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Show t f AutW of HEARTS AND rtASKS Ctf AAN Ofl THE BOX c6x Illuslralioi5 by .G.KriTvvEr- . . COPVRIOHT 1911 by BOBDd -MERRILL COMPANY e "1 have known him for years," said Mrs. Chedsoye sweetly. "It was st hli own suggestion that we tak the house, over for the month. He really Inflated that we should pay him nothing; noth-ing; but, of course, such an a rran (tern (te-rn fit could not be thought of. Oh, goodby. Mr. Wallace." tolerantly. "We hope to see you again aome day." Wallace, taking up hla role once more, tipped bla bat and ruahed away for one of hit favorite haunta. "Bounder!" growled the Major. "Well, well; a ship's deck la always Liberty-Hall." "You have turned your belongings over to an expressman?" asked the agent. These were charming people; and any doubts he might have entertained enter-tained were dissipated. And why should he have any doubts? Jones was an eccentric young chap, anyhow. An explanatory tetter (written by the Major In Jones' cartiess hand), barked up by a cable, was enough authority for any reasonable man. "Everything Is out of the way," said the Major. "Then, If you wish, I can take you right up to the house In my car. Your butler said that he would have lunch ready when you arrived.' "Very kind of you. How noisy New York la! You can take our band luggage?" lug-gage?" Mrs. Chedsoye would have made St. Anthony uneasy of mind; Reynolds, young, alive, metaphorically Ml nt her feet. "I'tenty of room for It." "I am glad of that. You see. Mr. Jones Intrusted a fine old rug to us to bring home for hltn; and I shouldn't want anything to happen to It." The Major looked up at the roof of the dingy shed. He did not care to have Reynolds note the flicker of admiration ad-miration In his eyes. The cleverest woman of thera all! The positive And he would not have thought of It touch to the whole daredevil affair! could turn the trick vlthout Hoddy's assistance; . only. It seemed rather hard for hlra not to be In the sport. "He told me that nothing would give him greater pleasure than to stick his dst In the first bag of yellow-boys. There was something mysterious In the way be used to chuckle over the thing when I first sprung it on him. He saw a joke somewhere. Let's go Into the smoke-room for a peg. It won't hurt either of us. And that poor little girl! It's a bell of a world, ehr The Major admitted that It was; but be did not (A that Fortune's welfare wel-fare or Ill-fare was of little or no concern con-cern of bis. The little spitfire bad always openly despised him. Toey were drinking silently and mo-rosdy, mo-rosdy, when Mrs. Chedsoye, rale and anxious, appeared In the companion-way. companion-way. She beckoned them to follow ber down to her cabin. Had Fortune arrived? Had Kyantie? She did not answer. Arriving at her cabin she pushed the two wondering men Inside, and pointed at the floor. A large steamer-roll lay unstrapped, spread out. "I only Just opened It," she said. "I never thought of looking Into it at Cairo. Here, It looked so bulky that I was curious." "Why, It's that damned Yhlordes!" exclaimed the Major wrathfully, "What the devil Is It dolrg In For-tune's For-tune's steamer-roll V "That Is what I should like to know. If they have been kidnaped In order to recover the rug, whatever will become of them?" And Mrs. Chedsoye touched the rug with ber foot, absently. She was repeating In her mind that childish appeal: "You as the nimble fingers of the maid flew over her. "The silly little fool; and at a time like this!" Not (hat remorse re-morse of any kind stirred Mrs. Cbed-soye's Cbed-soye's conscience; she was simply extremely ex-tremely annoyed. She hastened out Into the corridor and knocked at the door of her brother's broth-er's room. No answer. She flew downstairs, and there she saw him coming In from the street. He greeted greet-ed her cheerily. "It's all right. Kate; plenty of room on the Ludwlg. We shall take the afternoon aft-ernoon train for Port Said. She sails at dawn tomorrow Instead of tonight. to-night. . . . What's up?" suddenly noticing bis sister's face. "Fortune did not return to ber room last night." "Wbat? Where do you suppose the little fool went, then?" They both snemed to look upon Fortune For-tune as a little fool. "Yesterday she threatened to run away." "Run away? Kate, be sensible. How th deuoe could she run away? She hasn't a penny. It takes money to go anywhere over here. She has probably found some girl friend, and has spent the night with her. We'll soon find out where she Is." The Major Ma-jor wasn't worried. "Have you seen Horace?" with discernible dis-cernible anxiety, "No. I didn't wait up for him. He's steeping off a night of it. You know his falling." "Find out if be Is In bis room. Go (o the porter's bureau and Inquire for both him and Jones." The Major, perceiving that his sister was genuinely alarmed, rushed over to the bureau. No, neither Mr. Ity-anne Ity-anne nor Mr. Jones had been In the hold since yesterday. Would the porter por-ter send some one up to the rooms of those gentleman to make sure? Certainly. Cer-tainly. No; there was no one in the room. The Major was now himself perturbed. He went back to Mrs. Chedsoye. "Kate, neither has been In his room since yesterday. If you want my Opinion, It Is this: Hoddy has sequestered seques-tered Jones all right, and is some where in town, sleeping off the effects of a night of it" "He has run away with Fortune!" she cried. Her expression was tragic. She couldn't have told whether it was due to her daughter's disappearance or to Horace's defection. "Did he not threaten?" "Sh! not so loud. Kate." "The lit tW simpleton defied me yes-terdny, yes-terdny, and declured she would leave me." bulletin board, returned to the- windows win-dows and watched the feluccas sail past as the great bridge opened; and during all these aimless occupations but a single thought busied her mind: what could a man like Horace see in a chit like Fortune? It was an hour and a half before the Major put in an appearance. He was out of breath and temper. "Come up to the room." One there, he sat down and bade ber do likewise. "There's the devil to pay. You heard Hoddy speak of the nigger who guarded guard-ed the Holy Yhlordes, and that he wanted to get out of Cairo before he turned up? Well, he turned up. He footed Hoddy to the top of bis bent.' So far as I could learn, Fortune and Hoddy and Jones are all in the same boat, kidnapped by the Mahomed, and carried out Into tbe desert, headed, God knows where! Now, don't get excited. ex-cited. Tako it easy. Luck la with us, for Hoddy left all tbe diagrams with me. We bwiI him, but not so much that we can't go on without him. You see, these Arabs are like tl8 Hindus; Hin-dus; touch anything that concerns their religion, and they'll have your hair off. How Fortune got Into it I can't imagine, unless Mahomed saw her with Hoddy and Jumped to the conclusion that they were lovers. AH this Mahomed wants Is the rug; and he Is going to bold them till he gets It. No use notifying the police. No one would know where to find him. None of th-m will come to actual harm. Anyhow, the coast Is clear. Kate, there's a big thing In front. No nerves. We've got to go to-day. Time Is everything. Our butter and first man cabled this morning that they had Just started In, and that everything every-thing was running like clock work. We'll get Into New York in time for tbe coup. Itemeraber, I was against the whole business at the start, but now I'm going to see It off." Feverishly Mrs. Chedsoye prepared for the Journey. She was irritohle to (Vteste, she was unbearable to her brother, who took a seat In a forward compartment to be rid of her. It was only when they went aboard tbe steamer that night that she became reconciled to (he Inevitable. At any rate, the presence of Jones would counteract nny Influence Horace might have gained over Fortune. That the three of them might suffer unheard-of wineries r.ever formed ' ar SYNOPSIS. Oenrge J'rrclval Algernon Jone, vice--president of Metropolitan Oriental Xtug company of New York, thirsting for -romance. In In fiilro on a businea trip. Horace It y a 11 us arrive at the hotel In ''"atro with a carefully guarded bundle. Hyaline ar-lla Jonea ttm fiitnmiii holy Vlll-or1. Vlll-or1. ru t which he admit having stolen tfmm a pasha at ligdd. Jone meet Major Callahan anil later la Introduced to Voi tuna t'hedaoya by a wimiiui t' whom ho had loaned IW pounds at Mont Carlo aottM mom In previously, and who turn mil n In- Fortune's mother Jonea lake Mrs. Chrdanye ami Kortuna to a polo .grama, fortune return to Jones tha money lorrnwed by her mother. Mri. 4MHlMya appear to engnged In soma nyaterloiis enterprise unknown to Ih tighter. Ityann lntwri-i June In the g'nlled Itnmanr and Adventure com-rvnny, com-rvnny, concern wtil-h for a price will arrange any kind of an adventure to or-ter. or-ter. Mr, I'hedsnye. her brother. Major Callahan. Wallace and ltvanne. a tha lolled Itotnume and Adventure company, laa a risky enterprise Involving Jone. Kyaana make known to Mrs. t'hedsova Ma Intention to marry Kortuna. Mr. 'hedev declares ahe wfll not permit It. I'lana ar laid to prevent Jone sailing for horn. I'vanne steal Jone' letters rut cable dispatches, lie wire agent In New York, In Jones' name, that be la renting house In New York to oma frlerut. Mahomed, keeper of the holy aiTet. la on Kyanne'a trail. Ityann airomlae fortune that ha will ea that Jonea roinea 10 no barm a rea'ilt of hi toirchaaa of the ruif Mahomed arroal ltvanne and demanil the Yhtonle ru ftyanne tell Mm June ha the roK and euacr! the alidm-tlon of the Nw York merchant a mean of aenirlna It return. re-turn. "Pie rua; disappear from Jonea room. Fortune nuarrel with her mother when the latter refoae to explain her mvatertnua a-tlona. Fortune l a mea-aae mea-aae purporting to be from llvanne asking- her to meet him In a secluded plaee hf evening. Jonea receive a roeaaag akin him to meet ltvanne al the Kngllah-liar Kngllah-liar tha same evening .lone I carried ff Into the desert bv Mahomed and hi ao-ompllce after a desperate light. II cllacover Ihut ltvanne and fortune also re captive the former I liadlv battered and iincniiaclou Itvann recover run-a-lousnea and the sight of Fortune In cap'lvlty reveala to him the fiu-t that Mahomed Intend to get vengeance on Mm through the girl Fortune arknowl- elgea that she stole the rug from .lone room, rlhe offer to return It lo Mahomed , If he will free all three of them. Ml- i homed agree to lllerrite Fortune and on of the men In return for tha ru A courier cour-ier t ent to t'alro for tie rug. but return re-turn with the Information that Mr Otedsnve and ber brother have sailed for New York. Fortune spurn offered free, dom which doe r.ot Include ber two ram-lianlon ram-lianlon The caravan continue the tourney tour-ney Inward tin. lad. Hyanne tell Jone hat Mr fliedsnve I the moat adroit smuggler of the sge. and Is overheard bv Kortuna. The three captive are reamed bv Henry Ackermann. who la In rharga ..)f s rarprt caravan. Mahomed escapee. XHAPTER XVII. (Conllnusd.) "We might as well get Fortune's things out of the way, too, Celeste ." "Yes, Madame." "And bring my chocolate at half after eight In the morning. It Is quite jmsnlble that we shall sail tomorrow leht from Tort Hald. If not from there, from Alexandria. It all depends upon tbe booking, which can tyit be very heavy going west this time of Tear." i "As madame knows.1 came from tie depth of the cavernous trunk. Celeste was no longer surprised; at least she sieve evinced this emotln. For twelve years now she had gone from one end of the globe to the other, upon the shortest notice. While surprise was Jost to her or under such control con-trol as to render It negligible, she still shivered with pleasurable excitement at the thought of entering a port Wads me was so clever, so transcen-Study transcen-Study clever! If she. Celeste, hsd nut been loyal, she might have retired 'long ego, and owned a shop of her -own in the busy Hue de Itivoll. Hut that would have rieant a humdrum existence; ex-istence; and besides, she would have grown fat, which, of the seven hor rors confronting woman, so maduine wld. was first In number, "Be very careful bow you handle Chat blue ball gown." "Oh, Msdame!" reproachfully. "It Is the silver braid. Io not press the rosettes too harshly." Celeste looked up. Mrs. Chedsoye answered ber inquiring gase with a thin snille. "You are wonderful, Msdame!" "And so are you. Celeste, In your wsy." At ten o'clock Mrs. Chedsoye was ready for ber pillow. She slept fitfully; fit-fully; awoke at eleven and again at twelve. After that she knew nothing snore till the maid mused ber with the cup of chocolate. 8he sat up and Ipped slowly. Celeste watted at the bedside with the tray. Her admiration admira-tion for her mistress never waned. Mrs. Chdsoye was Just ss beautiful In dishabille ss In a bail gown. She drained tbe cup, and as she turned to replace it upon the tray, dropped It with a clatter, a startled cry coming from her Hps. -Madame r "Fortunes bed!" It hsd not been slept In. The , wteamercloak lay arrows tha counter-' counter-' pane exactly where Celeste hererlf bad laid It the Dlgbt before. Mrs. Chedsoye sprang out c-f ber bed and ran barefoot to the ether. Fortune bad not been la tbe room since dinnertime. dinner-time. "Ceteete. c"res me ss quickly as possible. Hurry! Something has lisppened to Fortune." Never. In all her years of service, rtK.ld she recollect sacs a toilet as madame made that morning. And tiever before hsd she shown sucb eon em or Lr daughter. It wss atnss- ;he !inie fotl! 7ve Itttie fted!" :Mrs. CLrdaO npcafly tuurmorea anced against another. Here was rare bit of Capo dl. Monte, there piece of Sevres or Canton. Some houses, with their treasures, look like museums, but this one did not The owner had not gone mad over one subject; here was a sane and prudent collector. The great yellow Chinese carpet represented a fortune; she knew enough about carpets to reallx) this fact. Ivories. Judcs, Ispls-lszull. the precious woods, priceless French and Japanese tapestries, some fine paintings and bronies; tbe rooms were full of unspoken romsnce and adventure; echoed with war and trag- edy, too. And Fortune might have married a man like this one. A possibility pos-sibility occurred to her, and the ghost of a smile moderated the Interest In her face. They might be upon the desert for weeks. Who knew what might not happen to two such romantic roman-tic simpletons? The bu'ler and the first man (who was also the cook) were Impeccable types of servants; so thought Reynolds. Reyn-olds. They moved sltently and anticipated an-ticipated each want. Reynolds determined deter-mined that very afternoon to drop a line to Jones and compliment blm upon his good taste in tbe selection of his friends. A subsequent press of offW work, however, drove the determination deter-mination out of Ms mind. The Instant bis car carried him out of sight, a strange scene was enacted. The butter and the first man seised the Major by the arms, and the three executed a pas seul. Mrs. Chedsoye eyed these manifestations of Joy stonily, ston-ily, t "Now then, whst's been done?" asked the Major, pulling down his cuffs and shaking the wrinkles from his sleeves. "Half done!" cried the butler. "Where's that wall-safe?" the Major wonted to know. "Ilehlnd that sketch by Detatlle." . And the butler, strange to say, pronounced pro-nounced it Det-I. "Can you open It?" "Tried, but failed. Wallaoe is tbe man for that." "He'll be along In an bour or so." "Where's Rysnne?" "Don't know; don't care." The Major Ma-jor sketched the predicament of tbelr fellow-conspirator. The butler whistled, but callously. One more or less didn't matter in such an enterprise. When Wallace) arrived he applied his talent and acquired science to the wall safe, and finally swung outward the little steel door. Tbe Major pushed him aside and thrust a hand Into the metaled cavity, drawing out an exquisite Indian casket of rosewood rose-wood and mot her-of pearl. He opened tbe lid and dipped a band within. Emeralds, Em-eralds, deep and light and shaded, cut and uncut and engraved, flawed and almost perfect. He raised a handful and let them tinkle back into the casket. One hundred in all, beauties, every one of tbem, and many famous. And while be toyed with tbem. pleased as a child would have beea over a handful of marbles. Mrs. Chedsoye Ched-soye spread out the ancient Yhlordes In the library. She stood upon the central pattern, musing. lier mood was not one which she had called into being; not often did she become retrospective; ret-rospective; the past to her Was always al-ways like a page In a book, once finished, fin-ished, turned down. Her elbow in one palm, her chin in the other, she stared without seeing. It was this house, this home, it wss each sign of riches without luxury or ostentation, where money expressed Itself by taste and simplicity; a home such as she had always wanted. And why, with all her beauty and Intellect, why bad she tct come Into possession? She knew. Love that gives bsd nevr ' been hers; hers hsd been tbe love that receives, self-love. She bad bartered bar-tered her body once for riches and had been fooled, and she never could do it again. . . . And the child was overflowing with the love that gives. The flurry of snow outside In tha court she saw not. Her fancy reformed re-formed the pretty garden at Menton, Inclosed by pink-washed walls. Msny a morning from her window she bad watched Fortune among tbe flowers, going from one to the other. Uke a bee or a butterfly. She bad watched ber grow, too, with that same detachment detach-ment a machinist feels ss he puts together to-gether tbe Invention of another man. Would she ever see ber sgaln? Her shoulders moved ever so little. Probably Prob-ably not. She bad blundered wilfully. She should have waited, thrown the two together, maneuvered. And she had pe"lf'd this sdventnre to eb- 4 ess her! Fb might hsve stood within with-in this house by right of law, motherhood, mother-hood, ms rrlne. Rysnne was In love with Fortune, and Jones by this time might be. Tbe desert was a terribly lonely plsce. She wished It might be Jones. And immediately retroerectlon died awsy from ber gate and actualities resumed re-sumed their functions. The wish was not without a phase ct humor, formed ss It was upon his mrrlc rsrpet; but It nowise disturbed tbe gravity of her expression rro be ooxTiMvro.i "you See, Mr. Jones Intrusted a Fine Rug to Ls to Bring Home for Him." I "Fortune Old Not Return to Her Roow Last Night" don'i'know how Joys! 1 should have been!" They took the first good sailing out of Naples. Twelve days later they landed at the foot of Fourteenth Street There was some trifling difficulty diffi-culty over the rug. It had been declared; de-clared; but as Mrs. Chedsoye snd her brother always declared foreign resl dence. there was a question as to whether It was dutiable or not IWing a copy, it was not an original work of art, therefore not exempt, and so forth and so on. It wss finally decided decid-ed that Mrs. Chedsoye must pay a duty. The Major paid grumbltngly. very cleverly assuming an Irritability well known to the Inspectors. The way the United S'ates government mulcted ber dtisens for the benefit of the few wss a scsndal of tbe nations. A Smooth-faced young mil approached ap-proached them from out tbe crowd "Is tbls Major Callahan r "Yes. This oust be Mr. Reynolds, the agent V "Yea. Everything is ready for your occupancy. Your butler and first man have everything shlp-ehsp. I could have turned over to you Mr. Jones'." "Not st all. not at all," said the Major. Ma-jor. "They would have beea strangers to us and we to tbem. Our own servants serv-ants are best" "Tow must be very good friends of my dteetT" had he lived to be a thousand. "One might as well disembark In a stable," be said aloud. "Ah! We are ready to go. then?" They entered the limousine and went off buxr.lng and zigzagging among the lumbering trucks. The agent drove the csr himself. "Where Is Jones now?" be asked the Major, who sat at his left. "Haven't bad a line from him for a month." "Just before we sailed," said Mrs. Chedsoye through the window, over the Major's shoulder, "he went Into the desert for a fortnight or so; with a caravan, lie had Beard of some fabulous fab-ulous carpet." Touch number two The Major grinned. "Jones ls one of tbe best Judges I hsve ever met He was off at a bound. I only hope be will get buck before we leave for California." Tbe Major drew up bis collar. It was a cold, blttstry day. The agent was delighted. Wbat lurk a fellow like Jones had! To wsnder all over creation and to meet charming charm-ing people! And when they invited him to remain for luncheon, the victory vic-tory wss oroplete. Mrs. Chedsoye strolled In and out of the beautifully appointed rooms Never had she seen sore exceUeat tarie. Not too much; everything perfectly per-fectly placed, one object nicely be I "Oho!" Tbe Major fingered bis Imperial. Im-perial. "That puts a new face to the subject Dot Jones! tie bs not turned up. We can not move till we find out wbat baa beccne of blm. I know. Ill jump Into a carriage and see If be got as far as tbe English-Rar" English-Rar" Mr. Chedsoye did not go up stairs, but psced the lounging room, lithe and pantbertsh. Frequently ah paused, as if exsmlnlng the patterns In the huge carpets. She entered the recep-Hoa-room. back, wandered off Into tbe bail room, stopped to Inspect tbe aneovteceroent banging apoa tbe thought In ber mind. It appealed to ber In the sens of a comedy which annoyed rather than amused ber. They were greeted effusively by Wallace, be of the bulbous noee; sod his first inquiry wss of Rysnne. Rrief-ly Rrief-ly tbe Major told blm wbat had happened hap-pened and added bis fears. Wallace was greatly cast down. Hoddy had so set bis bear upon this venture tbst It wss a shame to proceed without blm. He bad warned blm at tbe beginning be-ginning about that Infernal rug; but Hoddy waa always set la Ma daredevil dare-devil schemes. 60 long as lie Major aad tbe plans, be supposed tbst they |