Show Tile Mystery Road By E. E PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM O Copyright t t b by J Little Drown Brown A Co CHAPTER III Ill Continued Continued 19 19 You used to seem v very ry fond of ot hIm Gerald hazarded and he certainly certainly certainly looked after you jolly well at Monte Carlo Do you m mean mean on l asked calmly vt when hen he carne came to your four room In Inthe Ule the Hotel d de farts after the supper party Gerald was completely token taken aback She had turned sad and was look looking In at him with Ith her large serious eyes She Shewa wa was deliberately forcing upon him th till memory of an an episode which he had slurred over OTer In his mindI mind I wasn't thinking of that alto alto- tether ether h he replied with a certain tarp rare raf awkwardness All Ali the same same- All XII the game what pleaser she In In- slated listed after a moments moment's pause I should like you to finish your sea sen en tence Well Well Nell from tram old Chris Chris' point of view he was doing the chivalrous thin thing It andall and all 11 ll that that Gerald explained clumsily He lie must have thought of course that I I was WOl going to be a perfect brute Were you Ou not she asked fie ne was amazed at her coolness She Slie whose purity seemed rather to Increase with her ber larger knowledge of ot the world l seemed emed to be forcing him to peak speak of those very ery ugly moments I ain am am afraid that I cant can't say what Would have happened he admitted d. I I was wu very ery much attracted by you and Ind you rou hadn't the faintest Idea what It all meant So 80 you see you do owe him a very great debt of gratitude MyrtleI Myrtle I do not think so she replied Gerald was wu more startled than thon ever tier Her er deliberate speech ape seemed teemed to bring to him almost a challenge You are about the only person In Inthe the thi world who would say that that he be observed Perhaps so 10 she admitted Perhaps Per Ier lisps haps too I am the only one who Is In Ina ina a position to know Gerald was poignantly Interested Me he e looked down at her face fact calm and serious There was no added color In her cheeks no sign of any allY confusion You mean that you are sorry that Christopher Interfered That you have hue risked my forgetting forgetting all all all that I ought to have remembered I HI am sorry that Christopher Interfered Interfered Inter Inter- sh she said laid distinctly At that moment I 1 loved you and I did not know that It W was WS I wicked d for tor me to love you It If afterward you had hud got tired of me as u you would have done then I should have killed myself when I un un- Hut But I mould have hare been heen happy flint first nut Hut arent aren't you rou happy now he ht asked I 1 am nm very contented sl 1 an Rn answered and I 1 am alU very very grateful I think that no one In the world has ever received such luch wonderful kindness kind ness as al I have But Dut happiness It seems to 0 me Is le a thing apart It Is la a great and ind a wonderful and a rare gift rift I Ido Ido Ido do not think that very ery many ninny people possess It although they think they do I should have possessed It It for tor however short a time It if Christopher bad not Interfered red Gerald Gt was Will staggered It seemed to him that this girl walking so sedately s b by his side aide had suddenly become blome his hll was waa trying to explain to him as though he were a pupil great and elemental things he de declared lar you surprise me very much I never dreamed that you ro would feel like that Supposing then I were to say to you Come away awny from here her with me tomorrow come Ome up to London and be my companion there rr You could not do that she said simply limply You could not offer me rue so terrible and so IlIO ugly an Insult Surel Surely you understand that then I did not know that you OU did not love lo me ole I see Sll he murmured I loved td you you she went t on On n. n her hr eyes Its lifted a little to the Interlacing boughs of ot the trees under which they were passing when you jou came like ilkI a prince to the gate where I stood shaking with terror and laughed at my lilY fears 1 1 I loved you oU when you oU pointed to the end of the road and promised to take III me there then I loved roved you In those first few few- moments and just as It seemed to me IIII then that I hud had loved you OU before I was born born so I 1 know that I shall shull love lo you Ou after I die That Tuut Is Just the kind kin of at wisdom which even en children e. hate Where I 1 was as simple and Ign Ignorant trant was that I l did not understand that love lo could be bl one I thought that thai I love I belonged t to two people Now 01 I 1 k very fery nr differently r- r rhe he h. began She checked him gravely pl Today she continued there Is III Ismore Ismore I more morl for me we to say than for you bEI because be he- I cause BUle I am sin rather glad that you should I understand Only you jou oU roust must not nor talk to me about Christopher I 1 am very Iry sorry but I think that he I Is la t foolish I Ixu was xu a peasant child and I knew nothing nut But a wise clever er malt mail like I Christopher should understand It 11 Ita a seems ma to m me absurd that he should think It lr possible that I might love lo him hint I It Is so ao absurd that I do not believe Us lift love Ion lev Is I. a real thing I think that he k will wl soon forget torget What Is la to become of you then Gerald Gerale demanded Bh lib looked up op at him with a smile What happens hoppens to all those thole others she shi asked who go through life lite as I Ishall shall hall go to through It It They are are very content consent Very many pleasant things come their Ir way They are spared a great deal of oft suffering So It will he be with me toe No t we have had this talk Herald lerald I can speak to you perhaps IIii a I Iii little tie more frankly I 1 watch you 80 so clo closely lly that I see 1111 things thIng which others might not notice You were without actual happiness before because bt you did not understand what happiness was Now v you OU are That Is Isso Isso isso so sad lad Yes Gerald admitted I am unhappy un un- happy There re Is some one for whom hom you care are He lie had no Idea Ides of evading th the Issue lie III replied at once simply and di dl r It Is III Mademoiselle de whom I met met at Monte Carlo and who u used to togO togo togo go out with me in the car I 1 have met her again And yet you are not happy I am not happy Gerald edged because I have not the least Idea whether she cares for me or not She Is very mysterious She has troubles which she will not let me share It seemed to him that smiled They were out of the wood now and crossing the park All that you tell me 1 Is very nry strange lit range she confessed I do not pretend to understand it It One hears Gerald that In III your way you have cared for T ery very many women n. That Is rather a pity but It If It Is II true you perhaps do not know your own mind J JAre Are you sure lure that you love this young youn lady I. I I only know that she makes m mt me feel teel feeland feeland and suffer suITer as no one else In the world hu has ever lr done he tie answered a little drearily They were ere approaching the house now l laid her fingers timidly upon his armIt armIt armIt arm It seems to me Gerald she said Bald with a rather pathetic smile that we have changed roles You asked me to Er Err r tJ J Jr r lea rw It Is le of Your Father Why Is II H He So 60 Troubled About You walk home with you that you might talk to me about Christopher and now DOW we have finished all that and It Is your own affairs only which remain There Is nothing about my affairs which even ln lends Itself lf to discussion Gerald sighed Not at present assented but In III the end there must come hap hap- happiness illness because where re there is love lo there Is II always 81 happiness May I Ilia say one mae word more Oo Go ahead ahead he answered It Is of your father futher Why Is la beso he ht heso I so troubled about you I Gerald frowned I am alit afraid he said Mid i that that Is u mutter matter which I cannot un not altogether explain to you ou Perhaps you OU are art right she all nd- totted I must dare dart to say suy this though because you see I am RIO with Ith your our fattier father many tunny hours in ID the day dar and he Is not so strong strung as ns he was and andau I so u he shows his mind more mor easily Something about you ou Is worrying him bun That Is not right Is It Gerald was silent for a moment A telegraph boy who had hud been ridIng i down In the drive e which curved ur through I Ithe the park seeing them hod had dismounted from his bicycle and was crossing crossIn the turf toward theta them with an orange col ored envelope tn In his hand Gerald Cerald took It from him tore torl It open and read ad the few lines which hith It contained Then he bl gave ave the boy a coin and ancl dismissed him I He Ite looked once more more at the message It Is good news new Inquired gravely granly Good enough Gerald answered I have ha been living In a miserable state itte t of t uncertainty Now It will Mil 11 all be b. cleared up up There will be DO no more trouble then I cannot say that he replied but butI at least leut there will be action Next NeIt I week will s at se e the beginning of ot the th tb s iW elucidation I leave eave for tor OB Os Tuesday e a e e e eThe The change chante In Pauline Pauline's manner when Gerald Gt was ushered by an n un un- tidy looking waiter walter Into her sitting sitting- room on the following afternoon wn was almost electrifying In place of her usual languid greeting she he sprang lightly to her ber feet teet and gave him both her hands The slight sullenness had all nil gone rone from her face There was no living person Just then who would not have hue found her beautiful You Vou received my telegram she alIe dem demanded eagerly And I f came to you yoo at once WIth WM WI the th prompt reply She drew him down to her r III side de upon POD the sofa sota Her lIer manner and tone displayed displayed dis dle- played an animation entirely new to hl her returned the night before last last she ehe said lie He seems to have had hada hadt a t comparatively easy Journey and he reports conditions over t there very much more lenient In ways way He lIe had no difficulty In landing or In makIng making mak mak- ing log his way wherever he wished to go CO On the other hand the stories he brings back as 18 to the distress and misery everywhere are simply shocking The country bleeds ed to death There Ther are few tew trains running no order no discipline pline despotic and arbitrary police surveillance everywhere But there Is also corruption People especially the official classes are looking everywhere for tor the means mt to live A merchant who was as Imprisoned only a month or orso orso so 10 ago I on a charge of murder to which he guilty was set sst free tree the day before left It lit m it cost ost him little more than five thousand thousand thou thou- sand lIand roubles Did this man r discover where your brother was watt Gerald asked III k For ten thousand roubles s she he answered answered an an- he could have searched every police pollee register In Russia Paul la at atthe the Fortress Portress of St St. Marian at a small alman smalltown smalltown town called Sokar Bokar about three thrle hundred hundred hun hun- hundred dred miles south of Petrograd rad It Is a abad abad bad Journey of course but the place Is 18 accessible The governor of the prison Is le n a Major He lie Is half halt nn an Austrian and half halt a Pole When he hp Is drunk he Is I. reckless He Heis Heis Hel is l to be managed with ease tease but always alway It Is to tobe be remembered that Paul Is fa his chief prisoner If It Paul w were wre re to es as- cape she went on thoughtfully he would without a doubt lose his post certainly his promotion he might even have to flee Ille the th country To buy him would probably cost coat a sum lIum of i money mont sufficient to support him for tor the rest rut of his hili life lite There are lit still people who would tear Paul to pieces s If It they knew v who he ht wa was was This Major Gerald Gt Inquired inquired In in- does doel he speak Fortunately yet yea was the eager fager assent Tell me Gerald what do you think of ot It aI all Just this he replied I shall sail nail nailon sailon on Tuesday Tut There Is h a steamer from Hull In less than two months I will bring your brother back liar Her eyes ets shone She seemed to be trembling In every limb There was 88 ecstasy In her face tace passion on he her het quivering lips tips Yet even as 81 he drew a little nearer to her Gerald was drear drear- drearily drearIly drearily ily conscious that she had bad almost forgotten forgotten for tor- gotten his presence It was the thought of ot her brother which had wrought this tra transformation If It I bring him back beck to you yon Paaline Pan Pan- line line- line he h. began hegan She he suddenly seized him by die trie shoulders him back I she Interrupted passionately I make tusks no bargain I give no nn promise you promise you should know better than to ask for tor any such AH An that I can Rn tell you Is that I would give rive my soul to see him again Gerald ld clenched his hi hands almost In pain Pauline he pleaded for tor heavens heaven's sake soften Just a little You keep bep me all the time In torment Paul shall be eel ert free I free I swear It If It It costs mEmy me memy memy my fortune lilY tny liberty even n my life he shall be set free tree But nut Im I'm dong doing It for love of ot you My love Is choking me Soften n for tor one moment her ber what you OU will be to me 1111 some day Give me mt at least a memory to take with m me She laid her hand upon his hili It seemed to him that It was as cold as all the snows snow II Her Iler eyes elS looked Into his They were wt-re soft and beautiful full tull of color and sweetness yet they l looked through him as though he were wt-re a denizen denizen den den- izen n of at some other oilier world TO BE HE CONTINUED I |