CHAPTER VIII

THE OMNIPRESENT EYES OF FIFTH AVENUE

The source of gossip in a village is the corner grocery store; in a
small city, what goes on about the public square; in the medium-sized
city, what transpires in the leading cafe; in New York, Fifth Avenue and
Central Park are the all-abounding sources of gossip. The Avenue has a
thousand curious eyes; those on the sidewalk peering into automobiles
and carriages for sensations; those being whirled along in vehicles,
straining their power in the quest of salacious information among the
throng beyond the curbstone. All New York passes along Fifth Avenue at
some time or another. All of one's friends are always passing along that
way when one does not particularly wish to be seen by them. If one is
walking, the friends are invariably driving; if one is driving, of
course the ubiquitous acquaintances are out for a stroll. Sometimes
people have been known to escape two-thirds of the omnipresent eyes that
line the sidewalks, pack the Avenue and infest the highways of Central
Park, but no person has ever been heard of who escaped all of them.

So the lot of our strollers was but the common lot of all, visitors as
well as resident New Yorkers.

While mutually absorbed, the one in reciting the tale, the other in
listening to it; while diverted and interested by the thousand sparks
that radiate from the batteries of youthful energy and enthusiasm and
tingle the sensibilities of a congenial comrade; while speculating on
the unknown vista from peep-holes that show only fragments, but
realizing all the vastness and richness of the world force and universal
sympathy possessed by each of them--it is not strange that in four
blocks on the Avenue they were passed by two ladies in an automobile,
who took more than an ordinary interest in their movements, and by a
dark-eyed, dark-haired man in another car, whose eyes gleamed and whose
cheeks blanched at the sight of their absorption in each other.

But the things garnered on the Avenue are never placed in cold storage,
and soon enough both of them were to hear about this stroll.

When Dr. Earl called that evening to take Mrs. and Miss Kimball to the
theatre he discovered that his reception in the morning had been
tropical compared to this one. He was compelled to wait fully fifteen
minutes before Miss Kimball appeared in house gown and slippers,
indicating her purpose to remain at home, and the bearer of a message
that her