The Miracle Man. Frank L. Packard

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СКАЧАТЬ pocket of his coat he pulled out a package of crisp, new, yellow-backed bills. "You understand that down there none of you ever heard of each other or of me before, and you drop the 'doc'—bury it! My name is John G. Madison—G. for Garfield." His fingers passed deftly over the edges of the bills. He pushed a little pile toward the Hopper, another toward Pale Face Harry, and tucked the remainder into his coat pocket again. "That'll do for expenses," he said. "And now, if you understand everything, principally that you're to go to church Sundays till you hear from me, and you're quite satisfied with the lay, we'll adjourn, sine die, to Needley."

      Helena was holding out a very dainty hand, with pink, wiggling fingers.

      "I'll need, oh, ever so much more than they will," she declared, with a bewitching pout. "And, please, I'm waiting very patiently."

      Doc Madison laughed.

      "By and by, Helena," he said, patting her hand. "Well, Flopper, well, Harry—what do you say?"

      The Flopper pushed back his chair and stood up hesitantly like a man unexpectedly called upon for an after-dinner speech. He stood there awkwardly a moment gazing at Doc Madison, his tongue slowly circling his lips; then, with a gulp, as though words to express his feelings were utterly beyond him, he turned and started for the door.

      Pale Face Harry, as he rose, shoved out his hand.

      "I don't deserve my luck to be in on this," he said modestly. "Only, Doc, push it along on the high gear, will you—I ain't going to be able to sleep thinking about it." He looked at Helena a little undecidedly—and compromised on brevity. "'Night, Helena," he flung out.

      "Oh, good-night, Harry," she smiled.

      The Flopper turned at the door and came back a few steps into the room.

      "Say, Doc," he said, blinking furiously, "youse can wipe yer feet on me any time youse like—dat's wot!"

      "All right, Flopper," said Doc Madison gravely. "When you've joined Tammany Hall—good-night." He followed across the room, and from the doorway watched the two descend the stairs. "Good-night," he said again, then closed the door and came back into the room. "Well, Helena?" he remarked tentatively.

      "Well—Garfield?"—Helena clasped her hands around one knee and rocked gently.

      "Don't be familiar, Helena," Doc Madison chuckled. "Is that all you've got to say?"

      "I'm busy thinking about The Great American Play," she said pertly. "There's one thing you forgot."

      "What's that?" he asked, still smiling.

      "The curtain on the last act," she said. "The getaway."

      Doc Madison shook his head.

      "Nothing doing!" he returned. "There's no getaway. It's safe—so safe that there's nothing to it. We don't guarantee anything, and there's no entrance fee to the pavilion—all contributions are strictly voluntary."

      "That's all right," said Helena. "But of course we can't really cure them. We can get them going hard enough to make them think they are for awhile, but after they've thrown away their crutches and got back home—what then?"

      "Well, what then?" inquired Doc Madison easily.

      "They'll yell 'fake!' and swear out warrants," said Helena, her dark eyes studying Doc Madison.

      "Not according to statistics," replied Doc Madison, and his lips twitched quizzically at the corners. "According to statistics they'll buy another crutch and come back to buck the tiger again. Say, Helena, to-morrow, you go up to the public library and read up on shrines—they've been running since the ark—and they're running still. You never heard any howl about them, did you? What's the answer to those cures?"

      "That's different," said Helena. "That's religion, and they've got relics and things."

      "It's faith," said Doc Madison, "and it doesn't matter what the basis of it is. Faith, Helena, faith—get that? And we're going to imbue them with a faith that'll set them crazy and send them into hysterics. And talk about relics! Haven't we got one? Look at the Patriarch! Can't you see the whole town yelling 'I told you so!' and swopping testimonials hard enough to crowd the print down so fine, if you tried to get it all into the papers, that you'd have to use a magnifying glass to read it, once we've pulled off the miracle? Don't you worry about the getaway. If there's any sign of anything like that, you and I, Helena, will be taking moonlight rides in the gondolas of Venice long before it breaks."

      Helena choked—and began to laugh deliciously.

      Doc Madison stared at her for a moment whimsically—then he, too, burst into a laugh.

      "Oh, Lord!" he gurgled. "It's rich, isn't it?" And sweeping Helena off the couch and into his arms, he began to dance around and around the table. "Ring-around-a-rosy!" he cried. "We haven't done so bad in the misty past, but here's where we cross to the enchanted shore and play on jewelled harps with golden strings and—"

      "Is that all?" gasped Helena, laughing and breathless, as at last she pulled herself away.

      "No," panted Doc Madison. "There's a table I've reserved up at the Rivoli that's waiting for us now. We're about to part for days and days, lady mine, that's the tough luck of it, but we'll make a night of it to-night anyway—what?"

      "You bet!" said Helena, doing a cake-walk towards the door. "Come on!"

—III—

       Table of Contents

      NEEDLEY

      "Needley?"

      It wasn't wholly an interrogation—it seemed to Madison that there was even sympathy in the parlor-car conductor's voice, as the other took his seat check.

      "Health," said Madison meekly. "Perfect rest and quiet—been overdoing it, you know."

      "Needley!"—the train conductor of the Bar Harbor Express, collecting the transportation, threw the word at Madison as though it were a personal affront.

      The tone seemed to demand an apology from Madison—and Madison apologized.

      "Health," he said apologetically. "Perfect rest and quiet—been overdoing it, you know."

      "We're five minutes late now," grunted the conductor uncompromisingly and, to Madison, quite irrelevantly, as he passed on down the aisle.

      Somehow, this inspired Madison to consult his timetable. He drew it from his pocket, ran his eye down the long list of stations—and stopped at "Needley." Needley had an asterisk after it. By consulting a block of small type at the bottom of the page, he found a corresponding asterisk with the words: "Flag station. Stops only on signal, or to discharge eastbound passengers from Portland."

      John Garfield Madison went into the smoking compartment of the car for a cigar—several cigars—until Needley was reached some two hours later, when the dusky attendant, as he pocketed Madison's dollar, set down his little rubber-topped footstool with a flourish on a desolate and forbidding-looking СКАЧАТЬ