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Show PARUOT&CB, flAROLD MACCMTfll m J The Place Honeymoons, etc. ip COPYRIGHT BY Tf1 BOBBJ-flEMVLL CO7PAJ1Y W stranger. "Hay 1 close the door?" The consul general, with a sense of disappointment, disap-pointment, nodded. The blond man returned and sat down. "I don't know how. to begin, but I want you to copy this cablegram and send it under your own name. Here it is; read it." So singular a request filled the consul con-sul general with astonishment. Rather mechanically he accepted the slip of paper, adjusted his glasses, and read The Andos Construction company. New Tork: A former employee of yours wishes to make a restitution of JS.OOO. with interest inter-est to. date. He dares not give his name to me, but he wishes, to learn if this belated be-lated restitution will lift the ban against his coming to America and resuming his citizenship. Reply collect. "This is an extraordinary request to make id me, sir." "Could I possibly offer that to the cable operator? Without name or address? ad-dress? No; 1 could not do it without being subjected to a thousand questions, ques-tions, none of which I s'lould care to answer. So I came to you. Passing through your hands, no one will question ques-tion it. Will you do this favor for a poor unfortunate devil?" - Oddly enough, the other could not get away from his original impression. The 'clothes, the way the man wore them, the clarity of his eyes, the abundant abun-dant health that was expressed by the tone of the skin, derided such a possibility pos-sibility as the cablegram made manifest. mani-fest. He forced the smile back to his lips. "Are you sure you're not hoaxing me?" "No. I am the victim of the hoax," enigmatically. "If one may call the quirks of fate by the name of hoax," the stranger added. "Will you send it?" The years lie had spent in the consular con-sular service had never brought before him a situation of this order. He did i. 1 ,1.. J U SYNOPSIS. 10 Warrington, an American adventurer, and James, his servant, witli a cased parrot, par-rot, tin; trio known up and down the Ir-rawaddy Ir-rawaddy as Parrot & Co., are bound for Kangoon. Elsa Chetwood, rich American girl tourist, sees Warrington and asks the purser to introduce her. He tells her that Warrington has beaten a syndicate and sold his oil chi lis for i.2),XX). Warrington P'Js Uajah, thparrot, through his tricks fW Elsa and they pass two golden days togetiier on the river. In Rangoon, Warrington War-rington interferes in a row over cards raused by an enemy, Newell Craig. Elsa is annoyed by Craig and stabs him with a hatpin. Warrington discovers Plsa on the Singapore steamer. He avoids her. Craig s aboard and is warned by Warrington who ceases to avoid Elsa. Craig stirs up ftvil gossip. Elsa tells Warrington of the hatpin incident and he hunts up Craig, on murder bent. He finds him stretched out drunk on deck and turns tile hose on him. At Penang Mallow, who drove Warrington Warring-ton from his plantation when lie learned his story, comes aboard. Warrington tells Elsa that Mallow and Craig both will tell that he spent money that did not belong to him over the gambling table to Craig, and asks her not to speak to him again. Mallow baits Warrington, who keeps his temper. CHAPTER XII Continued. Elsa straightened her lips with some difficulty. She possessed the enviable faculty of instantly forming in her mind pictures of coming events. The little swelling veins in the colonel's can't begin to tell you how many other accomplishments she has." "Well, stump me!" returned Mallow. "Is she a free-thinker?" "What the devil is that? What do you mean?" "Only this, If she s all you say she is, why does she pick out an absconder for a friend, a chap who dare not show his phiz in the states? I heard the tale from a man once employed in his office of-fice back in New York. A beach-comber, a dock-walloper, if there eve.- was one." "Mallow, you'll have to explain that instantly." "Hold your horses, my friend. What I'm telling you is on the level. She's been hobnobbing with the fellow all the way down from the Irrawaddy, so I'm told. Never spoke to anyone else. Made him sit at her side at table and jabbered Italian at him, as if she didn't want others to know what she was talking about. I know the man. Fired him from my plantation, when I found out what he was. Can't recall his name just now, but he is known out here as Warrington; Parrot & Co." The consul general was genuinely shocked. "You can't blame me for thinkine "Ci.ll in the morning. I'll lt yoc know what the charges are." "l rorgot. Here are twenty poundt. Yov. can return the balance when 1 call. ; am very grateful." "By the way, there is a man here by the name of Mallow," began thb consul general. "Yes," interrupted Warrington, with a smile which was grim and cruel. "I expect to call upon him. He owes me something like fifty pounds, and I am going to collect it." Then he went out. The consul general dropped Mallow's Mal-low's perfecto into the wastebasket and lighted his pipe. Once more he read the cablegram. The Andes Construction Con-struction company. What a twist, what an absurd kink in the skein! Nearly all of Elsa's wealth l?y bound up in this enormous business which General Chetwood had founded thirty odd years before. And neither of them knew! i "I am not a bad man at heart," he mused, "but I liked the young man's expression when I mentioned that bully Mallow." He joined his family at five. He waved aside tea, and called for a lemon-squash. "Elsa, I am going to give you a lecture." lec-ture." "Didn't I tell you?" cried Elsa to the wife. "I felt in my bones that he was going to say this very thing." She turned to her old-time friend. "Go on ; lecture me." "In the first place, you are too kind-hearted." kind-hearted." "That will be news to my -friends. They say I have a heart of ice." "And what you think is independence independ-ence of sprit is sometimes indiscretion." indiscre-tion." "Oh," said Elsa, becoming serious. "A man came into my office today. He is a rich copra grower from Pe-nang. Pe-nang. He spoke of you. You passed him on going out. If I had been twenty twen-ty years younger I'd have punched his ugly head. His name is Mallow, and he's not a savory chap." Elsa's cheeks burned. She never would forget the look in that man's eyes. The look might have been in other men's eyes, but conventionality had always veiled it; she had never seen it before. "Go on;" but her voice was unsteady. un-steady. "Somewhere along the Irrawaddy you made the acquaintance of a young man who calls himself Warrington, familiarly fa-miliarly known as Parrot & Co. I'll be -generous. Not one woman in a thousand would have declined to accept ac-cept the attentions of such a man. He is cultivated, undeniably good looking, look-ing, a strong man, mentally and physically." Elsa's expression was now enigmatical. enig-matical. "There's not much veneer to him. He fooled me unintentionally. He wae quite evidently born a gentleman, of a race of gentlemen. His is not an isolated iso-lated case. One misstep, and the road to the devil." The consul general's wife sent a startled glance at Elsa, who spun her sunshade to lighten the tension of her nerves. "He confessed frankly to me this morning that he is a fugitive from justice. jus-tice. He wishes to return to America. He recounted the circumstances of your meeting." "Uncle Jim, I have traveled pretty much over this world, and I never met a gentleman if Warrington is not one." There was unconscious belligerency in her tone. "Ah, there's the difficulty which women will never be made to understand. under-stand. Every man can, at one time or another, put himself upon his good behavior. be-havior. Underneath he may be a fine rascal.'' "Not this one," smiling. "He warned me against himself a. dozen times, but that served to make me stubborn. The fault of my conduct," acidly, "was not in making this pariah's acquaintance It lies in the fact that I had nothing to do with the other passengers, from choice. That is where I was indiscreet. But why should I put myself out to gain the good wishes of people for whom I have no liking; people I shall probably never see again when I leave this port?" things," went on Mallow. "What man wouldn't? Ask her about Warrington. You'll find that I'm telling the truth, all right." "If you are, then she has made one of those mistakes women make when they travel alone. I shall see her at tea and talk to her. But I do not thank you, Mallow, for telling me this. A finer, loyaler-hearted girl doesn't live. She might have been kind out of sympathy." Mallow bit off the tip of his cigar. "Pie's a handsome beggar, if you want to know." "I resent that tone. Better drop the subject before I lose my temper. I'll have your papers ready for you in the morning." The consul general caught up his pen savagely to indicate that the interview was at an end. "All right," said Mallow good-naturedly. "I meant no harm. Just naturally nat-urally curious. Can't blame me." "I'm not blaming you. But it has disturbed me, and I wish to be alone to think it over." Mallow lounged out, rather pleased with himself. His greatest pleasure in life was in making others uncomfortable. uncomfort-able. The consul general bit the wooden end of his pen and chewed the splinters splin-ters of cedar. He couldn't deny thai nut nuuw t?Aacuy wiicil tu uu. ijc looked out of the window, into the hotel ho-tel court, at the sky which presently would become overcast with the daily rain clouds. By and by he remembered remem-bered the man waiting patiently at his elbow. "What is your name?" "I'd rather not give that until I hear from New York. 1 am known out here by the name of Warrington." Warrington. The puzzlement vanished van-ished from the older man's face, and his eyes became alert, renewing from another angle their investigation of the stranger. Warrington. So this was the man? He could understand now. Who could blame a girl for making mak-ing a mistake when he, a seasoned veteran, vet-eran, had been beguiled by the outward out-ward appearance of the man? Mallow was right. He w:as a handsome beggar. beg-gar. "I promise to send this upon one condition." "I accept without question," readily. "It is that you must keep away from Elsa Chotwood, now and hereafter. You made her acquaintance under false pretenses." "I deny that. Not under false pretenses." pre-tenses." How quickly things went about! "Let me tell you how 1 met , her." rrn , l 1. I 1 : nose were as plain to her mind's eye as if he really stood before her. "Have him take me in to dinner," she suggested. sug-gested. "Just what I was thinking of," declared de-clared the unsuspecting man. "If anyone any-one can draw out the colonel, it will be you." "I'll do my best." Elsa's mind was full of rollicking malice. Contemplatively he said: "So you've been doing the Orient alone? You are like your father in that way. He was never afraid of anything. Your mental men-tal makeup, too, I'll wager is like his. Finest man in the world." "Wasn't he? How. I wish he could have always been with me! But why is it, everyone seems appalled that I should travel over here without male escort?" . "The answer lies in your mirror, Elsa. Your old nurse Martha is no real protection." "Are men so bad, then?" "They are less restrained. The heat, the tremendous distances, the lack of amusements, are perhaps responsible. By the way, here's a packet of letters for you." "Thanks." Elsa played with the packet, somberly eying the superscriptions. superscrip-tions. The old disorder came back into in-to her mind. Three of the letters were from Arthur. She dreaded to open them. "I must be going, then. I'm not sure of my tickets to Hongkong." Hong-kong." "Go straight to the German Lloyd office. I'll have my boy show you the way. Chong!" he called. A bright-pyed bright-pyed young Chinese came in quickly "Show lady German Lloyd office. All same quick." In the outer office she paused for a moment or so to look at the magazines maga-zines and weeklies from home. The Chinese boy, grinning pleasantly, peered curiously at Elsa's beautiful hands. She heard someone ent-r, and quite naturally glanced up. The newcomer new-comer was Mallow. He stared at her, smiled familiarly and lifted his helmet. Elsa, with cold untlickering eyes, offered of-fered his greeting no recognition whatever. what-ever. The man felt that she was looking look-ing through him, inside of him, searching search-ing out all the dark corners of his soul. He dropped his gaze, confused. Then Elsa calmly turned to the boy. "Come, Chong." There was something in the manner of her exit that infiuitely puzzled him. It was the insolence of the well-bred. jSL fl (I iiie t;ujibui gentaai iitiieutu, uts listened lis-tened with wonder and interest, and more, with conviction that the young man had been perfectly honest. But the knowledge only added to his growing grow-ing alarm. It would not be difficult for such a man to win the regard of any young woman. "And you told her what you had done?" "Yes." "Your first misstep?" touching the cablegram. "My first and only misstep. I was a careless- happy-go-lucky young fool." The sky outside also had attraction for Warrington. A thousand times a fool! "How long ago did this bappen?" "Ten years this coming April." "And now, after all this time, you wish to go back?" "I have wished to go back many times, but never had money enough. I have plenty now. Oh, I made it honestly," hon-estly," smiling. "In oil, at Prome. Here's a cutting from a Rangoon paper." pa-per." The other read it carefully. It was romance, romance such as he liked to "You forget that some of them wil." be your fellow passengers all the way to San Francisco. My child, you know as well as I do that there are some laws which the Archangel Michael would have to obey, did he wish to inhabit in-habit this earth for a while." "Poor Michael! And if you do not obey these laws, people talk." "Exactly. There are two sets of man-made laws. One governs the conduct con-duct of men and the other the conduct of women." (TO BR CONTINUED.) I but he did not know it. To offset his chagrin and confusion, he put on his helmet and passed into the private office. of-fice. She was out of his range of understanding. un-derstanding. Mallow was an American by birth but had grown up in the Orient, hardily. hard-ily. In his youth he had been beaten and trampled upon, and now that he had become rich in copra (the dried kernels of cocoanuts from which oil is made), he in Lis turn beat and trampled. It wa.8 the only law he knew. Ordinarily, when in Penaug and Singapore, he behaved himself, drank circumspectly add shunned promiscuous promiscu-ous companions. But when he did drink heartily, he was a man to beware be-ware of. He hailed the consul general cordially cordial-ly and offered him one of his really choice cigars, which was accepted. "I say, who was that young woman who just went out?" The consul general laid down the cigar. The question itself ws harmless harm-less enough; It wa3 Mallow's way of clothing it he resented. "Why?" be asked. "Site's a stunner. Just curious if yuu knew her, that's all. We came down on the same boat. Hanged if I shouldn't like to meet her. Do you know her?" eagerly. "I do. More than that, I have always al-ways known her. She is the daughter f the late General Chetwood, one of the greatest civil engineers of our time. When he died he left her sev-ral sev-ral millions. She is a remarkable young woman, a famous beauty, known lavorably in European courts, and I "I Meant No Harm." it was like Elsa to pick up some derelict dere-lict for her benefactions. Women had no business to travel alone. It was all very well when they toured in parties of eight or ten; but for a charming young woman like Elsa, attended by a spinster companion who doubtless dared not offer advice, it was decidedly decided-ly wrong. And thereupon he determined deter-mined that her trip to Yokohama should find her well guarded. "I beg your pardon," said a pleasant pleas-ant voice. The consul general had been so deeply occupied by his worry that he had not noticed the entrance of the speaker. He turned impatiently He saw a tall blond man, bearded and tanned, with fine clear blue eyes that met his with the equanimity of the fearless. CHAPTER XIII. After Ten Years. The consul general saw before him an exquisite, as the ancient phrase goes, bacl'?d by no indifferent breed of manhood He believed that here was a b'-ief respite (as between acts) in which the little Hypocrisies could be laid aside. The pleasant smile on his high-bred face was all his own. "And what may I do for you. sir?" He expected to be presented with letters let-ters of introduction, and to while away a half hour in the agreM.iie discussion of mutual acquaintance. "I should like a few ninutes' private talk with you," began the well dressed read in his books, but which was mighty bewildering to have at his elbow in actuality. What a life the man must have, led! And here he was, with no more evidence of the conflict than might be discerned in the manliness of his face and the breadth and depth of his shoulders. He dropped the cutting, impatiently. "Don't you believe it?" "Believe it? Oh, this? Yes," answered an-swered the consul general. "What I cannot believe is that 1 am awake. I cannot quite make two and two equal four. 1 cannot . . Well, you do not look like a man who would rob his employer of eight thousand dollars. . . . Parrot ft Co. It's odd, but 1 recollect that title. You wt're at Udaipur during the plague." Warrington briuhtened. "So that's got about? 1 happened to be there, working on t he prince's railway." "I will send the cable at once. You will doubtless hear from New York in the morninc:. Bill you must not' see Miss Chetwood again." "You will let me bid her guod-by? I admire and respect her more than any other woman. She does not know-it, know-it, for as yet her soul is asleep; but she is one of those few women God put on earth for the courage and comfort com-fort of man. Only to say good-by to i her. Here in this oice, if you wish." I "I agree to that." I "Thank you again." Warrington rose. "I am genuinely sorry for you. If they say no, what will you do?" "Go back just the same. 1 have an other debt to canceL" |