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Show I I I Willi ,L i I, , ,n, ,L !-,,,- m - j fZZ. lffij) MACGRATH AulKor HEARTS AND ASKS Oh, MAN Ort THE BOX cfe, . llkisiraliorvs 4 .G.Kjmrsii- . . COPYRIGHT 1911 by - MERRILL COMPANY . . . Fortune Chtdsoye." lilt blue eyes became less lard and his mouth less defiant. "1 repeat, the heart should be nothing but a pump. Otherwise Oth-erwise It gets In the way, becomes an obstruction, a bottomless pit. Willpower, Will-power, that's the ticket. 1 can face a lion without an extra beat, I ran face the various countenamx-s of death without an additional flutter; and yet. here's a girl who, when I see her or think of her, ootid the pulse touring from seventy seven up to eighty four. Had buelnoaa; besides. It's ao Infer-nally Infer-nally unfanhlonuble. Ifa hard work for a man to keep his balance 'twlxt the devil and the deep, blue sea; Glo-conda Glo-conda on on aide and Fortune on the other. Gloconda throwa oen windows and doora at my approach; but Fortune For-tune locks and bnr hera, nor knock at mine. Thafa the way It alwaya goes. "If man could only go back ten yeara and take a new atari. Ass!" balling hli list at the reflection In the mirror. "Snivel and whine over the bed of your own making. You had your opportunity, but you listened to th popping of champagne-corks, the mutter of cards, the Inane drivel of rhorua-ladlea. You hnd a decent col-U col-U ge record, too. Hah! What a guileless guile-less fool you were! You ran on, didn't you, till you found your neck In the ioop at the end of the rope? And perhapa that soft footed, estimable brother of your didn't yank It taut aa a hangman's? You heard the codicil; Into one ear and out the other. Even then you had your chance; ratlence for two abort yeara. and ft million. No, a thousand times no. You knew what you were about, empty headed fool! And today, two pennies for a dead man's eyes." He dropped his fist dejectedly. Where hud the first step begun? And where would be the last? In som drab corner, possibly; drink, mor i phine, or starvation; he'd never hav . the courage to finish it with a bullet He was terribly bitter. Kverythlnn I worth while seemed to have sllppet ntng. The I'nlted Romance and Adventure Ad-venture Company Is not listed at present. pres-ent. If It was, I'd sell a few shares on my own hook. The kind Lord knows that I've stock enough and to spure." lie laughed again, but without with-out the leaven of humor. "When the fool killer snatches up the lust fool, let rogues look to themselves; and fools are getting scarcer every day. "Pcrelval Algernon! O age of poets! po-ets! I wonder, does he wear high collars col-lars and spats, or has she plumbed him accurately? She is generally right. Hut a man changes some In seven years. I'm an authority when It comes to that. Look what's hapcricd to me In seven years! First, Horace, we shall dine, then we'll smoke our pipe In the billiard room, then we'll softly approach rVrelvnl Algernon and Introduce Mm to Slnbart. This In dependent excursion to Hiigilnd was a stroke on my part; It will work Into the general plan as smoothly as If It had been grooved for the part. Klntutd I might Just as well have assumed that name: Horace Ktnbad, sotimli well and looks well." He mused It: silence, his hand gently rubbing his chin; for he did possess the trick ol tulklng aloud. In a low monotone, i habit acquired during periods of lone liness, when the sound of hts owr voice had succeeded In steadying hli tottering mind. What a woman, what a wife, six would have been to the right man Odd thing, a man ran do almost any thing but direct his affections; the; must be drawn. She was not for him nay, not even on a desert isle. iHiubt . less he i i fool. In time she wouli have made him a rich man. Alack It was always the one we ptirsuei ! that we loved and never the one tha pursued us. "I'm afraid of her; and there yo The porter then understood that he was dealing not with a species of mild lunacy, but with that kind of light hearted cynicism upon which the world (as porters know It) had set Its approving seal. In brief, be smiled faintly; and If he had any pleasantry to pass in turn, the approach of the manager, now clothed metaphorically lu deferentlallsm, relegated it to the limbo of things thought but left unsaid. "Here Is a letter for you, Mr. Ry-anne. Ry-anne. Have you any more lugguge?" "No." Mr. Ryaune smiled. "Shull I pay for my room in advance?" "Oh. no, sir!" Ten years ago the manager would have blushed at having hav-ing been so misunderstood. "Your room is 208." "Will you have a boy show me the way?" "I shall myself attend to that. If the room Is not wL'at you wish it may be exchanged." "The room Is the one I telegraphed for. I am superstitious to a degree. On three boats I have had fine state-I state-I rooms numbered 208. Twice the number num-ber of my hotel room has been the same. On the last voyage there were 208 passengers, and the captain had mode 208 voyages on the Mediterranean." Mediterra-nean." "Quite a coincident." "Ah, if roulette could be played with such a certainty." Mr. Ryanne-sighed, hitched up his bundle, which, being heavy, was beginning begin-ning to wear upon his arm, and signified signi-fied to the manager to lead the way. As they vanished round the corner to the lift, the head porter studied the guest list. He had looked over It a ' dozen times that day, but this was the first instance of his being really In , terested In it. As his chin was freshly fresh-ly shavtn he had no stubble to stroke to excite his mental processes; so he fell back, as we say, upon the consoling con-soling ends of his abundant mus-', mus-', tache. Curious; but all thes persons i were occupying or about to occupy adjacent rooms. There was truly nothing mysterious about It, save that the stranger bad picked out these very ' names as a target for his banter. Fortune For-tune Chedsoye; it was rather an unusual un-usual name; but as ahe had arrived ' only an hour or ao before, be could ' not distinctly recall her features. And ; then, there was that word bucolic. He mentally turned It over and over as physically be was wont to do with 1 postcards lift In his care to mall. ' lie could make nothing of the word, except that it smacked of the East ' Indian plague. r Here he was saved from further ' cerebral agony by a timely interruption. interrup-tion. A man, who was not of bucolic 1 iersuaslon either In dress or speech, ' urban from the tips of bis bleached ' fingers to the bulb of his bibulous 1 nose, leaned across the counter and 1 skcd if Mr. Horace Ryanne bad yet ' arrived. Yea, be had just arrived; he paring minutes from time-tables. Fori a man In his business it was a clever expedient, deceiving all but those who knew him. He hesitated at the door, however, as if he had changed his mind in the twenty-odd paces it took to reach it He stared for a long pfrlod at the elderly gentleman who was watching the feluccas on the river through the window. The white mustache and Imperial stood out in crlxp relief against the ruddy sunburn on his face. If be was aware of this scrutiny on the part of the pursy gentleman, gen-tleman, he gave not the least sign. The revolving door spun round, sending send-ing a puff of outdoor air Into the lounging room. The elderly gentleman then smiled, and applied hla thumb and forefinger to the waxen point of bis imperlul. In the Intervening time Mr. Ryanne entered his room, threw the bundle on the bed, sat down beside it, and read his letter. Shadows and lights moved across his face; frowns that hardened It. smiles that mellowed It. Women hold the trick of writing let-j let-j is. Do they hate, their thoughts flash and burn from line to line. Do they love, 'tis lettered music. Do they conspire, the breadth of their imagination imagi-nation Is without horion. At best, man can indite only a polite business letter, his love-notes were adjudged long sine a maudlin collection of loose sentences. In this letter Mr. Ryanne Ry-anne found the three parts of life. "She's a good general; but bang these brimstone efforts of hers. She talks too much of heart. For my pnrt, I prefer to regard It as a mere physical phys-ical function, a pump, a motor, a power pow-er that gives action to the legs.-ellher In coming or In going, more especially In going." He laughed. "Well, hen Is the Inspiration and hers is the law, And to think that she could plan all this on the spur of the moment, down to the minutest detail! It's a aclence." He put the letter away, slid out hla legs and glared at the dusty tips ol his shoes. "The United Romance and Adventure Company, Ltd., of New York. London, and Paris. She has the greatest gift of all, the aense of humor." hu-mor." He rose and opened his kit-bag doubtfully. He rummaged about In the depths and at last straightened up w ith a mild oath. "Not a pair of cuffs In the whole outfit, not a shirt, not a collar. Oh, well, when a man has to leave Ragdad the way I did. over the back fence, so to speak, linen doesn't count." He drew down bis cuffs, detached and reversed them, he turned bis folding fold-ing collar wrong side out, and used the under side of the foot-rug as a arm, th glint of a polished shisylder;' (his waa the essence of life be coveted. He smiled at the thought and the sure knowledge that he was not the only wolf in the fold. Ay, and who among these dainty Red Riding Hoods might be fooled by a vulpine grandmother? Truth, when a fellow winnowed It all down to a handful, there were only fools and rogues. If one was a fool, the rogue got you, and be In turn devoured de-voured himself. He held his glass toward the table-lamp, table-lamp, moved it slowly to and fro under un-der bis nose, eplcureanly; then he sipped the wine. Something like! It ran across bis tongue and down hla throat In tingling lire, nectarlous; and he went half way to Olympus, to the feet of the gods. For weeks be had lived In the vilest haunts, In desperate straits, his life In his open hands; and now once more he had crawled from the deptha to the outer crust of the world. It did not matter that be was destined to go down Into the deptha again; so long as the spark burned he was going to crawl back each time. Damnable luck ! He could have lived like a prince. Twenty-four hundred, and all in two nights, a ateady stream of gold Into the pockets of men whom he could have cheated with consummate consum-mate ease, and didn't. A fine wolf, whose predatory Instincts were still riveted to that obsolete thing called conscience! "Conscience? Rot! Let us for once be frank and wWte It down aa rautlon, as fear of publicity, anything but the white guardian-angel of the immortality of the soul. Heap up the gold, Apollyon; heap it up, higher and higher, till not a squeak of that still small voice that once awoke the chap In the Old Testament can ever again , be heard. Now, no more retrospection, 1 Horace; no more analysis; the vital i question simmers, down to this: If I'erclval Algernon balks, bow far will ! four sovereigns go?" ! CHAPTER III. I Ths Holy Yhlordsa. ' George drank bla burgundy perfunctorily. perfunc-torily. Had it been astringent as tha native wine of Corsica, be would not have noticed It. The Uttle nerve that ran from bis tongue to bis brain had temporarily lost tha power of cortf munlcatlon. And all because of the girl across the way. Ife Couldn't keep his eyes from wsndertng fn her direction. di-rection. She faced him diagonally. She ate but little, and when the elderly elder-ly gentleman poured out for her glass of aauterne, she motioned It aside, rested her cbln upon ber folded fold-ed hands, and stared not at but through her vis a vis. It wss a lovely head, topped with-coils with-coils of lustrous, light brown hair; an oval face, of white and rose and ivory tones; scarlet Hps, a small, regular reg-ular nose, and a chin the aoft roundness round-ness of which bid the resolute lift to , It. To tbese attributes of loveliness was added a perfect form, the long, flowing curvss of youth, not the abrupt contours of maturity. George couldn't recollect when be had been ao Impressed Im-pressed by a face. From the moment she bad stepied down from the carriage, car-riage, his Interest bad been drawn, and bad grown to auch dimensions that when be entered the dining room his glanoe immediately aearcbed for her table. What luck In finding net across the way! He questioned if bs bad ever seen her before. There was something familiar; the delicate pro-' file stirred some sleeping memory but did not wake It. How to meet her, and when be did meet her, bow to Interest ber? If aba would only drop ber bsndkerchlef, ber purse, something to give him an excuse, ex-cuse, an opening. Ah, he was certain that this time the bydra-beaded one should not overcome him. To gain her attention and to hold It, be would have faced a Hon, a tiger, a wlld-ele-phant. To diagnose these symptoms might not be fnlr to George. "Love st first sight" reads well and sounds well, but we boary beaded philosophers philoso-phers know that, the phrase Is only poetical license. Once, and only once, she looked In his direction. It swept over him with the chill of a winter wind that be i. meant as much to ber as a tree, a fence, a meadow, as seen from tbe i window of a speeding railway train. i Hut this observation, transient as It t wss. left with him the Indelible lm- i presslon that ber eyea were the ssd- dest he bad ever sen. Why? Wby should a young and beautiful girl have r eyes Ilka that? It could not mean . physical weariness, else tbe face I would In some way have expressed It. r Tbe elderly msn appeared to do bla r best to animate ber; be was kindly . and courteous and by tbe gentle way he laughed at Intervala wss trying to bolster up tbe situation with a Jest or ) two. Tbe girl never ao much aa smiled, i or shrugged ber shoulders; abe waa as - responsive to these overtures aa mar- ble would have been. 1 (TO BE OOJCnxVBDJ I Ueda Psnnywise tsys: r Some of us ran laugh when tbe Joke Is on us; but none of us beUve i In carrying that kind of a Joke too far. I SYNOPSIS. Oeorss rMvl Algernon Jons. vies-prealilrnt vies-prealilrnt of th MiMrnpolltun Orlontftl ltu company of New Vork. tltlmtln for ro-maocs, ro-maocs, la In Cairo on a buslnsas trip CHAPTER II. An Affable Rogue. The carriage containing the gentleman gentle-man with the reversible cuffs drew up st the side entrance. Instantly the Arab guides surged and eddied round him; but their clamor broke against a composure as effective as granite. The roar was almost directly succeeded by a low gurgle, as of little waves receding. reced-ing. The proposed victim had not spoken a word; to the Arabs It wss not ne.fssary; In some manner, subtle and Indescribable, they recognised a brother. He carried a long, cylindrical cylindri-cal bundle wrapped In heavy paper variously secured by windings of thick twine. Ills' regard for this bundle wss one of tender solicitude, for he tucked It under his arm, cumbersome though It was, and waved aside the carriage-porter, carriage-porter, who was, however, permitted to carry In the kit bag. The manager appeared. When comes he not upon the scene? His quick, calculating eye was not wholly assured. as-sured. The stranger's homespun was travel worn and time-worn, and of a cut popular to tbe season gone the year before. No fat letter of credit here, was the not unreasonable conclusion conclu-sion reached by the manager. SHU, with that caution acquired by years of experience, which had culminated in what Is known as Swiss diplomacy, he brought into being tbe accustomed salutatory smile and inquired If the gentleman had written ahead for res ervatlon, otherwise It would not be possible to accommodate blm. "I telegraphed," crisply. "The name, If you please?" "Ryanne; spelled It y-a double-n e Have you ever been In County Clare?' "No, sir." The manager added a question with tbe uplift of his eye brows. "Well," waa the enlightening an swer, "you pronounce It as they dc there." The manager scanned the little sllr of paper In bis band. "Ah, yea; w have reserved a room for you, air The French style rather confused roe.' This was not offered In Irony, or sar ' casm, or satire; mining in a Swlsi brain for the ssvlng grace of bumoi is about aa remunerative as the ex trsctlon of gold from sea-water. Nev ertheless, tbe Swiss baa the tatent ol swiftly subtracting from a confusion of ideas one point of illumination: there was a quality to tbe stranger'i tone that decided him favorably. It was the voice of a man In the bobll of being obeyed; and- In these daya it was tbe power of money alone that obtained obedience to any man. He yond this, tbe same nebulous roglta Hon that bad subdued the Araba out side acted likewise upon bltn. Her was a brother. "Mall?" "I will a, air." The manager sum moned a porter. "Room 208." The porter caught up the somewhsi collapsed klt-bsg, which had in all evl detice received some rough usage Ir Its time, and reached toward tbe roll Mr. Ryanne Interposed. "I will see to that, my man," terse ly. "Yes, sir." "Where Is your guest-list?" de marded Mr. Ryanne of the manager "The head porter's buresu, sir. will se If you have any mall." Tlx manager passed Into bis own bureau , It was rather difficult to tell whethei this man was an American or an Kng llshman. Ills accent was western, bu his manner was decidedly Hrltlsh. A any rate, that tone and carriage mus be bastloned by good Knglish sover eigns, or for once bis Judgment wai at fault. . The porter dashed upstairs. Mr nysnne, his bundle still snug undei his arm, sauntered over to the bead porter's bureau and ran hla glance u and down the columna of visiting esrds. Once be nodded with approval and again he smiled, having dlscov ered that which sent a ripple acrosi his sleeping sense of amusement Ma Jor Callahsn, room 206; Fortune Ched soye. 205; George V. A. Jones, 210. "lira! the Msjor smells of Count Antrim and tbe finest whisky In al the Isle. Fortune Chedsoye; that Is i pleasing name; tinkling brooks, th waving green grasses In tbe mead ows. the klne In the water, the fleet Ing sbadowa under the oaks; a r" toral. a bucolic name. To claim For tune for mine own; a happy thought' As be uttered these poesy expres alone aloud. In a voice low and not an pleasing, for all that It was banter ing. the bead porter stared at blm witl mingling doubt and alarm; and aa I to pronounce these emotions mutel; I for tbe benefit of the other, be pr I Bitted his eyea to open tbelr widest I "Tut. tut; that's all right, porter. I am cursed with tbe bablt of speakici my Inmost thoughts. Pome person Si atneted with insomnia; some fs! atleep In church; I thlak orally. Bei i ly bablt. eh r fi 1 IWF Evsrythlfig Worth Whlli titTud to Have Slppiid Through His ringers. ; Ran His Clancs Up and Down tha Columna of Visiting Cards. are. There Isn't a msn living who has gone back of that Mona Lisa smile of hers. If she was tbe last woman snd I was the last man. 1 don't say." He hunted for a cigarette, but faiU-d to find one. "Almost at (he bottom, boy; tbe winter of our discontent, and no sun of York to mske It glorious. Twenty-four hundred st cards, snd to lose It like a tyro! Wallace has taught me all be knows, but I'm a booby. Twenty-four hundred, flrm'a money. It'a a failing of mine, the firm's monv. i Rut, damn It all, I can't cheat a man , at cards; I'd rather cut bis throat." I He found bis pipe, and a careful I search of the corners of bis coat po k-. k-. eta revealed a meager pipeful of to-, to-, bacco. He picked out the little balls of wool, the ground coffee, tbe cloves, . and pushed tbe charge borne Into the . crusted bowl of bis brisr. I "To tbe devil with economy! A pint of burgundy and a perfect o if , tbay hale aa to Jail for It I'm dead tired. I've seen three comers In bell la tbe past two montha. I'm got eg as . far as four sovereign will use me. through his fingers, his pleasure-lov Ing fingers. "Come, come, Horace; buck up Still the ruby kindlea In the vine. N turning back now. Well go on till wi come bang! against the wall. Then may be some good bouts between her and there. 1 wonder what Glocondi would say If she knew why I wss s eager for this game?" He went down to dinner, and the gave blm a table In an obscure corner as a subtle reminder that bis style wsi passe. He didn't care; he waa bungr and thirsty. He could see nearly ever one, evet If only a few could see blm This waa somew hat to bis vantage. ll endeavored to pick out Perclval Alger non; but there were too many hlgt collars, too many monocles. So h contented himself with a mild phllo sephlcal observance of the aoene. Tbi murmur of voices, rising aa tbe wai of tbe violins sank, sinking aa th wail rose; tbe tinkle of glass ar china, the stiver and linen, the prett women In tbelr rustling gowns, tbi delicate perfumea, tbe Hash of ai shoe polisher. It w aa the Ingenious procedure of a man who was used to being out late nights, who made all thlnga answer all purposes. This rspld and singularly carelen toilet completed, com-pleted, be centered his eonoern upoa the more vita) matter of finances. IU waa close to tbe nadir: four sover elgna. a florin, and a collection of bat teres coppers that would have tickled tbe pulse of aa amateur numismatist -No vln'sge tonight, my boy; ao long, fst Havana, either. A bottle ol stout and a few rats of plag-cut; that'a the paoe wall travel this eve wss even now on his w sy to bis room. The urban gentleman nodded. Then, i- with a finger slim and well trimmed. ' he trailed up and down tbe guest list. 1 "Ha! 1 see that you have tbe Duke f of What d'-ye-csll from Germany here. T 111 give you my card. Send It up to Mr. Ryenne. No hurry. I ahall be In - again after dinner." I He bustled off towsrd tbe door. I He was pursy, wtllfed. and decently s dressed, the sort of a man who. when 1 be moved la any direction, created tha I- Impression that he lad aa Important engagement somewhere else or waa |
