| Show T A A Fascinating Novel of Novel of Love a aI ai JAFFE R Y J I I r rr 11 I A Adventure d venture b by y William I lam J L LocI OC I SYNOPSIS Three college chums continue knit In Inthe Inthe the tho most loyal friendship Jaffery Chayne a great grea hairy giant traveler and war correspondent Hilary dilettante country gentleman who vho tells the story and Adrian a II charming fellow who whoP roost most unexpectedly is suddenly announced an an- nO as the author of the novel of the century The Diamond Gate Cate Tom TomI I Castleton who made Uj up a quartette of ot I a. a a young man of great promise has as recently died at sea jell Rr Freeth eth Is married his wife Barbara being in tho charming and capable mistress dm r of c a where r Jaffery f and Adrian guests The success of The I nd Gate has enabled Adrian to win wina a a. fascinating girl for tor his bride Jaffrey home oma from rom the Balkans falls CalIs In love with withe e erl Is Js loyal to Adrian Then enters an in Amazonian beauty the widow k V of et lC Jaffery's war correspondent chum whom bo ho has brought to London after hl comrades comrade's death in Albania PART TWO t. t y When VIlen Adrian and I returned from our oui stroll round the tho garden and found JI standing over her legs apart 1 like e a Colossus of ot Rhodes roaring at like ilke a a. sucking dove doc I noticed look ook in q i sacred cred please me listi eyes It was the tile ogre trying to matse himself agrEe agreeable ble and the prIn- prIn Q aea S of the life lite Presently tea was brought out and with it came Barbara a a. quiet laugh augh about her lips and stately and smiling My wife to put her at herease her paso ease though she had displayed singularly larl little shyness after dealing with the maid and taxi had taken her over the house exhibited Susan at tea in the nurA nursery nurry p and as much of Dorias Doria's s trous trous- 5 seal sea as was visible in the sewing room preaching r g marriage aroused her hex Kewa She said very little dur dur- tnie meal but smiled e embarrassing embarrassing- l 1 the engaged pal pair pai Jaffery stood 1 V glumly devouring cuc cucumber ber sandwiches Barbara took him aside Sie's Sies e es e's rathel a dear in spite 0 of f e C everything and I think joure youre treating her Q abominably ht y grew scarlet beneath the t brt rt fl colored glaze I t treat any woman abom- abom if tf I could help it it SWell you can help it it- it and tak tak- pity on him she laughed in his face you take her as uJ a joke Joke I C. C Ic glanced quietly at the lady tJ ther jr a a. heavy one he said r. r d now we were to be enlightened i B. B dt t that stupendous creature I on her English with its t American Intonation 1 fW thought you were an Albanian 1 d. d It guess I am said the lady after ater four tour ceremonious bows I 1 am au x of Albanian patriots They Thel murdered One day I Im I'm m going goin to todo Ho lo a little murdering on on n m my W cco nt r r U drew an audible short breath brath Instinctively moved within 1 tho the protective area of Adrians Adrian's arm arm cr Jaffery With knitted brow brov leaned L against one o of the posts supporting th theold the theold t old wistaria arbour and said nothing leaving me to the exploit lady i I. I put Jut you speak perfect English said laid I I. I I I I was raised in Chicago My paren parent par par- en ent were employed In the stockyards C of dI Armour l I My fathe father was the man mat w 1 slit the throats of the pigs matS H He S was 15 a Q dandy she said in unemotional IC I tones and and ies-and and I noticed a little shiver 0 of ot C I i ripple through Barbara anc and I 1 r When I wa was 12 my fat father er kin kind II I lands lands' in Albania and wo we t r ac e rd Jaffery Jaffer still upset and in- in roar dver dyer his responsibility t 1 a- a how o b his fellow war correspond- correspond IEr en n vr iy J ott shortly r vr finding ler amid the ruins of ot ote e house ouse where all her kin 10 lair slaughtered by mountain enemies Prescott cott was in a a. high fever at the time and died in a n few tew days on the bed they took him to straight from the Z ceremony Jaffrey Jaffre- had brought the beautiful ea but half wild creature to Lon Lon- placed her in his sister r Euphe- Euphe lX laS care with the result now ent The gentle Euphemia s blue stock- stock Wt g b babUs bits had rendered the fine half- half J b barbarous barous- barous creature desperate e bl any money asked Doria Prescott P left her about a thousand A f year r. r He was pretty well off oft for a a war ar Y-i. Y I don dont don't t think she shell she'll 11 have much UY Do you Know t he added after K moment or two of ot reflection if I 6 U I 10 you would establish her in af a f really H first class boarding house hous Barbara atbara with her customary efficiency effi effi- enty nb took hold bold of ot the he situation with tb result that was sent to b board rd with Mrs Irs C the impoverished er erth sh d widow of an Indian soldier man man- It was waa part o 0 program that Mrs should tactfully carr carry s education which had been arrested at the age of ot 12 12 into her a sense se of western decorum ex extend ex- ex t tend nd her hei acquaintance and gradually root out of her heart the yearning to do her enemies to death It was a cap cap- Hal Ital program and I gave it the benediction bene bene- diction of a smile in which seeing Barbaras Barbara's Bar Bar- baras bara's shrewd blue eyes fixed on me I suppressed the irony When this wa was all settled Jaffery proclaimed himself the most care free fellow alive His hitherto grumpy and resentful attitude toward changed He established himself f now as slave with her under the whip of Susan's Susans tyranny It did one good gool to see these thebe two magnificent creatures sporting together for the childs child's and Incidentally their own amusement For the first time during their intercourse e thy met on the same plane She's really quite a good sort said end Jaffery But if u it was pleasant to see him with it was still more touchIng touch- touch lpg Ing to watch his protective attitude toward Doria Dorla He Ha seemed so anxious to 11 1 her service so deferential to her I A views lews' 60 so puzzle eager to reconcile them with his own t la In ra the course of time came Mrs Con- Con to carry off oU to the First Cl Class ss Boarding House which she had fo found nd in Queens Queen's Gate left Us full of love for Barbara and Susan tnt and nd I 1 think of kindly feeling reeling for myself After a round of ot family visits Doria and Adrian were married How about Jaffery Chay Chayne e Oh he was Wa equal to it itt He had been very hearty and booming all the time As for his own definite point of best man he prayed played It Elizabethan spaciousness The carnage drove off oU amid the cheers of the multitude Jaffery stood and watched v it until it disappeared around the curve In my iny eagerness to throw the unnecessary symbolic rice I had ad followed and stayed a foot or two away from him and then I saw his face change just changEr just for a a. few seconds All the joyousness was stricken from It his features puckered up into the familiar fa fa- fa familiar twists of a child about to cry His huge glazed hands clenched and unclenched themselves It was astonishing aston aston- hing and very pitiful Quickly he gulped something down and turned on me with a grin and shook me by the shoulders Now Im I'm the only free man o of the bunch The only one Dont Don't you wish you were a bachelor and could go to Hades or Honolulu wherever Honolulu wherever yo you choose without a care care Ho Ito ho ho He linked his arm in mine and kind said in what he thought was a whisper For Heavens Heaven's sake let us go in and tr try to find a real drink Of course I told Barbara all about it it-It it It is best to establish your Wife Inthe in inthe the habit of ot thinking you tell her everything and everything and she she was more than usually gentle to Jaffery We Ve carried him down with us to Northlands that afternoon calling at his club for tor a asuit asuit asuit suit case In the car he tucked avery a a. avery very tired and comfort desiring Susan in the shelter of ot his great arm There was something pathetically tender in inthe inthe inthe the gathering of ot the child to him Barbara Barbara Barbara Bar Bar- bara with her delicate womans woman's sense felt the harmonics of ot chords swept within him And when we reached home and were alone together she said with tears very near her eyes Poor old Jaff What a a. waste of a alife alife life Why fay hy dont don't you buy a a. home and settle down comfortably Because my dear clear Barbara said off for fox the interior in- in Jaffery Im starting in interior tenor of ot China the day after tomorrow tomor tomor- row row China 1 echoed Barbara vaguely The interior of China I echoed re-echoed with masculine definiteness A year or two he replied casually be thing said I It must a a. queer r to be born bom with no conception of time and space space A couple of years pass pretty quick said Jaffery So does a lifetime said I r. r Well Vell this was just like Jaffery No Xo sooner home amid the amenities of than the wander fever feer seizes him again In Inam vain am he he pleaded his job the valuable cop copy cops he would send to his paper I proved to him it was but the mere lust of savagery And he could not understand wh why we should be startled b by the announcement that within forty-eight forty hours he be would be beon beon beon on his way to lose himself for tor a coupie couple couple cou cou- cou- cou pie of ot years In Grim In the course of time Adrian and Doria returned from Venice Th They The were radiantly happy very much in inlove inlove inlove love with each other and nd doted on their theil spacious flat in St. St Johns John's Wood On our first visit they triumphantly showed us round the establishment We came l l kt t to the study No really fine imaginative work I said Adrian With a wave of the hand indicating the ascetic table and chair the iron safe saCe the bookcase and the bare walls walls no no really reany fine imaginative work can be done among luxuriant surroundings sur sur- sur- sur Pictures district ones one's at attention attention at- at armchairs and sofas invite to sloth This is my ideal of a a. novelists novelist's workshop Its It's more like a workhouse said Barbara with a shiver Or a a. condemned condemned condemned con con- cell But even a condemned cell would have a plank bed in it It Easter came They had been married married mar mar- ried ned six months The Diamond Gate had been published for nearly a year and was still selling in England and America Adrian flourishing flourishing- his first half yearly check in January had vowed he had no idea there was so much money In the world He basked in Fortunes Fortune's Fortunes Fortune's Fortunes Fortune's For For- tunes tune's sunshine But for all th the basking I and audi all the syllabus of the perfect existence and all 1111 his unquestionable love tor for DorIa Dorla and all her worship for him together with its manifestation in her admirable care for his material well wen being Adrian just at this Eastertide Eastertide Eastertide Easter Easter- tide began to strike me as a a. man lacking some essential of happiness They spent a week or or orso so with us pa at Northlands Adrian confessed dog weariness His looks confirmed his words I He was suffering poor fellow tellow from froma a nervous breakdown From Doria we learned the cause For the last three months he had been working at insane pressure At seven he rose at a quarter quarter quarter ter to eights eight I he breakfasted at half past he took himself to his llis ascetic workroom and remained there till tin half past on one one At four o'clock he began a three-hour three spell spen of ot work At night a hour four-hour spell spell from from nine to one If they had no evening engagement from midnight to four tour o o'clock clock In the morning morning morning morn morn- ing if they had been outI out I talked to him privately about it it I You wrote The Diamond Gate with with- out turning a hair hall Why should shourd you sou ou worry worry yourself to death about this new peW book When ben he answered I ha had the shivering shivering shivering shiver shiver- ing impression of a old man speaking to me The slight cast castl I had noticed in his blue eyes became oddly accentuated The Diamond Gate Gate- he said p peering peering peer peer- ering er- er ing at me uncannily was was Just a pr pretty tty amateur story The new book ook is going to stagger the soul of humanity He went from bad to worse One day anxious for or my old friend I tapped on his study door I had to watt wait two minutes minutes min mm- utes When Then at length he admitted me looking pale and there dishevelled-there there were no traces of coma visible Why the deuce said I did y you ou keep me hanging about like that Im sorry he replied But I make Inake it a fixed rule to put away my work he he waved a hand toward the safe safEr safe whenever r anybody even Doria wants to come into the room I glanced around the cheerless place There were no traces of work visible Save that the quill pens and blotting pad were inky his library table seemed as Immaculate as unstained by ton toll as asit as asIt asIt It did on the occasion of my first visit Adrians Adrian's friends objected to his killIng killing kill kill- I Ing himself keeping his contract with an American publisher So he and ad D Doria Do Do- i iria ria rushed off to Ita Italy whence we re received received received re- re reI I glowing accounts of Adrians Adrian's improvement in health When they re returned returned returned re- re turned we thought him looking old and haggard but Doria Dorla seemed happy She had her own reason for happiness which she confided to Barbara It would be early in the new year Her eyes I noticed were filled with a a. new and wonderful love for Adrian On the Sunday afternoon as we were sauntering sauntering sauntering saunter saunter- ing about the garden Adrian touched upon the subject in a man mans man's s shy way When speaking to his fellow tellow man Why said I With a laugh just about the time you expect the book to be out He gave me ens a queer slanting look hook Yes said he they'll both be born together That night to my consternation and sorrow he went to bed quite fuddled with whisky whisk Never Kever shall I forget that Christmastide Christmas- Christmas tide Its shadow has fallen on every Christmas since then And in the innocent innocent in- in insolence of ot our h hearts arts we had planned such a a. merry one onto We stirred the plum puddings We planned out everything that we should like to do Old Jaffery back from China China Chi CM- na came to us on the of ot December December December Decem Decem- ber and threw himself heart and soul into our side of the work He took up our life Just as though he had bad left it the day before yesterday yesterday just just the same sun glazed berry red giant noisy laughter loving laving and various The first thing he did was to ask for Adrian th the man of fame But the three were not coming till the Adrian was making snaking one last glorious spurt BO so Doria Dorla said In order to finish the great book before Christmas Adrian Adri Adri- an with his new lease of health and inspiration had plunged deeper per than ever into his work so that it was al almost almost al- al most impossible to get hold of him On the few tew occasions when ho he did emerge from his workroom into the light of friendly smiles he gave glowing accounts of progress He was satisfy satisfy- ing lug his poets poet's dreams lIe He was writing like an Inspired prophet I saw him himat himat himat at the beginning of December His face was white and ghastly the furrow had deepened between his brows and the strained squint had become permanent In m his eyes He laughed when I repeated repeat repeat- ed |
