Show 0 law e ana 5 e em JJ J J by JEREMY LANE copyright by the century company LOVE AND ADVENTURE IN AN UNKNOWN LAND every american youngster with red blood and an imagination has day dreams of traveling to a strange land of finding there a fair maiden ignorant of the world of bringing her home in triumph of teaching her to live and love and here you have the thrilling romance of such a man and maid an american with imagination vigor and a laugh and 18 year old princess heen of tau kuan empire of the yellow sun beyond the great wal of china older than the tower of babel hidden from the eyes of all the world adventure its in every column of this strange journey on a strange quest through a strange land where the traders and thieves despite their ancient blood feud are always in league against the traveler who would pass to the still stranger land of tau kuan where a strange people worship the strange koresh with its odor of wine and cinnamon and its sleep with dreams of bliss this is no travel guidebook guide book the characters are not automatons the hero is sophisticated and verl ver luman the heroine is unsophisticated and very unhappy and theres no chaperon in this story also for good measure theres an arab maiden whose lips are red and her robes but veils what would you do is a question you wil ask yourself more than once be you man mail or woman reader 11 CHAPTER I 1 the waif there was it a quiet urge in her veins that tool took her to john Leving lovington toll it was a gray feathered night in spring and site she refused to turn back john held beld ler her hands in liis ills rind and could not accept as real the lie great beauty of the world ile he had been 1 writing I verses as faa when ithen she be came to his door and the gentle lines were as at always vials of her hei ili his mary his ils unattainable now the alie flame that lie loved shone forth in glicr ter she threaded her destiny with ills his in tile alie dim dusty hallway outside its his door lie he found her arms arm about liis ills neck all and that springtide eN erting flowered in their liss kiss mary would not go back her family the proper propel martins had estranged her ter blieu they refused to recene the man mail of her the fact that ills his verse had once appeared in print served only to their disapproval ile he could riot not make three hundred a year that irmy ay they would have no more of win arid and no further talk A shining new and silent electric had bail been brought to the porte cocheres and long desired pearls appeared on lier her dressing table these gifts and their bald object won mon only a storm front from mary mar 7 when she had locked her mother from tile the room arid and had lain upon the floor to think arid and resent tile the twilight had found her had touched her cheek and raised her from the ru rug it whispered to her and caused again the familiar tumult jn in her he heart art john her poet twilight pressed the barb of desire in her flesh her thoughts were bittersweet bitter sweet she admitted to herself that it was as not his writing she wanted for he 1111 might not t te be e a great poet she forgot its his delicate praise of her eyes eves her ber lightbrown light brown hair her oung boung limbs all of 0 that might fade some day she loved liim film the most for their moments of silence so while the last robin of the lie day e arolee outside of lier her window and the soft dusk sank upon the trees and lawn she obeyed lier her own heart and went to him 1 I will work he said when they went gaily bosn the stairs of the rooming house boue you will write john she said yes and work with ill my hand bunds too for wages nages I 1 can call make a song of it where shall we go now DOI sit she e asked before another sunset they bad forgotten the name of tile the sal sallow lovi minister who hall had sanctioned their joy they went ent to a small michigan town john worked in a stove factory and come home each night with grimy face and bruised hands to a small house houe hous e that was lit ht with happiness mary was nas in ill ft a shining dream the world was NIBS a place of beauly and tenderness and passion pasion johns day labor was something to laugh at ile he was strong and his bench mates never suspected liim him of writing poetry with his beloney he I 1 would go downtown down town on oil tile the summer even evenings lugs carrying a basket to buy boy groceries they found delight in simple things in ill this small mail Dowa glac michigan their cottage was radiant with cleanliness jolin john grew robust from his work ills his pale blue eyes bbown with a light from within ile he took lightly the mistakes that often cost him a days wages there was enough to him the universe unite te was wag overflowing wit with sunlight tho police come came but went away smiling and powerless then the old butler from marys house came arid and alloy kept liim film overnight until lie he forgot his errand of nia llop and fol found if gripping the liand hand of john levin levington voll glon they parted th aliu butler tort losi liis its position po sillon ain aai later marys fatter fill rr r r runie late her ilar mother aln alio jilt ini flip hp krillic r remained i i lia in aln he r bilsing ril sing to sul eyl ayrs upon the lie cottage it would be enough to ride back to tile the city with her silly daughter dauch ter mr martin had stern ster n though kindly words for his girl and IV would not consent to remain to dinner when nhen john would ile he home mary bade him nn an affectionate goodbye good bye TIN two 0 silent parents returned to t their I 1 i LI r iman mansion slon alone and their eyes were blurred marys flays days were keenly and frankly lived on oil sundays john wrote verses she remembered the night site she had gone to him and laughed a little at that early idea of tole loe which had se seemed me so complete now she knew it had I been een but a guests guess at the w wide lie si leeping truth summer warmth raced full till through ough her body her arms grew round and she breathed more deeply the cosmic life and beauty that were herself mary levington blossomed now in september when the yellow grasshoppers danced zigzag across the scorched clied grass arid and the sun ripened tile apples in the orchard around Dowa glac mary abary began to breathe for two an overwhelming devotion possessed john levington his sacrament the flood of its ills desire seemed to have reached the sea and lie lost him himself elf in ili adoration lie ile asked for nothing trying only to serve to smooth tile way nay for his beloved and the coming of her child sometimes she would say to in him blin john I 1 almost believe I 1 feel his presence our newcomer new comer bome somebody body so friendly and brave ills his personality 11 A and nd john would nod quickly timidly without speaking for the miracle was as beyond ills understanding arid and the path of the gentle newcomer was nas not all clear to him A thousand lovely gifts he be had in mind for mary and her guest aest but he could riot not buy them there was tile the lowly but important matter of coal to burn first to be purchased ills department in ili the factory had filled the war chomes and the men were ere laid off there were nere many cold sitting rooms in dowagiac Dowa giac many chill stoves and in february john was no better provided titan than ills his comrades the grocer had a way may of asking for payment courteous sab bath hound that lie he was until he got lt it but ills his wagon stopped no more in front of the le ing tons john cut down a shade tree for fuel to keep mary warm and the neighbors good to her until lie got out of oe jail where he went because unable to pay tile fine then lie be approached her parents the new butler remembered instructions tj ons and carried them out there Is no one to receive cecelie you sir 1 I am out of work and my my wife needs need home thin bilings I 1 thought r perhaps you have been in ili jail sir yes said john will you let me have a word with mrs martin no sir nut but my wife Is in need of so many bilings arid and a baby Is coming 1 im rn not asling asking for myself if you wont let tile me come in tell A mrs A martin 1 1 artin for me A buzzer sounded within tile the house liou e goodday good day sir mr tile butler had bad turned to answer the summons take the IneR message sage cried john the door clicked shut in his face 13 before e fol e taking tile lie it train oln tor for dowa glac lie sent a short letter to alai marys vs father in the little stove town again ameln lie trod through the fresh snow ow tin tho chimney of its his cottage was white anil and no smoke was as there maiv was in lier ter room she had KIH to tn lied to keep warm clustered al it her wl wrapped a aped in olianis sl ianis more lin hit neighbor women huskily coni till air t ing fig they tuned n awning aling eyer eyes I 1 ii I 1 in it jobel ati 03 lie ho entered somehow I 1 aln be had learned of ills ahli writing and he was wag condemned ue he permitted this poor young thing in that condition to suffer want one especially soiled lady indy had been coming coining tice every lay day to see if mary might not be getting worse in ili truth mary was john knew it ne he banished the harples harpies front from the room even the patent happiness in marys eyes seemed to reproach hint him and lie he went out into the snow fearing the gods of the slated skies the city pool master called and corn meal followed ills his visit there was no DO sign from the city mansion winter broke and even the cold was no longer a decent white the world was bedraggled and sodden hodden john Leving tons dreams had bad withered and any memory was pain for the young mother april ilag as approach to a new country gray mysterious beyond any words and in may its subtle boundary was reached city council took a hand in the matter having baying passed a resolution that luck was against one john levington and his wife the dirty woman oman who dwelt next door came oftener until glicr ter visits left a trail through the house jolin john could not scrub it away mary wont to the hospital her enes ces radiant with heavens beavens feer and slie site never returned of the four ur days that followed her death john retained only certain films of horror A pink puckered manchild placed in ili ills his arms a moment and then taken away black carriages 1 4 aj I 1 i she threaded her destiny with his waiting before bedfor e tile the house coachmen chosen front from tile lie llinge inebriates potted pitted geraniums crowded in ill tile liv ing room to emphasize the lie hideous 1 casket these made liim film a shade in an unreal world his 1113 home vanished ile he aged an and was silent after afler the blacket blackest of obese alu se daas lie renial remained Ded through the alie night on oil cemetery hill pacing bareheaded crossing and rc re crossing the sacred earth that lild bild her he saw her as she had come to him a year before with springtide tiem filing in her touch soft may fire in her eyes to in the darkness be ond the lie failed of cider older sanctuaries john levington pressed ills his cheek to the grass and his heart bloke ile he tiled again the manner of her ione oe impetuous and golden ills hands groped out upon the sod oil ile he longed for her fragrant body his prayer fur for death was unanswered ind and tile the morning robins whistled and mocked september came again t to 0 dowagiac Dowa giac glac find and jolin john levington was only a name there winter closed in tightened dragged past and slay may ardiee to loosen the rheumatism in tile house of it tile the untidy woman iho lio continued to live next to a 11 vacant house yet another september came and the lanfri ton baby anby was becoming till an old and tiresome story the alie city council ivill idrew in favor of in an oralia orphans us home this would be all tile the same ranie I 1 lo 10 0 little con coll but before they could sen send d him away ills his father appeared in ill town john levington had darkened lie he mas tanned about the lie ees und I 1 hiis former bench mates found allo alent ile he was lean almost gaunt and the ibe light in ills eyes was till dim and shifty ITO ho lind had no nore thought of erses elss the tension revision nt at willell which lie lived did d 1 d not produce ile he clil med il ills is son on and in they at set out to lether con coll Is as solidly pleased the fast and noisy aral train mili us a des of all ile fie fill did riot not need in ill 1 bo 1 undressed just list nt at ank 1 uk i hi taw finest it nest pa pan t 0 of f I 1 I 1 lie I 1 e dy dv dago rain ind a ir r larr on in rin ri n 11 mikii morr airm alier nal walli in ill con coll lj ii ith it the his fa her OZ i while darky bo ys black lik d the juvenile k true a on wit the wilhite infant and tousled film reyornes friendly at TorneS re the fists end of tile alley was a high were bo boys the older okler board boar d fence climbing over or b but this was always ys other what ill is on the led con coll denied den worlds solids ot of delicious deli clou 9 side how many in n the gray terror and what passages forbidden maze inaze of Alem pills T he 1 on ti the le pondered small white person and ls ills dress alley stories stones twisted sniffed the sky ile le did not DOI cry 1 because acae his s father lier would come soon and an I 1 g give ive hn him a bath ball and they would eat slipper PP together with a few do dollars ars s saved d john levington went on in the spring and the two year old ro r oiled across t it e 1 lulled by it S plains in a day y coach enchanted with the I 1 I 1 is dusty rhythms rhythm reaches of space con discover discovered w the th 0 stars sars but buth he tafts as always too sleepy to told them so the discovery was endlessly new great snowy ranges printed a iwonder story on the fresh S mind the monster rocks were fabulous inns in co color lorand and dimension A logging og strain stra trall carried them around base of shasta to a saw the swelling 1 mill I vohn john found here a sharp renewal cenewa of ills anguish his sensibilities bulck ancs cS ened in the presence of the mountain his old grief welling afresh in the 00 clean coolness oo ile tolled with tile loggers while con roda avith the es driver of the banty engine or helped the horses uphill by shouting the great rait peak across the gulf gule of air became come a part of the boy ile he breathed ts is purity men of the camp were oud loud friends the two women large ao ares creatures but the woodi wood were item inexpressibly alluring rin and d tile the mout mount aln that was rne fine here lie he besan began to know himself to fix ills his own men iden ity as something more than an answer to the name con this food nourished more titan than body when ten lie he was three ills father let go 0 o their moorings the old tide of rest fess less yearning swayed him and they went to san francisco john lovington levington could not forget ile he drank as other men drink hut but no cup was deep enough and there were other forms of soul dark to be had along dory street here they dwelt the gentle deep sins of tile the orient john leving tons eyes seemed gradually to be sinking into gray shadows little con now a genuine companion a very honest young person became more and more dear to him though never drawing a tithe of the other love they shipped to the philippines and con fargot all that had gone before except tile the mountain and he thought of that only abell the waves ran high the steamer was a gray tramp wet inside and full of smells there nere sails too and malays balays in ill the crew the cook was a chinese named bill and lie ho screamed at con a mad laughter which only himself find and the small boy seemed to comprehend one still night in tile the harbor of nt EIo Elo pura when a dozen lights ts shone inshore in bore through the gloom and the ship made gentle creaking sounds above abone the faint |