Show men y 1 I sleep X t X t t X by I 1 it X lane I 1 illustrated d 1 y 1111 VIN MYERS at y X by the century co CHEE MING synopsis john levington a poet visionary and impractical and mary martin the daughter of 0 rich and worldly patents pai enla hear the tha call of lovo love and unite their lives they go to a small michigan city where john finds work in a stove factory and on sundays rites erses T the e martins try in vain to set get the happy wife to leave her husband mary begins to breathe breath for two john loses his job he appeals in vain to the martins mary goes to tho the hospital and never returns thus comes into the story cornelius levington john leaves town and the rity farms out the child two years year later john appears claims hl hla little soil ion an and 1 I takes him with nith him on his h a wanderings Nande rings 0 over ver the whole earth under the same fame conditions do you believe you could have made more of life than con levington made of his CHAPTER I 1 I 1 continued 2 in frisco frico again with the boy nearly four years yean of age john worked in in many an y strange places they I 1 lived ire d near dory street john was a mar marked k e d man inan lie ile did not drink often but lie he chose the most fatal occasions for it the gray blia shadows dows beneath liou cath ills his eyes deepened con 7 a learned to cut b bread IT ad rind and light tile fires it rather solemn outi oung person who nho was well nell a aware w ar e that hat ills fattier father was not always the same ills ees were blue largo a rge ready to trust in tits his consciousness there was no such thing as stranger tile the tr matter iatter home remained worldwide N orld ile he ventured down to tile the steam ferries arid and POD pondered dered the mystery of their endless endlers coming coining and going lie ile loved the strength atren ali of horses as they hauled heaping loads over the cobbles cobbler ile ho wondered what mad madi i the loads so 10 heavy heary and where arid come from froin the fire engines were delightful at night when they passed below the window and he could not get up tip lie lay beside his father and wondered erl what might be burning anti and imagined how hov the smoke would come out oil and blanken the stars star and the lire crackle and curl up high as the firemen en worked from the street streel was it a hig big building burning who was getting burned up tip what would they have done one it if they been burned up tonight to night on some occasions his father would talk but he be was asleep nil all the while anti and how could he know what he was saying cori con listened and it was na 3 like the chink lie ile could not understand the words of either of them but it wati was wonderful to hear there was a rhythmic pulse to these night words of johr levington and upon it con was frequently carried into magic dreams drear rig im going the father usually said this to the hoy in the morning and it lid did not mean he was vas going to ork con understood so much but no more john levin levinston ton said it more and more often con himself became marked tor for different Sin erent at the age of six he felt it lie he tild did nearly everything the boys in tile the dory street neighborhood even the soiled little yellow boys whose play piny was krus weird with forty centuries of asiatic wickedness but con was not always admitted lie could fight and climb was generous and bold put but the clear light in ills his eyes betrayed him he was different at length he realized that things were said concerning ills his father which he be coull could not quite fathom john seemed tired ind and always very gentle drowsy lut but never ready for bed their little kitchen was clean the bedroom belled like father blin himself self a friendly personal scent rather like cinnamon anti anil whisky went anith the kray gray shadowed ees and grew more perceptible when john began to stay tit at home every day being out of work often now john levington would take the ch child ad between hn his knees and 01 ol for a lonk long time steadily into the blue eyes cori con found that this was ivas letter better than baikin talking rie he received ills fattier lain tin nn peri heart giving him niter alter leon leo n john a great cleal is hen aut nt of work ills his eyes were li ilni hiir tit chev T 0 io o now ifune tho ri ri iril ly V but tle bl text next door aus was then us as UI bluys Nays lier bee sparse black blach hair stand ms 1 I out it lit at dingies from froin her bead ll it ownien r lie ore it HIB same nl sy lagged MUT adith gre greant sr in ait sin navid aul it to i tin sidewalk sid watt try in linal nl 14 lou 1 jmj lUll illg lle ill illel it ull t H linlie lin lii sl r lt I cons berk heek a binl 1111 lie ile julilly suffel suffered sulT ciril ed her touch john lovington levington did not reach the cemetery As b he e was lending leading his son soil to that hill the blaze ot of tin an august sun mastered him ills his vitality was gone had left him long iong ince con crossed the street to risk ask at a house for water because father was down doin and could not get up down dowa civics new ambulance thus found its ta premier pre ruler case tile the boy was handed caier 0 er to the latron batron of the city rest room after supper they took him to ills father in the hospital im going said john con was some somewhat closer to tile the ine meaning aning now johns eyes wore more deeply shadowed but een to la this new situation I 1 he lioy boy was rea reassured by the famil farnill hir nr scent of wine nine and cinnamon about the bed tile the young son did not like the funeral ne he refused to weep as instructed ted cut but lie screamed when they let him see that his big father was in the box bos ile he knew nil all about it now he had seen funerals before and thrown stones at them it meant as some said along doy do y street goodnight good night of ills his fat fathers tiers death came cam like a shower of hot needles and then A slow weight eight on his chest it was war unbelievable tomorrow to morrow would he be sit all right it buu must qt be con was wag stupefied so the city council extender extended I 1 its V humanity once more rind and voted care for the waif and it happened that the lowest bidder for his keep was the woman next nest door the cheerful slattern with four of her own and to her foul buelling duelling du elling con went to be raised CHAPTER 11 II tracery in lie darkness of the months and years lint followed con Leving lavington toll did not suffer consciously from tile the horrors of ills lie became much like it arid and through the of sordid experience lie siw saw but vaguely that there was arms more in ill life than tills this whenever anything be beautiful forced its way toward him he could not Inia imagine gille that it might be for himself yet the true heritage in tits his blood was not lost merely his decent poetic young sell self woven and rosed with ait 1 filth th ile he with the lie scum c of f cities after nini ru nying ing away from froin do also took a few music lessons of max markov a young russian spirit in chicago lie ile spent much of his tinie time at a club of question ables yet managed to wake make a firm friend of Pre a spaniard in french diplomatic circles a princely person of ir reproachable standing con uever never realized what an indigestible layer cake lie he was making out of life tile the nearest lie ho ever came to straightening himself out was during recurrences ot of a longing to know borc to see deeper into the lie complexities about him ile he forgot his fathey father arid and mother even forgot the dirty woman whose marks maks were still upon ills his habits but this longing bould come frequently out ot of the wells of his spirit perhaps to be instantly polluted denied smiled down con lid did not believe that real life was tor for such is as himself both to tile the underworld and to the upper realms of society he felt somehow an outsider there was at last a series of bents that hint quickened tits long longing irig to a degree that eliat would not be put aside the pressure of these strange events formed tits his life once for all the better story begins liere lore the final raveling out olit of the ugly leae to in his big lays days through these evearts all the longino longings of early years even the yearnings of thoe hose who went before him were intensified and definitely answered destiny for con levington began swiftly to untangle at a dinner a quiet affair arith one of his newest friends tills this fate laden dinner A was as shaded and silvery served se ri ed for two in I 1 n the smaller dining boorn of the house the bembers of the family were all away except one cecil sat opposite his guest lovington levington and talked candidly of th the e numerous motion picture stars in his golden orbit the guest while attentive and levs r missing his big hosts callo low plea gantries was nas merely hearing bearing up as best ho he might under boredom and at the same time concealing lie commotion in his big heart cori con was aware of destiny the wine nine ws wa expensive it not mellow and tile the cooking was waa undeniably good having been accomplished by cecils own atta clie a chinese whose exl existence tence seemed to begin and end in the night flying son of the We Wed gers cori con taller aller than his fattier father held field a likeness to john levington only about the eyes ind and temples something grave arid and tense that disappeared dIR appeared when he litigated ile he tried not to show the ine strain thi tha this llis hour held for him at although thon li lit in the hie lurn luminous inong haze have of elgar eife iti his features were vere a degree dearee drawn anil nl pale little ills voice had n natural skie tile the eyes blue bIu Kiny i anti annl steady seemed to lo tilde hide none bt bf the ecrett that hovered la in the lines liner his anuth file garille dille est ellowe of u ins hig brow and tiel heid rank 1 allu one olle irh 1110 luil awid beell cult nell conil wed tit lit the henrt con air una n it god li stener ills bere iere aall ell built limbs tle tie s almoite 00 oo 00 inn sKive though lie he ni alloi through Hirou gli abe aalst rind sometimes abashed tit at the fineness of his hands the integrity of this only son of two consummate lovers had bad been tempered in the roaring pits of the world con had never been one to walt wait for temptation As the reticence of childhood had been rubbed away and before a mans dignity had conia come to him he had find heen been famously ready lie he had bad scaled the wills willis around the garden of 0 illusion battered his way joyfully along its paths arid and plunged into every alluring pool ile he had found it its promises worthies worthier and had aged in a dozen yc ars ills inner prompting had taken a false lead but he had no regrets with help he had nt fit length found big hi way out into the clean anil and cooling winds of 0 humanity ne ile had discovered again the treasures of 0 a squall town Loy boyhood hood the satisfaction of open fields the suu sun lu in his eyes Morri morning ln 7 air on oil the slopes was wine to him in the blue rush ruh of the sen sea he tried his strength rind and found it sufficient these were what he had wanted all tile the while cut but the guideposts had all pointed the other way cecil hedgers Wed gers invitation to dinner was avas part of a plan tile the loquacious sprout had no notion that he was being used nor uld old coo con feel guilty to in the deception for he was aris stepping into a work that claimed all ills his best energies the chinese chines servant entered mite like a living shadow bringing fresh coffee cecil junde ande his big own cup into a gloria by ft t with brandy levin ieving in smiled and waved aved the bottle away lop elia 77 01 I 1 0 1 I 1 A 5 j 42 he tried not to show the strain this hour held for him this was mas not so easy as it appeared ills nostrils twitched at the fragrance from his big hosts cup perhaps the chinese understood for he be nodded gravely now cecil to show ills democratic spirit rooke to the servant v very ery nearly as one man might address another chee ming what hat to do you think of a clap who turns deacon and wont drink anything nt at the age of twenty fiver five the chinese chines countenance unfolded a fey few more small wrinkles near the nose and a light appeared in the narrow eyes as chee bling made reply doubtless wise deacon is hardly tho the word declared the young man of twenty five deacons are a thirsty brotherhood cecil considered this remarkable humor lie he v Y as glad he had asked levington I to come the servants face was the yellow gr gray ay 0 of f summer dust and when the light of a moment vanished from his eyes they became smoote wet stones nis his body was spare a kind of unnaturally prolonged youth in it and cecil to publish lh ills his own magnanimity and good taste had insisted that chee ming continue to robe in native dress a loose blousing smock with white sash and narrow straight trousers clice chee bling was scoured and brushed clean tie ile was not young had bad never been young and possibly would never grow old A power that was wire nerved and psychic rad radiated from his motion motionless lesl tonn form the essence of sober cunning showed bowed in ills his countenance ingeb of calm iniquity had wrought lu in the lore of his soul lils his was a face impossible to road read while vi alle a well tamed scorn lurked in tits lilg hands he smoothly retired to the pantry 1 I 1 aas n n telling filing you yoa about my little friend fiend IT II resumed cecil livening to the task yes yec replied tits his guest you yon were golo coin to show tile me her picture PI pinkest HIM thing you ever saw naw as tho pride of the Wed hedgers Ve ders gers coffee won on t lie enough for you 1 you KOP ee cecil left it e table rind hastened h for the of tits his newest darling con heard him whistling us as lie he went up through the des deserlee deser ertee tei mansion alone in the dining room con also arose from the table the tension about hla his eyes was more marked halt a smile balle drew at hla his mouth a cloe gathering of faculties tie he went to the floor door of the butlers pantry and pas ed on through in the low light beyond was chee sling ming taking rare care ot of the silver the face was shadowed showing neither surprise nor interest at the approach of levington yet one bony hand moved along the shelf shel toward the handle of ie e bread knife the t fao 0 o men came together as swiftly as struggling phantoms chee sling ming ans w s built of live tendons the bread knife cam around in the grip of lellow fingers closer over lev ing tons stomach lot but could not go on con pinioned his arms rind and with a pang of regret bent him backward with a force that might have snapped a white mans spine but the chinese would not be broken neither uttered a sound an instant they locked their feet seemed fast to the floor then under necessity the white young ninn dian forgot to be tenderhearted tender hearted a quick gasp of pain came from the oriental lips and chee weapon rattled to tile the floor the victim sighed and crumpled in Leving tons arms on the floor lie he quivered while the victor plunged a hand into the blouse and sea searched the skin con touched a tiny packet of leather warn warm and soft and precious ne he snapped the throng withdrew it stood erect and listened cecil was hum humming as he returned levington released the yellow hands that weakly held one ankle lifted himself out at the pantry window rind and dropped into the be bushes below lit in the darkness artiness he ran across the lawn ebere lie had walked two hours before listening to the endless half c hatter chatter of oe his host ne ile mounted a stone urn the high coping of the wall was within jumping distance from this ns as lie he had noted in ani it light ht |