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Show Fir of oittl . w S'::- z : : ' f I Continued from Last Sunday CHAPTER XV. Pursuit . wriiivN anthonj topped on X board tbo Adriatic ia tlio?r happy, ' s purl le:- s flays when you could merely m i -1 lie belloved bis case lo be absolutely absolute-ly unique. For no one surely had started his first trip to Europe, to I - England, upon so peculiar an errand and with such objects in view. It was early April. A disheartening rain was falling, and the ship, with the affinity of ships for moisture. ' gave every passenger, even the tmost sprucely attired, an olr of be-dragghnT-nt and disappointment It is In the na'ure of modern Jour-' Jour-' neys ;j uostula'' playing banns and flag flying In brilliant sunlight. Without too many questions he found his way lo his room, deposited depos-ited his bag in his berth and returned re-turned to the upper regions, wandering wan-dering aimlessly about the drawing mom. the smoking room and the lamp decks. The .hip would not cast off for another hour or more, but already he saw two groups of men playing raids In the smoking room and he enYiOd those hardbitten hard-bitten travelers thi it composure "1 He knew not n soul among all the I many faces that bs aaw eddying i W "" about in fantastic, disordered pre-ijH pre-ijH occupation about nothing. He I- 7 looked up and down the North River, with its shipping In the mist I and rain, and the whole scene seemed to him a preposterous ln- version cf all his dreams. His soul craved gayety and sunshine and happiness, the holiday spirit Hut hero everything was dark and murky. Where was he going and what was the use of it? A wild fancy came to him that he could leave the ship before It was too late. But that was a fancy of the most transitory. No young man over shirks a journey, if only the Journey Is long enough The mi grating instinct is too deeply In grained in active young blood His two objects came vividly before him 'and the flame of eagerness once again began to burn In his I soul. He went into the smoking I - room, lit a cigarette and Imagiued himself a seasoned traveler. When the thlp finally cast off and moved out of her berth and down the rPor, not even the rain or the mist or the absence of gayety could deprive de-prive Anthony of the great remedial reme-dial sensation of departure For this it Is that physicians advise journeys and weary souls turn lo them as a solace and a healing for ffifi the wounds and scars of a too ex- !jHj cesslvely assaulting world. Tho 5 city and the streets, the magnifl 3 cently towering buildings, those :-h titanic hives, the like of which the j S human race baa never before pro- duced all, with their turmoil, their i activities and their fierce passions, were slipping away iuto their perspective per-spective They were becoming a mere eddy of human enterprise, dot on the globe. Before him laj the murmuring and changeless sea that has seen all the vicissitudes -n of the race cities rise and fall, whole continents appear and disappear dis-appear A slower and a deeper rhythm than that to which he had been accustomed gpntly, insistently stole into his blood H& sat gazing out upon the vast aud E unless gra-ness gra-ness of tho Atlantic, and he felt himself alone, utterly insignificant, and strangely, wonderfully at peace. Below decks he 6aw crowds standing in irregular linos, going through tho routine of getting seat6 at the table, and with the docility characteristic of new environment he fell into lino and waited patiently patient-ly with bis fellows It occurred to him that perhaps there was uot enough routine in llfo for our only partly civilized human race. Similarly Simi-larly he wailed on deck among a group of men and women until a ,( hair was assigned to him. and al- ways, When he turned away from f5 these anonymous aggregations of ;'U5 human belnrjs, there was the un l.jjfi changing, remorseless slow rhythm Km of the sea. j9 He proved a good sailor and soon settled to the monotony of crossing H without any great derangement The sun came out on the second ,$3P day. The usual emergence of hitherto invisible passengers began ft Men and young women paced the decks and played games with chat-tor chat-tor and laughter, the smoking room wsb doing a roaring trade, and the flH chip's ruu became a besetting In- $M terest A soothing tranquillity was .r3j more and more creeping Into An- thony's heart, but no happiness, lie felt oddly outside tho pale of normal, rejoicing mortals 11c had ffil been too eager perhaps, too desir- WSt ous of life and experience to bo jM carefree as were some or those 'IT. J8B the great ship. Life had met him more than halfway aud imposed rJB burdens none too easy to slip off. ijjB Well, perhaps he would be happy IS yet. Tho craving for happiness Hj among the Anglo-Saxon young, be- fore the great war, was: so pronounced pro-nounced as to become an object of I ridicule to European writers such as Tolstoy The war has liquidated that yearning to some extent, but. neverthless, to be young is to desire de-sire happiness. He walked with his cabin mate, the young physician going to Germany Ger-many to study twill one ever again go to Germany to study"), made the usual acquaintances, the benevolent benev-olent elderly business man with shredded nerves in quest of si digestion, diges-tion, the girl with the far-away look and the Tarn o' Shanter in tho next chair, the boyish Marconi operator with the English ncrent. assiduous at the dancing after dinner, the young buyer of toys, and others of the eternal types that seem to gather upon ship- the world over. There were, moreover, the possessors posses-sors of potent names, remote, detached de-tached inhabitants of tho planet Sai urn wjth addresses In Now Vork and Philadelphia, going to London for the "season." These one did not know, one only regarded. re-garded. Inwardly, however, Anthony was W$ as detached almost as the Saturnine Satur-nine divinities. The purpose of his Journey seemed to set him apart in spite of himself. The English Marconi Mar-coni operator, with his obvious simple sim-ple purpose on the ship, was bit antithesis. How easy to live thus transparentl , with no gnawing secrets se-crets within. This was in reality Anthony's first impressive lesson that secrecy is one of the fundamental funda-mental vices not only of diplomacy, but of all civilization. That as the world was groping toward happiness, happi-ness, it was Implicitly also lending toward frankness, openness and transparency away from the primeval pri-meval jungle, toward the sunlit, wind-swept plateaus of life. Hay hiic ceded day with the same round of live meals, stupefying Inspirations In-spirations of salt air, saline baths, I blossed routine of mobile exi t-enco t-enco that makes of a ship a little private planet, and makes of pa-sengers, pa-sengers, even of the poker players, so many yogis immersed In Nirvana. Nir-vana. There was Land's End; there was the Isle of Wight: there was Southampton; docks and amusing amus-ing toy railway trnins; a sweep of exquisite trim country and little towns, with exquisite trim red brick houses adorned with window boxes: a cloud of intake and fop. and be was In London The only hotel he knew of was fhe Savoy. The young buyer of lovs had spoken of the Savoy, the tired business man was goine there; even Ihe young Marconi Mar-coni operator had said In a sot of little rocal explosions: "Know the Savoy.' American bar! Cocktails! Jolly good, too" To the Savoy accordingly Anthony An-thony directed his taxlinan to take him. It Is notable thnt those who have dreamed much of foreign travel and strange places puv a penalty for the pleasure of the imagination by never finding any foreign placo quite as strange as they had expected ex-pected Dream of China, and China is less than your dream. Long for Home, and Homo greets you as a familiar. Dwell on London, and already you measurably know London. "Anthony could not see her face, but that head was Vilma's, end so were the neck and shoulders." z-z V ' Hz ' ' ', '" Z' . mz:. - IfflL--.-:- 'Z : VZZ: -ito t:;:-: v F-' ! tfMmmtBBmmmtiZ. saw the hands of a recipient In . jfX . after life hr was always dubious ' ' whether that particular pleco of tenacity stamped him as a fool 01 $PV rjRV as something better. 'WKffjffp Tho nox morning found him at &'; A n.r , " ' bis post again, equipped this time -JUStjjkZZ with some cakes of chocolate. The '"'"0: -rZki ) V" mZZ 2 , ZvL Overwhelming though London was. Anthony was not overwhelmed. It was strangely, haunlingly confirmatory con-firmatory of his imaginings, almost of a sort of prenatal knowledge. Thoaomber opulence, the rich gray-ncss gray-ncss buildings that deserved acres of ground, economically, almost pe-nurlously pe-nurlously crushed in among a jumble of brick and mortar all ..a" -nriieliow as lo- h;id experts it Thoso London buildings' They were poems In stone for him. The National Gallery, the Law Courts they seemed to have risen from lh' sea, and still dripping brine those monuments cf a sea-faring people in a moist island cllmato. He wanted to stand and gaze at them by the hour. But in view of the reasons for coming be felt Inflexibly Inflex-ibly the urge and pressure of his mission. What had he como fot ? He as no tourist. With the help at the reporter's sense and the London Lon-don policeman he made his way to Number 6, Haymarket. It was tho office of an American exprevs company with an admirably conducted mail department. Wli D he Inquired concerning Mad; in. von Prater the clerk told him that they supplied no addresses, but that all mall would bo held. When ho asked wbother she had called for mail recently the clerk did not answer an-swer his question, but demanded in turn: "You a friond of hers?'' Heluclaully Anthony gave an O l'J-V. lutimatUmil pz Z 4' y7Z- l i Ca affirmative answer. The clerk scrutinized him closely. He was an expert, that clerk. He was unsatisfied, unsatis-fied, , "Best thing is. you write her." ho advised, "and make an appointment. appoint-ment. Mostly we get Into trouhlo If we give away addresses." I'. I- she been here to-day?" "I think not," said Ihe clerk. "I'd rather see her than write her." Anthony told him. "Ah, just so," replied the clerk. He was busy. Other people Ii3d come In. "Perhaps she'll come In," he added, and turned away. This was failure, but Authony did not regard it as failure. He would como back to-morrow, when the place opened, and sit there all day. if need w ere, and several days, until he found her. Meanwhile ho returned re-turned lo the Savoy It occurred lo him to Inquire at the desk for both objects of his pursuit Mr. Joseph Shelburn as well as Madame von Prater. Neither, he was informed, in-formed, was registered there. Tho American bar seemed u probable and B likely place Or loe, and thero ho spent the lato ufternoon a wretched afternoon it proved. Tho plACA was full of American newspaper news-paper men, theatrical managers and English connolsucurs In cocktails, cock-tails, laughing, chattering, telling stories, gayly exchanging pleasant-rles pleasant-rles With th! mature and matronly larinaids, but ho knew not a bouI. Even the ponderous German waiter, ralurv Si rrUc, Inc. Orcat Oi whom everybody called "Beefy brought him his cocktail, thanked liiiy for the tip and rushed off to more familiar patrons. The true essence of loneliness camo home to him that evening It was not so much being solitary In an allon en-ironment, en-ironment, as btics alone with a mind disturbed and uneasy. The tranquil soul finds peace on a mountain moun-tain top or even In a desert. Nine o'clock of the following morning found Anthony in the office of the express con:pany en-gaged en-gaged In scanning the newspapers. Fortunately the mail room was also a rending room, with racks of American Amer-ican newspaper-, BO that bjfl first morning's sojourn thoru was hup-pily hup-pily Inconspicuous. Faces, a large variety of feminine faces and feminine fem-inine hats, passed him in review that morning, but Vilma's was not among them. Hunger began to gnaw him toward noon. He must at, he supposed. Yet a few minutes' min-utes' absence might cost him all his weary hours of vigil. What was he to do? He was inclined to smile at himself, and yet he had come there for a purpose, and tho only way to carry It out was to use Ihe best means at his command. To leave his post was to waste a day therefore he must not leave It. His hunger waxed and then it waned again; headache succeeded it. but still he -at glued to his chair, scein-In.L'ly scein-In.L'ly intent upon his newspapers or writing, busily, letters that never riutla K cbtk UuMMved. clerks greeted mm pioaeanuy. uui danced covertly at him and smiled knowingly to themrelves. London Is a noted aquarium of odd fish. Tho consciousness that flaming self-consclousness of youth that he was being watched wa9 the hardest part of the enterprise for Anthony. But ho sat grimly on, doggedly bent on making tho best effort In his power to gain his object ob-ject Late that afternoon bis perseverance per-severance was rewarded not. however, how-ever, with the sight of Vilma. Joe 9helbunf; sporting a sllvor-mounted cane, champagne-colored spats and a bowler hat slightly tilted over one eye, strolled In casually and was startled to encounter tho eyes of Anthony. "Why. hello, old sport!" Joe came toward him with outstretched hand and seized his with a foreed heartiness. "Where did you drop from? This Is great' Come out and have a drink on it! Well" he -at down beside Anthony "what do you know about it?" The guilty flee when none pur-suelh pur-suelh simply because one within them is always pursuing. Instlnc-Hvelv Instlnc-Hvelv .loo associated Anthony's presence with his treatment of Grace Thomas. "Oh. I Just happened along," Anthdhy s.iid Inscrutably "Glad to see you loe very glad. I guess vim have a lot to toll me." Anthony's lone made ShelbuTO Wthce "He knows " he said to hlm-Belf hlm-Belf Vet he was not sure that Anthony An-thony did know. "Not much to fell," he said "My brother Is floating another oil company com-pany on his properties. Sent me over to try to place toino erf tho stock. They are daffy on oil here. Hut say'" and the satyr leaped into his face With a sprawling, pawing paw-ing gesture ho cried, "Fun! Never knew there could be so much fun away from Broadway- and Ip dear old London, too. How these girls do lap up the champagne wow' old hoy." he went on In his drawl of reminiscent abandon, "certainly high-old llinos!" Anthony was thinking quickly Tho present temper of Joe Shel- I burn and the tenor of his life here f were such that there was only one approach to the subject ho meant to talk to him about. He must appeal ap-peal to him as to a good "sport." Anthony was aware how constantly this so-called sportsmanship of 1 Joe's kind failed miserably whoro an Injury to a woman waa con- ! cerned Considerably bettor feelings feel-ings that this one of "sportsman-ship" "sportsman-ship" were requisite. He was distinctly dis-tinctly dubious as to whothcr any better feelings remained in Joe's boBom. But that the name of "sport" was the one to conjure with I he felt certain. He brightened sud- H denly. J "I say, Joe," ho began cheerfully. ! "this is luck, our having met. How lon are you to be hero? I'm here for only a little while a matter of business to attend to, and then I'm ' through. Let'3 have a good tlmo while we can." A cloud seemed to lift and float away from tho Shelburn countc- nance. His manner was instantly H freed of all hampering touches of constraint. He grinned broadly. ' Anthony evidently knew nothing P "Say, boy'" he cried. "You'vo vLLLI said a chest-full I'm here for a couple of weeks more. A good time' Leae it to me, old sport! H Does J S know anything about a 1 good time' Your judicial opinion on that, old boy!" And ho laughed in the glee of ecstatic merit. "Two j H weeks more, of paradise bo' par- W adisc In dear old Lunnon," he j iH hummed, "dear old Lunnon town." K ;H He broke off abruptly: 'What's the reason you can't H have dinner with me to-night?" "No reason at all, Joe. We'll H dine '.o-niht and, I hope, other vl nights Put we dine Dutch." "Don't want my hospitality?" ! He sounded piqued H "It isn't that. Joe No use our A spending money on each other. H We n both fare better If we haven't H got each other's hospitality on our ifl minds. Too much trouble. Dutch 1 Is ' "All right, old boy have it your H "Well and good." said Anthony. "Meet me at the Savoy at six- M "What's tho matter with coming 'fl along now?" protested Joe. Illll "Can't, Joe waiting to see some-body some-body here." Jon winked. He al- ways suspected tho worst motives. J They parted and Anthony sat grim-ly grim-ly on until closing time. He was as far from seeing Vllma as ever. JH When Joe appeared at six-thirty fl Anthony waa w.iitin? for him in tho I lobby. His mind, that had become I somewhat torpid by the grimly pas- JH stonate waiting for Yilma. had H cleared automatically, and turned alert, keen and alive. The wound- I flH ed ego dulls the faculties almost In I fl roiortlon as another's cause, it M v. .irmly embraced brightens them. fl Joe demanded cocktails at once, lH but Anthony begged him to come H up to his room for a minute beforo H the cocktails. Joe cast a glance of suspicion In his direction, but the clear-cut young face of Anthony, i'l somewhat pale and preoccupied, 3 was Inscrutable H "There's a wonderful valet on my floor." Anthony remarked; "seems in know everything." H "Over at my liote-I the Picca- H dilly." Joe declared, "there's one I who pat 1 never look Ifl at It and everything just right Tho other day I ran over to Brlgh-ton Brlgh-ton a party say' pome Alhambra beauties I I'll tell yon about it i'VI that valet had packed exactly right for two days' stay Wonders at it H tbev H "You're a lucky devil, Joe," said 1 Anthony. ' Everything before you everything your way." "YaB we Shelburns sure did H strike oil good!" triumphed Joe "Sit down," Invited Anthony as they entered his room "Have a cigarette." 'H "Put how about the Juicy cock- ". rer mind tho e or better we'll pend for them here" Anthony J j sat down on the edge of the bed, H facing htm. "I just want to speak HsLI to you a minute o- two about some- ' D thing." A look of hardness lichted "A private matter, added An- fl thony, and Joe's features bilght- I H "I knew!" he cried, flapping his knees. "You're short of cash jrl mazuma! Everybody's trouble here ujl tho pace!" Aud ho chuckled. Il "Don't I know Woll. I can help H you out all right though I've been getting rid of the sruff fast tho stuff what is it those girls call It? tho oof oh, yes. tho oof! I can I t you have a little, all right, all right!" IH Anthony smiled. Il "Thanks. Joe. I knew you were liLl Page) 1 AT -- Y P "a 1 (Continued from Prcccdinfj Page). a good sport always knew that. But I don't need any. Much obliged." He paused and flicked the ashes from his own cigarette "It's not about myself I want to talk- It's fttOUt Grace Thomas," be went on quickly without giving the other a chance to speak. "She's in trouble. Joe in deep trouble and you put her there and like the good sport you are, I know you'll help her out That's what I want to talk about " A dark flush mounted to the fea-tures fea-tures of Joe. to the very roots or his bair. Ills eyes were suffused and his voice took on a thin, angry pitch that seemed to dwarf even him. like a trapped animal. "Here! Why do you butt rsto mv affairs? I never interfered in fl yours! Try to tell me you're a ualnt or an angel not by a long hot! Think I don't know. You were out with her yourself don't! come the preacher over me" "You're right there, Joe," An-thony An-thony put in quietly, controlling himself absolutely "I'm neither a saint nor an angel. But I hope I'm decent enough to do the square thing in similar circumstances. And I'm not preaching. Don't think It for a minute I'm just bringing something to our atten-tion atten-tion that probably slipped it Just talking to a pal. as I hope you would to me." 'How did you know?'' spluttered Joe. "When did you go to see her last what did she tell you? I H ain't a-goiug to be blackmailed, I tell you. Not I." "1 didn't go to see ber at all, Joe. As you know, 1 haven't so?n her in almost a year. About three days before I sailed she came to see me and told me of her trouble in the H stuffy parlor of my landlady sounds like Ollendorff, doesn't it? She's hard up and I advanced her a little money. 1 told her what a IBH cood sport you wove that I would try to see you and that's all there is to it." Me p tiffed at his cigarette. cigar-ette. "Her si .tor." ho added, "is a tartar wants her to clear out right away what's the poor girl to do?" "She oughtn't to have talked to a third party- mixing up other people" "But think. .Toe"' he laundered "Put yourself in.. her place. The girl was desperate. What was she to do you being away and she knew we were sort of pals. Don't be a crab, Joe. I know you want to do the square thing' You know in your heart you're sorry for the poor I girl," he , concluded, stifling his anger. "Well, how much does she want?" snarled the other ' How do I know, man" She wants help it isn't much from our point of view but it's everything every-thing to her life itself don't know what she might do." Joe blenched wisely. "You don't think she'd commit I suicide, do you?" ho muttered "How should I know? Girls have done so in such cases." "D'you suppose she might write a letter," he whispered, "drag my name in give me away?" j A look of angry disgust came into Anthony's eyes and his gorge rose. It was useless to class Joe as a sport. He was merely a sneaking little coward. "Pool if sh didn't!" cried Anthony. An-thony. "But cut that stuff Don't do anything because you're scared snff do it because you're decent." I ' Well," he stammered loosely. "my folkR out There they're good H Presbyterians well, never mind- H . I'll come across how much is it?" H Now a look of cunning came into H his eyes. "But mind you, I won't H appear as a part y to it No cheques H no signatures no letter? noth- H lug in writing. It'll be cash cash H only and you've got to handle it. , " , "Here is twenty pounds,'' Joe said. "That's a hundred ' T - " dollars. Send her that. But that receipt I want T tnat. mini you." "''"':-:-1 .'. ' ':" . -J. ' V' ,. " ' ''. . ' , get It to her and g?t a receipt from her See?" Anthony turned away under a pretense of searching for Fome-thing Fome-thing in his bureau drawer. There was a silence. "Very well. Joe," he finally ut-terod ut-terod in a colorless tone. "I think all that cm be managed." He had lost all taste for either drinking or dining with Joe. He was about to idead an exruse. But he realized that that might poil everythintr. Dissimulation was now a necessity. And though his own onduct was of a different ordr. he told himself, he was not a Tobias with a 6hining an-el by his Bid) , ' "Come. Joe," he said, "now l--t us go and get our cocktail." .lop was characteristically sprawlipg in his chair and intently fumbling with his wallet. 'Here Is twenty pound.-," he said. ' That's n hundred dollar.-. Send her that. But that receipt I wan! that, mind you. Von didn't tell her where my folks lied did you?" he queried abruptly. "No." said Anthony; and pre- ieded him out of the room. Days dragged by, almost a fortnight fort-night of days, since Anthony's arrival ar-rival in England England, the land of Shakespeare and of Dickens of Keats and Charles Damb and Thackeray. Yet, all lhat be was ' eeing of it was a few crowded thoroughfares, a polyglot caravanserai caravan-serai of an hotel, a play now and then, and occasionally Joe Shel-burn. Shel-burn. Still ho persevered in his degged and stubborn vigil at the express office, but to no purpose. Vilmc had eluded him. He now r.at there only between tn and one and from two to three in the afternoon until five, but without results. Jim Howard's words came back to him "Would you let a thing like that break up your life ruin it waste it?" No, he supposed that was unthinkable. un-thinkable. He must abandon Vil-ma. Vil-ma. the pendant all that past turbulence. tur-bulence. He could not afford to stay on. He must return and ro to work and oxpiatc as best he could. It was a blow, a cruel one, but not the first he bail survived. He was sailing from Liverpool three days hence, and Joe. that Husive and slippery witness, had definitely promised to accompany id il him. That much at least he had gained. He walked from the Havmarket that afternoon into Pall Mali and Cockspur street, past the shipping offices lhat announced steamers Into all the Seven Seas If only he '"lid go somewhere far into tropic oceans and sun-baked lands, lands of jungles and color and stealth, and forget all the past that he had so largely misused' If only h? could cruise about without, haste or plan, among distant Islands in far lagoon;, past unknown shores, savage. sav-age. slrXngt.- and du-ly. uudT southern skies, without a past or a future a wanderer and an aimless rover! No. that was not for him. One cannot escape one'-; destiny. He was free enough in all conscience, con-science, free as air. But a power infinitely stronger than anv inclina-tion inclina-tion of his was urging his footsteps homeward One cannot seize freedom free-dom with violence not sheer, aljn-less aljn-less freedom. The deep underlying purpose in life precluded that. He turned in Trafalgar Square, not up the Strand toward his hotel, but down Whitehall toward Westminster. West-minster. Crowded omnibuses were swinging up and down with their t two stories of congested passengers. passen-gers. Pedestrians were hurrying homeward after their day's work What was he doing among them? The little that he accomplished for Grace Thomas was his only excuse for being here. He was in reality an Idler He walked gravely past the Horse Guards and saw the two silent watchers in their glitteriiiT panoses on their jet-black c'mr:-ers c'mr:-ers like statues in the haze. With a pant: it came home to htm that he had een nothing of England, nothing even of London. How he had dreamed yf London, of the delight de-light and luxury of it, of the Jov of novelty, new scenes, an older civi lization, brilliant people, treasures of art. men and women and wonders' won-ders' Resplendent dreams! And this was his reality Wasted ab. that Is what Jim Howard had said. If he dwelt long cnourh on Vilma she would yet succeed in wasting his life. Ho glanced again at the (O lfrJO, International F.-: -y V - r statuesque figures on the raven chargers. "Some day you fellows I'll see you agaiu but not like this." What , he meant was that he would look upon them with a more cheerful heart. The Houses of Parliament faced him and Westminster Abbey. He had not been inside any of them. It was useless. He was not in the mood for sightseeing or curiosity. The nature of his errand colored everylhing. The holiday spirit was lackiifg the holiday spirit that had permeated -even his daily life before be-fore he bad met Vilma had been taken from him as micht have beeM a sift from an unworthy recipient or a chevron from a soldier in disgrace. dis-grace. Lights began to show in the windows win-dows of the Parliament houses. He walked to the middle of Westminster Westmin-ster Bridge and stood leaning over the parapet The dark current of the Thames flowed peacefully beneath be-neath him. with a barpe here and there drifting slowly. Tho haze of dusk overhung the scene like a tutelar' deity brooding on the face of the waters. The lights of Westminster West-minster were blinking mysteriously and a sense of grandeur and power and beauty overcame him. The world was full of lofty enterprise and noble prospects. He was filled with n longing to rise above his passions pas-sions and preoccupations of the last Vw MoKlis. ni the l.isf f v. weeks to change the entire texture of his life. If only he could live his life over! Then it seemed as though a voice were saying to him you make your own heaven and your own hell. Your destiny is In your hands. It struck hlra that he was not vet twe-ity-five. The mood was passing He suddenly found him self longing for warmth and cheer and friendliness. He turned abruptly ab-ruptly and walked back through the less than half mile of street that rules an empire upon which the :;:in never sets, am! found nothing noth-ing better than Joe Sholburn waiting wait-ing for him. They were going to the Playhouse that night to see the inimitable .Mr. Charles rtawtrey in an amusing play. ttnn s.rrlif, toe. Ureal Bnl hTj - rzz Joe had cot over his sullenness. Willi cunning craftiness he had endeavored en-deavored during the three or four days succeeding their interview to penetrate into the mystery of Anthony's An-thony's other business in London. What was it that kept him riveted to one spot, engaging neither in sightseeing nor excursions? He had refused to go one Sunday to Brighton and another Sunday he declined to be one of four, two o whom were American chorus gir's with nothing more drastic in view than a day at Dorking, only an hour from LoVidon. In.-tead he haunted the parks on Sundays and Bati irday afternoons Hyde Park, Greer. Park, Kensington Gardens, and even Regent's, Re-gent's, where the animals are "He came to find me that's what ho came for." Joe said to himself, and he rather admired Anthony for being so well able to disguise his object. Anthony refused to buy stalls, bolh because of the expense and because he had brought no evening eve-ning clothes with him. They sat In tho balcony that nighf as usual, Anthony silent and preoccupied between be-tween the acts, thinking for the most part of something else, the while Joe was rattling on with his "old boy," "say. bo." "old sport." and his peculiar pawing gestures, recounting his experiences triumphs, tri-umphs, conquests even to the very precincts of the flalety Theatre. "The Gatetys where dukes and lords wait at th stage door." ho explained "Rut. old boy. when J. S. came among them they had to make way just brushed 'em aside fade away!" aud he illustrated with a movement of the hands the dissolving ranks of tho British peerage before that fane of Aphrodite, Aphro-dite, tho London Gaiety. Suddenly he realized that Anthony was not listening to him. but sat with his g;:e rivptod on some object or person per-son In tlif stalls below. "What are you looking at?" He broke off following bis gaze. What Anthony was intently looking look-ing at was a head and a gown- the gown that came to Yilma from the dressmaker's that evening tha; he had helped to hook and unhook. He could not see her face, but that jiln K'fhlj llrr-iL bead was Vilma's. She sat looking straight before her. 1 lie man with her was speaking, with his bold, insolent in-solent face turned toward her. Sho nodded her head slightly a characteristic char-acteristic gesture. Her shoulders, her neck' She was wearing no. It was not his pendant. I was a single string of pearls. A kind of shadowy twilight had settled upon the rest of the audience and darkened dark-ened excluded it He saw only Vilma. An old. outlived ferocity leaped up in his heart, and bis biood was pumping furiously. Unconsciously Un-consciously he hail gripped tho arma of his ohafr and held to them. He raught his breath, then gate a deep sigh-and by effort of the will steadied himself and smiled faintly, a srnlle full of pain and sardonic-bitterness. sardonic-bitterness. "What you looking at?" repeated Joe. still puzzled "Oh. I know you're looking at that woman in black with reachy shoulders. 'F i up!" he leered. "She's- the daine that got your eye." "I thought she was some one I knew once." murmured Anthony ILs mind was working at a white heat. Sho should not eacnpe hiui now. "If you did, you knew a peach," Joe responded eagerly. "She's staying stay-ing at my hotel. Wish she didn't have that big Dutchman with her. I'd have got next long ago." "I wonder if you mean the one I mean." Anthony made a great effort ef-fort to speak deliberately and to conceal tht tremor in bis voice. "I mean the one In the fourth seat from the aisle in the sixth row fourth from the middle aisle." ho added with great dlstlnctn- "That's the one." drawled Joe, "sure, old boy, I see you've got an eye not so bad not so bad. Yep. she's in my hotel. I'll brace her yet." he ran on. "Old J. S. has got to get in some of his One work. Brush aside. Dutchman!" he apostrophized apos-trophized her companion, "brush by and give your superiors a chance' Saw ber In the lobby only yesterday one peach!" Anthony's muaclas relaxed suddenly sud-denly and he sat limply in his seat. So it was over. The search was done. He was successful after all. 1 He had found her Effort and will and perseverance they seemed to be crowned like the virtues In a copy-book maxim. It was almost HB too easy. She should not escape this time. To-morrow morning early he would be in her hotel and accomplish what ho had almost ac-complished ac-complished in Washington, what he had thus far failed in. "What are you doing to-morrow, Joe?" he asked abruptly. J "Oh. to-morrow busy day for J. S..' Importantly, H "Got to be in the city at ten o'clock H - talk stocks and high finance. En- H gaged for lunch, too. Why, did you want i'o anj thing?" H "Only if you were free," war. the reply. Rut inwardly Anthony was saying. "At ten o'clock I shall be al the Piccadilly Hotel, with this fellow miI of the way." And as all H things were shaping a course favor able to him, he even dared to hone in bis heart that Vilma's Austrian would be absent also. J They had supper at the Carlton grill after the theatre, and Anthony J was conscious of scarcely a coher-ent coher-ent word of Joe .; suit chatter. li might have been a soliloquy. r having given her up, DOW cpc'Cling ' to meet her at every turr,. Ho peered into every wo- man's face and nervously glanced . t each new arrival. M But none of 'he beautiful V women in that ambrosial I room was Vilma. The asimo Italian nobleman who pre-sides pre-sides over that famous and high-priced cellar kH at the Carlton began to look at. him with some- lriflf thing like suspicion. B Rut Vilma did not ap-pear ap-pear among the guos.s that evening. H f 1 The following morning, at pre- H cisely ten o'clock, found Anthony at the Piccadilly Hotel. A massive and magnificent head porter, tho true aristocracy of Britain, adorned with broadcloth and gold lace, greeted him suavely. H "I wish to ses" said Anthony, with an effort at ease. "Mrs. von Hl Prater Sigmund von Prater." n "Ah number forty-two," he said. Hkl "Von Prater Just so. sir. But very sorry. They've left less than an hour ago. Gone to the Continent. A tremor passed through An-thony's An-thony's entire body, and the porter noted his sudden pallor. He leaned with one hand against the back of a chair and made a brave effort io "Too bad," he murmured. "Very ?orry indeed, sir," said the porter. A fe-iin- v. ry Hire awr- pervaded Anthony as he turned and walked Bfl oni Into narrow and noisy Picoj. dilly. cursing himself for a fool. He walked as one partially blinded lsflF from excess of light after darkness. Ho felt himself brushed by the H very presence of Fate. H Yet a wild hope throbbing in his tho loss of the LbbbH pendant was too irreparable, too IktBBH damaging and unfl inkable to han-pen han-pen that somewhere. , sometime. finally. he would he must rel ' jfl loTmLte! ,ate,r' oa thc Saturday, Joe Sholburn. who was to meet him MB Ru Anthony concluded that Jo had managed to lodge somewhere on the long boat-train before its de- V parture. He also failed to see him M the landing stage iu Live?p00? "." "cern him In ifi I .ong line of passengers boarding kiiHI the Carmanla Was this to be am other failure Re hart " an upon bringing Joe back for Grace Thomas s sake and Joe had abso H lu 1 premised to come kiHX " ""' ' """" ade'j him H& On b0:,rd the .hip. on a lao?e in 5e Hi dining saloon, where r stti-.i - Kir:J Borti, g mail, he found a TJSlran, LU addressed to himself, it i-eV,5- m MsV "' ' ae,l 1 Cannot sail to. da Bnt coming soonl To Be Continued Next Sunday lW - M |