SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE
5
were benumbed and a sniffly cold was rapidly de
veloping1. From her travelling bag she took a pho
tograph of Benny, and drearily gazed into his pic
tured face. She had brought it from her dressing
table at home, before the premiere of The Merry
Bachelors. How excited and happy she was that
night, when Benny reported every seat filled why
did he have to inform her later that his friends had
been in most of those seats, thus explaining the ap
plause which she had supposed was the honest ap
proval of the multitude? No, she could never go
home, to fret constantly about her failure.
Others had fled from their sorrows, and she re
alized now that they had not been able to bear them.
She would cost Benny
very little more it she
hurried to Michigan
Avenue, waited until
there was no one in
sight, and leaped into
the Lake. A great sob
shook her, as she said
tremulously,
"If you only knew!"
Leaning on the
stained little table that
bore an ice-water pitch
er and a soiled menu of
a past dinner, she re
peated with tragic mein,
"If you only knew!''
Dully she said the
words over many times.
What an end to a young
life that had promised
much. He would think
she had not loved him,
whereas she was depart
ing only on his account,
for if Dollie Von Lin
den could not add luster to their name, at least she
would not make it the sport of the whole profes
sion. If he but knew "but" knew, or "only"
knew? The last sounded neater. She reached for
a pencil, and on the back of the menu wrote,
"If you but knew."
She pondered, with heavy sighs. Soon the pencil
traced beneath the first line,
"That I had grew
"To count you more than life.
"My one regret
"Is that we met
"For I could ne'er be your wife."
"Of course, I 'in his wife all right, but it 's a
stronger number that way," she mused. "And rags
have been positively done to death, while weeping
ballads are getting the money and Benny hasn't
a seller in his catalog except the waltzes. Well, I '11
go to the Lake as the clock chimes midnight and
leave this set of words for Benny, and with the ad
vertising my deatli will give it. If he fits a melody
to it he '11 have a big ballad hit. I '11 do some more
verses, and use this for the chorus, and he '11 see that
I did the best I could for him!"
IT was eleven o'clock when she completed two
verses that were as pathetic as the chorus. Her
hands were stiff from the chill air, she was sneezing
violently, and the small mirror showed that her face
was very pale.
"In one little hour I shall be dead," she said, shiv
ering. "But it's the only path oh, if he but
knew !"
She hurriedly packed her bag, locked it, and put
the key, with some others and her ring, into an en
velope previously addressed to Benny. On a sheet
of paper she wrote,
"Tell the Coroner I am in the Lake, near the An
nex. The world is too cruel. Farewell, all. Dollie
Von Linden, late star in The Merry Bachelors."
Solemnly, with appropriate gestures, she de
claimed the words of the ballad. As she concluded
the final Hue of the chorus, there was an insistent
, rapping on a door connecting her room with the
next, and a husky male voice exclaimed, "Say, lady,
can you spare a minute to speak to a party on
siimpin' important? Open the door into the hall!"
"1 Ye waked him up and he's mad," thought Dol
lie. "Hut he can certainly stand it, considering that
L won't be here to disturb anyone tomorrow
night."
In silence, she listened. Her neighbor was ap
parently listening too. In a moment lie resumed in
a lower tone, "1 ain't a fresh guy, lady this is a
business matter, an' I ask you, will you open that
door an' lemme say a few words? You don't want
She fell upon the piano stool and Benny viewed her with concern
to go committin' suicide when the world is bright an'
gay. There 's hope, on the level there is."
"I can't and won't change my mind, and if you 've
got a gentleman's instincts, you won't butt in on a
private matter!" cried Dollie excitedly. "Can't a
person do- anything in this town without being
harassed, I 'd like to know?"
There was the sound of a door cautiously opened,
a step in the hall she ran to lock her door against
invasion, but the knob had turned, and a fat, flabby
faced young man confronted her. He wore a grey
bathrobe over red striped pajamas, the trousers
hanging below the robe. In one hand he held a
sheet of music paper, half covered with inky notes,
and in the other was a
fountain ' pen. On his
head was a green hat,
which he removed with
a sneeze that explained
his reason for wearing
it. Then he said kindly,
"I been just as close to
t he cushion as you are
tonight, little girl. Any
one has who 's knocked
around yes, an' I was
ready to quit, too, when
I seen that would n't
spite no one but me.
Had any eats this even
in'? 'Cause we'll tear
out an' grab some ham
an' eggs an' coffee; an'
while we 're grazin' we
can talk."
Had Dollie been less
imaginative, she might
have successfully re
pulsed him, but the in
stant she heard his sug
gestion, she smelled ham and eggs, and thirsted for
the vivifying effects of coffee, and it was so pleasant
to picture a 'table spread with food in a warm res
taurant, and she was so harrowed by her recent re
solve, and the expectation of meeting a curious po
liceman at the critical moment, and having to trudge
on and nerve herself to the guilty deed all over
again. With a shudder she said weakly, "Never!
You leave this room or I '11 scream!"
THE visitor sat down, felt for a match, and lit a
cigarette. With the match, he produced two one
dollar bills, observing cheerily, "Here 's the two case,
an' I '11 split with you, kiddo. An' on my half we '11
feed tonight, an' you '11 be on deck with breakfast
money in the morning."
Dollie gave a hysterica! sob. He smoked calmly,
' gazing at the music he held. Dollie wept, her arms
sprawled on the table, crushing her hat, careless of
her looks. No matter how she looked, when she
would n't be here tomor
r o w ! Why did this
calm, fat creature have
to annoy her with re
minders of ham and
eggs? Alas, happy
thousands would devour
her share! Should she
eat a last portion, and
thus gain strength for
the tramp to the lake?
With a long, piteous
sigh she looked at the
young man, who gave
her a friendly wave of
his free hand, and in a
light tenor voice sud
denly sang,
"If you but knew
tra-la-la
"That I had grew
la-la-la
"To count you more
than li ife!
"My one regret
tra-la-la
"Is that we met la-la-la
"When 1 could not be ee your wi ife!"
"My song!" said Dollie, astonished. "But I only
wrote it tonight ! And that music is wonderful, it 's
so haunting. You must have suffered, like me."
"If I had a piano up here I'd have the verse as
well as the chorus done," said he. "I did n't ketch
all the words, you spoke 'em so fast. The appeal in
that would be a knockout, and then there's the
chance for a swell lot of parodies later. I 'm a niel-
l", '. M,
mum
i
i
I Kl" . - I . I ill' II I. v "
Oh, you good-looking kid
pluggers hurled
ody writer myself, an' I lost my partner, Jimmy
Delmonico, through the both of us drinkin', an' bein'
despondent, an' I could n't get an inspiration, 'till I
heard you talkin' to yourself. Are you willin' to can
this Lake notion, an' we '11 work the song out an'
sell it?"
"Honest, do you think we could put it over?" -
"The market 's ripe for a new type ! Here 's the
first of the year due, when every publisher 's s'posed
to have his new songs ready, an' two-thirds of 'em
are goin' to keep on pluggin' their old stuff, because
their staff writers are wrote out, an' yet a stranger
can't horn in no way that 's all the nut them bone
heads got, you know. An' look at the advertisiu'
we can get up ourselves the beautiful despairin'
young girl about to throw herself in the drink to es
cape the worldly old millionaire that 's houndin' her.
Get it? An' then this scene, only we '11 make it that
I . heard you singin' it as you were leapin' off I
jumped in after you, an' as I looked into your eyes
this melody came into bein'."
"My gracious, every paper in the country 'd eat
up the story!" cried Dollie.
"Sure! 1 bet that number would sell a million
copies."
"YE 'VE simply got to find a piano, so the lyric
" does n't get out of your head, and you 'd best
stop talking and just keep on going over it. Maybe
the clerk at the desk knows one we can find," said
Dollie, her cheeks flushed, and her dark eyes glow
ing. "Oh, is li't Providence grand t I was going to
send the words to a party he 's in the music trade
and now instead I'll get the dough with it and
show him and every one else they 've got another
guess as to my ability !"
"Stick here while I gallop in an' fix up. A pal
of mine 's the piano player in a little drum cut on
Cottage Grove Avenue; not a classy place, but we
can use the instrument, an' he 's so full of cigarettes
he won't even notice what I 'm playin'."
The musician disappeared, and Dollie, with a gay
laugh, tore into bits the letter to the public at large,
and retrieved her ring and keys. With renewed zest
in life, she carefully powdered over the tear stains,
and ran a stick of rouge lightly across her lips. A
low whistle summoned her, and she found her escort,
splendid in a brown suit striped with black, a light
overcoat on his arm, and his green velours hat on
the back of his head. His patent leather shoes were
cracked, but very shiny, and his red tie was not in
its youth, but his stoutness was not as noticeable as
when he was in his bathrobe. Dollie put on the sa
bles Benny had given her, and they reached the street
as a church clock tolled midnight. In complete ac
cord, they hastily supped in a small lunchroom, both
writing busily, and then singing the result.
"Billy Austin made a mint of money out of Dead
Days of Yore, an' Cavalieri's usin' a heart ballad
that proves what can be done," said the composer,
absently devouring an
egg." Did you ever
think about drivin' a
zebra ? I seen where the
Secretary of Agricul
ture's advertisiu' two,
broke to harness, for
sale. They had 'em for
experiments, I s'pose.
Now, then, if they could
be drove from Chicago
to New York, with signs
on the carriage pluggin'
our song, there 'd be let
ters from Mayors to be
got, an' you could drive,
an' say you was a suf
fragette, an' goin' right
on to Washin'ton after
pass that sugar, will
you an' I know an
animal man that 'd tame
'em in a week ! I tell
you, the possibilities are
sumpiu' enormous."
e ve g o I tne
chance of our lives," said Dollie, awed. "I could
wear a mask, though of course, that's been done?"'
"Not done like we'd do it," he answered. "I'd
trail along in an automobile, an' every so often I
could rescue you from some sort of danger, an' those
hick papers would fall for it hard."
"Oh, it's glorious, and thank heaven I met you!
But there 's one thing I feel I ought to tell you
first, and well, I 'm a married woman, you see,
and he's the dearest boy, (Continued on Page 13)
I " cried someone as the
their flowers