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Show lift "Why, You Poor Child, What's Happened to You7" carmoar ahvi ey SYNOPSIS. , At private view of ths Chutworth 'ritoiiAl ih(hi, to l iiolil at auction, tlm 'hut worth ring, known tut thn Crew Idol, inyMlrrtouKly ihmipprai'H. Ilarry Cn-miy, who wu pieRi-nt, ihnri llim the rum to iU flumee, Flora. Hilary, hihI hrr i hap-'riiii, hap-'riiii, Mrt. Clara Di ll ton, mm Im-iiix hk a Ix'uilii-n Kl, with a beautiful nupphlre et In the head. Flora meets Mr. Kerr, mi KiigliHhmaii, at tlm chili. Ill ilia-I'li.tMni? ilia-I'li.tMni? the tlin.ipiM-iii iiin o of tha rliiK, th" uphills of mi Kiigllali thief, Fum-ll Wand, ar reriillrd. Flora, ha h fum y Unit Hairy nnil Kerr know something h tiniit the. mystrry. Korr tells I' lorn thi be him met il.irry somewhere, hut iinnot .filiii f him. t-M" reward In offered fur he return of tlm ring. Hurry admits to Hum that h illitlik' Kerr. Harry lake Flora to a Chines ohhiiill h'a to huy an niiHKi'iiiint ring. An xtu ml i aupjdilr nt In tt hoop of brain. In nrlei-teil. Hurry i her not to wear It until lt,l r'm't. Tin1 ihwmi'HhIiiii of th"' rlnie seem to east a m'll over Flora. Sim lin-nines uiieuay -a tit) apprehensive, f lora meet Kerr at a lio t,irty. 8hi I al.irllt.-d hy the effort utt litm when hi gel a kHimi" of Ihn Hiipphlro. The poMlhilliv that tha mmin In part of Hi' t'rrw Idol ruoa-a Flora fnorh anxiety, t'mtepii, Flora illaeovci ''lull ratiKiirkltiK hrr droning room. Morn refuse to kIvm or sell tin stone to Ki'lT, Hllil HIIKpei Is hllll of luting tha thief. I'lor.i'n Intm-st In Knr Ini-iruum, Hno derides to return th ring to Il.irry, hut In trIlK lo-r lo keep It tor it ilny or two. 1,11a Hiiller t.'llu Mora that Clara In set-tinit set-tinit hrr rap for lo-r fathrr. .Indue Holler Mora LrlWArn llairv aiotperlH Iverr ami In walling to iiihKm euro of tlm reward Im-foie Im-foie uniiiauklitg the llih f. Clara kh'Hik to la tlllrnl Hhollt ftofllrl hitlg. Krrr Htnl ''lura roiifma thrlr hue for earli olhrr. (CHAPTER XVII. (Continued.) The child furtively tested Iut roln, biting It as If to taste thf glitter, ami liora waited, lost, Riven up hy her-Keif, her-Keif, passively watching for the room to liu filled again with 1'Ih presence, lie was hack niter a long inliiule, and tliln lime took up li 1m stand at t ho door, where, punning aside the tlght-(liunn tlght-(liunn curtain a little, from time to time ho looked cut Into the Btreet. Soinellities his pyen followed tho tt uck of th pliiHlered wall, bouk-intiin bouk-intiin ho itudled th Hoot at hla feel; very momtnt Mh saw ho wan alert, expectantly watchlriK and wbIHiik; nitl though h never looked at her Hitting Hit-ting behlntl him, hu felt hl protee-'lion protee-'lion between her and the darkening street. She Bat In th shadow of It, relliis It all around her, claiming her ;n It would claim her henceforth, from tin; world. A i;hott of lilit glimmered along the rurtaiiin of t In window-, and flopped, qulvoritt. In tho middle of the curtained door. Then In turned and beckoned her. Kheer weukneKB kept her (tit tins. lie went to her, took her face between his hand), and looked Into it long and Intently. "You don't want to go!" Tho word fell from (tin II pa like an areuxal. Ilia Hiiddeii realization of what Mie felt tield him there dumb with dlnappoint-tiient. dlnappoint-tiient. "Yon have won nie," her look was miylng. "and yet I havo Immediately Immedi-ately become a worthleaa thing, bo-auHo bo-auHo I am going; and I don't bellevo In goltiK." Hhe felt she had failed him how cruelly, was written In his fare. Hut It was only for a moment that he mad him hesltato. The next fin ahook himself free. "Well, couiM he said. Hhe felt that all doors would fly open at hla bidding. She felt herself swept powerless at his will with all I tie yielding In her soul that sho had felt In her body when his arms wore around her. He had taken her by th hand ho was leading her out Into the gusty night, where all lights flared the gas-lights marching tip the street, i.vor tho hill Into the unknown, anil Hie lights gleaming at her like eyes m the dark bulk of tho carriage waiting wait-ing beforo the door. It all glimmered before her a picture she might never see ngalu might not see after she N . passed through the carriage door that ,vapod for her. The will that had nwept her out of the door was moving iter beyond her own will, as It had moved her that tnorulng In tho gar- len, beyond all things that she kmw. There was no feeling left In ber but (ho despair of extreme surrender. She found herself In the rarriage. She saw his face In the carriage door is pale as anger, yet not angry; It wm some bigger thing that looked at tier from his eyes. He looked a long w hile, as If he bade her never to forget for-get this moment. Then. "111 give you 24 hours," he said. "This man will take you home." He shut the carriage ..Joor shut It between them. Before ahe bad gathered breath he had straightened, fallen back, raised his hat, and the carriage was turning, flora thrust her head, straw hat and ribbons, out of the window. "Oh, I love you!" she called to him. She nank back In the cushions and covered her face with her hands. CHAPTER XVIII. Goblin Tactics. For a little she kept her face hid-Jen. hid-Jen. shutting out the present, Jealously Jealous-ly living with the wonderful thing that bad happened to her. It was as wonderful as anything the had t dreamed, might come when she had mrltteft him that letter. And If she needed any proof of Ms love, she had had It In the moment when he had let her go. There t had transcended tier hope. He hsl been wonderful In a way she bad r.ot expected. He had fthovu ber so beautifully that he could be rearbed to sp.te of hla obsession. -M'tLt not the hop to touch him just .a little further? Was there any height now that he might not rise to? She seemed to see the possible end of It all shaping Itself out of his magnanimity. mag-nanimity. She seemed to see hi in finally relinquishing his passion for the Jewel, and his passion for her for the sake of something finer than both. She. looked out of the window. The flickers of gas lamps fell Intermittently Intermittent-ly through It upon her. Her queer vehicle was rattling crazily Jolting as If every spring were at Its last leap. She was out of the quiet, blue street. Montgomery avenue, with Its lights. Its glittering gilt names and Utlln In slgnla. was traveling by on either Bldo of her. The volt e of the city was growing louder In her ears, the crowd on the pavement Increased. She sat looking out at the maze of moving lights and figures without seeing them. Intent on an Idea that was growing clearer, lnrger, moment by moment In her mind. I Kerr's appearance In her garden his rapture of her had not been the fantastic freak It had seemed. He bad had his purpose. He had taken her out of her environment; he had carried car-ried her beyond succor or menace Just that he might carry them both so much further and faster through their differences. They had not reached the point of agreement yet, but might they not on some other ground, where they could be unchallenged? unchal-lenged? It seemed to her If she could only meet him on her own ground for once Instead of for ever on Clara's or Harry's only meet him alone, where beyond their roach, It might be accomplished. It might be brought to the i tid she so wished. Tlm hack, which had been moving along at a rapid pace, slowed now to a walk among the thickening traffic, and from a mere moving mass the crowd nppeared as individuals a stream of dark figures and white faces. Her eyes slipped from one to another. Hero one stood still on the lamp lit corner, looking tlown, with lips moving quickly ami silently. It was strange to see those rapid, eager, moving lips with no sound from them audible. Then her eyes were startled by something familiar In the figure, though the direct down glare of the ball of light above him distorted the features with slindows. She pressed her face ngalnst the window glass In palpitating doubt. It was Ilarry. She cowered In tho corner of the riiiliitge. In a moment the risks of her situation were before her. Had ho seen her? Oh, no, at least not yet. Ho had been too Intent on whomever h was talking to. She peered to make sure that be was still safely on the street corner. He was Just opposite, op-posite, and now that the eddy of tho crowd had left a little clear space around him, she saw with whom ho was talking. It wa.i a small, very small, shabby, nondescript man possibly pos-sibly only a boy. so short he seemed. Hla back was toward her. Ills clothes hung upon him with an odd tin-Anglo-Saxon air. He was foreign with a forelgnness no country could explain Italian, Portuguese, Oreek whatever bo was, he was a strange foil to Harry, Har-ry, so bright and burnished. The hack was turning. She realized re-alized with dismay that it was turning sharp around that very corner where they stood. Suppose Ilarry should chance to glance through Its window and see Flora (Illsey slttlng'trembllng within. The hack wheezed and crumped, and all at once she heard It scrape the curb. Then she was lost! She looked up brave In her desperation, despera-tion, ready to meet Harry's eyes. She saw the back of his head. For a moment It loomed directly above her, then It moved. He was separating from his companion. With one stride he vanished out of the square frame of the window, and there remained full fronting her, staring In upon ber, the face of his companion. I 'tick flashed to her memory the goldsmith's shop dull hues and odors all at onee and that wide unwinking stare that had fixed her from the other oth-er side of the counter. The blue-eyed Chinaman! In the glare of white light, In his terrible clearness and nearness, she knew him Instantly. The hack plunged forward, the face was gone. Hut she remained nerveless, nerve-less, powerless to move, frozen In ber stupefaction, while her vehicle pursued pur-sued Its crazy course. It was clattering clatter-ing up Sutter street toward Kearney, where at this hour the town was widest awake, and the crowd was a crowd she knew. At any Instant people peo-ple she knew might bo going In and out of the florists' shops and restaurants, restau-rants, or passtig her In carriages. And what of Flora Oilsey In her morning morn-ing dress and garden hat. In a night-hawk night-hawk of a Telegraph Hill hack, flying through their midst like a mad woman? wom-an? They were the least of her fears. She had forgotten them. The only thing that remained to her was the memory of Harry and the blue-eyed Chinaman together on the street corner. cor-ner. She had been given a glimpse of that large scheme that Harry was carrying car-rying forward somewhere out of her sight such a glimpse as Clara had given her In the rifling of her room, as KUa had shown In her hysterical rerltlon. Again she felt the threat o these ominous sisns of danger, as a lone general at a last stand with his troops clustered at his bark sees In front, and behind, on either side cf him. the glitter of bayonets In the buhe. She was In the nild.st of the Ian gled traffic of Kearney street. Swim-ining Swim-ining lights and crowds were all tween the curtains of the drawing-room, drawing-room, Harry, tad behind him Clara, looking out at her with faces of amazement, and she fancied, horror. Harry came straight for her. "Why, you poor child, what's happened hap-pened to you?" She gave him a look. RJie couldn't forget their scene In the red room, but the mixture of apprehension and real concern In his face went far toward to-ward melting her. She might even have told him something, at least a part of the truth, but for that other standing watching her from the draw-Ing draw-Ing room door. With Clara, there was nothing for It but to Ignore her disordered disor-dered hair, her hnt In her hand, her ruflle torn and trailing on the floor. She put oi a splendid nonchalance, as If It wers none of their business. "Oh, I am sorry If I kept you waiting." wait-ing." It was Clara who spoke to hor, past Harry's blank astonishment. "Why, we don't mind waiting a few moments more while you dress." "I shan't have to dress." Such a statement Flora felt must amaze even Shima, waiting like an Imago on the threshold of the dining room. Hut If these people wore waiting to be nmnred she felt herself equal to nniszing them to the top of their expectations. ex-pectations. "Oh. but at least go tip and let Marrlka give yon some pins," Clara protested, hurrying forward as If fairly fair-ly to drive her. "Thank you, no, this will do," Flora said. On one point she was quite clear. She wasn't going to leave those two together for a moment to discuss her plight; not till she could first get at Harry alone. Then and there she turned to the mirror and with her combs beg;in to catch back and smooth the disorder of her hair, seeing all the while Clara's reflection hovering perturbed per-turbed and vigilant In the background of her ow n. While her hands were busy seeming seem-ing to accommodate Clara, her mind was marshaled to Clara's outwitting. The only thing to do was to tell nothing. Let Clara spend her time In guessing. 1'nless by some w ild chance she had seen Kerr In the garden she couldn't come near the trulh of what had hapicticd. Hut what was to be done Willi Ilarry? Harry wits too close to ber o be Ignored. At that dreadful dinner, whore she sat a conscious frustrater of those two silent ones, g'nnting at Harry's face, she knew that If she didn't attack she would bo attacked by him. It was here In the midst of the noiseless passings of Shima, watching Harry's suspicious glances flashing across the table at her, strange disorder, that the Idea occurred to her of n way out of It. She was bold enough to try a daring thrust at the mystery. If ever a hunter was to be led off on a false scent, Harry was that one. She was amazed at the sudden, fearless Impulse Im-pulse that had sprung up In her. She wasn't even afraid to say to him under un-der Clara's nose, "Harry, I want you to myself after dinner. Come up Into the garden study." He was very willing to follow her. She thought she detected In his alacrity alac-rity something more than curiosity or concern. It seemed almost as If Harry Har-ry was ashamed of that scene In the red room, and anxious to make it up with her. He even tried before they had reached the head of the stairs. "Oh, Flora I say. Horn, I" Hut an explanation between them was the last thing she wanted Just then. She fairly ran, leaving blm panting In the wake of her airy skirts. For the first time since the thing began Clara was left out completely. Mora knew the was even left out of a possibility of listening at the keyhole. key-hole. For the bright, tight, little room Into which Harry followed her was approached by a square entry and a double door. The room Itself overhung over-hung the garden as a ship's deck overhangs the sea. leather books and long red curtains were the note of It She nntl Harry had often been here together before. He hadn't got his breath. He had hardly shut the door on them before she begun. "Well, something has happened." She had his attention. His other purpose was arrested. "Oh, something extraordinary. I would have told you on the spot, only I thought you would rather Clara didn't know tt" "I?" Ittt left him staring. "What have I to uo with It?" At this she gave him a long look. "It was through you he ever had the chance of seeing nie. I mean the blue-eyed Chinaman. He has followed follow-ed me all the evening. He followed me here to the very door." Flora's array of facts fell so fast, so bard, so pointed, point-ed, that for a moment they held him speechless In the middle of the room. Any fleeting suspicion she might have had of his complicity In the Chinaman's pursuit vanished. He showed plain bewilderment. For a moment he was more at sea than herself. her-self. The next she saw the shadow of a thought so disturbing that It sharp etied bis ruddy face to harshness. He stepped toward her. "What did he say to you?" He loomed directly above her. threatening. "Nothing, lie didn't say anything Hut I know be followed nie qutt to the bouse I saw- bis shadow a!l the way down the hill" Harry still breathed quickly. "Win re how did he come across you?" She'd been pr parrd for the qu-s t.oti - "I was driving down Sutter street snd b saw ci at lit f j'li.g- win d')W Harry stood tense, poised, catching everything as she tossed It off; ther as If all at once be felt the full weight of the burden, "Ixird!" ho said, and let himself down heavily into a chair It was plain in hla helpless stare thai he knew exactly what It ull meant Laying her hands on the high chair arms, leaning down so that sho could look Into his face, Flora made hoi thrust. "What do you think he wants?" sh gently asked. It was as if she would coax It out of him. His answer wai correspondingly low and soft. "It's that damned ring," She heard her secret fear spoken aloud with such assurance that swf waited, certain at the next moment Harry's voice would people the si lenee with all the fncts that had sc far escaped her. Hut when, after a moment of looking before him he did speak, he went back to the beginning which they both know. "You know ho didn't want to pari with It In the first place." "Yes, yes; but be did." Flora In Slsted. "Well," he answered quickly, "but that was before " He caught himself him-self nnd went on with a scarcely per eeptlblo break: "He may have had a better offer for it Blnce." He couldn't have put it more mildly, and yet that temperate phrase brought back to her In a flash a windy tiiKht full of raucous voices and the great figures In the paper that had covered half a page the reward for the Crew Idol. Could It be that thut sum so overwhelming to human caution and human decency which Harry had cloaked by his grudging phrase "some belter offer?" What else could he mean? And what else could the blue-eyvd blue-eyvd Chinaman mean by bin strangt pursuit of her? "Some one must have wanted It awfully," Mora tried again, keeping step with his mild admission. Ilarry covered her with an Impressive stare. "There's something queer about that ring." he nodded to her. He wan going to toll hor at last! She gazed at blm In expectation, but presently she realized that nothing more wn coming. He had stopped nt the beginning. be-ginning. She tried to urge blm on. "Queer, what do you mean?" She was feigning surprise. Ho looked at her cautiously. "Why, you must have noticed It yourself when we were at the shop. And now, to-night, his having followed you." Sho could see him hesitate, choosing choos-ing his words. She knew well enough ber own fear of saying too much but, what was Harry afraid of? Did he suspect her feeling for Kerr? Wan that why he was holding back, leaving leav-ing out, giving her the small, expurgated expur-gated version of what he knew. Shu tried again, making It plainer. "You think the ring is something tin ought not to have had; something that belongs somewhere else?" He looked away from her, around the room, as If to pick up his answer from some of the corners. "Well, anyway, any-way, It's lucky we waited about that setting." he said with f,nlck Irrelevance. Irrele-vance. "If you're going to be annoyed in this way you'd better let mo have It." Why hadn't she thought of that! was what any man might say, after hearing such a story as hers, yet it was the last thing she had thought of, and the last thing she wanted. "Oh, leave It with me," she quavered, quaver-ed, "at least till you're sure!" "Oh, no!" He gave his head a quick, decided shake. "If something should come out. you wouldn't wnnt to be mixed up In it." "Then why not give It back to the Chinaman?" the tried him. "Oh, that's ridiculous" He was In a passion. His darkening eyes, his swelling nostrils, his aspect so out of proportion to her mild and almost playful suggestion, frightened her. He saw It and Instantly his mood dropped to mere irritation. "Oh. Flora, don't make a scene about It. This thing has been on my mind for days the thought that you had the ring. I was afraid I had no business to lot you have It In the first place, and what you've told nie to-night has clean knocked me out. I don't know what I'm saying. Come, let me have It; and If there's anything queer about the business, at least we'll g t It cleared up." Hut, smiling, she retreated before him. "Why. Flora." be argued, half laughing, laugh-ing, but still with that dry end of Irritation Ir-ritation In his voice, "what on earth do you want to keep tho thing for?" Hy this time she backed against the window and faced him. "Why, It's niy engagement ring." He looked at her. She couldn't tell wh"thr he was readiest to laugh or rage. "You gave It to me for that." sh rleaded "Why rhouldn't I k.vp It, until you give me a rel reasi.n for giving it up? if you really know anything, any-thing, who don't yo.i till me . Hut was sure h him there; but h teirst out at lsnt: 'To LI-; CONT1MXU start up again heaven knew where, perhaps at her very carriage window. Her unconscious tand was doubled to a list upon her breast, fast closed upon the sapphfe. With all her body braced, she leaned and looked far backward, and far forward, and now for a long time saw nothing. The distance was empty. The glare of arc-lights showed her the shadows of her own progress the shadow of hor vehicle shooting huge and misshapen now on the cobbles, cob-bles, now along a blank wall, wheels, body nnd driver, all lurching like one; now heaped on each other, now tenuously tenu-ously drawn out, now twisting themselves them-selves Into shapes the mind could not account for. F'or here, whirling the corner, the carriage seemed to wave an arm and now between the w heels, fast twinkling, she saw a pair of legs. She leaneil and looked, so mesmerized with this grotesque appearance that It scarcely troubled her that all the way down the last long hill she knew It must he that a man was running at her wheel. The warm lights of her house were Just before her, offering succor, stiffening stif-fening courage. It would be but a dash from the door of the cab to her own door. There was no second course, once the cab stopped. She felt that to lurk In its gloom would mean robbery, perhaps death. She thought without fenr, but with an Intense calculation. cal-culation. Her band held the door at swing as the cnb drew tip. Hefore It should stop she must leap. She gathered gath-ered her skirts and sprang sprang clean to tho sidewalk. The steps of her house rushed by her In her upward up-ward flight. Her bell pealed. She covered her eyes. For the moment before Shima opened the door there was nothing but darkness and silence. She bad never been so glad of anything In her life as of the kind, astute, yellow face he presented to her distressed appeal. ap-peal. "Shima," sho panted, "pny the cab; and if there's any one else there say that I'll call the police no. no, send him away." There was no question or hesitation in Shlma's obedience. Through the glass of the door she watched him descend upon his errand, until be disappeared over the edge of the Illumination of the vestibule. She waited, dimly aware of voices going on beyond the curtains of the drawing room, but all her listening power was concentrated on the silence without a silence that remained unbroken, and out of which Shima returned with the same imperturbable countenance. "Me wants ten dollars" "Oh, yes, give him anything," Flora gasped. If that was all the Chinaman China-man bad followed her for! Hut her relief was momentary, for Instantly Shima was bark again. "I gave him ten dollars, the cabman" cab-man" Now she gasped again. "Oh, the cabman! Hut the other one?" For an Instant Shima seemed to hesitate; glancing nit her shoulder as If there was something that be dotibt-d behind be-hind her. TI (jn as sr-e still hung on his answer be brought It out In a lowered voice. "Madam, lii t e was no one t'f-e there" CHAPTER XIX. Th Face lnth Garden. ' With her hand at b r di. rewd j forehead she turned, and saw, be- around her. She peered forth cautiously cauti-ously upon It. She saw a florid face, a woman she knew casually and there her eyes fastened, not for the woman's brilliant presence, but for what she saw directly In front of It, throw n Into relief upon Its background a short nnd shabby figure, foreign, equivocal, reticent, the figure of a blue-eyed Chinaman. lie was standing still while the crowd flowed past him. This time he was alono. Ho seemed to be waiting, yet not to watch, as If ho had already seen w hat ho was expecting nnd knew that It must pass his way. It was uncanny, un-canny, his reappearance, at a second Interval of her route, standing as If he bad stood there from the first, patient, pa-tient, expectant, motionless. It was worse than uncanny. All at once an Idea, wild and Illogical Illog-ical enough. Jumped up In her mind. Couldn't this miserable vehicle that was lumbering like a disabled bug move faster and rattle hor on out of reach of the glare, the publicity, the threat of discovery, and, above all, of hor discomforting notion? She thrust her head far out and ad-ilrossed ad-ilrossed the driver. "f!o as fast as you ran, faster! and I'll give you twice what he gave you." The words rang so wildly to hor own pars that she half expected the driver lo poor down like an old bird of prey rrom his perch and demand hor reason. rea-son. Hut he made nn sound or sign. It may have been that In his time he and heard even wilder requests than Iters. He only sent his whip cracking forward to the ears of the lean horse, mid the cab began to rattle like a mad Lhlng. Horn leaned back with a sigh of relief. re-lief. The mere sensation of being home along at such a rate, the sight of houses, lamp-posts, even people here and there, flitting away from the eye. unable to Interrupt hr course, or even to glimpse hor Identity, gave her a feeling of safety. The more she was getting Into the residence part of the city, the more deserted the streets, the closer shut the windows nf the houses, the more It seemed to her as If the night Itself covered and shotted her flight. So swiftly she went it was only a wonder how the rab held together. She had never traveled more rapidly In her light and silent carriage. Now they whirled the rorner and plunged at the steep rise nf a cross street. Just above, over the crown of the hill, she saw the sky, moonless, blackish, spattered with stars. Then against It a little fluttering flutter-ing shape like a sentinel wisp the only living thing In sight. It wai Incredible. In-credible. Impossible, horrible that he should be there, in front of her, waiting wait-ing for her who had driven so fnt too fast. It had seemed, for human foot to follow. Hy what unimaginable route had he traveb-d? She was ready to believe be had flown over the housetops. And shove all other horrors, hor-rors, why was l pursuing her? The carriage was abreast the Chinaman China-man now, and Immediately he took up his trot, for a little while keeping up, dodging along between light and shadow, presently falling behind. At Intervals site beard the patter, patter, flatter of Ms footstep following, at Intervals she lost the Found, and shadows would engulf the figure, and she would wait In a panic for Its a-pearance. a-pearance. F'or she knew It wa there somewhere, on one side Of the utreet or the other. Hut, oh, rot to e t! To expect at any niouient it might |
