OCR Text |
Show 3H COAST W CTAfCE ih-r (heir paletlnted lints, wllh tliflr smiling recognition to Clara, to Flora, lo Kiln, smiled with a sharpened Interest. In-terest. It proclaimed (lint Kerr was a stranger, and, In a circle which found Itself a little stale for luck of innovation, a l 'h! ra t 1 one. Apparently the dominant note of their party wan F,Ma' clamorous selection se-lection for th supper; but to Flora thf nion real thing whh tin nt s- phero of excitement and mystery she hud been moving In nil tht evening. She wan pursued by the obsession of something mor about lo happen something Imminent though, of course, nothing would; at least, how could anything happen here, to them? And by "tin-in." she meant herself and these people around her so stupid-ly stupid-ly talking the eternal repetition of the alory she bad read out that veiling veil-ing to Clara, and not one glimmer of light! She wondered If her obsession wan all her own or did It reach to one of them? Certainly not Kiln ; not Judge Duller, Hwttlcd Into his collar, choosing champagnes. Clara? She hail to skip Clara. One never knew whether Clara had not more behind her tuuooih prettliiess than ever she brought ( light? Kerr? Perhaps. With h I 111 she felt potentlalltlen enormou. Harry? Never. Harry was being appealed to by all the worn en who could get at him an to hi pari in I hi affair what had been It I h sen Rations and emotions? Hut Ftom knew perfectly well he had had none He was only oppressed by the alien linn Itla fame In the matter, and tin central position of their table, brought lilin. I'rolcHtltig, he made hi part ai small hh possible. "Oil, confound It, If I can't get a1 my oysters!" he complained, leaning back into hlM group again with i High. "You divide the honor with th mystciiou unknown, eh?" Kerr In quired across the table. "Hans II, there's no division! I'i offi-r you a share!" Harry laughed and it o'-eurred to Flora bow muci Kerr could have made of it. "I'lil'die'd like to Hhare something,' Puller voiicllHafei!. "He's been paw lug the air ever since Crew cabled and this Iimh blown him up comileti ly" "Crew?" Flora womlen d Her was something more hiippi iiini; I'rm She bad not heard that name befori It mad-- a h 1 1 r amoiig them all; bu j if Kerr looked sharp. Clara looke I sharper. She looked at Harry an Harry whh vexed. "Who Crew?" mild Klla ; and th 1 Judge looked around on the silence. "Why, bless my tml, Isn't It ol ' anyway, It will all be out to inorrov Hut 1 thought Harry'd told you. Tli 1 Chatworth ring wasn't Hessie's." 1 It had IIih elTect of startling thei ( all apart, and then drawing thei ' closer together ngnin around the tabl over the uncorked bottle. ' "Why." Judge lluller went on, "thl " ring Ih a celelirated thing. II tli 1 'Crew Idol!'" He threw the name ol 1 n If that In Itself explained ever: 1 thing, but the three women, at h-ai were blank. "Why celebrated?" Clara objectei "The stones' were only sapphires" i Kerr mulled at the measure 1 fame. H "Quito HO," he nodded to her, "hi . there are several sorts of value aboi that ring. It age, for one " He had the attention of the. table a If they sensed behind his wurdt more even than Judgo Puller couli have told them. "And then the Riipersl itlon abort It It's rather a pretty tal," aahl Kerr looking at Flora. "Y'ou've aeen th ring a tlgure of Vishnu bent back ward Into a circle, with a bead ol sapphire; two yellow stone for th cheek and the brain of him of the one blue. Juxt a a piece of carving It I ho fine that Cellini couldn't havo equaled It, but no one know when or where It wa made. The first that In known, the Khali Jehan bad It In hi treasure bonne. The story I he stole It. but, however that may bo. he gave It a a betrothal gift to hi wife possibly the moKt beautiful" hi eye-' eye-' brows Hlgnaled to Flora hi uncertainly uncer-tainly of that fact- "without doubt 1 the bcHt loved woman In the world. W hen xhc died It was burled with her not In the tomb Itself, but In the : Taj Mahal; and for a century or ho It ' lay there and galhered legend about 1 it hh thick 11 IiihI. It wax believed to he a talisman of good fortune peclally In love. "It hail age; It had lnttinle value; ' It had beauty, and that one other ' quality no man can reiist It wa the only thing of It h kind In the world. ' At nil events, it wan too much for obi ! Neville Crew, when he Haw It there 1 Home couple of hundred year ago. When he left India the ring went ' with him. He never told how lie got It, but lucky marriage came with It, and the Crew would not take the ' bonne of lord for It. Their women have worn It ever since." 1 For a moment the wonder of the tale nml the curloim spark of excite mint li had produce! In the teller ' kept the listeners silent. Clam wan wn the first to return to facts. "Then p.essle " nho pronipti-il eagerly. Kerr turned bin glass In meditative '' liiigei'H. "She wore H aH young Chat worth's wile." He held them all In ' an Increasing tetiHlon, a If he drew ' them toward him. "The eliler Chatworth. lird Crew Ih h bachelor, but, of course, the ring reverted to hi m on Chatworth' " death" "And lord only know," the Judge ' broke In, "how it got Ithipped with v- ltenhie' property. Crew wa out ol 18 Knglnnd ut the time. He kept the win hot about It, and they managed to keep the fact of what Hie rlug wan " quiet but It got. out today when Pur die found It wa gone. You nee bo wa allowing It and wit limit special ' permission." " ( ID III-: CONTINCKK ) y- Cling to Inherited Tongue. it After year of effort to upread the Fngllhh language, the homo tongue I. of the full blooded Hawaiian I hi itboiiglnnl Jargon. Fxclunlve of the if half whiten In Ihene l.-ilalnlH there U but one family that talk the Kngllgh it language In Iih home. All the rest it are an true to tle-lr Inherlied long.itt an tin y are to their racial hue. jzvjmr- jwMuu Co. i SYNOPSIS. At private view of th Cbatwnrth por-Riinal por-Riinal i-nluli-, lo b Mnlil at hik-IIoii, tli 'liutworlh ring inymnriotiHly dlHiippfiirn. Harry CreHy, wlin was iireHent, ih-wrlhi'H I lie ring to til tliinrM I Inra (illHcy, nml her i-liupirKii, Mix. I'luia llrlttuii, a ln-IciK ln-IciK llkn a IhmiIIii-ii kikI, with a l-n ul I fill Hpplilro l In the ln-ad. Flora illmov-era illmov-era an unfamiliar mood In Harry, eapo-dully eapo-dully when tho rliic I illmiinm-d, CHAPTER II. Continued. The picture gallery was new, an addition; ad-dition; and the plain, narrow, unexpected unex-pected door !n thl place, where all wa high, arched, elaborate and flourished, flour-ished, was like a loophole through which to allp into a foreign atmosphere. atmos-phere. Thl atmosphere was resinous of fresh wood; the light was thick with drifting motes; the carpets linrshly new, slipping beneath the feet on tho too polished floor; the bare bones of the place yet scarcely covered. cov-ered. Hut It quiet was after all comparative. com-parative. There were plenty of people lingering in group In the center of the gallery, which wa dusky, eclipsed by the great reflector that circled the room, throwing out the pictures In a blight bund of color around the walls 1'eopb leaning from this border bor-der of light back Into the dusk to murmur together, vanished and renp-peared renp-peared with suit fascinating abruptness abrupt-ness that Flora caught herself guessing guess-ing what Hort of face, where this nearest group Htood Jimt on the edge of shadow, would pop out of the dark next She w-Bi ready for something extraordinary, ex-traordinary, but now, when It came, she was taken aback by It. It gave her a start, that tosa of black hair, that long, irregular, pale face whose srlnt ill. int. Hardolllc Stnlle was mercilessly merci-lessly upon the poor, Inadequate picture-face fronting him. Ills sloop above the rail wns so abrupt that his long, lean back was almost horizontal, yet even thus there wa something elegant In the swing of him in the cai'ciiMs twist of his head, around. In speak to the woman behind him. The light above struck blind on the glas Iti one eye, but the oilier danced with a genial, a mad scintillation. The llghl of It caught like contagion, am touched the merest glancer at bin: with the spark of its warm, Ironlt mirth. The question which nafurnllj rose to Flora' lips "Who In tlx world I that?" she checked; why she didn't ask herself. She only fell a she followed Clara, trailing awn across the floor, that the Interest o the evening which had promised m well, beginning with tho Chatwortl ting, bad been rained even a not higher Her restive fancy wa begin nlng again. All the footlights of bei little secret stage were up. Clara turned to the right, followini a beckoning fan, and Flora, dallylm with her anticipation, reasoned tint now they must circle tho room befori they should face him the Interestlni apparition It was a pilgrimage o which he on the other side was per forming his half. Perfunctorily talk lug from group lo group, consciou now and again of the lagging Clara or Harry, she could nevertheless keep a sly eye on the stranger's equal progress. prog-ress. The flash of Jet, and tho voluble, volu-ble, substantial shoulders of the lady so profusely Introducing him. were an assurance of how that pilgrimage would terminate, since it wa F.lla lluller who was paruding him. She even wondered before which of the florid picture at the far, other end of the room, a before a shrine, the ceremony cere-mony would take place. She kept her eyes fixed on the pnlriting before her, and a she moved down from one to another, and the voice of the approaching group drew nearer, one separated Itself from the general murmur, so clear, so resonantly res-onantly carried, so clean clipped off tho tongue, that It stood out In syllable sylla-ble on the blur of sound which was F.lla Huller's conversation. It had color, that voice; It had a quality so sharp, so Individual that It touched her with a mischievous wonder thut he dared speak so diff -rently from all the world about him. Then, six pictures pic-tures away, she heard her own name. "Why, Flora C.llsey!" It wa F!!.Vi husky, boyish note. "I've been looking look-ing for you all the evening! How d'y'do, Harry?" She waved her hand at him. "Why, how d'y'do, Mrs. lirlt-ton? lirlt-ton? 1 wouldn't let pupa go to supper sup-per until I'd found you. 'Papa,' I said. I wait; Flora and Harry will be here.' 1 Hei-ldes." she bad quite reached Flora's side by thin time and communicated commu-nicated It In an Impressive whisper, "I want you to meet my Fngllshnian." She looked over tier shoulder, and largely beckoned to win-re the blunt and florid lluller and his companion, with their backs to what they were supposed to be looking at, were exchanging ex-changing an anecdote of Infinite amusement. Huller'a expression came around slowly to lit daughter's beckoning hand, but the F.ngllahinan' face seemed to flash at the Instant from what he was enjoying to what was expected of him. In the flourish of Introductions, In-troductions, across and across, Flora found herself thinking the reality less ' extraordinary than she . had at first ' supposed. Now that Mr. Kerr wan ; fairly la-lore her, presented to her ' and taking her In with the same lively ' impersonal Interest with which h ' took in i he whole room, "a.i if." sh' put it vexedly to herself. "I were a ' specimen poked at him on the end ol ' a pin," it. stirred In her a vague re . seiitnietit ; and involuntarily she heli him up to Harry. The comprirlsoi showed blm a little worn, a little bat ' tered. a little too perfunctory In man ner; but hi genial eyes, deep undei threatening brows, made Harry' eyei t' seem to stare rather coldly; anil th' f fine form oL his long, plain face, aae f the sensitive line of hi long, thin ltpi j made Harry's beauty look well, hov , did It look? Hardly callouB. This mixed impression tho two niei . gave her was disconcerting. She wai r all the more ready, to be wary of tin stranger. She had begun with him li the way she did with every one In $ stlnctlvely throwing out a breast worl t of conversation from behind whlcl L she could observe the enemy. Hu 15 though he had blinked at It, he bai f not taken lu-r up. nor helped her out but had merely stood with his head i ; little canted forward, a If be watchei s her through her defenses. "Hut San Francisco must seem so limited after London," she bad wound up; and tho way ho had considered It, a little humorously, down hi long nose, made her doubt the Interest of itle to be reckoned in round numbers. num-bers. "If ll extraordinary," he said. "You're quite a extraordinary In your way a we In ours." "Ob," she wondered, still vexed with hi Inventory, "I had always supposed u awfully commonplace. What U our way, please?" "Ah," he said, measuring hi long step to hers a they sauntered a little, lit-tle, "for one thing, you're so awfully good to a fellow. In iAindon" and he nodded back, a If Umdon were merely mere-ly across the room "they're awfully good to the somebodies. If the way you take In the nobodies over here (Mat U so astonishing tho stray leave that blow In with your 'trade,' and can't show any credential but a letter or two, and their faces; and those" hi diablerie danced out again "sometimes such deucedly damaged one." It was almost Indecent, thl parade of hi nonentity! She wanted to say: "Oh, hush! Those are the thing one only enjoy never talk about." Hut irsfead, somewhere up at the top of her voice, she said: "Oh, we always lock tip our silver!" "Hut even then," he quizzed her, "1 wonder how you dare to do It?" "Perhap we have to, because we ourselves are 11 " ("without any credentials but those you mention,") she had been about to say but there she caught herself on the very edge ol giving herself and all the rest of them away to him; "all so awfully bored.' she mischievously ended whh the daintiest, faintest possible yawn be bind her spread fan. He looked a If she bad taken h In by surprise; then laughed out. "Oh that Is the way they don't do here," h provoked her. "You mustn't, whet I'm not expecting It." "Then what are you expecting?" slu Inquired a little coolly. "Well," he deliberate.!, "not expect 1 ins you to get nie ready for a sweet and then pop in a pickle; and present ' ly ixpecting, hoping, anxiously anllel - paling, what you really care to say.' - lie was expecting, she looked mall ' ciou.lv, more than he was likely t ' get; but the fact that be did sei 1 through lu-r to that extent was a r once delightful and charming. Sle ' swayed back Into the shadow beyom 1 the dazzling line of light. She wantei 1 to escape his scrutiny, to be able t ' hxik hi in over from a safe vantage " ground. Hut he wouldn't have It. Ai r Instant he stood under the torrent n n white radiance, challenging her to sei what she could then followed her In 1 to her retreat. "Shall we sit here?" hi si.ld, and she found herself hopelessl; f cut off and Isolated with the enemy She couldn't withhold a little gruiU i Ing pleasure In the sharpness will which he had turned her maiieuve anil the way It had detached then r from the surrounding crowd. Fo there. In the dusky center of the room 111 .was n If they watched from saf 1 covert the rest of their party exposei t In the glare of light; though not, a I Flora presently noted, quite escapln ; observation themselves. For an lr n statu Harry turned and peered towar J them with a look in bis intentnes that, struck Flora as something new I him and made her wonder If he coul be Jealous. She turned tentatively t Bee If Kerr had noticed It, and am prised hi glance in a quick trans Hon back to hers. "Hy your leave," he said, and too away her fan, which In bis hand prei ently assumed such rhythmic motio that it ceased to be nny more preser to lu-r than a delicate current of ai upon her face. He wa not, she felt sure, In spit of his light manipulation of her fat a person who cared to pb-ase womei but one of that devastating sort wb care above everything to please theu selves, and who are skilful within practice; too skilful, she feared, U r In r del. uses to bold out against : In- Intended to find out what she rea ly thought. "Aren't we supposed t be looking at the picture?" she wan d to know. He turned hi back on the wall an It attendant glare. "Why pictures be Inquired, "when there are live pe pie to look at? Picture for places whet they're all half dead. Hut here, whei even the damnable dust In the strei I alive, why should they paint, f write, or sculpt, or do anything bi live?" His Irascible brow shot tl query at her. Again the proposition of life wha ever that wa wa held up befot her, and a ever she faltered In U face of It. "1 upKie they do here," she murmured, with a vagi glance at the palming around be 'Trf-caus people do It everywhei else " HU disparagement was almost snarl. "That the rotten part of liberalise li-beralise they do It everywhere elsi As If there wasn't enough tnonotor In the world already without evei chap trying to be like the next InsU-i of being himself!" "Hut If you have to be what peop expect?" "People don't want what they e poet If yu rare for that." He wsvi It away with hi quick wblte hand. ' Hut you have to care, unless yt want to be queer." Her -oor little cret wa out before she knew, and 1 looked at It. laughing lumoderatel yet somehow delightfully. Ah, If you think the social game Is j the game that counts' I had expected braver things of you. The game that ! counts, my girl," he preached It at her with hi long white hand, ' the game j that I going on out here I the big, I red game of life. That' the only one j that's worth a guinea' and there's no winning or losing, there's no right or j wrong to It. and It doesn't matter j what a man I In It a long a he's a : good one." ' Kven If he I a thief?" The question ques-tion was out of Flora's lips before she could catch It. It was a challenge. She had meant to confound Mm; but he caiuiit It a ir It delighted him. "Well, what would you think?" He threw It back at her What hadn't she thought' How per slsii-ntiy her fancy had played with the question of what sort of man that one might he who had so wonderful ly put his hand under a glass case and drawn out the Chatworth ring. "Oh," she laughed dubiously, "I sup pose he Is a good one as long a he Isn't cHUglit." "What"' III face disowned her ' You tlilnk he' a renegade, do you? A chap In perpetual flight, taking thil.M because be has to, more or less pin sued by the law? Hah! It's a guild a old, and a deal more honorable, honor-able, than the beggar'. Your good thief Is born to It. It's his caste. It's In his blood. It Isn't money that he wants If he had a million he'd be ! the same. And It Isn't a mania either. eith-er. It's a profession." The Kngllsh-man Kngllsh-man leaned back mid mulled ai her over the elegance of hi long. Joined linger tip. She looked at him with a delighted alarm, with an Increasing elation, but whether these arose from his lawless deiiaiallon and the singular way they kept setting before her more ' vividly moment by moment the pos-' pos-' sllile character of the present keeper j ol the Chatworth ring, or whether It was Just the sight of Kerr himself as I lie sat there that stirred bei, she ' didn't try to distinguish, j "Hut suppose he was your own ' j thief," she urged; "took your own ' j thing, I mean," she hasiily aiiiemb-d, " j "and suppose he turned out to be ,) j some one you knew and liked - " She heiilaled. Sli" bad come at last lo w hat ' sin- really wanted to say She bad 1 , In ought out a question that had been !' teasing lu-r fancy at Intervals all ihe 1 while he had been talking, and he hail " not even heard It. He wasn't even look-' look-' It.g at her. She had caught him of! ' his guard. He. wa looking across bei " shoulder straight down the dim vista ' of the room to the little blaze of bor " derlng light. He wa looking at Har vf ry. No, Harry wa looking at htm " Harry was looking with a steady, ar Intent gaze, and Kerr meeting It 1 " might have been merely the blanl V glare of hi monocle seemed, t Flora, to meet It a little iiiHolently ;- She fancied In the Instant Homcthlm :i to pas between the two men, some r thing which, this time, she did no it mistake for jealousy a shade too din r for defiance or suspicion, a !ec i, scrutiny that struggled to place some e thing, some one. 1 Flora felt a sudden wish to breal that curious scrutiny. It had broket g her little moment. It had shatterei i- the personal, almost Intimate nod d that had been sounded between them The look Kerr turned back to lu-r wie n vague, and stirred In her a dim re d sentnient that be could drop it all si o easily. r- "Shall we Join the other?" It wa '' the voice with which fthe had begin with him, but her eyes were bo k through their light mist of lashes, am 4- he threw her a comprehending glatic n of amusement. it "Oh, no," he assured her, "we ran' r help ourselves. They are going t Join ti." " Klla Puller, In the van of her pn J., cession, wa already descending up them Her approach dissipated th " lant remnant of their personal mi - metit. Her presence always Inslste it that there wa nothing worth whil r but Instant participation In her get If lality, and whatever subject It migli ! at the moment be taken up witl u Thl conviction of Klla had bee t- wont to overawe Flora, and It stl overwhelmed her; so that now, a d she followed In' the trull of F.lla ," marshaled forte, she had a guilty fee 0- Ing that there should be nothing I e her mind but a normal desire for su e per. et Yet all the way down the gre.i r stair, "the Corridor of Time," wln r it the white owl glared Ms glassy wl; ie doin on the passing and counte passing, she was haunted with th t- thought that Harry had seen the re traordlnary Kerr before; not shake ie band with Mm, perhaps perhap n It even heard hi name; but souiewheri i across some distance, once glimpse r, him, and had never quite shaken th re memory from bis mind For ther was something mark'-d, notable, unfo a gi table In that lean dlstlnctlveties Against the sleek form of the me ?! they met and shook hand with, b iy flashed out seemed in contrast fairl y electric. She saw blm. Just aln-ad id fcr where the crowd w thb-kenin In the door of the supiwr room, inal I tng way for Clara through the pre wlih that exasperating solicitude 1- hi that wa half Ironic. ?d The room, hot, polished, flaring r flectian of electric lights from It C glistening floor, announced ItS'if th e- h-jrt of high fsstlvlty, through th ie midst of which their entrance mad 7, an added rlppl- The flushed far of the womra under their Bowers, ui 1 V "v . . -j """ " ' iei I . "Even If He Is a Thief r Iff JMfT w mm 1 Who In the WkfM Is Thatr |