Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1925)

36 Pic hj res and Pichjrepver FEBRUARY 1925 / want no thanks," said Toinette. foreign to the place. Then, his senses quickening, he staggered to his bedroom door, opened it and found in his little sitting room, curled up asleep, Toinette. A big easy chair was the most comfortable bed available. "Toinette!" he cried; and she awoke with a start. "Then you are quite better?" " How could it be otherwise," he replied gallantly, " when I have you to thank for this." " I want no thanks," said Toinette. " Besides, are not my own thanks due to you for saving me from that elephant of a fellow?" " One thing puzzles me," he said. " No one in that frightful cave had an inkling of my real identity. Of that I am sure. How then comes it that when I am — er — returned damaged I am returned to the right depot. How could you know I lived here?" " Why," replied Toinette with a laugh, " that was the very easiest thing of all. I went through your pockets and found some letters with your address." " I see," said Carey gravely. "You are shocked?" asked Toinette, observing his expression. " But for what do you think I go to the Cave? To read tracts? No. Of course you are wise — " '""Toinette," Randall Carey asked many days later, " would you like a chance — a real chance to start again and go straight? I am speaking frankly. Of course I know one does not go to the Cave to read tracts or study geology. I am not going to beat about the bush. You are, I am sure, of the kind that calls a spade a spade." "I am a crook!" Toinette laughed, " but remember I found you also at the Cave. The pot and the pan, eh? Well, well, go on. What did you intend to say?" " Scarcely more than I have said already. Would you like this chance I have spoken of, an opportunity to come out of the caves for good. Believe me, I am in a position to offer this chance to you?" Her eyes met his, and there was a startling tenderness in them. He felt a sudden tinge within him and found himself trying to remember — someone. He looked away as she replied : " Derhaps I will think of it. They say the leopard cannot change his spots. But did the leopard ever try, I wonder? It is an interesting notion. But all my friends are in the Cave, you know. In this other world you speak of I know no one." " You know me." " I found you at the Cave." "True. But I am not — shall I say? — a Cave man. La Roche, chief of the police, is one of my closest friends. He would look the other way for my sake. He would — he would refuse to be aware that my little friend Toinette had any past that needed hiding." She stared in frank wonder at this speech. "You would do this for me?" " Indeed I would."* " But why ?" " That might take too long to tell," he countered. " But you have not given me your answer." "You want to be — my friend?" " Your friend, yes. Yes. . ." Suddenly Toinette produced a small card photograph and held it before him. " When I went through your pockets last night," she said, " I found this. Who is the lady?" He stared at the photograph and then took it from her and put it back in his own pocket. " A lady friend of mine, back in New York, where I come from." " But who is she?" " She is the lady to whom I am engaged." Toinette rose and crossed the room to the door. " May I ask," she said as an afterthought, " what it was that brought you to that place last night?" " Not d i s loyalty to this lady, as you seem to think," Carey replied. " I came, as a matter of fact, to learn something of the 'Humming Bird.' I have been frank with you up to now. I shall continue to be frank, I hope. I have an arrangement with La Roche. Together we hope to put salt on this little Bird's tail. You look amazed. But it is my business. Each to his calling, eh?" " Why, yes," said Toinette." Which is why I return to mine." " But are you sure that it is the thing for which you are best fitted?" Toinette laughed a littlf silvery laugh that was torture to the man. " Yes I am sure — now." " But— ?' " Good-bye," she said. And before he could speak again she was gone. ETor some few weeks there followed a still peace, a peace as ominous in that behind-the-scenes of the Paris underworld as on that wider stage of Europe. Carey and La Roche pursued their enquiries with unrelaxing persistence, but these enquiries led them nowhere. As far as ever were they from learning the truth about the " Humming Bird." Carey went no more to Le Caveau ; but across the ocean mail boats carried letter after letter until one day he thought he had an excuse for visiting the cave den again. Those were the last days of that fateful July of over ten years ago; and whilst he hesitated additional cause was given him for his visit. With the suddenness of lightning war spread across the continent, and before sunset of the first day Randall Carey had said good-bye to journalism. In the uniform of the Foreign Legion, unhesitating at last, he turned his steps towards the Cave to take farewell of Toinette. " I wanted to say good-bye to all my friends," he said. And at this she laughed.