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Show stfCSA Halvndhagttln ?! th8 ,UgBlnK Clar But San Francisco muHt seem bo "Ah, If you think the social game Is der their hats, with their Jarry, nevertheless keen a limited after London, she had wound the game that counts! I had expected smiling recognitions to Clara, to Flora, sly eye .on the stranger's equal prog, up; and The way he had considered it, braver ress. The flash of things of you. The game that to Ella, smiled with a sharpened InJet, and the volu- a little humorously, down hla long counts, my girl," he preached It at her terest. It proclaimed that Kerr was ble, substantial shoulders of the lady nose, made her doubt the Interest of with hls o profusely white hand, "the game stranger, and, in a circle which Introducing him, were an cities to be reckoned In round num- that Is long on out here is the big, found itself a little stale for lack of assurance going of how that idrj bers. red game of life. Thats the only one innovations, a desirable one. would terminate, sluce It pilgrimage was Ella a" said. he thats worth a guinea; and theres no extraordinary," .. Apparently the dominant note of Buller who was parading him. She Youre quite as extraordinary In your winning or losing, theres no or their even right party was F.la's clamorous sewondered before which of the way as we In ours." SYNOPSIS. wrong to It, and It doesnt matter lection for the supper; but to Flora florid pictures at the far, other end of Ob, she wondered, still vexed with what a limn Is In It as long as hes a the more real thing was tbe atmosthe room, as before a He had the attention of the table . nHvate view of the Chatworth per-shrine, the cere- his inventory, 1 had always supposed good one. phere of excitement and mystery she as If they sensed behind hls wordi Aii Mlat . to would mony take place. us awfully commonplace. What is our """itworth ring mysteriously disappears, "Even If he Is a thief?" The ques- had been moving In all the evening. more even than Judge Buller could She kept her eyes fixed on the way, who waa present, describes please tion was out of Flora's lips before she She was pursued by the obsession of have told them. -krfna'Toiii Flora .and Ullsey, fiancee, i before her, and as she "Ah, he said, measuring his long could catch It. It was a challenge. something more about to happen Mr. Clara Britton, m bo paintings "And then the superstition abort It IQ I haoeron, - heathen god, with a beautiful moved down from one to another, and step to' hers as they sauntered a lit- She Imminent of It's rather a pretty tale, said Kerf had meant to confound him; but something though, "'nhirt act In the head. Flora dlacov. the voices of the approaching group tle, "for one thing, you're so awfully he caught It as If It delighted him. course, nothing would; at least, how looking at Flora. "You've seen the Harry espe-clal- drew !Pan unfamiliar moodla Indlaoueaed. one nearer, separated Itself from good to a fellow. In London and he could anything happen here, to them? rini a figure of Vishnu bent backwhen the ring "Well, what would you think?" the general murmur, so clear, so res- nodded back, as If London were mereAnd by "them," she meant herself ward into a circle, with a head ol He threw It back at her. CHAPTER II. Continued. onantly carried, so oft ly across the room What hadn't she thought! How per- and these people around her so stupid sapphire; two yellow stones for the awfully mil the tongue, that It stood out in sylla- good to the somebodies.theyre the way sistently her fancy had played with ly talking the eternal repetition of cheeks and the brain of hint of the Its The picture gallery was new, an ad- bles on the blur of sound which was you take In the nobodleB over here the question of what sort of man that tbe story she had read out that even- one blue. Just as a piece of carving unexElla the narrow, plain, Bullers conversation. It had that Is so astonishing the stray one might be who had so wonderful- ing to Clara, and not one glimmer of It Is so fine that Cellini couldn't have dition; and pected door In this place, where all color, that voice; It had a quality so leaves that blow In with your 'trade,' ly put hls band under a glass case and light! She wondered If her obsession equaled It, but no one knows when or I sharp, so Individual that It touched and can't show any credentials but a drawn out the Chatworth high, arched, elaborate and was all her own or did It reach to where It was made. The first that la ring. was like a loophole through her with a mischievous wonder that letter or two, and their faces; and one of them? Certainly not Ella; not known, the Shah Jehan had It In hls she "Oh, "I suplaughed dubiously, a foreign atmos- he dared speak so differently from all those" his diablerie danced out again I which to slip Into pose he Is a good one as long as he Judge Buller, settled Into hls collar, treasure house. The story Is he stole "sometimes such deucedly damaged Isnt phere. This atmosphere was reslnouB the world about him. Then, six picClara? She It, hut, however that may be, he gave choosing champagnes. caught. I the light was thick tures away, she heard her own name. ones. of fresh wood; had to Clara. One knew never skip It as a betrothal gift to hls wife "What! Hls face disowned her. It was almost indecent, this parade You whether Clara bad not more behind possibly the most beautiful pith drifting motes; the carpets Flora Gtlseyr It was E.! "Why, hls eyea think hes do you? renegade, I harshly new, slipping beneath the feet husky, boyish note. "I've been look- of bis nonentity! She wanted to say: A chap In perpetual flight, taking her smooth prettiness than ever she brows signaled to Flora hls uncerthe bare ing for you all the "Oh, hush! Those are the things one the too polished, floor; evening! How things because he has to, more or less brought to light? Kerr? Perhaps. tainty of that fact without doubt leones of the place yet scarcely But With him she felt potentialities the She waved her hand only enjoys never talks about. dydo, Harry? woman In the world. pursued by the law? Bah! Its a enormous. But Its quiet was after all at him. Why, how d'ydo, Mrs. Brit- Instead, somewhere up at the top of guild as old, and a Harry? Never. Harry When she died It was burled with her-no- t more honor dqal was being appealed to by all the womThere were plenty of people ton? I wouldnt let papa go to sup- her voice, she said: On, we always able, than the In the tomb ItBelf, but In the beggars. Your good lock up our silver!" lingering in groups In the center of per until Id found you. Papa, I said. thief Is born to It. It's hls caste. Iti en who could get at him as to hls part Taj Mahal; and for a century or so It I "But even then, he quizzed her, "I in the gallery, which was dusky, eclipsed wait; Flora and Harry will be here. his blood. It Isnt money that be in the affair what had been hls sen- lay there and gathered legends about But Flora it as thick as dust It was believed reflectors that circled Besides, she had quite reached wonder how you dare to do It?" by the great wants. If he bad a million he'd be sations and emotions? Perhaps we have to, because we the same. And it isn't a mania eith knew perfectly well he had had none. to be a talisman of good fortune esthe room, throwing out the pictures In Floras side by this time and commuourselves are was only oppressed by the atten (without any er. It's a i bright band of color around the nicated It In an Impressive whisper, "I credentials The English' He pecially In love. but those you mention,) man leaned profession." tlon hls fame in the matter, and the walls. People leaning from this bor- want you to meet my' Englishman." "It had age; It had Intrinsic value;'. back and smiled at her she had been about to say but there der of light back into, the dusk to She looked over over the elegance of hls long, joined central position of their table, brought It had beauty, and that one other bet shoulder, and she him. Protesting, he made hls part as caught herself on the very edge of finger-tips- . murmur together, vanished and quality no man can resist It was the largely beckoned to where the blunt herself and all the rest of them small as possible. giving such with fascinating abrupt- and florid Buller and his companion, only thing of Its kind In the world. She looked him at a with delighted to him; all so awfully bored," "Oh, confound It, If I cant get at At all events, It was too much for old ness that Flora caught herself guessi- with their backs to what they were away with an but alarm, Increasing elation; sort of face, where this supposed to be looking at, were ex- she mischievously ended with the whether these arose from hls lawless my oysters! he complained, leaning Neville Crew, when he saw It there ng what faintest possible yawn beback into hls group again with a some couple of hundred years ago, nearest group stood just on the edge changing declarations and the singular way an anecdote of infinite daintiest, hind her spread fan. sigh. When he left India the ring went of shadow, would pop out of the dark amusement. He looked as If she had taken him they kept setting before her more "You divide the honors with the with him. He never told how he got 'next . moment moment the posby Bullers expression came around by surprise; then laughed out. "Oh, vividly mysterious unknown, eh?" Kerr in- it, but lucky marriages came with it, was ready for something exto bis daughter's beckoning that is the way they dont do here, he sible character of the present keeper quired across the table. slowly and the Crews would not take the traordinary, but cow, when It came, the Englishmans face provoked her. You mustn't, when of the Chatworth ring, or whether it "Hang it, there's no division! Id house of lords for it. Their women the was taken aback by It gave hand, but was of as the himself Kerr sight just seemed to flash at the instant from I'm not expecting it." offer you a share! Harry laughed, have worn it ever since. her a start that toss of black hair, he sat there that stirred her, she what he was enjoying to what was and It occurred to Flora how much Then what are you expecting? she didn't For a moment the wonder of the whose face that long, Irregular, pale try to distinguish. Kerr could have made of It. liclDtlllant, sardonic smile was mercl-llessl- y expected of him. In the flourish of In inquired a little coolly. tale and the curious spark of exciteBut he was own suppose your "Purdie'd like to Bhare something, troductions, across and across, Flora he ment it had produced In the teller "not Well," expectdeliberated, picturthe poor. upon Inadequate found herself thinking the reality less ing you to get roe ready for a sweet, thief, Bhe urged; "took your own Buller vouchsafed. "Hes been paw- kept the listeners silent Clara was e-face I fronting him. His stoop she mean, amended, hastily than she had at first and then pop in a pickle; and present- things, ing the air ever since Crew cabled, was the first to return to fncts. "Then above the rail was so abrupt that his extraordinary he turned out to be and and this has blown him up complete- Bessie" she prompted eagerly. supposed. Now that Mr. Kerr was ly expecting, hoping, anxiously antici- some suppose llong, lean back was almost horizontal, one you knew and liked She Kerr turned hls glass In meditative yet even thus there was something fairly before her, presented to her, pating, what you really care to say. hesitated. She had come at last to what ly."Crew? Flora wondered. Here fingers. "She wore It as young s same in and the with her lively, taking was maliHe she looked expecting, him In the elegant In the swing of she really wanted to say. She had was more Crew? he happening. which something with interest In all He held them wife." impersonal oareless twist of his head, around, to ciously, more than he was likely to out a question that had been She had not heard that name before. took In the whole room, as If, she get; but the fact that be did see brought an Increasing tension, as If he drew speak to the woman behind him. The ber teasing fancy at Intervals all tbe It made a stir among them all; but them toward him. put It vexedly to herself, I were a through her to that extent was at w hile be had been l and had ight above struck blind on the glass be talking, if Kerr looked sharp, Clara looked him on the end of once delightful and charming. She at "The elder Chatworth, Lord Crew, poked specimen :a one eye, but the other danced lookwith not even heard It. He wasn't even looked at Harry and Is a bachelor, but of course, the ring alns la genial, a mad scintillation. The light a pin, It stirred In her a vague re- swayed back into the shadow beyond ing at her. She had caught him off sharper.was She vexed. Harry and involuntarily Ehe held the dazzling line of light. She wanted his reverted to him on Chatwortbs lot It guard. He was looking across her caught like contagion, and sentment; "Whos Crew?" said Ella; and the death." The to him comparison Harry. up to to his be able to scrutiny, escape touched the merest glancer shoulder straight down the dim vista at him showed him a little "And Lord only knows," the Judge worn, a little bat look him over from a safe vantage-groun- of the room to the little blaze of bor- Judge looked around on the silence. Ivitb the spark of its warm, Ironic Oh, broke In, "how it got shipped with "Why, bless my soul, Isnt It too perfunctory in man. little a wouldn't have But It. he Aa tered, ImlrtlL. The Hardering light. He was looking at It will all be out question which naturally ner; but his Bessie's property. Crew was out ol genial eyes, .deep under instant he stood under the torrent of ry. No, Harry was looking at him anyway. Vxe to Floras I But lips Who In the thought Harryd told you. The England tot the time. lie kept the made eyes see her to white brows, Harrys radiance, threatening challenging an was with a looking steady, Harry she checked; why. seem to jntld Is that? wasnt Bessie's." wires hot about It, and they managed stare rather coldly; and the what she could then followed her In- intent gaze, and Kerr meeting it It Chatworth ringeffect Isle didnt ask herself. She only felt of startling them to had the It and fine form of his long, plain face, keep the fact of what the ring was to her retreat. Shall we sit here? he might have been merely tbe blank In the followed all apart, and then drawing them quiet but It got out Clara, trailing away the sensitive line of his long, thin Ups IGH luross when Pur-difound herself and she said, hopelessly glare of hlB monocle seemed, to closer around the table the floor, that the Interest of again together see be You was found it how gone. look well, cut off and Isolated with the enemy. Flora, to meet it & little insolently over the so made Harrys beauty tbe uncorked bottles. evening which had promised without was and it special showing callous. did look? It a little In withhold Hardly couldn't She She fancted the instant something grudgeH beginning with the Chatworth "Why," Judge Buller went on, "this permission. men with somethe in to two between two the mixed the men, sharpness This pass ing pleasure Impression dig, had been raised even a note ring is a celebrated thing. It's tbe J (TO BE CONTINUED.) She was which he had turned her maneuver thing which, this time, she did not 'Crew Idol! higher. Her restive in He threw the name out fancy was beginn- gave her was disconcerting. Cling to Inherited Tongue. All the footlights of her all the more ready, to be wary of the and the way It had detached them mistake for jealousy a shade too dim as if that in itself explained everying again. with him In from the surrounding crowd. For for defiance or suspicion, a deep thing, but tbe three women, at least After years of effort to spread the had She little secret begun stranger. were up. stage inthere. In the dusky center of the room, scrutiny that struggled to place some were blank. English language, the home tongue Clara turned to the right, following the way she did with every one breastwork it was as if they watched from safe thing, some one. a out Hawaiian Is bis Why celebrated? Clara objected. of the beckoning fan, and Flora, dallying stinctively throwing of which rest their of tbe to covert the Exclusive wish a break behind sudden felt Flora party from were exposed with her The aboriginal stones conversation Jargon. of sapphires." only anticipation, reasoned that s in these islands there Is enemy. But In the glare of light; though not, as that curious scrutiny. It had broken Kerr smiled at tbe measure of suv they must circle the room before she could observe the but one family that talks the English her little moment It had shattered fame. hey should face him the interesting though he had blinked at It, be had Flora presently noted, quite escaping Inthe personal, almost intimate note "Quite so," he nodded to her, but language In its home. All the rest apparition. It was a pilgrimage of not taken her up, nor helped her out; observation themselves. For an hich he on the other side was perbut had merely stood with his bead a stant Harry turned and peered toward that had been sounded between them. there are several sorts of Value about are as true to their Inherited tongue as they are to their racial hue. talk-3little canted forward, as If he watched them with a look in his Intentness The look Kerr turned back to ber was that ring. Its age, for one. king his half. Perfunctorily that struck Flora as something new In vague, and stirred in her a dim refrom group to group, conscious her through her defenses. him and made her wonder If he could sentment that be could drop it all so be jealous. She turned tentatively to easily. see If Kerr had noticed It, and sur"Shall we join the others?" It was prised his glance in a quick transi- the voice with which she had begun tion back to hers. with him, but her eyes were hot "By your leave," he said, and took through their light mist of lashes, and away her fan, which In his hand pres- he threw her a comprehending glance ently assumed such rhythmic motion of amusement. "Oh, no, he assured her, we can't that It ceased to be any more present to her than a delicate current of air help ourselves. They are going to join us. upon her face. He was not, she felt sure, In spite Klla Buller, In the van of her pro--Pre of his light manipulation of her fan, cession, was already descending upon a person who cared to please women, them. Her approach dissipated the but one of that devastating sort who last remnant of their personal mocare above everything to please them- ment. Her presence always insisted selves. and who are skilful without that there was nothing worth while practice; too skilful, she feared, for but Instant participation in her genher defenses to hold out against if iality, and whatever subject It might be taken up with. he Intended to find out what she real at the moment to of we Ellas had been conviction This "Arent supposed y thought. he looking at the pictures?" she want wont to overawe Flora, and It still DE overwhelmed her; so that tow, as ed to know. and wall on she followed in the trail of Ellas the lie turned his back feelits attendant glare. "Why pictures,'' inurshaled force, she bad a guilty In Bhould be there nothing that live are peowhen ing there he inquired, mind but a normal desire for supher where for Pictures at look places to ple they're all half dead. But here, where per. Yet all the way down the great even the damnable dust In the street or "the Corridors of Time," where should stair, they paint, Is alive, why hls glassy wiswrite, or sculpt, or do anything but the white owl glared and counter-passingson tho the dom shot passings brows Irascible His live?'' with the wus haunted she query at her. had seen the ex whatthat life of Harry thought the proposition Again ever that was was held up before traordlnary Kerr before; not shaken In the hnnds with him, perhaps perhaps not her, nnd as ever she faltered but hls somewhere, It heard name; do eveu I suppose they face of it. some distance, once glimpsed across a vague with murmured, she here," around her, him, and bad never quite shaken the glance at the paintings from hls mind. For there because people do it everywhere memory was marked, notable, unfor something else." lean distinctiveness. In that almost was getnble Ills disparagement sleek form of the men the of it rotten Against the part "That's ' snarl else! they met and shook hands with, he because they do It everywhere K. 0. In contrast seemed out fairly flashed As If (hare wasn't enough monotony ahead of saw Just him, She electric. without every In the world already like the next Instead her where the crowd was thickening chap trying to be In the door of the supper room, muk himself! of being be what people lng way for Clara through the press But If yon have to with that exasperating solicitude of hls that was half Ironic. what want they People dont The room, hot, polished, flaring rewaved He that. for care you of electric lights' from Its flections hand. white hls quick t away with unless you glistening floor, announced Itself tho nut vou have to care, heart of high fnstlvlty, through the little Her 'be poor queer." want to of which their entrance made he nnd midst she knew, was out before added ripple. The flushed faces an Immoderately, It. laughing looked at Even If He It a Thief? of tbe women under their flowers, un yet somehow delightfully. Who In the WbrM I That? IT pale-tinte- d r ly clean-clippe- flour-lishe- d d, cov-lere- beBt-love- d e. all" reap-Ipeare- d it Chat-worth- e to-da- y or NG . balf-wblte- g se-or- |