Show mystery zap roc sai by E PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM by little brown A C co CHAPTER III continued 19 T you u used to seem very fond ol of ill him in gerald hazarded and lie he C certainly er looked after you jolly well wel I 1 at monte carlo do you mean myrtile asked calmly when he came to your room in the hotel de paris after the supper party gerald was completely taken aback she had turned and was looking m nt at him with her large serious eyes she was deliberately forcing upon him the memory of an episode which he had blurred over in his mind 1 11 I thinking of that altogether he be replied with a certain rare awkwardness all the same all the same what pl please easel she insisted after a moments pause 1 11 I should like you to finish your sentence well from old chris point of view he was doing tile the chivalrous thing and ell 11 II that gerald explained clumsily he must have thought of course that I 1 was going to be a perfect brute were you not she asked ile he was amazed at her coolness she whose purity seemed rather to increase with her larger knonley knowledge knoN led e of the world horld seemed to be him to pleak of those very ugly moments 1 I am afraid that I 1 cant say what would have happened he be admitted 1 I was very much attracted by you bud and YOU the faintest idea what it all meant so you see you do owe him i a very great debt of gratitude myrtile 1 I do riot not think so she replied gerald was more startled than ever her deliberate speech seemed to bring to him almost a challenge you iyoki are about the only person in the world who would say that he observed perhaps so she admitted perhaps too I 1 am the only one who Is in a position to know gerald was poignantly interested lie he looked down domn at her face calm and serious ter lous there was no added color in her cheeks no sign of any confusion you mean that you are sorry that christopher interfered that you would have risked my forgetting all that I 1 ought to have remembered 1 I am sorry that christopher interfered she said bald distinctly at that moment I 1 loved you and I 1 did not know that it was wicked for me to love you yon if afterward you had bad got tired of me as you N would have done then I 1 should have killed myself when v hen I 1 understood der stood but I 1 should hare bave been happy first but arent you happy now he be asked 1 I am very contented sl answered and I 1 am very lery ery grateful I 1 think that no one in the world N orld has ever received such wonderful kindness te 9 as I 1 have but happiness it seems lo jo me Is 1 a thin thing apart it is a great iland a wonderful and a rare gift ift I 1 do not think that very many people possess it although they think they do I 1 should hould have possessed it for however short a time tt it christopher had not interfered gerald was stag staggered gerel it seemed to him that this girl walking so sedately by his side had suddenly become his mo altress was trying to explain to him as though he were a pupil great and elemental things myrelle Myr he declared you surprise me very much I 1 never dreamed that you would feel like that supposing then I 1 were eie to say to you come away from here with me tomorrow come up to london and be my companion cherer ther er you could not do bat she said simply you could not offer me so terrible and so ugly an insult surely you understand that then I 1 did not know that you did not loe ione me 1 I see he murmured 1 I loved you she went on her eyes lifted a little to the interlacing boughs of the trees under which they were passing parsing when aou ou came like a prince to the gate where I 1 stood shaking with terror and laughed at my fears I 1 loved you when you pointed to the end of the road and promised to take me there I 1 loved you in those first few moments and just as it seemed to me then that I 1 had loved you before I 1 was born so I 1 know chati shall lieou loe Io Neou ou after I 1 dle die that Is just the kind of wisdom which even children have where I 1 was vias simple and ignorant was that I 1 did not understand that love could be one sided I 1 thought that thai love belonged to two people now kow I 1 know very differently he began she checked him gravely today the he continued there Is more tor for me me to say bay than for you because I 1 am rather glad that you should understand unda estand only aou ou must not tall talk to me about christopher I 1 am very sorry orry but I 1 think that lie he Is foolish I 1 was a peasant child and I 1 knew nothing but a wise clever maii innis like christopher should understand it 11 terns seems to me absurd that he should think it possible that I 1 might love him ts alt it to lg so absurd that I 1 do not believe hll love lov Is a real thing I 1 think that thai like ace will toon soon forget what to ll to become of you yon then aymer gerald demanded she ab looked up sp it at him elm with a smile mile what happens to nil all those others she asked who go through life RS as I 1 shall go through it they are very content very many pleasant things come their way they are a great deal of suffering so go it will be with me now that we have had this talk gerald I 1 can speak to you perhaps a little more frankly I 1 watch you so closely that I 1 see things thing which others might not notice you were without actual happiness before because you did not understand what happiness was now you are unhappy ua happy appy aliat Is so sad yes gerald admitted admits ed 1 I am unhappy there Is some one for whom you care lie ile had no idea of evading the issue he replied at once simply and directly it is I 1 mademoiselle de portiere Pon lere whom I 1 met at monte carlo and who used to go out with me in the car I 1 have met her again and yet you are not happy 1 I am not happy gerald acknowledged because I 1 have not the least idea whether she cares for me me or not she Is very mysterious she has troubles bles which she will not net let me share it seemed to him that mirtile smiled they were out of the wood now and crossing the park all that you tell me Is very strange she confessed 1 I do do not pretend to understand it one hears bears gerald that in your way boll you have cared for very many women that Is rather a pity but it if it Is true you perhaps do not know your own mind 4 are you sure that you love this youn 1 lady 1 I only know that she makes me feel tind find suffer as no anz on else in the world has ever done he answered a little drearily they were approaching the house now myrtile laid her fingers timidly upon his arm it seems to me gerald she said with a rather pathetic smile that we havee nave changed liang ed ro roles liIs you asked me to P it Is of your father why Is he so troubled about louvi you walk home with you that aou ou might tall talk to me about christopher and now we have finished all that hat and it Is your own on affairs only which i remain there Is nothing about my affairs which even lends itself to discussion ion gerald sighed not at present myrtile assented but in the end there must come hap pines because where there Is to loe e there Is always happiness may I 1 say one word more go ahead lie he answered it Is of your father why Is he so troubled about iou ou gerald frowned 1 I am afraid Myr myrtile lie he said that that is a matter which I 1 cannot explain to you perhaps you are right she admitted 1 I must dare to say gay this S though because you see bee I 1 am with nour father many hours in the day and lie is not so strong ns as he was and so lie be shows his mind more easily something I 1 about you Is worrying him that is not right Is it gerald was silent tor for a moment A telegraph boy who bo had been ridin riding 9 down the drive which curved through the park seeing them had bad dismounted from his bicycle and was wag crossing the turf toward them with an orange col orad envelope in his liand hand gerald took it from him tore it open and read the few lines which it contained then lie he pave gave the boy a coln coin and dismissed him ile he looked once more at the message it Is 4 good news myrtile inquired gravely good enough gerald answered 1 I have been living in a miserable state of uncertainty now it will aill all be cleared up there will be no more trouble then 1 I cannot say gay that he be replied but nt at least there will be b action next I 1 week will see bee the tb beginning of the ta elucidation I 1 leave tor for russia on tuesday 0 0 0 W 0 0 the change in paulines manner when gerald was ushered by an un tidy looking waiter into her sitting room on the following afternoon was almost electrifying in place of her usual languid greeting she sprang tightly lightly to berfert her feet and gave him both her hands the slight sullenness had all gone from her face there was no living person just then who would A not lime found her beautiful you received my telegram the demanded eagerly and I 1 came to you at once was the prompt reply she drew him down to her side ampon the sofa ner her manner and tone displaced an animation entirely new to her ber Reu iser returned the sight might before lat last she said he seems to have had a comparatively easy journey and he reports conditions over there very much more lenient in many ways lie he had no difficulty in landing or in making his way wherever he be wished to go on oil the other hand band the stories he be brings back as to the distress and misery everywhere are simply shocking the tb e country bleeds to death there are few trains running run nine no order no discipline despotic and arbitrary police surveillance everywhere but there Is also corruption people especially the official classes are looking everywhere for the means to live A merchant who was imprisoned only a month or so ago on a charge of murder to which lie he actually pleaded guilty was sst set free the day before left it cost him little more than five thousand roubles coubles rou bles did this man discover dl cover where your brother was gerald asked for ten thousand roubles coubles rou bles she answered ered he be could have searched every police register in russia paul Is 15 at the fortress of st marian Il artan nt at a small email town called sokar about three hundred miles south of petrograd Petro grad it Is a bad journey of course but the place Is accessible the governor of the prison is a major Kross ile he Is half an austrian and half a pole when he Is drunk he Is reckless he Is to be managed with w alth ease but always it Is to be remembered that paul Is his chief prisoner it if paul wre to escape she went on thoughtfully lie he would without a doubt lose his post certainly his promotion he might even have to flee the country to buy him would probably cost a sum of money sufficient t to support him for the rest of his life there are still people who would tear paul to pieces if they knew who he was tills this major Kross gerald inquired does he be speak drench brench fortunately yes was the eager assent tell me gerald what do you think of it all just this he replied 1 I shall sail gall on tuesday there Is a steamer from hull in less than two months I 1 will bring your brother back I 1 her eyes shone she seemed to be trembling in every limb there was ecstasy in her face passion on her auh ering lips yet even as he be drew a little nearer to her gerald was drearily conscious that she had almost forgotten his presence it was the thought of her brother which had wrought this transformation it I 1 bring him back to you pan pall line it he began i asbe budde suddenly aly seized him by the shoulders bring him back I 1 she ghe interrupted passionately 1 I make no bargain I 1 give no promise you should know better than to ask for any such all that I 1 can tell you la Is that I 1 would give my soul to see him again gerald clenched his bla hands almost in pain pauline he pleaded for hea heavens en I 1 9 sake soften just a little you keep me all the time in torment paul shall be set get free I 1 swear it it if it costs me my fortune my liberty even my life he be shall be set free but im doing it tor for love of you my love Is choking me soften for one moment remember what m hat you will be to me some day give me at least a memory to take with me she laid her hand upon bli it seemed to him that it was as cold as the snows her eyes looked into his they were soft and beautiful full of color and sweetness yet they looked through him as though he were a denizen of some other world TO BE CONTINUED |