Show the roo M d by E phillips oppenheim Oppy right kj by battle dro brown n A co CHAPTER III continued 20 when I 1 give I 1 give all she said you do not understand the people of 0 my race we cannot give in driblets drib lets a kiss here berea a caress there the promise of more mor e tomorrow god never madi made russia like that when 1 I 1 give it wll viii tic lie the full glory of love bring paul pau back to me and you may ma know what whal that can mean gerald rose to his feet 1 I should go to my task a stronger stron gei nan man he complained a little bitterly if you could throw me the dole one might give to a beggar she gave him her finger tips she was standing by ills his side so near that the lie desire to hold bold her in his arms and take from her lips the one kiss tie lie craved was almost irresistible at that moment he almost hated her na vent you even the grace to pretend he muttered she laughed wringing her fingers slightly as though his lips had seared them you have been spoilt she murmured the women you have played with have been your too willing slaves A trifle of lio niAge a trifle of philandering ti a few shadowy caresses that Is all you have known of love wait gerald spent nt that after afternoon noon in the city the next nex few days in making restless preparations for liis ills absence from london on the afternoon of the last lay day he was permitted to see and aind lie recognized in him at once the man whom he had seen watching over madame de ie confere and her niece in hyde park the meeting tool took place in the sitting room of the south ken elington hotel Rei isser who leaned heavily upon two sticks was brought thither by a tall youth his son who waited for him outside the door he was as thin as a skeleton his cheeks were sunken and aery now and then his voice seemed to die cite away it Is my coy first day out of the hospital he told gerald apologetically 1 I caught cold on the way back and my lungs are not good please ask what questions you desire I 1 am subject to attacks of weakness 1 I understand gerald said that you reached sokar 1 I reached it he be admitted hut but alas I 1 was poli powerless erless to act I 1 took with me every penny of money we could scrape together but by the time I 1 reached the city I 1 was penniless I 1 lodged at the house of a saddler whose name you will find in the book I 1 have given you lie he took me to look at the fortress he showed me tile the room where here A the brother of mademoiselle lies iles re he told me much about major kross the commandant of the fortress cut but of what avail was it we had not enough money between us to pay for a bottle of wine aine now do you tou propose gerald inquired that I 1 can approach kross the way Is arranged Ite usser replied eaverly there Is a woman living in the town half germar german half english her name Is elsa francks today Kross Is 18 her slave you go first to her iier her address Is in the little book you have she speaks english and french besides her own language even some russian talk to her frankly she will bring you to Kross there is one thing though you must go as an american no one will dc ant anthine an thing bing to help you although they are all greedy for money it if they think that you are english it will be quite easy that there are many americans in russia prospecting there Is a great oil field on the plains south of some say there Is of oil there others deny it that Is liow low your bribes must be worked you will buy property it will be worth nothing you will find that krossner krossnes Kross nes has land to sell so has aisa 1 I understand gerald said you leave tomorrow at ten from kings cross gerald assented the boat leases leanes at night renar Ren Renit Kr ser raised his right hand blind tile the father of god speed youl you he sold sp speed eed Is very necessary the government has kept that young man alive hoping that some day he would bo be useful as a bribe or a hostage but there are still many fanatics in russia russa haters baters of his race who would tear him limb from froin limb if they knew 1 I shall be in Petro petrograd Pet grad in a fortnight gerald declared and at sokar 1 hope a few days later once more raised his hand and muttered inaudible words nevertheless th eless though ills his strength seemed departed lie he tried to kneel whon when pauline came into the room fhe raised him to ills his feeland called to ills son all 1 Is 13 3 well ell she said dismissing them take care of your strength you must be one of the first to vel welcome come him the man bowed ills head anil and prayed silently then ills hla sou son led him away gerald Geraid also rose to ills his feet ile he hail had nerved himself for this interview 1 I shall have tile pleasure ot of wish ing madame farewell lie asked my aunt sends bends you her excuses ant ana her pauline replied slie she to too agitated to risk a meeting you do not quite know what ahat this means to 1 ns is 1 I know gerald said what its results wry may mean dinean to tile me she looked at him a little sadly uy unhappy country she sighed 1 is I tolay bolay finly a furnace of woe ana an 4 suffering yet in the jumble of it there ar are a few millions s still who would kneel through the night and pray for you if they knew your mission I 1 bid aou ou farewell gerald and every throb of af my body will live with you I 1 have sworn that no word vord of love shall pass my lips nor any feeling of love linger in my heart so long iong as my brother lies iles in that fortress but I 1 am liere here I 1 would give you anything that would s speed you on 5 lour our journey it is for you to choose she stood perfectly passive her arms hanging banging by her sides her eyes looked sadly into ills his her lips were nere composed lind and still for a moment the tires burned in his blood ile he took a quick step fo forward rard she waited unmoved bet et without shrinking so they faced I 1 one another for a moment she extended her hand gerald seized it then dropped it 1 I shall do my best he promised hoarsely goodby she listened to ills departing toot loot steps she even moved to the window watching him leave the hotel and step into his NN waiting alting automobile lie ile was well enough to look at good looking as ever in his slim bithe way and with his fine carriage nevertheless there was neither love nor pride in her eyes as she watched him there was something else which seemed to point back down the avenues of the history of her family something perhaps which had sounded the knell of their doom generations before it was there in her lips her eyes spelled out in her fixed stare the cruelty of it race whose hose heart Is given only to passion chapter IV gerald worn out with long iong and comfortless fort less travel pulled the long iron bell outside the closed door of elsa francks house in sokar with a sense of relief that the first part of his quest was accomplished the street was one which formerly had been possessed of some pretensions the houses were tall solidly built and had bad apparently patently ly been occupied by a wealthy class of merchants they were now mostly let out in teze tenements ments exactly P gerald rose to his feet fact and bowed opposite where gerald stood waiting men and women shrunken n looking creatures most of them were continually pasing in and out of a broad Ln entrance trance from which illch tile the gates had been done away with altogether with sacks or baskets of partly finished boots and the sound of fitful hammering seemed to denote a factory devoid of machinery in the center of the road were some rusty rails around which some grass was growing the remains of an electric car service ace most of the houses seemed empty or overfull locked and battered with nith broken window frames and closed shutters or converted into tenement houses the long iong street full of holes and strewn with all manner of refuse in a steep bill 1111 1 way beyond it tile so bo called fortress a sL alster sli lster gray building of many stories glittered in the afternoon sun the denor in front of which gerald was standing was suddenly opened A dark corpulent woman oman dressed apparently in nothing but a petticoat and bhail thrust out her bead gerald handed her a card on which vl ilch through the friendly offices of the hotel porter was inscribed his desire to see madame francks the woman oman turned it over looked gerald up and down donn with ith wide mouthed astonishment and finally motioned him to enter ener As soon as lie he had done so and stepped into the little cobbled courtyard she drew tile the bolt and muttered something which he understood us an invitation to follow her slie she pushed I open n u heavy door on oil the hie right and they ascended a gloomy staircase the atmosphere was close almost tt ining there seemed to be no window or any means of ahing light or arrived on the first floor slie she throw open the door of a room and departed with a wholly holly incomprehensible grunt outside the begun began to shout waar bently through the door of another apartment there was a Nig vigorous orous duet ahe other voice shrilled shriller sh riller but scarcely more pleasant then there was sf silence lence followed by the sound of some one moving about in tile the adjoining room I 1 gerald cerald took a sent seat upon a couch upholstered in stained purple velvet ina W which several boded coverings ot of imitation lace had been thrown the r room 0 0 nt it self itself was large and lofty but bui scantily furnished there wax wa a n huge undecorated decorated nn stove in one corner comer which notwithstanding the heat of the day already al eady exuded fumes of burning coke the polished floor was wag innocent of any rug or carpet and covered with ith status stains and fragments of ciLar cigarettes ettes and cigars there was as a piano littered with soiled and torn copies of music in a distant corner a small gramo phone with black en enamel arriel mouthpiece blistered by the continual heat of tile room the walls walla were hung with will tile the failed faded reri remains mIns of some former attempt at decoration the windows were nere covered with a sorto wire fIre netting which kept out alike light and air there was everywhere an odor of stale tobacco smoke mingled with nith a strange smell of cheap incense or crude perfume of some sort gerald exceedingly sensitive to surroundings felt a momentary faintness as aa he sat and filled for the woman whom lw he had conie come to visit ile he began to fidget in his place ile he walked up and down ne he was even meditating an attack upon one of the window fastenings when khen be was aware of bf th the e sound of heavy footsteps outside the door was opened A woman ente entered reI and came toward him with an inquiring expression pres slon upon her face it seemed to gerald that the newcomer alone was needed to complete the squalor of his surroundings she was a big woman coarsely built and with indications of obesity she wore a dressing gown gonn of some red material trimmed with soiled white fur and fastened round lier her waist with a girdle her hair was a bright yellow abundant but badly arranged it lay in loose coils upon the top of her head bead fastened with some flamboyant ornament her features were not ill III shaped but were partly concealed under a thick coating of powder she had eyes of a pe peculiarly light blue shade large and saucer like ike when slie she first entered the room but with a habit of narrowing at intervals she spoke in english with a strong german accent you wish to see me sir I 1 nun am elsa francks gerald rose to ills his feet and bowed madame he said 1 I have found my way ere under the name of harmon P closs I 1 have told every one that I 1 am au an american looking for an opportunity to amest lioney that story Is not true it Is my wish it if you will allow me to be perfectly candid with iou lou ou can sit down she invited regarding gerald with su suspicion ci on not at unmixed with favor 1 I will hear what you haie hae to say ay she threw herself in L i lump at the far end of the sofa and pointed to a battered horsehair easy chair bring that to the side of me she continued 1 I do not hear very well and it Is some time since I 1 listened to english tell me what you want 1 I have a further confession to make gerald began 01 1 I am an en englishman there are englishmen and englishmen she said aid indulgently some are different from others you are not like those whom our officers have had to correct in the streets and cates cafes of berlin now what lint Is your business please it Is very difficult to state gerald geraid admitted frankly and I 1 am only emboldened to approach you because in these difficult times and in russia especially ally one needs money it if you will do rue me a service I 1 can find you a great deal of money geralds methods had at any rate succeeded in exciting the interest of the woman he had come to visit her becar mined lips were ere parted her pate pale eyes were vere filled with the light of cupidity there Is not much we would not do for money nowadays over here she declared laughing hardly you are a very interesting man go on om major Kross neis Is a friend of yours gerald said lie ho hot hoi the woman laughed so you dabble in politics ell eh never mind Kross Is my friend what of it ile he Is the governor of the fortress here gerald went on he has a great number of prisoners riso ners under his care one hundred nod and thirty seven lisa francks replied promptly 1 I see some rome of them exercising when I 1 ant an at the fortress what lie he keeps them alive for I 1 cannot imagine they crawl about the yard like lice what about these prisoners gerald moved ills his chair a little neat or the woman sullied smiled at him hilik graciously if one of them should escape lie he renia remarked aked significantly there would be a great deal of money what do you call a great deal of money 1 I do not bargain gerald replied 1 I know very well that the e escape cape of a prisoner Is 19 a serious thing I 1 have at my disposal the sum slim of ten thousand pounds the woman started so that she nearly rolled oft off the sofa she sat suddenly upright slie she was too stupefied for emotion TO br BE CONTINUED |