Show THE GIFT WIFE 0 0 0 by RUPERT HUGHES 0 RUPERT HUGHES SERVICE SYNOPSIS Norsis sr dr david jebb Is a passenger on the crack train the nord express with ostend a his immediate destination he Is bound for lor america W with I 1 I 1 th him Is five year 0 o old id cynthia thatcher h ls charming young temporary ward on the train they meet big bill gaines former classmate and fraternity brother of davids he tells gaines of his mission and of his one unconquerable vice an overwhelming desire tor for liquor jebb feels the urge coming to him again and wants to safeguard the child whose father Is dead and whose mother waits wait her coming in america during a stop stop gaines leaves the train to buy a present tor for cynthia the train pulls out cut without him then jebb Is slightly but painfully injured in a minor accident A tellow fellow passenger gives him a drink which makes his desire tor for liquor all the stronger CHAPTER II 11 continued after cynthia had wasted a long and weary while of tenderness upon the wretch whose torment was so much beyond her comprehension she grew fretful of her own account and began to ask for a story tell me a story bunkie dave 1 I dont know any new ones honey tell about madic carpet s from his chaotic remembrance of that tangled chaos of countless col ored skins the arabian nights jebb brought out a twisted yarn once upon a time there was a poor old sailor named and he was sailing across sahara in a ship of the desert that is the back of a camel youve seen tern em at circuses 0 what wath the name bunkie dave the camels name was clarence I 1 think and he was thinking of his beautiful little daughter oh did the camel have a daughter no its im speaking of 0 what wath her name bunkie dave 0 the daughters name was bridget I 1 believe or patricia I 1 forget which where did little bridghet Brid thet live see here young lady am I 1 telling a story or passing an examination if youre not careful ill make you tell the story she lived in constantinople stantin ople I 1 believe can you spell it the curls shook violently its a C and an I 1 and a constanti and a steeple and a stople and a constantinople this old lyric entranced the child and she had to learn i it t but once mastered she was hot on the trail of the sailor and she forced the frantic mind of jebb back into the harness he went on well as was sailing across the sand and sailing across the sand and a sailing across the sand what should he see ahead of him but a a bottle the word was out and it was like a knife in jebbs heart but he churned on so said to the camel whoa Dob dobbin binl 1 to with the fanatic accuracy of a child in matters of narrative she insisted hith name was Cl arenth right he said whoa clarence and clarence rhoad and threw out the rope fire escape and climbed down and tied clarence to a hitching post that happened to be standing there and he picked up the bottle and pulled out the cork with a corkscrew he always carried and as soon as the cork was out what do you suppose popped out of the bottle milk to not milk but a ugh a geniel genie chath a genie A genie is well its a er see that big cloud out there that looks like a giant on a draught horse well a genie is a terrible being as big as that a kind of a horrible fairy goblin demon and he had been corked up in that bottle by an old magician and he was just aching for some poor fool er fellow to come along and pull the cork so that he could chew him up gasped cynthia cuddling closer what the genie said you see he had been locked up there about three million hundred years and he was hungry and he was just going to gobble up when did mr get scared Scar scared edl his teeth went click like this train but just as the genie was sprinkling some salt on him to make him taste better happened to remember the right charm he waved his wand and yelled abracadabra presto change 0 snicker aneel and you should have seen that genie wilt ile he got down on the ground and said please massa dont put me in the bottle anymore any more let me work for you you see cynthia some people have the magic charm and they can make the bottle genie work for them and cheer them up and be their slave but other poor fellows dont know the word and they become the genies slaves cynthia like most of her sex was not for moralizing moral izing but for plot so jebb went on said look here you black rascal I 1 want to get home and see my little daughter susie her name ith bridghet Brid thet to my daughter bridget and I 1 want to get home quick ayou understand der stand and the genie said yes massa youre to b be Z da in a jiffy to chath a jiffy bunkie Nun kie something I 1 never could find out honey but the genie knew and he brought out a magic carpet did he have it in his pocket he must have had how could he get a carpet in a bottle have to ask him genies are very peculiar but he brought it out and spread it on the ground and said all aboard and stepped on it and the genie said hold fast and rang the bell twice and the next moment found himself at home in constantinople and his little girl what do you suppose was the first thing she said she said what did you bring me for a prethena pret hent to just what she said and her father said to the genie here you black rascal what did we bring the little girl and the genie took out of his suitcase the most beautia ax window of quaint and alien design ful but here we are at cologne honey lets get out and take a breath of air and see the cathedral cynthia like many another cared more for the architecture of event than of stone she insisted 4 but what did the genie bring the little girl well open the suitcase when the train starts again it will do us good honey to stretch our legs a bit jebb was impatient to be moving he could not imagine what was in the suitcase and he felt that if he sat in the train another moment he would leap through the window and carry the glass flying taking cynthia by the hand ne descended from the car leaving all their hand luggage except the small gladstone containing the precious drawings this he carried in t gin gerly manner his turbaned thumb yelping belpin g with pain at the slightest jar learning that the train would rest at cologne some minutes he struck out across the platform cynthia was hungry the loss of the oranges had whetted her appetite there t was a refreshment room in the station but jebb thought they would better step outside and take a look at the cathedral towering above them like a storm cloud of all the eyes that have stared i at that carven mountain in the many centuries since it began to its mass above the town not many e yes eyes could have regarded it with less observation the childs thoughts were turned inward upon the fascinating mysteries of the gift the genie brought to miss bridget jebbs eyes ran here and there like foxes in a cage with the restlessness of a man in torment his shifty gaze was caught by the sign of the dom hotel with the cof fee house adjoining people were seated at tables some of them were reading the papers one finds there all ali of them had some liquor before them jebb shivered with desire his knees wavered the genie of alcohol was fuming from the bottle and he knew no subduing charm it usurped his will he could not wish to subdue it everything on earth became a mirage the two things real were the thirst consuming him and the relief relict at hand throwing off irresolution as something con contemplo temple he stalked ma jestic ally across the street the little girl toddling alongside haud pas acquis she never questioned the probity of her guide if she felt a little fear that they were going too far it was lost in her trust of bunkie dave she made one comment as her feet patt pattered cred across the rough cobbles of the city it dont chmell like cologne nun ki kie e dave A voice came from his high held head so coleridge said honey OLIC she pant pan tedas edias she ran who wath he bunkie dave he was the man who wrote the ancient mariner to who wath he bunkie dave he was the man who slew the albatross chath a alb atroth bunkie dave it was a beautiful bird honey and the man that killed it suffered horribly of thirst you must never never slay the albatross honey never slay the albatross its the unpardonable crime strolling along the domhof jebb and cynthia soon reached the dom hotel jebb took the child to the dining room told an elderly waiter to bring her what she wanted cautioned her not to stir till he came back and kissing her goodby good by made straight for the wine room cynthia had never heard of casabianca but she shared his grit she and the waiter who spoke a little dining room english and had five or six little Kind chen of his own became great friends it was a pleasanter plea santer place to wait than on a burning deck but Cynt hias appetite was soon sated the waiter speedily emptied his english vocabulary and his bag of tricks for amusing a child jaded with delay and still jebb did not return loneliness for her playmate and terror for his loss agitated the child and she was fretting 1 I want bunkie dave I 1 I 1 want nun kie davel and then that cry failing she began to whimper 1 I want my mammal at last jebb arrived at the door of the dining room cynthia precipitated herself across the floor with a shriek of joy that disturbed the solemn room the waiter followed to explain with much joviality and some policy how long and well he had entertained his charge jebb with a remarkable magnificence of manner called for the reckoning and paid it with a gold piece of ten marks and bade him keep the change the rain of gold had begun mr croesus was himself again leaving the voluminous waiter with admiration jebb took Cynt hias hand and they went back to the station in his other hand he still grasped the gladstone his manner to the child was one of lofty tenderness of the courtesy an ancient knight would have shown a ladye of high degree mingled with the absentmindedness of a poet whose thoughts were busied with some great theme seems to me honey that the train was headed other way when we left grobly probably ly im mistaken get turned round easily in foreign countries in his eagerness to board the uain train he tried to walk over and through a gorgeous officer who looked to be at least a taker of cities instead of tickets on demand jebb brought out his pocketbook and produced the remainder of a ticket and a half to ostend he was in informed formea that his train was vor langer gega ngen with an air of angelic patience jebb informed the man whom he called mein lieber general that he desired and intended to take the train standing before him the guard greatly touched by the title he had been a soldier of course informed the distinguished sir that the train was no longer the nord express but the ostend vienna express and that other tickets would be required jebb replied that that made nothing to him out and went to the ticket office where in german of surprising correctness he called for one and one half tickets the man in the cage naturally inquired though in less aristocratic german please for what station my sir jebb smiled airily and quoted a remembered line what stations have you the beard within aavo wavor like wheat and the ticket seller answered with a laugh frankfort am main homburg eh that tastes good to me das kt mir gut CHAPTER III hovering a little this side of sleep his drowsy eyes saw or seemed to see through a window of quaint and alien design a distant tower of soaring stature just visible tn in the dim light of daybreak at its topmost tip the rising sun had coaxed a rose to bloom the rest of the slim shaft was still enveloped in violet shadow in a balcony circling the tower he rather imagined than descried a mote of a figure and rather dreamed than heard a voice far far away and crying allahl akbari allahl akbari al lahu akbari allahl akbari it was only on its fourth intonation that he made out the words and then they meant nothing to him there followed a chant in the same strange language so mellowed by remoteness that it interwove with the dream rug on the loom of jebbs drowsiness the words were strange and there was no meaning only a foreign music in that concluding phrase prayers are better than sleep which the drowsy and dubious muezzin weary of the steep spiral stairway adds to the sunrise azan when his eyes actually perceived the minaret through the latticed window and made out what manner of room he was in he sat up with a start he fell back immediately his nerves jangled like a harp thrown to the floor to move his head ever so slightly was to put himself on the rack but curiosity forced him to endure the turning of his face so that he could study his whereabouts wonder filled him till he thought he was back in a dream the last thing he remembered was a sense of drowsiness on a train in germany but this was neither a train nor germany this is japan thought jebb who had never been there he lay on a sort of 0 wall platform covered with a heap of cotton mattresses over him were spread quilts of delicate fabric on the floor were many rugs tinted like heaps of autumnal I leaves aves this is persia he concluded thinking of the rugs he had never been to persia at some vaguely later period he thought he heard the creak of an opened door and his own leaden eyelids seemed to creak as he heaved them ajar the door was indeed slightly opened and peering into the room was a face it was the black and glistening skull of a negroid something more than a a negro and less than a man TO BE CONTINUED |