Edward Phillips Oppenheim

The Black Box Edward Phillips Oppenheim

The young man from the west had arrived in New York only that afternoon, and his cousin, town born and bred, had already embarked upon the task of showing him the great city. They occupied a table in a somewhat insignificant corner of one of New York's most famous roof-garden restaurants. The place was crowded with diners. There were many notabilities to be pointed out. The town young man was very busy."See that bunch of girls on the right?" he asked. "They are all from the chorus in the new musical comedy-opens to-morrow. They've been rehearsing every day for a month. Some show it's going to be, too. I don't know whether I'll be able to get you a seat, but I'll try. I've had mine for a month. The fair girl who is leaning back, laughing, now, is Elsie Havers. She's the star.... You see the old fellow with the girl, just in a line behind? That's Dudley Worth, the multi-millionaire, and at the next table there is Mrs. Atkinson-you remember her divorce case?"It was all vastly interesting to the young man from the west, and he looked from table to table with ever-increasing interest."Say, it's fine to be here!" he declared. "We have this sort of thing back home, but we are only twelve stories up and there is nothing to look at. Makes you kind of giddy here to look past the people, down at the city."The New Yorker glanced almost indifferently at the one sight which to a stranger is perhaps the most impressive in the new world. Twenty-five stories below, the cable cars clanging and clashing their way through the narrowed streets seemed like little fire-flies, children's toys pulled by an invisible string of fire.