| Show 01 by 0 SYNOPSIS at a private hew of the Ch chat alworth worth personal estate to be sold at auction the chatsworth chatworth Chat hat worth ring known as az tl it e cew idol mysteriously disappears harry cressy who was present describes the ring to his fiancee flora gilsey andl and her clap cl ap eron mrs clara brittani Brit tonI as being I 1 ke a chetlen het len en god with a beautiful re iset n the head bead flora meets mr air berr an angl at tl e club in dis cuss ss ng tl if e disappearance of tl ti e ring the ox exploits plots of a i angl s i thief b arrell nv and are recal ed flora has a fancy that harry and kierr know so neti ing A bout about the herr kerr tells blora that tie kle I 1 as met harry somewhere b t cannot place him 20 reward is offered tor for the he let zet rn of the ri g adm ts to flora that he di dislikes silles kerr harry takes ilora to acl a cl inese iness goldsmith s to buy an engagement ring an elquis te sapphire set in a hoop of brass Is selected harry i ages her not ta Is v ear it until it is reset the posses possession of the ring seems to cast a 1 over I 1 lora ilora she becomes uneasy and apprehends ve flora meets berr at a box party she is startled by the effect J on him wen noen he gets a glimpse of the th sapphire tie tl e poss b 1 ty that the stone stone ris Is part lf tf the cre v idol causes flora t anech anxiety unseen flora discovers d ds covers cclara ransacking I 1 er dress n ng g room refuses to give or be sell 1 the stone to kerr and s aspects I 1 in of being the thief 1 I lora s interest in berr increases fane bhe decides to return the ring to harry but tit ihl tells her to keep it for a day or two I 1 lla ila buller tells P F ora that clara is iet set it ng her a cap for I 1 er fati fail er judge buller CHAPTER XIV continued well let you know it if it makes i i arua a rua hinca n I 1 rt i 1 june th 1412 PC pe sin does not cure indigestion 4 I 1 il oratory tests test which we e have in I 1 in A f r 20 3 ears proved it rhe nn rim 0 jo o tn t of so called Dy a drezi on th arket n are simi ly IV pep ia tablets 0 wl h diest only alb mu ious fods NN I 1 len en vou begin tak ng chambee Cham beis i D I 1 ea esi sit tablets we don t anant tou jou to a thing fat every I 1 th ng yo vo ir st craves bead read the foil foll nine k ing from a utah wo k man I 1 suffered untold agony from acute ind estion I 1 tried pha physicians an I 1 r i x anier us patent med lines mes but i I 1 cne ne of them did me at 3 good during one attack a friend recommended your a tablets with absolutely no confidence in xiem I 1 bean taking chambers tablets after using three I 1 axes I 1 was completely clied that ua waa overa sovera bear ear aio tio and have neer nener had bad a return of il P trout ie s nee I 1 weigh NN beigh 15 pounds pound more than 1 I 1 di I 1 a bear eara ag gand and cat call cat ett sf my aly stomach neer nex er tro ables me and I 1 want to rive give full ira sp to to chambers 1 papel sia gia ta tat lets I 1 f I 1 ahe lie chambers medicine co will be glad 1 lacto to furnish you the name of this F lad upon application api li cation NN hen i archa ur chasing ing chambers bia sia tablets do so with the im un herstand ier JeT stand ing hat that if on ou are not bene fitted the e a ae uhn h them t lora blora gasped they waited up gether the japanese r shook hook his head they went vent away together sue she dlan didn t believe her ears mr kerr went away with mr cressy P the japanese seemed to revolve the i of mastery no mr cressy accompanied mr kerr he ile had made a delicate oriental d it put the whole thing before her in a mo ment harry had been the resistant band ibid the other with his brilliant eniti active attacking always attacking when he should have been hiding had carried him off what had he done and ind how had he managed when afar ry arast im ast have had such pressing rea cons tor for wanting to stay ah ali she linew only too well kerr a esq knowle ige of managing but why must toe be make such a reckless exposure of did he suppose harry was la to be managed had he be no idea where harry stood in this affairs 1 la in pity a name didn dian t he know that harry had been him blin before had seen him un circumstances of which harry s wouldn t talk CHAPTER XV A lady in D stress ahe had returned ready for pitched battle atle with clara and on the threshold there had met her the very nery turn in the affair that she had dreaded all along tt tte e setting of f kerr and harry upon tipon each other these were two whom she had kept apart even in fix her mind the man to whom she was pledged with whom sho she had supposed oed herself tn in love and th roan man for whom she he was flying in the face of all her traditions she had not scrutinized the reason of her efti behavior not since I 1 that dreadful day when the vanishing mystery had taken positive form in him had she dared to think how she felt about kerr she had only acted acted only asked herself what to do next and never wh only taken his baube u upon herself and made it her own as if th 0 was her natural right she could hardly believe that it was she who had let herself go to this ex tent all her life she had been do die cile to public opinion bowing to con mentions vent Nent lons ions respectful of those legal and moral rules laid down ky hy some rigid spirit lurking in mankind cut but now when the moment had come when the responsibility bad had de ecender upon her she found that these things had in lir no way persuaded heir lier then this was herself a creature 0 tx o much concerned with the primal Aarm ibar onles montes of life to be impressed by the modulations her decade set upon ahem them This was that elf which ehe she sf a a had obscurely cherished as no more real than a fairy but at kerr s accia mation it bad had proclaimed itself more real than flesh and blood and kerr himself the most real thing in all her life then what was harry the bland implacable pronouncement of shima had summoned him up to stand beside kerr more clearly than her own eyes could have shown him herr h err with his brilliant initiative might carry him off but kerr was still the quarry for had not harry from the very beginning known something about him hadn t he at first denied having seen him before and then admitted it ita hadn haan t he dropped hints and innuendoes without eer ener an explanation 7 she remember ed the bin singular gular fact of the embassy ball twice mentioned each time with that name of farrell wand and to inov if that was what harry knew that a man of such fame was in a community where a ring of such fame had dig disappeared appeared what further proof was wanted then why didn dian t harry speak and v hat was going on on his side of the affair harry s side would have been her side a few days before now un accountably it was nas not nor was kerr s side hers either she N a as standing between the two standing hesitating between her love of one and her loyalty to the other and what he represented the power might be hers to tip the scales harry held either to kerrs undoing or to his protection at least she thought bhe ehe might protect him it if she could dis dig boier harrys secret her special 1 authorized relation to him her right to see him often question him freely even cajole should make that easy but she he shrank from what seemed like betrayal eien even though she did not be tra him to kerr by name then on the other hand she doubt jd A how much she could do with har Y she vant man ma n t sure how tar far she was prepared re pared to try him after that scene jf A theirs she had no desire to pique lim further by seeing too much of berr cerr on her cn r n account she wanted or the present to avoid kerr he aused a feeling in her that she fear d a feeling intoxicating to the anses dazzling to the ind ing to the will how could she tell f they were left alone that she might not riot take the jewel from her neck at I 1 Is request and hand it to him and lamn them both if only she could scap e seeing him altogether until he could find 0 it what harry was do ng and wl it she must do S meanwhile there was nas her promise p 5 fifa sl e recalled it with difficult y it seemed a vague thing in the ight of her latest discovery though he could never meet clara in disa without a qualm but she nade the plunge that evening before blara mara left for the bullers butlers while she was at her dressing dresing table in the half disarray which brings bring sout out all the soft ness and the disarming physical rhy chaim of women nom her low chair flora spoke laughingly of ella s per tur bation clara paused with the powder puff in her hand while she listened to flora s explanation of how ella feared that some one might aft er all these years be going to marry judge buller duller who this might be she did not even hint at she left it ever so sketchy but the little stare with which clara met it the amusement the surprise and the shortest possible little laigh lai gh were guarantee that clara had seen it all she had filled out flora floras s sketch to the full outline and pronounced it as flora had an ab but though clara had laughed she had gone away avay with her del cate brows a little drawn together as if shed she d really found more than a laugh something worth considering in ella a state of mind she heard the wheels of claras clara s de parting conveyance now was mas her chance for an interview with harry she spent 20 minutes putting together three sentences that would not arouse his suspicions she made two copies and sent them by separate messen gers one to his rooms one to the club with orders they be brought back if he was not there to receive them ihen the business of wait ing in the large house full of echoes and the round globes of elec trio lights with that thing around her nek for which did they but know knon of 0 it halt the tov n would break in her windows and doors the wind traveled the streets with out and shook the window casings she cowered over the library fire listening the leaping flames set her shadow dancing like a goblin A bell rang and the shadow and flame gave a higher leap as if in welcome of what had arrived she went to the library door in the glooms and lights outside shima was standing and two messengers it was odd that both should arrive at once she stepped steppe back and stood waiting with a quicker pulse saima entered with two let upon his tray she had a moment a anxiety lest both her notes had been brought back to her b t no the envelope which lay on top shon showed ed harry s writing she tore it open hastily harry wrote that he would be delighted and might he bring a friend with him a bully fellow he wanted anted her to meet HP ile added she might send ovar for some girl and they co id have a jolly little darty arty flora looked at this communication blankly was harry who had al vay lumped jumped at the chance of a tete a tete dodging her in hr h r astonishment she let the other envelope tal fal shel she stooped and then for a moment re inclined thus bent above it the superscription was not hers the note a as not addressed to harry but to her and in a handwriting she had never seen before again the peal of the electric bell shima appeared with a third anvel ope chis his time it was her own note returned to her with the feeling she was bewitched she took up the mys cerious letter from the floor and open ed it she read the strange handwrite hand writ ing may I 1 see you anywhere at any time to night ROBERT KERR KERIL it was as if kerr himself had en the room masked and muffled bayong recognition and then face to face with her let fall his disguise she gazed at the words at the signa ture thrilled and frightened she looked at harrys note hesitated caught a glimpse of the two messen gers waiting alting stolidly in the hall waiting tor for answers si answers to such communications she made a dash for the table where were pens an and d ink and on one sheet scrawled certainly bring him appending her initials on the other the word impossible and her full name then she hurried the letters into shima s hands lest her courage should fall fail her lest she should regret her choice k anywhere at any time to she repeated softly why the man must be mad yet she permitted her self a moment of imagining what might have been it if her answers had been reversed but no she dared not meet kerr 9 impetuous attacks yet yel first she must get at harry and how was that to be managed if he insisted on surrounding himself with a jolly lit tie tle party she found a moment that evening in which to ask him to walk out to tl e presidio with her the next morn ing but he was going to bur lingame on the early train he was woefully sorry it was ages akes since he had had a moment with her alone but at least he would see her that even ing she had not forgotten 7 they going to that dinner and then the reception afterward 7 her sus dicion that he was nas deliberately doag ing wavered beaole his boyish cheer ful unconscious face and yet tol fol lowing on the heels of his tendency to question and coerce her he this betl cence was amazing tae next day would be lost with hirry 11 irry beyond reacts reach 12 hours while kerr was at the mercy of chance and she was at thu hy mercy of kerr yet when his card was brought up to her the next morning she looked at the punted name as wistfully as if it had been his face it cost an effort to send down the cold fiction that she was not at home and she could not deny herself the consolation of lean ing on the baluster of the second landing and listening for his step in the hall below but there was no move ment could it be possible he was waiting for her to come in ina hush that vas nas the drawing room booi but instead of kerr shima emerged lie ile was heading for the stair with his lit tie tle silver tray and upon it a note oh impudence how dared he give her the th he lie by the hand of her own butler she stood her ground and shima delivered the missive as it if it vere most usual to find one a s mistress be flounced in peignoir and petticoats hang ng breathless over the baluster take that back she said coldly and tell him that I 1 am out and shima she addressed the man mans s in telli gence make him understand it she watched the note departing how she longed to call shima back and open it there was a then kerr emerged from the drawing loom As he crossed the hall he glanced up at the stair and as much as was i isible of the landing he ile had not taken shima a N word ord for it after all I 1 i the vestibule door closed noiseless ly after him the outer door shut with a heavy sound yet before that sound had ceased to vibrate she heard it shut again was he coming back 17 here was a presence in the vestibule deiy vaguely been through the glass and lace of the inner door her heart beat with apprehension the door opened upon clara flora precipitately retreated she was aas more disturbed than relieved by the unexpected appearance for clara must have seen kerr leave the house three times now within three days be he had been found with her or waiting for her she wondered if clara would ask her awkward questions but clara when m hen she entered floras dress ing ingroum room a few moments later with the shopping list instead of a ques tion offered a statement I 1 dont don t like than man she an bounced who that kerr I 1 mt him just now on the steps don t you feel there Is 1 something wrong about him oh I 1 dont don t know said flora vaguel vaguely clara gave her a bright glance but you t at home to him I 1 m not at home to any one this morning flora answered evasively feeling the probe of clara s eyes I 1 in feeling ill I 1 im rn not going out this evening either I 1 think ill ring up burlingame and tell harry it was in her mind that she might manage to make him stay with her while clara went ment on to the reception burlingame I 1 harry clara echoed in surprise why he s in iown town I 1 saw him just now as I 1 was |
