ST of CI ANCE ;
dm
JP0W-SA'M1 CO..
t
8YNOP8I3.
At a private vlnw of ths Chatworth per
sonal rHtntti. to he Hold lit auction, the
Chatworth rltiK myjili'iiounly dlfliipppiim.
Harry Cn-Nsy, who win pnwnt, dcm-rlli
the ring to lit tltinr', Kloni (IttHoy, nml
her chnperon, Mi-h. Clara Itrllton. n ba
rns' llkn a hi'iithcn Rod. with a bcnullful
sapphire not In the hi'iul, Flora illm-ov
em nn unluinllliir mood In Harry, spu
clully when the ring Ik dlscusmd.
CHAPTER II. Continued.
The picture gnllcry wns new, nn ad
dition; and tho plain, narrow, unex
pected door in this place, where all
wns high, arched, elaborate and flour
ished, was like a loophole through
which to Blip Into a foreign atmos
phere. This atmosphere was roRlnouH
of fresh wood; the Unlit was thick
with drifting motes; the enrpets
harshly new, slipping lienenth tho feet
on tho too pollHhed floor; the bare
bones of the place yet scarcely cov
ered. Hut Its quiet wns after all com
parative. There were plenty of people
lingering In groups in the center of
the gallery, which was dusky, eclipsed I
by the great reflectors thnt circled I
bright band of color around the
walls. People leaning from this bor
der of light back Into the dusk to
murmur together, vanished and reap
peared with such fascinating abrupt
ness that Flora caught herself guess
ing what sort of face, Where this
nearest group stood Just on tho edge
of shadow, would pop out of the dark
next.
6he was ready for something ex
traordinary, but now, when it came,
he was taken aback by It. It gave
her a start, that tOBS of black hair,
that long, irregular, pale face whose
clntillnnt, sardonic smile was merci
lessly upon the poor. Inadequate picture-face
fronting him. Ills Rtoop
above the rail was so abrupt that his
long, lean back was almost horizontal,
yet even thus there wns something
elegant in the swing of him In the
careless twist of his head, around, to
peak to tho woman behind him. The
light above struck blind on the glass
In one eye, but the other danced with
genial, a mnd scintillation. The light
of It caught like contnglon, and
touched the merest glnncer at him
with the spark of its warm, Ironic
mirth. The question which naturally
rose to Flora's lips "Who In the
world ' is that?" she checked; why,
she didn't ask herself. She only felt
as she followed Clara, trailing away
across the floor, that tho Interest of
the evening which had promised so
well, beginning with the Chatworth
ring, had born raised even a note
higher. Her restive fancy was begin
ning agnin. All the footlights of her
' little secret stage were up.
Clara turned to tho right, following
a beckoning fan, and Flora, dallying
with her anticipation, reasoned that
now they must circle the room before
they should f ace him the Interesting
apparition. It was a pilgrimage of
which he on the other side was per
forming bis half. Perfunctorily talk
ing from group to group, conscious
-Who In the
now anil again of tho lagging Clnra or
llnrry, she could nevertheless keep a
sly eye on the stranger's equal prog
ress. Tho flash of Jet, and tho volu
ble, substantial shoulders of tho lady
so profusely Introducing him, were an
assurance of how that pilgrimage
would terminate, since It was Ella
Duller who was parading him. bhe
even wondered before which of the
florid pictures at the far, other end of
the room, as before a shrlno, the cere
mony would take place.
She kept her eyes fixed on the
paintings before her, nnd as she
moved down from one to another, and
the voices of the approaching group
drew nearer, ono separated Itself from
the general murmur, so clenr, so res
onantly carried, so clean-clipped off
tho totiguo, thnt It stood out In sylla
bles on tho blur of sound which wns
Klla lluller's conversation. It nnd
color, that voice; it had a quality so
sharp, so Individual that It touched
her with a mischievous wondor thnt
ho dared spenk so differently from all
the world about him. Then, six pic
tures away, she heard her own name.
"Why, Flora Ollsey!" It was Kiln's
huaky, boyish note. "I've boon look
ing for you all tho evening! How
d'y'do, Harry?" She waved hor hand
nt him. "Why, how d'y'do, Mrs. Brlt
ton? (J wouldn't let papa go to sup
per until I'd found you. 'Papa,' I said,
'wnlt; Flora and Harry will bo hero.'
Ilesldes," she had quite reached
Flora's side by this time and commu-
nicntcd It in nn Impressive whlnpnr, "I
want you to meet my Englishman."
She looked over her shoulder, nnd
largely beckoned to where tho blunt
and florid Tluller nnd his companion,
with their backs to what they wero
supposed to be looking at, wero ex
changing an anecdote of Infinite
amusement.
riuller's expression came around
slowly to his daughter's beckoning
hand, but the lOnglishman'a face
seemed to flash at the Instant from
what he was enjoying to what was
expected of him. In the flourish of In
troductions, across and across, Flora
found herself thinking the reality less
extraordinary than she had at first
supposed. Now that Mr. Kerr was
fairly before her, presented to hor,
and taking her In with the same lively,
Impersonal interest with which he
took In the whole room, "as If," she
put It vexedly to herseli, "I were a
specimen poked at him on the end of
a pin," It stirred In her a vngue re
sentment; and Involuntarily she held
him up to Harry. Tho comparison
Bhowed him a little worn, a little bat
tered, a little too perfunctory In man
ner; but his genial eyes, deep under
threatening brows, made Harry's eyes
seem to stare rather coldly; and the
fine form of his long, plain face, and
the sensitive lino of his long, thin lips
made Harry's beauty look well, how
did It look? Hardly callous.
This mixed Impression tho two men
gave her was disconcerting. She was
all the more ready, to bo wnry, of tho
stranger. She had begun with him In
the way she did with every one In
stinctively throwing out a breastwork
of conversation from behind which
she could observe tho enemy. Cut
though be had blinked at It, he had
not taken her up, nor helped her out;
but had merely stood with his head a
little canted forward, as If he watched
her through her defenses.
Werld It ThatT"
"Hut Ban Francisco must seem so
limited after London," the bad wound
up; and the way he had considered It,
a little humorously, down his long
nose, mode hor doubt the Interest of
cities to be reckoned In round num
bers. "It's all extraordinary," he said.
"You're quite aa extraordinary In your
way as we In ours."
"Oh," she wondered, still vexed with
his Inventory, "I had always supposed
us awfully commonplace. What Is our
way, plenae?"
"Ah," he said, measuring his long
step to hers aa they sauntered a lit
tle, "for one thing, you're so awfully
good to a follow. In London" and he
nodded back, as If London were mere
ly across tho room "they're awfully
good to the somebodies. It's tbo way
you take In the nobodloa over here
that Is so astonishing the stray
leaves that blow In with your 'trade,'
nnd can't show nny credentials but a
letter or two, and their faces; and
those" his dlnblerle dunced out again
"sometimes such deucedly damaged
ones."
It was almost Indecent, this parade
of his nonentity! She wnnted to say:
"Oh, hush! Those are the things one
only enjoys never talks about." Hut
Instead, somewhere up at the top of
her volco, she said: "Oh, we always
lock up our silver!"
"Hut even then," ho quizzed her, "I
wonder how you dare to do It?"
"Perhaps we have to, because we
ourselves are nil" ("without any
credentials but those you mention,")
she had been about to say but there
she caught herself on the very edge of
giving herBelf nnd all the rest of them
away to him; "all so awfully bored,"
she mischievously ended with the
daintiest, faintest possible yawn be
hind her spread fan.
Ho looked as If she had taken him
by surprise; then laughed out. "Oh,
that Is tho way they don't do here," be
provoked her. "You mustn't, when
I'm not expecting It."
"Then what are you expecting?" sho
Inquired a little roolly.
"Well," ho deliberated, "not expect
ing you to get me ready for a sweet,
and then pop in a pickle; and present
ly expecting, hoping, nnxlously antici
pating, what you really care to say."
Ho was expecting, she looked mali
ciously, more than he wan llkoly to
get; but the fact that he did ' see
through her to that extent was at
once delightful and charming. She
swayed back Into the shadow beyond
tho dazzling line of light. She wanted
to escape his scrutiny, to be able to
look him over from a safe vantage
ground. Put he wouldn't have It. An
instant ho stood under the torrent of
white radiance, challenging her to see
what she could then followed her In
to her retreat. "Shnll we sit here?" be
said, and sho found herself hopelessly
cut off and Isolated with the enemy.
Sho couldn't withhold a llttlo grudg
ing pleasure In tho sharpnesB with
which he had turned her maneuver
and the way It had detached them
from the surrounding crowd. For
there, In the dusky center of the room,
It was as if they watched from safe
covert the rest of their party exposed
In the glare of light; though not, as
Flora presently noted, quite escaping j
observation themselves. For an In
stant Harry turned and peered toward
them with a look In his intentneas
that struck Flora as something new In
him and made her wonder if he could
be Jealous. She turned tentatively to
see If Kerr had noticed It, and sur
prised his glance In a quick transi
tion back to hers.
"By your leave," he said, and took
away her fan, which in his hand pres
ently assumed such rhythmic motion
that it ceased to be any more present
to her than a delicate current of air
upon her face.
He was not, she felt sure, in spite
of bis light manipulation of her fan,
a person who cared to please women,
but one of that devastating sort who
care above everything to please .them
selves, and, who are skilful without
practice; too skilful, she feared, for
her defenses to hold out against If
he Intended to find out what she real
ly thought "Aren't we supposed to
be looking at the pictures?" she want
ed to know.
He turned bis back on the wall and
Its attendant glare. "Why pictures,"
he Inquired, "when there are live peo
ple to look at? Pictures for places where
they're all half dead. But here, where
even the damnable dust In the street
Is alive, why should they paint, or
write, or sculpt, or do anything but
live?" His Irascible brows shot the
query at her.
Again the proposition of life what
ever that was was held up before
her, and as ever she faltered In the
face of It "I suppose they do It
here," she murmured, with a vague
glance at the paintings around her,
"because people do it everywhere
else."
His disparagement was almost
snarl. "That's the rotten part of It
because they do It everywhere else!
Aa If there wasn't enough monotony
In the world already without every
chap trying to be like the next Instead
of being himself!"
"But If you have to be what people
expect?"
"People don't want what they ex
pect if you care for that" He waved
it away with his quick white hand.
"But you hare to care, unless you
want to be queer." Her poor little se
cret was out before she knew, and he
looked at It, laughing Immoderately,
yet somehow delightfully.
"Ah, If you think the social gume Is
the game that counts! I had expected
braver things of you. Tho game that
counts, my girl," he preached It at hor
with bis long white hand, "tho game
that Is going on out here ts the big,
red game of life. That's the only one
that's worth a guinea; nnd there's no
winning or toning, there's no right or
wrong to It, and It doeBn't matter
what a man Is In It as long as he's a
good ono."
"Even If he Is a thief?" The qnes
Hon was out of Flora's lips before she
could catch It. It was a challenge.
She had meant to confound blm; but
he caught It as If It dollghted him.
"Well, what would you think?"
He throw It tmck at her.
What hadn't sho thought! How per
sistently her fancy had played with
tho question of what sort of man Hint
one might be who had bo wonderful
ly put his linnd under a glass case and
drawn out the Chatworth ring.
"Oh," she laughed dubiously, "I sup
pose bo Is a good ono us long as he
Isn't caught.-'
"What!" His fnco dlsownrd hor.
"You think bo's a renegade, do you?
A chnp In perpetual flight, taking
things because he has to, more or less
pursuod by the law? Huh! It's a
guild as old, and a deal more honor
able, than the beggar's. Your good
thlof Is born to It It s his caBto. It's
In his blood. It Isn't money that be
wants. If he hnd a million he'd bo
the same. And It Isn't a mania eith
er. It's a profession." The English
man leaned back and smiled at her
over the elegance of IiIr long, Joined
finger-tips.
Hhe looked at li 1 114 with a delighted
alarm, with an Increasing elation; but
whether theso nroso from his lawless
declarations and the singular way
they kept setting before her more
vividly moment by moment the pos
sible character of the present keeper
of the Chatworth ring, or whether It
was Just the sight of Kerr hluiBolf ns
he sat there that stirred her, she
didn't try to dtstlngulNh.
"Hut Biippose he was your own
thief," she urged; "took your own
things, I mean," she hastily amended,
"and suppose he turned out to be
some ono you knew and liked" Sho
hcRltated. She had come at lust to what
Bhe really wanted to say. She had
brought out a question that hud been
teaBlng her fancy at Intervals all the
while bo had been talking, nnd he hnd
not even heard It. He wasn't even look
ing at her. She had caught him off
his guard. He was looking across her
shoulder straight down the dim vista
of the room to the llttlo hlazo of bor
dering light Ho wns looking at Har
ry. No, Harry was looking at blm.
Harry was looking with, a steady, nn
intent gaze, and Kerr meeting It It
might have been merely the blunk
glare of his monocle seemed, to
Flora, to meet It a little insolently.
Sho fancied In tho instant something
to pass between the two men, some
thing which, this time, she did not
mlBtake for Jealousy a Rhade too dim
for defiance or suspicion, a deep
scrutiny that struggled to place some
thing, some one.
Flora felt a sudden wlHh to break
that curious scrutiny. It had broken
her little moment It had shattered
the personal, almost Intimate note
that had been sounded between them.
The look Kerr turned back to her was
vague, and stirred In her a dim re
sentment that he could drop It all so
eaBlly.
"Shall we Join tho others?" It was
the voice with which she had begun
with him, but her eyes were hot
through their light mist of lashes, and
he threw her a comprehending glance
of amusement.
"Oh, no," he assured her, "we can't
help ourselves. They are going to
Join us."
Ella Buller, In tbe van of her pro
cession, was already descending upon
them. Her approach dissipated the
last remnant of their personal mo
ment Her presence always Insisted
that there was nothing worth while
but instant participation In her gen
iality, and whatever subject it might
at the moment be taken up with.
This conviction of Ella's bad been
wont to overawe Flora, and It still
overwhelmed ber; so that now, as
Bhe followed In the trail of Ella's
marshaled force, she had a guilty feel
ing that there should be nothing In
her mind but a normal desire for sup
per. Yet all the way down the great
stair, "the Corridors of Time," where
the white owl glared bis glassy wis
dom on the passings and counter
passings, she was haunted with the
thought that Harry bad seen tbe ex
traordinary Kerr before; not shaken
hands with him, perhaps perhaps not
even heard his name; but somewhere,
across some distance, once glimpsed
him, and had never quite shaken the
memory from his mind. For there
was something marked, notable, unfor
getable In that lean distinctiveness.
Against the sleek form of the men
they met and shook hands with, he
flashed out seemed In contrast fairly
electric. She saw him, Just ahead of
her where the crowd was thickening
In tbe door of the supper room, mak
ing way for Clara through the press
with that exasperating solicitude of
his that was half Ironic.
The room, hot, polished, flaring re
flections of electrlo lights from Its
glistening floor, announced Itself the
heart of high fastlvlty, through the
midst of which their entrance made
an added ripple. The flushed faces
of the woman under their flowers, un
der their pale tinted hats, with their
smiling recognitions to Clnra, to Flora,
to Kiln, smiled with a Hhnrponod In
terest, it proclulmed thnt Kerr was
a stranger, and, In a circle which
found Itself a little stale for lack of
Innovations, a desirable one.
Apparently the dominant note of
their party was Ella's clamorous se
lection for the supper; but to Flora
the more real thing wns the atmos
phere of excitement and mystery she
had been moving In all tho evening.
Hhe wns pursued by the obseRslon of
something more about to happen
something imminent though, of
courso, nothing would; nt leaHt, how
could any thing happen hero, to them?
And by "them," sho meant herself
nnd these people nround her so stupld
ly talking the eternal repetition of
the story Bhe lind read out that even-
Ing to Clara, nnd not ono glimmer of'
light! Hhe wondered ir her obsession
wns all her own or did It roach to
ono of them? Certainly not Ella; not
Judge Duller, Bottled Into his collar,
choosing chnmpiignes. Clara? Sho
hnd to Bklp Clnra. One never knew
whether Clara had not more bohlnd
her smooth prettlness tlmn evor she
brought to light? Kerr? Perhaps.
With blm she felt potentialities
enormous. Harry? Never. Hurry
was being appealed to by all the wom
en who could got at him as to his part
In the affair what had been his sen
satlous and emotions? Hut Flora
know perfectly well he had hud none.
He wns only oppressed by tho atten
tion bis fnnio in the matter, nnd tho
central position of their table, brought
htm. Protesting, he made his part as
small as poRslble.
"Oh, con round It, If I can't get at
my oystern!" ho complained, leaning
back Into his group again with a
algh.
"You divide tho honors with tho
mysterious unknown, eh?" Kerr In
quired ncroRs tho table.
"Hang It, there's no division! I'd
offer you a share!" Harry laughed,
and It occurred to Flora how much
Kerr could have made of It.
"Purdlo'd llko to Rhare something,"
Buller vouchsafed. "He's been paw
ing tho air ever since Crew cabled,
and this has blown him up complete
ly." "Crew?" Flora wondered. Here
was something more happening. Crew?
She bad not heard that namo before.
It mudo a stir among them all; but
If Kerr looked shnrp, Clnra looked
sharper. Bhe looked at Harry and
Harry was vexed.
"Who's Crew?" said Ella; and the
Judge looked around on the silence.
"Why, bless my soul, Isn't It Oh,
nnyway, It will all be out to-morrow.
Hut I thought Harry'd told you. Tho
Chatworth ring wasn't Hesnle's."
It bad the effect of startling them
all apart, and then drawing them
closer together again around the table
over the uncorked bottles.
"Why," Judgo Iluller went on, "this
ring is a celebrated thing. . It's the
'Crow Idol!'" He throw the nnmo out
an If that In Itself explained every
thing, but the three women, at least
were blank.
"Why colebrated?" Clara objected.
"The stones wero only sapphires."
Kerr smiled at tbe measure of
fame.
"Quite so," he nodded to ber, "but
there are several sorts of value about
that ring. Its age, for one."
"Even If He
lie hnd the attention of the table,
as If they sensed behind his words
more even thnn Judge Duller could
have told them.
"And then the superstition about It
It's rather a pretty tale," said Kern
looking at Flora. "You've soon the
ring a figure of Vishnu bent back
ward Into a circle, with a head of
sapphire; two yellow stones for the
cheeks and the brain of him of the
ono blue. Just as a piece of carving
it Is so fine that Cellini couldn't have
equaled It, but no one knows when or
where It was mnde. The first that la
known, tho Shah Julian had It In his
trensuro house. The story Is he stole
It, but, however that may bo, he gatf '
It ns a betrothal girt to bis wife
possibly the moBt beautiful" his eye
brows signaled to Flora his uncer
tainty of that fact "without doubt
tho best-loved woman In the world.
When she died It was burled with her
not In the tomb Itself, but In the
Taj Mahal; and for a century or so It
lay there and gathered legends about
It as thick as dust. It was believed
to be a talisman of good fortune es
pecially In love.
"It had age; It had Intrinsic value;
It hnd beauty, and that one other
quality no man can reslRt It was the
only thing of Its kind In the world.
At all events, It was too much for old
Nevlllo Crew, when he saw It there
some couple of hundred years ago.
When he left India the ring went
with Mm. Ho never told bow be got
It, but lucky marriages came with It,
and tho Crews would not take the
house of lords for It. Their womea
havo worn It ever since."
For a moment the wonder of tbe
tale and the curious spark of excite
ment It hnd produced In the teller
kept the listeners silent Clara was
was the first to return to facts. "Then
DcrrIo " she prompted eagerly.
Kerr turned his glass In meditative
fingers. "Hhe wore It as young Chat
worth's wlfo." He held them all In
nn IncrenBlng tension, as if he drew
them toward him.
"The elder Chatworth, Lord Crew,
Is a bachelor, but, of course, the ring
reverted to him on ' Chatworth's
death."
"And Lord only knows," the u6kj
broke In, "how It got shipped with
Bessie's property. Crew was out of
England at the time. He kept the
wires hot about It, and they managed
to keep the fact of what the ring was
quiet but It got out to-day when Pur
dio found It was gone. You see he
was showing It and without special
permission."
(TO I1R CONTINUED.)
Cling to Inherited Tongue,
After years of effort to spread the
English language, tbe home tongne
of tho full-blooded Hawaiian Is his
aboriginal Jargon. Exclusive of the
half-whites In these Islands there Is
but one family that talks tbe English
language In Its borne. All the rest
are as true to their Inherited tongue
as they are to their racial hue.
Is a Thlafr