In the half hour we'd have wasted here, Carol has turned a $5,000 deal. Do a little sum in arithmetic now and see what could be done in all the time I've wasted in restaurants while the cook fussed with the clams. Here, Carol,

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don't you go talking so loud to Miss Landon with your eyes. You'll have the proprietor out here if you go on creating a disturbance like that. Sis, you're the chaperone -make him keep the peace, at least in public." The low bubble of their gay laughter mingled with the hum about them. The music clamored gently above the murmur of voices.. Outside on the pavement fell the beat of numberless footsteps. Cable cars clanged and buzzed in the street; lights began to flash out, and the throngs in the thousand restaurants and the narrow streets grew thicker. With the numberless homes, palatial hotels and nondescript boarding houses in the hill-city, a third of its population dined on the boulevards. The spirit of unrest, of change, of pleasure-seeking — an insistent, insidious fever, pulsed in the restless veins of the people, driving them forth in search of any form of amusement. That aim — the key-note of life in the great, pulsing arteries of the cities had turned all things to itself, only one rival theme matching and melting into its chord —gain: and both were in evidence in this great, hurrying, restless throng of the evening. The Boyds had made up a theatre party for the night, and planned the down town dinner that the men might not traverse the distance back to the hotel between the late business hour and the play. The meal ot many courses was finished in just time to make which had awaited the run to the theatre in Carol Drew's auto, them outside, landing them there a moment before the first curtain.

The entertainment was in part with the great, primal, moving impulse of the place —vaudeville —that pot-pourri of changing, fanciful, trifling bits of play—brief enough, light enough to suit the whimsical impulses of the pleasure-sated throngs. Ellis, al-

most fresh from her quiet, inland home--h3r present visit with her California friends, the first away from her sedate birthplace felt as if in amaze. Not that it was unpleasant; two months had already put enough of the San Franciscan spell upon her to make it all entrancing; and besides this, it was as Betty Lees had said, ''something of a privilege (though a dangerous one withal,) that of gazing into Carol Drew's glorious brown eyes." It affected Ellis something like the tiny sip of champagne she-

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had taken at the cafe, "just," as Boyd Lees had urged, "to show that she had no vendetta against the crowd." It seemed to mingle

with the glamor of the bright throngs, the moving, whirling tide of human life about her; and while at first it had all appealed to her with a sense of repellance —tonight, under the glittering spell of it all she owned that would not be unpleasant to be one of it

that bright, — surface-happy throng keyed to a high pitch of the pleasure of life — life that knows only the shell tints —never the neutrals of existence. Across from them in a stall was John Stetson, with his mother and the two young Russian girls whom Mrs. Stetson had mothered after the shipwreck that threw them penniless upon the dangerous coast of San Franciscan social life. Neither of them pretty enough to be attractive, it was a standing joke with mischievous Betty Lees, this devotion of John Stetson's to his mother's charity fads. "Gives the finishing touch to the man," she laughed; "goody all through, like the sticks of lickorice I used to feed on, and that left me a prey to nausea for days to come. As if any sanely natural man would tie himself to his mother and a pair of girls that look like guinea hens. Give them a taste of pleasure, indeed! What one gains in robbing Peter to pay Paul I never fathomed. own life Spoils his to pamper theirs — as I see it." Ellis' home atmosphere had been too diflferent from Betty's

to make her see this or other things from Betty's standpoint; and she could not but compare doubtfully the purposeful face, the firm pose of John Stetson's well-shaped head, and the character for which they stood, with the contrasting faces about her. They had a significance for her that Betty in her spoiled life could never sense; and it was this which kept Ellis hovering in the miasma of indecision which her friend was seeking to influence to worldly direction. But Carol Drew really needed not the aid of his devoted ally. Strong and forceful in his own way, he possessed, too, that added charm which lies in symmetry of feature, and personal magnetism — and all these made him especially masterful.

The pleasant sense of success, of worldly comradery, was one with it, and made an association that caused that little sense of

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exhilaration which one could not help but find at least endurable. The sense of it was with Ellis strongly after the theater when she went to her room at the hotel; and she blushed consciously at Boyd Lees' characteristic jest as he and Betty said goodnight from their room door across the lobby. 'I'm making a new bet on the present innings, and my bids all draw on Drew," he laughed. "Carol always was a nipper at jumping claims!" Boyd Leas joked as he breathed or fed. To exist in his presence without scars was an unproved possibility; and Ellis, like

others, had to submit with more or less rebellion. Carol had left them at the hotel door to drive his auto to the garage, and Ellis was glad to put out her light and sit down quietly to think. Clothed in her pretty neglige of pale blue crepe, she nestled down among her window cushions and looked out. It was

fascinating to watch the gl'eat city in its after dark dress, with the lights from gaudy electric signs glittering in the night, and the streets filled with pleasure-loving throngs. The theatres were all out, and thousands surged on the sidewalks and crammed the cars and busses; amid them all moved hacks and automobiles, glimpses of fair faces, rich wraps, and snowy shirt-fronts starred with diamond studs flashing from their open sides, as parties of the favored classes rolled from scenes of pleasure to various abodes. Glitter and pomp and show —pleasure, scheming and gain! It was all there in that bright scene outside. But how black the sky was! Ellis looked out above the moving throngs with something like awe. Dark as a tent of ebony, the heavens hung low over the glittering city. Not a star shone in its space; only a fathomless abyss brooding threateningly above the chaos of souls and scenes. A strange sense of restlessness stole over Ellis. The happy, dreamful mood of an hour back suddenly passed. She felt a strange need for protection. Carol— if he were here, how tenderly his eyes would soften at her mood. And yet, was there in them that same sense of assured strength that shone from John Stetson's steady gray eyes, when she had questioned them? In Stetson's presence she had always felt tangibly this sense; something more than the effervescent thrill of Carol's; not so danger-

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ously sweet, perhaps, but an influence of safety that was splendid. Handsome? Not at all; just big and strong-featured and stronglimbed. She had not seen as much of him as Carol, lately, though she had known him first; with Carol at the same hotel, it was, of course, natural that she should have come to feel his influence more. Could Betty Lees possibly have had something of this on her mind when she chose "The Beeches" for an abiding place during their stay? She certainly had made no pretense at disguising her schemes to keep Carol and herself together. Clever little Betty! How would it all end? There she was at — it again —trying to solve the troublesome problem that seemed filled with doubts, and which she knew sometime would have to be settled. But not tonight. She would rest her mind from it all before trying to sleep. The lights of the city bleared and faded the great ebony hole above closed down like a giant barrell. Ellis' head drooped against the wide window sill. * * *

What a nightmare ! seemed real even now, with her eyes It

wide open. Why — her clothes were still on she had not been in bed at all! Had gone to sleep there on the window sill, and fallen here on the floor like a child tumbling out of bed! No — wonder she had had nightmare but would she never waken? That horrible noise and sense of shaking She sprang to her feet and ran to the door with a scream. No dream —that pandemonium of sounds, crashes, shrieks, prayers outside in the streets, and all about her through the house! The door, fastened tight in the wrench that had twisted it, resisted her effort. She shook the knob and called for help —but her voice could not pierce the pandemonium outside. The Lees —Carol— surely they would think of her— there alone in her room, alone in the city! Yes, there they were now, beating the door in from the outside. She could hear the blows against the shattered lock, strong and insistent, while the floor

and walls rocked around her. "John— Mr. Stetson." "Miss Landon, thank heaven you are safe! I came as quickly as but it seemed ages getting here through the crowd. I could;

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Don't wait an instant — the building is literally tottering; it's only

a question of moments when the crash will come." Down the rocking stairs, through the bedlam of shrieking people and sliding trunks, out into the streets with their thousands of human beings crazed almost beyond semblance of hum-anity — they went. At the corner the sound of a familiar voice amid the babel drew Ellis' eyes to the curbstone. Over a prostrate body knelt her neighbor whom she had seen last at the cafe last night, her bloom, and blasphemy at life's purpose all gone her voice now — in agony of prayer, "0 God! have mercy on my sinful soul. My husband! My husband!" On, with the great seething, human river, toward places of safety they went — Ellis' only sense that of the absolute security of John Stetson's arm guiding and sustaining her through all, and his steady voice soothing her, and many other stricken souls whose path touched theirs in that crazed flight.

Yet under this blissful sense of trust throbbed a dull, insistent ache — the dread of hopeless, irreparable loss. Carol and the Lees! Surely some terrible thing had happened or they would have come to her; Carol, above all, she could not doubt, after last night. "Yoi are so much a part of my life, now, Ellis, that it has grown to mean that I do not really live except when I am with you." With him? Why perhaps she would never see him again — and then •She looked about desolately at the ghastly faces surging near her into the Park. Some of these were unrecognizable, doubtless, in their fear and suffering, even to friends. To her, a stranger, all were strange. John Stetson had vanished after a brief hand clasp, and she was alone. "Ellis!" Betty's arms were tight about her, and Betty's tear- wet cheek close against her own. "Oh, Ellis, I thought you were lost, and I felt like a murderess. You see, it all came so quickly we hadn't time to think of anything, but to flee from that horrible, rocking house. When I began to realize anything but the deadly fear, my first thought was of you; but Boyd said, surely Carol would take care of you, and we came to the Park.

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On the way we saw Carol alone in an auto that was just being pressed into service by the soldiers, and then in a moment he was out of sight. Since then I've been in torment. Boyd only stayed here long enough to see us safely placed, then hurried back to find you. Oh, Ellis, pray heaven I'll see him again, as I see you, now, ' safe and whole. Poor, pretty, pleasure-spoiled Betty! There was nothing of endurance in her untrained will, and it was Ellis who had to stand as comforter. There was test of stamina in those hours. Women to whom life had meant the killing of time, who had been tried by the absence of novel dainties at their table in luxurious hotels, scrambled hungrily with destitute hordes about them for bread, and scraped eagerly together a few warm ashes in the open air to warm delicate, idle hands. And, like an atmosphere about all, hung the shadow of fear for loved ones back in that seething inferno of peril. Boyd Lees did not appear till nightfall. Impressed with thousands into the terrible struggle for the salvation of the city he had not been permitted to reach the hotel, and could only guess fearfully at Ellis' fate. He had seen John Stetson working like a veritable Titan in the midst of the seething fire district, making himself a marked figure in scenes of the thickest tumult and toil.

Not till the fight for the doomed city had achieved its partial,

pitiful victory did they see him. He came from both days and nights of incessant toil to snatch a brief rest in the Park, amid the impassible babel of breeds and creeds and cultures huddled there, many of whose individual souls had been cheered by his •

voice or rescued by his hand. Hero though he had been, his was far from an heroic appearance. Poor John! Clothes white with ashes and brick dust; face and hands black with cinder and smoke; eyes red with flame and — scorch of dynamite and perhaps with tears; he was so far from woman's accepted ideal of the hero that Betty Lees shrank from him with a little scream, when he stood suddenly before them. It was evening, and the only light came from the lessening

glow of the burning city and their own campfire, at which many were warming in the chill night.

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John Stetson stretched himself luxuriously on the grass at Ellis' side, where she sat in the shade of an eucalyptus. ''1 know the meaning of beds of down and rose leaves, right

now," he smiled. "The Sybarites, and other spoiled pets of luxury are not to be counted in this." ' 'You men ought all to have couches and chariots and thrones of laurel," piped Betty from her stool. "Boyd has worked harder in three days than in all the rest of his life. I've done my best to keep him here, but I can't. He knows a man daren't show himself in the streets without being haled into slavery; yet off he goes just the same as if it were to the office to sell stocks. He has been gone thirty hours this time; and for all I know, he may be burned up or buried under tons of houses." "Guess again, little- one." Boyd caught Betty from her stool, and kissed her as she hung high in the air. ' 'Got room for another refugee?" he asked Ellis, as he replaced Betty, and sat down at her side on the grass. He glanced over Ellis' shoulder; but Ellis knew, without turning, who was there. Only one presence could thrill her like that — without sight or touch. Carol came forward and shook hands with all, unostentatiously, receiving Betty's rather emotional greeting and congratulations with a quiet smile. "Nice of you to worry about me," he laughed; "but it's been quite needless, I assure you. I've been in great luck, consid- ' ering. "Might have been in a bandbox, by the looks of you, " grunted Boyd. "Tnat about tells it, figuratively," laughed Carol. "Where on earth have you been?" exclaimed Betty, gazing at his immaculate clothes incredulously. "In the lap of luxury and fortune, and probably fame; in other words, I've spent my nights on a double-spring mattress in a tent furnished with all the conveniences of life, food included, and my days wooing the graces of the money god— my ever-potent and revered deity." ' 'You are romancing to beat the— Baron Munchausen, " chirped Betty conclusively. "Not a bit. We San Franciscans have got the knack of

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turning romance into fact. You see, it didn't take centuries of meditation to convince me there were heaps of money to be piled up out of this wreck; pictures and press articles are sure to be in fabulous demand by that horrified and curious portion of the world not quaking with us on the spot. I managed to get a camera, a

fountain pen and a writing pad, and in the last three days I have piled up $5000 worth of magazine literature; and more than all, I've got it booked.

He locked around rather expectantly, but no one spoke. *'How did you dodge the military crew?" asked Boyd Lees, finally. "Every able-bodied man I've seen down town has been up to his neck in bricks or bread-dough. How you could keep clean as that outside of a coflftn is the last great mystery. The only recreation offered me was the kind you get out of the wrong end of a shotgun. "They tried to impress me once," laughed Drew; "but I directed the guard's attention to a thief crawling out of a window opposite; and while he held up him, I jumped into an empty barrel in an alley way, and stayed there till the guard crossed the street for his man. Then I escaped. Since then I have been going about disguised." "Disguised?" "Yes, as a red-cross nurse. You should have seen me with my camera done up as a case of medicine, promenading into the very heart of things, and getting my films packed with all the choice horrors, "while newspapermen and all the special magazine agents buzzed about like hornets, kneading dough or digging brick. It will make a good story, I'm going to put it into a book." Ellis looked across at John Stetson. He had moved back — from the rest, and lay stretched out a gaunt, weary figure in the dim light. Something rose in Ellis' throat and choked her. That rough face, seared with the marks of struggle that bad meant sympathy and help for the stricken city in her hour of crying need, was the first to look upon her in her own moment of waking nightmare; his hands, stained beyond all hint of whiteness or even cleanliness, had helped her from peril in her own time of need. And Carol

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He had come close to her side in the shadow, and was speaking in the low, tender voice which had so often moved her: "I have not been able to see you, Ellis, but I knew from Boyd you were safe, and through it all, from the first terrible moment, I have thought of you constantly."

Ellis' hand shuddered from Carol's secret, warm clasp. "You must think of me no more, " she said steadily. Sonie mesmeric force drew her eyes to John Stetson's. They were weary and dim with scorch and tears, yet in the sudden light

that flashed into them as her glance answered his, she saw that he knew. Salt Lake City, Utah.