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Show nothing was Incredible. From the first moment hla face Imd shot Into Hi" ltk'lil, from the moment she hud heard his voire, like color In the level voices around him, she bad been bewildered be-wildered by his variety. And where, uhe asked herself In a summing up, might such a innn not be found? Hut there were few places. Indeed, In even the broadest pluln of possibility, which could hold knowledge knowl-edge of ho particular and piercing a quality as hla look had Implied. There had been so much more than curiosity or surprise In It. She could hardly face the memory of It, no cruelly It had struck her. There wan no doubt In her mind that Kerr had Keen the ring. Somewhere In the pageant of bin experience he had met It, known It but what he wanted of It She broke oft that thought, and looked long at the little damn of the lump. It was strangi but there was no doubt In her mind but that he wanted it. That had been the strong em thing in hla look. She felt herself picking her way along a very narrow path, one step over either edge of which would plunge her chnsniH deep. Now she (matched at a frull Hupling to save herself. The fact that Kerr knew her atone didn't prove It belonged belong-ed to the Crew Idol. And If it dldu't If It wasn't the crown of the heathen heath-en god, then her whole dreadful supposition sup-position fell to piece. Hut alio hadn't proved It and the simplest way wait Jitfct to auk Kerr. Her chance for that was (ho chance he had fought no hard for, the chance of their meeting the ! next day. I It seemed It should be Dimple, It should be easy to face Kerr with her question; but uhe was possessed by the apprehension that It would be neither. Would the question she had to ask be a safe thing to give him? And If she dared undertake It and should be overpowered after all then everything would be lost. CHAPTER X, A Lady Unveiled. She wakened In the morning to some one knocking. She thought the sound had been going on for a long lime, but, now she was finally roused. It had stopped. Thin wan odd, for no one came to her In the morning except ex-cept Marrika, and It wax tiresome to be; thus Imperatively beset before she was hulf awake. Now the knocking came again with a level, unimpatletit repetition, and she called, "Come In!" at which Clara, In a pale morning gown, promptly entered an apparition appari-tion as cool and smooth and burnished an if she had spent the night, like a French doll, In tissue paper. Clara'a coming In In the morning was an unheard-of thing. Flora was taken aback. "Why. Clara!" She was blank with astonishment. She sat up, flushed nnd tumbled, and still blinking. "I hope I didn't keep you knocking long." "Oh, no. Indeed; only three taps." Clara looked straight through Mora's astonishment, aa If there had been no such thing In evidence. She drew up a chair and sat down beside the bed. It was a rocking chair, but It did not sway with her calm poise. "It Isn't so very late," she said, "but I have ordered your breakfast. I thought you would want It If you had that ten-o'clock appointment; and there Is something I want to ask you before you go out. Had you any Idw tho Herrlcks were in straits?" "The young Herrlcks?" "Oh. no! The old Herrlcks, the Her- i ricks, Mrs. Hcriick whom you so much admire! Of course, one Isn't , told; but they must be, to be willing to let the old place." "Not the San Mateo place?" said Flora, with a stir of Interest. Clara complucently nodded. V "Why, I should love that!" Flora V frankly confessed. "Well," Clara conceded, "at . any rate we know It's genuine, and that's a consolation. The number of Imitations Imita-tions going about and the way people pick them up Is appalling! While I was getting that rug for you at Vigo's yesterday, Klla Huller came In and bought three Imitation Hokbaras, with the greatest enthusiasm. She buys quantities, nnd she's always taken lu. It Is enough to make one nervous about the people one sits next to at dinner there. One cannot help suspecting tlx in of being some of Klla's bargains.' I wonder, now, where she picked up that Kerr." This finale failed to take Flora oft her gimrd. "At any rate, he Is odd enough to be genuine," she said with a gleam of malice. "Oh, no doubt of that," Clara mildly assented, "but genuine what?" "Why, gentleman at large," said Flora, and quickly wanted to recall It. for Clara's glance seemed to give It a double significance. "I mean," she added, "Just one of those chronic travelers trav-elers who have nothing else to do, nnd whose way must be paved with letters of introduction." she floundered. flounder-ed. "At least, that, was tho Idea he gave of himself." She broke off, doub- ly angry that she had tried to explain Kerr, ti rid tried to explain herself, wln n the circumstances required nothing noth-ing of the sort. She was sure Clara had not missed her nervousness, though Clara made no sign. Her eyes only traveled a second time to Flora's hands, as If among the flare of red and white Jewels she was expecting to see another color. To Flora's palpitating palpi-tating consciousness this look made a perfect connection with Clara's next remark. "At least his manners are odd enough! There was a minute last night when he was really quite startling." start-ling." Flora felt a small, warm spot of color Increasing In the middle of each cheek. She drew a long breath, as If to draw In courage. Then Clara had really seen! That smooth, bllndlsh look of hers, last nlgbt, bad seen everything! "I am afraid he annoyed you. Flora." The girl looked Into the kindly solicitude so-licitude of Clara's face with a hard, almost passionate Incredulity. "These continentals," she went on. now lightly swaying to and fro In her chair, "have singular notions of American women. They take us for savages, my dear." (TO BR CONTINUED.) JZtfCSA carrroar Ay jpauxr sjruzi co. SYNOPSIS. At prlvsta vlw of the Chatworth fitrttoiuil fHlutr, to he sold hi aueilon, tho wcirlh ring, known as Ihn frw Idol, iyntiTlouly disappears. Hurry t'ressy. Mill WHS ir-MMlt, lIcHirllle till! rllUC lO jib nnnecii, Hum (lllm-y, ami her elnip-trim. elnip-trim. Mrs. Clara Itrltloh, us Im-Iiik liko a iH-ttUit-n soil, with a heiunlful aapphlrt ! In tlm head. Flora meets Mr. Kerr, an Knglixhtnun, at thn elub. In din-cuitMlni; din-cuitMlni; thft difappeararire of ttin rtnif, Ihrt icploils of an Kiotlish thief, t'lirrell Wand, urn rivalled. Horn liua a fumy Ihnt Hurry ami Kerr know sonirtliln about thn mvMxry. Kxrr t -1 1 x Mora Hint no hit inn! llnrrv sonmwhero, hut ennnot plaea him. f-'o.'") rewuril In offered fur ihn return of the rlntf. Harry admit to Horn that h dlsllkea Kerr. Hurry takes Flora to u ChlntMM) Koldninlth' tn huy un nKMicnient riiiis. An t-x tlnl In sapphire 4-t Mi a ho.ip of hriiNH, In selietrd. Harry tiroes tier not to wear It until It Is rem-t. Vim poHKt'iinioii of the rltis (eenia to iHit 4 (m'Ii o' .-r I lot 14. Slit iH-eutiH- nneiiHV and aptirehetiHlve. Flora mrela Kurr at a uox p.niy. CHAPTER Vlll.Continued. She felt of the stone. She drew off her glove and tried to look at It In the dim light, but couldn't get a gleam out of It. She was as Impatient for tli lights to go up that she might secret-iy secret-iy bo cheered by Its wonder, as she had been that afternoon to get back from the luncheon and make suro It was still In tho drawer. She must i see It In spite of Clara at her right hand, whose little chiseled profile : might turn upon her at any moment a full face of Inquiry. She held her left hand low In the hhuiiow of her chair; and If, as the Iichts went up again, there was any i change in the sapphire, It was merely , a sharper brilliance, as If, like an eye, It had moods, and this was one of its moments of excitement. In Its ex- tnioulinary luster It seemed to pos- , scsn a beauty that could not bo val- c ned, and she wanted to hold It up to Kctr. to see if she couldn't startle lilin nut nr his mood to see If he wouldn't t lesj ond to It, "Yes, there Is more in It that you can touch." I She turned to him with the daring I Hash of timid spirits. It was so sharp I a mot inn that he started Instantly from his reverie to meet It, but his I alacrity was mechanical. She felt I the smile he summoned was slow, as I If ho returned, from a long distance, i a little, painfully to bis present sur- rounding. I The Intermezzo was playing, and to ' speak under tho music be leaned so i close his shoulder touched her chair. Through that narrow space between them, almost beneath his eyes, she moved her hand a gesture so slightly i emphasized as to seem accident. He bad started to speak, but her motion seemed to stop his tongue. He looki-d turd at her hand, and something violent vio-lent In bis IntentnesH made her Clutch i the sldo of the chair. Instantly she met his look, so fiercely, cruelly challenging, chal-lenging, that It took her like a blow. , For a moment they looked at each other, her eyes wide with fright, his narrowed to a glare under the terrible i Intentness of his brows. What had she done? She was as shaken as If he had i seized hold of her. If he had snatched i the ring off ber finger she wouldn't I have been more shocked. The whole box must be transfixed by him, and the whole bouse be looking at nothing but their little circle of horror! She was ready for It. She was braced for anything but the fact which actually ac-tually confronted her that no one had noticed them at all. It was monstrous mon-strous that such a thing could have been without their knowing! Hut there was no face In all the orchestra, the crowded galleries, or the tiers of boxes to airirm that anything had happened; no face In their own box had even stirred, but Clara's, and that had merely turned from profile to the full, faintly Inquiring, mild, and palely pink In the warm reflections of tho red velvet curtains. And what could Clara have seen, If she had seen at all, but Flora a little paler than usual with a hand that trembled; and what worse could Clara conjecture than that she was being silly about Kerr? She turned slowly toward him. and looked at him with a courage that was part of her fear. Hut wasn't she. In a way, being silly about Kerr? What had become of his expression that had threatened her? There was uothlng left of It but her own violent Impression. And yet the thing had actually happened. hap-pened. Its evidence was before her. He had been silent. Now ho was talking. talk-ing. He had been absent. Now she thought she had never seen him more vividly concerned with the moment. Yet for all his cool looks and diffuse talk around tho box, she felt uneasily that his concern was pointed at her, and thnt he would never let her go. lie only waited for tho cover of the last net to collie back to her single-handed. single-handed. She would have deflected bis attack, hut It was too quick, too unexpected rir her to do more than sit helpless, nnd let him lift up her left hand, Jellcately between thumb and linger, itn If in Itself It was some rare, lino LMiiio, and, bending close, contemplate Ihe sapphire unwinklitgly. She had in Instant when she thought she must -ry out, but how Impossible In the awful aw-ful publicity of her place a pinnacle in the face of thousands! And after he first tluttered Impulse came a cer-lain cer-lain reassurance In such a frank and trivial action. For all Its Intensity. I ow could It be construed otherw ise Ihnn a lively If unconventional Inter-:it? Inter-:it? It niiiHt have been her fancy which had discerned anything more than lhat In his first look. And yet, when lie had laid her hand lightly back, nnd readjusted bis monocle, and looked nut, away from her, across the black house, sho didn't know whether she was more reassured or troubled bemuse be-muse h had not spoken a word. Yet tho next moment he looked around at ber. "We shan't meet every evening In such a way as this," he Bald, and bit the statement dangling unanswerable between them. It sounded portentous final. She couldn't answer. She could only look at him with a reflection reflec-tion of her trouble In her face. "Are you surprised that 1 thought of that?" he Inquired. "It's not so odd as you seem to think that I should want to see you again. I don't want to leave It to chance; do you?" Ho shot the question at her so suddenly, with such a casual eye. and such dry gravity of mouth, that ho had her admission out of her before she realized re-alized the extent of Its meaning. "Then when are you at home?" he asked her; and by his tone, he conveyed con-veyed tho Impression that be was only making courteous response to some Invitation she had offered him; though, when she thought, she had not offered It, he had got It out of her. She answered somewhat stiffly: "Fridays, second and fourth." He looked at her with a humorous twist of mouth. "What? So seldom?" She was Impotent If he wouldn't be snubbed; but at the worst she wouldn't bo cornered. "Oh, dear, no but people who come at other times take a chance." "Docs that mean that I may take mine tomorrow?" He was pressing her too hard. Why wuh he so anxious to see ber, as he had not been the first night or yesterday, yester-day, or even ten minutes ago? She, who, ten minutes ago, would have been glad, now was doing her best to put him off. She was silent a moment, mo-ment, considering the conventions, and then, like him, she abandoned them. Without a word she turned away from him. Her only desire now was to ovade him. lest he should force her out of her non-committal attitude. She wanted to shield herself from further pursuit. She drew her glove over the ring. Tho lights were Imminent. It would be hard to hide tho great flash of the Jewel. And besides, she didn't trust It. She couldn't tell in what direction It might not strike out a spark of horror next. Tho rustle of final departure was all over the house. The people In the box were stirring and beginning to stand up; and Flora saw Kerr turn and look at her. She wanted some one to stand between herself and Kerr, and It wua to Harry that she turned; not alone that he was so large and adequate, but because she thought she saw In him an Inclination to step Into that very place where she wanted him. She saw he was a little sullen, and though she didn't suspect him quite of Jealousy, she wondered won-dered If he had not a right to blame her for the appearance of flirtation that she and Kerr must have pre-sented. pre-sented. Then how much more might he blame her for what she had actually actual-ly done for deliberately showing the sapphire to Kerr! The very thought of It frightened her. She talked the harder, she even took hold of Harry's arm to be sure of keeping him there between her and what she was afraid of, as they came out on the sidewalk and stood waiting In the windy night for the approach of their carriage lights. Itow upon row of street lamps Pared In tho traveling gusts. The midnight noises of the city were Lt their loudest; and half their volume seemed to be a scattered chorus of hoarse voices yelling all together like a pack of wolves. What wus this fresh quarry of tho press. Flora wondered, that made It give tongue so hideously? She had stopped her head to the carriage door, when Harry stopped and took one of the damp papers from a crier In the pack She saw the headline. head-line. It covered half the sheet the great figure thnt was offered for the return of tho Chatworth ring. CHAPTER IX. Illumination. Just when the two Ideas had coalesced co-alesced In her mind Flora couldn't be sure. It had been some time In the first dark hour that she had spent wide awake In her bed. There had been two Ideas distinctly. Two Impressions Im-pressions of tho evening remained with her; and the last one. the great figures that had stared at her from the paper, the fart that had been Harry's Har-ry's secret, made common now In round numbers, had for the moment swallowed up the first. For all the way home that sum was kept before her by Clara's talk. She remembered nothing of that talk except ex-cept that It hadn't been able for a moment to leavo the Chatworth ring ! ahme. It bad been aimed at Harry, but It bad fallen to Flora herself to ', answer tiara's quick speculations, for Harry had been obstinately silent. , 'hough not Indifferent, as If In his j own mind he was as unnhlo to leave K alone as Clara. One with silence, one with her talk, they had written the figures of the reward so blazlngly In Mora's mind that for the moment ' she could see nothing else. Yet now I she was alone her first adventure recurred re-curred to her. As soon as she was 1 quiet In the dark there came back ! with reminiscent terror the look that Kerr had given her In the box. She was afraid of the meaning of his look 1 which she didn't understand. It oniy 1 established In her mind a great sig ' nllUance for the sapphire. If it could ' produce such an expression on a hu- ' man face. It had given him more ! than a mre expression. It bad given 1 him an Impulse for pursuit, as f, ' like a magnet. It was fairly dragging him. He had covered his Impulse by ' his very frankness, but she knew be 1 had pursued her that for the matter 1 of seeing her again he had hunted her ' down. And what had followed? Why, ' she was bark again to the great figures fig-ures in the paper. I At first It seemed as though she had ' taken a clean leap from one subject to another. She had In no way con- ' nected tbetn. Hut all at once they 1 were connected. She couldn't sep- rate them She didn't know whether 1 he bad been stupid not to have sen them so before, or whether she was stupid to them so now. For the ' thought tb.it had sprung up la her ' mind was monstrous. It startled her o broad awake that uhe sat up In bed to meet It the more alertly. The room was dark except for now and again the yellow square of light, from some passing cable car, traveling along the ceiling. The four walla around her, their dark bulks of furniture fur-niture and light ripple of moving curtains, cur-tains, shut her up with this monster of her mind. It had sprung upon her from the solid actualities of the night. And, yes, of the day before and the night before that. Oh, she had known well enough that there had been something some-thing wrong at the goldsmith's shop. She had felt It even before she had seen the sapphire; and afterward how It had held them, both herself and Harry! To have moved Harry It must be something Indeed! Had he suspected sus-pected It then, or had he only wondered? won-dered? If he had suspected why hadn't he spoken of It? Well, her appalling fancy prompted, hadn't he spoken of It? though not to her. There flashed back to her the memory of him there in the bark of the shop with the blue-eyed blue-eyed Chinaman. How furiously he had assailed tho little man! She could bo almost sure that the monstrous mon-strous Idea whjch had Just, overtaken, her had, however fleetlngly, flushed before Harry's mind In the goldsmith's shop. Hut surely he couldn't have entertained en-tertained It for a moment. That was Impossible, or he would never have let her take the sapphire Harry, who had seen the ring, the very Crew Idol Itself, within the 21 hours. "A little heathen god curled round himself with a big blue stone on the top of his head." Hurry hadn't said what sort of stone It was; but Kerr hud said It was a sapphire. There was a sapphire on her, and now. She touched It with her finger tins cautiously, cau-tiously, as If to touch something hot. So near to her! In the same room with her! On her own hand! It was too much to be alone with in the dark! She reached out softly, as if she feared to disturb some threatening threaten-ing presence lurking around her, and lit the small night lamp on tho low table by her bed. The shade was yellow, yel-low, and that contended with the blue of tho sapphire, but couldn't break Its light. With the first flash of Its splendor In her face she felt certainly threatening her. She shook the ling quickly off her finger and It fell wiih a light clatter on the table's marble top fell with the sapphire fact down, and all Its light hidden. She took It up again a little fearfully, in If It might have got some harm; and again while she looked at It It seemed to her that nothing that happened hap-pened about this Jewel could bo too extraordinary. If only It had been less wonderful, less beautiful. Bhe would not have felt so terribly afraid! She put It back on the table and for a moment held her hand over It, as If she Imprisoned a living thing. Then, without looking again, she got out of bed and went to the window. win-dow. It overlooked the dark steep of the garden, the moving trees and the lighter plane of the water. She leaned out, far out. Hlack housetops marched against the bay. and between be-tween them, light by light, her eyes followed the street lamps down to the shore. Oh. to escape out of this window into the Innocent, sleeping city, away from the horror at her back! To look In from the outside and be even sure there was a horror! And If there was. to run away Into the wide soft dark! Hut there was another way to be rid of It. The real Idea occurred to her. How easy It would be to tako It that beautiful thing and throw It; throw It as hard as she could, and let the night take care of It. The window win-dow was open, as if It stood ready, and there was the ring on the table. She went to It. looked at It a moment without touching It, holding her hands away. Then with a little shiver she backed away from It and sat down on the foot of the bed. She looked pale and little, as If the eye of the ring, biasing bia-sing under the feeble lamp, like the evil eye. had sapped her fire and youth. She hugged her arms around her updrawn knees, and resting her chin upon them eyed the sapphire bravely. "I suppose you know I can't throw vou away," Fhe murmured, "and yet I can't keep you!" She pondered, chin In hand. To take It to Harry! That teemed the natural thing to do the ilmplest way to be rid of It. She hesitated. hes-itated. "If I only knew! If I only were lure!" She locked her fingers closer, itarlng hard. If It had been the whole Crew Idol, the undlsmcmbcrcd god liltnself. then there would have been less terror, and one plain thing to do. She looked hard at the sapphire set-ling, set-ling, as if she hoped to discover upon ts brilliance some tell tale trace of ild soft gold; but there was only one treat, glassy, polished eye, and out of hat head It had come, whether from he forehead of the Crew Idol, or from hat of some unheralded deity, who iras there who could tell her? She tried to summon a coherent bought, but again It was only flash ut of the darkness. "Kerr! Why, he knows more than 1." She looked at this stupidly for a nomenl as If It were too Urge to take n at once. Of course he must have snown! Why hadn't ahe thought of "iat before? What series of circumstances might tare led up to Kerr's knowledge she I oulj tot dream. lie was one of bom I " rr ' l "I Wonder, New, Wh.n &nc P.cked l" Trt Kerr?- I IntUM y Sh Met His Leek, to Fiercely, Cruelly Challenging. |
