Show 5T014Y THE HOUSE OF A THOUSAND CANDLES = = By MEREDITH NICHOLSON lalho c 1 THE MAIN CHANCE ZELDA IMMEBON Elc LOfrlKbt 1805 bj IiaMuMrilll Co CHAPTER II A Face at Sherrys e shook hands stiffly and I loft i going down In an elevator tilled h ca creyed anxious men I ut It bad no cares of business It e no difference to me whether the kcl lose or fell Something of tho lit of adventure that had been my so quickened In my heart a < j I ked through crowded llroadway t Trinity church to u bank I and v tlie balance icmaliilng on my er of credit received In currency illy loss than 1000 si turned from the tellers window m Into the arms of the last man In world I expected to seeMs see-Ms let It be remembered was Jn ober of the year of our Lord nine a hundred and one Dont mention my name an lion est mel Bald Lnurunce Donovan ho drew me aside ignored my d and otherwise threw Into our ling a casual quality that was ewhat amazing hi view of the fact t wo had met last at Cairo n Allan II Allan was undoubtedly Larry I foil the t of the desert and heard the camel trs cursing and our Sudanese cs plotting mischief under a win far away ell we both exclaimed Interro rely lyrocluxl e rocked gently back and forth IbIs u liauijn In his pockets on the floor of the banking house I had him stand thus once on a time a he had eaten nothing In four sIt was in Abyssinia and our cs had lost us In tho worst possl place with the same untroubled In his eyes lease dont appear surprised or ed or anything Jack ho said his delicious Intonation I saw How looking for me an hour or so lies been at It for several ths hence my presence on these C3 of the brave and the free Hes ably still looking as hes a per eat devil Im here as we may Quito Incog Staying at an East lodging house where I shant In you to call on me But I must seeM see-M lne with me tonight at Sher oo big too many people heroin lies security If youre In ble Im about to go Into exile I want to eat one more civilized er boforo I go crImps Its Just as well Where you oft fornot Africa again 2 a Just Indiana one of tho sov sn American states as you ought now radians to warranted all dead ack train balloon automobile elshow do you get there arnlshed cars Its easy Its not getting there Its tho not dying of il after youre on the spot tomnh What hour did you say ho dinner oven oclock Meet mo at the once on-ce II bo there If Im not In jail Kind low mo to precede you and dont w please 0 walked away his gloved hands P < lastly behind him lounged out 1 Broadway and turned toward the cry I waited until ho dlsnp ed then took an uptown carY car-Y first meeting with Lauranco Don was In Constantinople at a cat re I was dining Ho got Into n rowan row-an englishman and knocked him It was not my affair but I liked ease and dcflnitonoss with which 1 put his foe out of commission I ed later that It was a way ho had Y friend the American consul gen at Constantinople was not with ja sense of humor and I easily en I 1 hm In Larrys behalf The Eng an thirsted for vengeance and in d al the powers lIe Insisted I reason that Larry was u British t and that the American consul no right to give him asyluma t that was I understand thor Iy wellgrounded In law and fact T maintained on tho other hand he was not English but Irish and as his country maintained no sentatlvo in Turkey It was his lego to find refuge wherever It offered Larry was always tho Plausible of human beings andiron and-iron uShe the American consul wo made an Impression and Mm off did not realize until later that the Joko lay In the fact that Larry Engllah born and that his dove to Ireland was purely sentimental quixotic His family had to be come out of Ireland some tlmo he dim past and settled in Eng t but when Larry reached years of + cdgo It not of discretion he cut rd and Insisted on taking his dot I do-t Dublin He oven believed or Ittit he believed In banshees lIed lIe-d himself during his university with the most radical and turbu advocates of a separate national existence for Ireland and occasionally f spent a month In jail for rioting But Lairjs Instincts were scholarly ho made a brilliant record at tho university univer-sity thou lit 22 he came forth to look at tho world and liked It ec odlm I well Ills father was a busy man and ho had other sons so he grantej Larry an allowance and told him to keep away from homo until lie got ready to bo respectable So from Constantly nople after a tour of Europe wo together to-gether crossed the Medltciranenn In search of the lleshpots of lost king dams spending three years In the pursuit pur-suit Wo parted at Cairo on excellent terms He returned to England and Inter to his beloved Ireland for ho I I had blithely sung the wildest Gaelic songs In tho darkest days of our adventures I ad-ventures and nave lost his love for Tho Sod as he apostrophized I capitalizedhis adopted country I Larry had the habit of Immaculateness Immaculate-ness He emerged from bin East Side lodging house that night clothed properly prop-erly and wearing the gentlemanly air of peace and reserve that Is so wholly Incompatible with hmv disposition to breed dlsL < ta t1 rlulo In riot When we sat down for a leisurely dinner din-ner at Sherrys wo were not 1 modestly modest-ly I maintain a forbidding pilr We If I may drag myself Into the matter are both a trlllo under the average holght sinewy nervous and just then trained fine Our lean cleanshaven faces woo wellbrowned mine wearing wear-Ing a fresh coat from my days on the steamers deck I Larry had never been In America be fare and the scene had for both of us ttime I charm of a gay and novel spectacle I spec-tacle I have always maintained In talking to Larry of people and races I that tho Americans are the handsomest hand-somest and best put up people In the world and I believe he was persuaded of It that night as wo gazed with eyes I Tell nlo something of your own Immediate present and future ho said I made tho story of mv grandfather I CtlennimH legacy us brief an pisslble for brevity was a doll nile law of our Intercourse i I A year you say with nolhi to do but fold your hands mil wait It doesnt sound awfully attractive tome Id rather do without the mon y But I Intend to do some work I owe It to my grandfathers memory to make good If theres any good In me The sentiment Is worthy of you Olenarm he said mockingly What do you 8001t ghost I must have started slightly at suddenly sud-denly espying Arthur Pickering not 20 feet away A party of half a dozen or mote had risen and Plckoilns and a girl were detached fiom the others for I a moment I She was youig quite tho youngest tn the group nfonut PlckTligs table A certain glrlishness of height and outline may have boon emphasized by her juxtaposition to Pickerings heavy llguie She was In black Within white showing at throat and wrlstsa somber som-ber contrast to the oher women of tho party who were arrayed with a do greo of splendor She hid dropped her fan and Pickering stooped to pick It up In the second tint she waited she turned carelessly toward me and our eyes met for an Instant Very likely she was PlrkeiIngs sister and I tried to reconstruct his family which I bad known In my youth hut I could not place her As she walked out before him my eyes followed her the erect figure free and graceful but with a charming dignity and poise and the gold of her fair hair glinting under her back toque Her eyes as she turned them full upon me were the saddest sweetest v trxs ys ryt 4 s Lw f t y t al is ty J M17 Y b tl 4 If a I V = r r1 > > f i 4 iii iiiJ s d r 1 < a d I 11 tJ 1 < t > j V t 41 j It t iW Pickering Stooped to Pick It Up long unaccustomed to splendor upon the great company assembled In tho rcstauiaut Tho lights tho music the varIety and richness or the costumes of the women tho many unmistakably foreign faces that gave II cosmopolitan cosmopoli-tan accent to the whole wtought a Welcome spell upon senses Inured to hardship in earths waste and dreary places i Now tell me the story I said Have you done murder Is the offense I of-fense treasonable It was a tenants row In Galway and I smashed a constable I smashed him pretty hard I dare say from the low they kicked up In tho newspapers I lay low for a couple of weeks caught a boat at Queenstown and hero I am waiting for a chance to get back to The Sod without going In Irons You were certainly born to be hanged Larry Youd better stay In America Theres moro room here than anywhere else and Its not easy to kidnap a man In America and carry him off Possibly not and yet tho situation Isnt wholly tranquil ho said transfixing trans-fixing a bit of pompano with his fork Kindly note tho florid gentleman at your rightat tho table with four hes next tho lady In pink It may Interest In-terest you to kuow that hos tho British Brit-ish consul Interesting but not Important You dont for a moment suppose That hes looking lor mo Not at all But ho undoubtedly has my name on his tablets Tho detective thats here following me around Id pretty dull He lost mo this morning while I was talking to you In the bank Later on I had the pleasure of trailing him for an hour or so until ho finally brought up at the British consuls office of-fice Thanks no moro of tho fish Lotus Lot-us banish care I wasnt born to bo hanged and as I am a political offender of-fender I doubt whother I can bo deported de-ported It they lay hands on me Ho watched tho bubbles In his glass dreamily holding It up In his slim wdll kept fingers eyes I had ever seen and even In that brilliant crowded room 1 felt their spell They wore fixed In my memory Indelibly mournful dreamy and wistful wist-ful In my absorption I forgot Larry Youre taking unfair advantage ho observed quietly Friends of yours TO DC CONTINUED |