Show george perch Perc SYNOPSIS Nal al algernon jones vice KL pres s dent of the metropolitan oriental rug 9 company of new york thirsting for romance Is in cairo on a business trip horace bryanne arrives at tie tl e hotel in cairo with a carefully guarded bundle rianne sells jones the famous holy ahi ordes rug which he admits having stolen from a pasha at bagdad jones meets major callahan and later Is introduced to to fortune Ched soye goye by a woman to whom he had bad loaned pounds at monte car 0 eon son e months previously and who turns out to be fortune fortunes a mother jones takes mrs Ched soye and fortune to a polo game fortune returns to jones the money borrowed by her mother mrs Ched soye appears to be engaged in some enterprise unknown to the daughter bryanne interests jones in the un ed romance and adventure corn com pany a concern which for a price will arrange any kind of an adventure to or der mrs Ched soye her brother major callahan wallace and bryanne as the united romance and adventure company plan ian a risky enterprise involving jones bryanne makes known to mrs airs Ched soye goye hi his 8 intention to marry fortune mrs Ched soye declares she will not riot permit it plans are laid to prevent jones sailing tor for home bryanne steals jones letters and cable dispatches he vires agent in new york in jones name that he Is renting house in new york to some friends Al mahomed ahomed keeper of the holy carpet Is on bryanne s trail bryanne promises fortune that he will see that jones ones comes to no harm as a result of his purchase of the rug malto ed accost accosts bryanne and demands the Yh lordes fordes rug bryanne tells him jones has the rug and suggests BUgg ests the abduction of the new york merchant as a means of securing its re turn the rug disappears from jones room fortune quarrels with her mother when the latter refuses to explain her mysterious actions fortune gets a mes bage sage purporting to be from nyanne ask ing her to meet him in n a se secluded place that evening jones receives a message Bakin ghim to meet bryanne at the engi engl sh i bar the same evening jones is carried on oft li to the desert by Af mahomed ahomed and h a accomplices accod places after a desperate fight he dl df covers that bryanne and fortune also are captives the former la badly battered and unconscious bryanne reco recovers v ers con ness and the ight e of fortune in g cai 1 ivits reveals to him the fact that mahomed homed intends to get vengeance on him through the girl fortune edges that she stole the rug from jones ro m she offers to return it to mahomed it if he will free all three of them ma homed agrees to liberate fortune and one of the aren rr en in return tor for the rug A cour ler ter Is sent to cairo for the rug but re turns with the information that mrs Cled CI soye and I 1 er brother have baled sa led tor for new lork 1 ork fortune spurns offered free d rn v aich d es not include her two corn com pa ions the caravan continues the lour tour nea nc toward bagdad bryanne tells jones that mrs Ched soye is the most adroit sm am agler of the age and Is overheard by fortune the three captives are rescued by 11 nry A akermann who Is in charge of a carpet iravan mahomed escapes mrs Cled cl soye discovers the absence of fo ro tune and leaves for new york taking the girl s belu belo elnas kings with her through gh forged letters irs mrs Ched soye the major major and their ac neon places take pos possess on ot of jones new york home jones bryanne end and fortune arrive at D damascus s mascus ry anne falls in his resolution to lead a bet tor ter ife 1 to reanne R anne secretly leaves for new lork 1 ork CHAPTER continued george came in under the time limit of his adventure he had been upon the most difficult errand imaginable at least from a bachelor bachelors s point of view he carried two handbags hand bags one of these he deposited in fortune fortunes s lap shall I 1 open it it if you wish nish why should I 1 be I 1 am human I 1 have slept and lived tor for days in a dregs dress and worn my hair down my back for lack of hairpins and combs I 1 am sure that it Is a very nice night gown laughter overcame her he laughed too not because the situa tion appealed to him as laughable but because there was something an indefinable something in that laugh ter of hers that made him wonderfully happy mr jones george he interrupted deter brother george it was very kind and thoughtful of you not one man in a thousand would have thought of of hairpins more laugh ter I 1 didn dian t think of them it was the clerk he she well then she will achieve great things lightly though her heart hear was full tactfully he reached over and swept up the money shall I 1 ever be able to repay you she said yes by letting me be your broth er by not deciding the future till we land in naples by letting me keep in touch with you whatever your alti mate decision may be that isn t much will you promise that they spoke no more of bryanne it was as though he had dropped out of their lives completely to a tain extent he had they were to meet him again however in the last act of this whimsical drama which bad had drawn them both out of the common place and dropped them tor for a full spin upon the whirligig of life in due time they arrived at alexan dria there they found the great transatlantic liner homeward bound bryanne would beat them into new york by ten days he had picked up a boat of the P 0 line at port said sailing without stop to marseilles from there to cherbourg was a tri fling journey george knew the captain and the captain not only knew george but had known george georges s father before him the young man went to the th heart of the matter at once and when he had finished his remarkable tale the captain lowered hia his cigar and all this happened in the year it any one but you mr jones had told me this I 1 id d have sent him ashore as a lunatic you hive reported it ita wha good would it do we are out of it and that s enough more we do not want any one to know what wove we ve been through it if the news dews everything will come out all right in the end he encouraged she noted his embarrassment and her immediate curiosity was not to be dented denied she slipped the catch and looked inside there were combs and brushes soap and tooth powder and talc tale a manicure pet a pair of soft woolen slippers and she glanced up quickly the faintest rose stole under her cheeks it was droll it was pathetically tunny funny she would have given worlds to have seen him MIA making the purchases you are not offended be he stain X f I 1 papers got hold of it there would be no living you leave it to me eald said the big hearted german from here to na pies plea she shall be as mine own daugh ter you have not told me all no only what I 1 had ot of necessity to tell well you know best I 1 shall do my share to make her feel at home she Is as pretty as a flower to this george agreed but not ver bally batty the steamer weighed anchor at six 2 A 0 hsrold by H P D weg 0 HEARTS AND 5 CA PI P MAN I OA THE TM BOX cea 4 allu aliory by TT COPYRIGHT ight 1911 b y bobba lER RILL company 0 1 clock that evening with only a handful of passengers tor for the trip to naples george had wired from da mascus to cairo to have his luggage sent on and be he saw it put aboard him self without letting fortune know he had also telegraphed the hotel to forward whatever she had left but the return wire informed him that mrs Ched soye had taken everything they were leaning against the star board rail watching the slowly con verging lights of the harbor fortune had borrowed a cloak from her stew ardess and george wore the mufti of the first officer the captain I 1 ad of fared his but george had declined he would have been lost in its ample folds I 1 can not understand why they made no effort to find you he mused it t seem quite human don dont t you understand 7 it is sim pie my mother believes bel leies that horace and I 1 ran away together it if not that I 1 ran away myself as I 1 that day threatened to do in cither either case she saw nothing could be done in trying to find out where I 1 had gone perhaps she knows exactly what did happen doubtless she has sent on my things to mentone which of course I 1 shall never see again no no not I 1 can not go back there I 1 have known the misery of suspense long enough she lowered her head to the rail he came quite near to her his arms went out toward her only to drop down he must wait it was very hard but nothing prevented his putting forth a hand to press hers re and saying don dont t do that fortune it makes my heart ache to see a woman cry I 1 am not crying came in muffled tones I 1 am only sad and wed tired everything will come out all right in the end he encouraged of course you are tired what woman wouldn t be having gone through what you hala here jets lets sit in the steam er chairs till the bugle blows tor for din ner I 1 in a bit fagged out myself they lay back in the chairs and no longer cared to talk the lights twin kled but fainter and fainter till at last only the pale line between the sky and the sea remained she turned her head and looked sharply at him he was sound bound asleep poor boy she murmured softly how care worn I 1 there was so something methin 9 grotesque in the mask of desert tan and shaven skin how patient he had been through it all and bow kind and gentle to her she remembered now of seeing him that night in cairo and of remarking how young and fresh he seemed in comparison to the men she knew and had met and she must leave him to go into the world and fight her own battles it if god had but given to her a brother like this but brother he never could be no not even in the pleasant sense of adoption she did not want pity to thinh think of hia his getting those things for her in Damas damascus cual I 1 pity sug bug that she was weak and help less whereas she knew that she was both patient and strong what did she want she glanced up and down the deck it was desert ed save for or them then clad in the beauty of a thousand stars she leaned over and down and brushed his hand with her lips and george slept on only the blare of the bugle brought him back to mun dane aff affairs airs he was hungry and he announced the fact with gusto they would dine well ell that night the cap tain placed fortune at his right and george at his left and broached a hot bot tie of fine old johannisberger and the three of them had coffee in the smoking room if the other passes gers had any curiosity they did not manifest it openly upon finding that they had no rea real I 1 need of staying over in naples the captain urged that they take the return voyage with him he saw more than either of the young people with those blue teutonic eyes of his george promised to let him know with in a dozen hours of the sailing cr gainly fortune would decide one way or the other within that time both had seen the bay many times with never falling love and interest they sailed across the bay in the bright clearness of the morning you are going back with me george announced in a tone which in berred that nothing more was to be said upon the subject but tor for all his confidence there was a great and heavy fear upon his heart as he asked tor for mall mail at the little inclosure at cook a in the vittoria there was a cable nothing more now fortune have I 1 ever given you permission to call me by that name why have 17 I 1 no then I 1 give you that permission now I 1 what do you frighten a man like that tor for he cried what I 1 was wa S go ing to say fortune what I 1 was going to bay say fortune was this here is the cable from mor timer I 1 im in not going to open it till after dinner tonight well go up to the bertolini Berto lInt to dine you 11 II stay there for the night while I 1 put up at the bristol which Is only a little ways up the corso I 1 im in not going to ask you a question till coffee then we 11 thrash out the subject till there isn t a grain left she made no protest secretly she was pleased to be bullied like this it proved that among all these swarming peoples there was one interested in her welfare but she knew in her heart what she was going to say when the proper time came she did not wish to spoil his dinner she was also going to put her courage to its su preme test borrow a hundred pounds and bravely promise to pay him bark back if she failed to pay it it would be be cause she was dead for she could not survive a comparison between herself and her mother here in naples she might find something an opportunity she spoke french and italian fluently and in this crowded season of the year it would not be dit dif td tc find a situation as a maid or companion so long as she could earn a little honestly she was not afraid she was desperately resolved such a dinner long would she re member it and longer still how little either of them ate of it she knew enough about these things to ate it it must have cost a pretty penny she smiled she laughed she jested and always a battle to dam the uprising tears the dining room was filled women in beautiful evening gowns and men in sober black but the two young people were oblivious their fellow diners however bent more than one glance in their direction III fitting clothes to be sure but it was ob served that they ate to the manner born the girl was beautiful in a melancholy way and the young man was well bred and pleasant of feature though oddly burned coffee george produced the cable it was still sealed you read it first he said passing it across the table her hands shook as she ripped the sealed flap and opened the message she read her eyes gathered danger bously be care careful full he warned you youve ve been brave so long be brave a little longer I 1 did not know that there lived such good and kindly men oh thank him thank him a thousand times tor for me bead read it I 1 and she no longer cared it if any saw her tears bring her home and god bless you both MORTIMER I 1 knew it he cried exultantly he and my father were the finest two wo men in the world the sky Is all clear now low Is it sadly oh I 1 do not wish to pain you but it is charity and I 1 am too proud you refuse he could not believe it yes but when things grow dark and the day turns bitter I 1 shall aln ays remember those words I 1 can see no other way I 1 must fight it out alone love makes a man dumb or elo quent and as george saw all his treasured dreams fading swiftly elo quence became his buckler in this bat tie of love unspoken and pride in arms each time he paused tor for breath she shook her head slowly the diners were leaving in twos and fours and presently they were all alone servants were clearing up the tables there was a clatter of dishes and a tread pf hurrying feet they noted it not well one more plea pleat and he swept aside his self seIf imposed lestric eions will you come for my sake because I 1 am lonely and want you will you come for my sake this time her head did not move Is it pity she whispered pity his hands gripped the linen and the coffee cupa cups rattled no I 1 it Is not pity because you were lone ly because you had no one to turn to I 1 could not in honor boner tell you bit dut now I 1 do fortune will you come tor for my sake because I 1 love you and want you always and always I 1 shall come CHAPTER march hare hares george in that masterful way which was not wholly acquired but which had been a latency till the episodic journey george paid for the dinner called the held head waiter and thanked him for the attention given it and laid a generous tip upon the cover from the dining room the two young people outwardly calm but inwardly filled with the great tumult went to the manager managers s bureau and arr arranged tor for 17 1 a room this settled fortune went down to the cavernous entrance to bid george good night they were both diffident and shy now that the great problem lem a as solved george was puzzled as |