COAS
Tor
i
8YN0PSIS.
At a private view of the Chatworth
peraontil rotate, to be .sold at auction, the
Ohatworth ring, known as the Crew Idol,
mysteriously disappears. Harry Creasy,
wtio waa present, describes the ring to
his fiancee. Flora (illHey, and her chap
ron, Mrs. Clara Btitton, as being like a
heathen Rod, with a beautiful sapphire
et in the head. Flora meets Mr. Kerr,
an Englishman, at the club. In dis
cussing the disappearance of the ring, the
exploits of an English thief, Farrell
Wand, nro recalled. Flora has a fancy
that Harry anil Kerr know something
front the mystery. Kerr tells Fnira that
he has met Harry somewhere, but cannot
fiae Mm. IHO.OOO reward Is offered for
he return of the ring. Harrv admits to
Flora, that he dislikes Kerr. Harry takes
Flora to a Chinese goldsmith's to buy an
engagement ring. An exquisite sapphire
et In a hoop of brans, In selected. Harry
isrges her not to wear It until It Is reset.
Wie possession of the ring seems to cast
a spell over Flora, She heromes uneasy
and apprehensive. Flora meets Kerr at a
box party.
CHAPTER VIII. Continued.
She felt of the stone. She drew off
fcer glove and tried to look at It In the
dim light, but couldn't get a gleam out
ef it. She waa as impatient for the
lights to go up that she might secret
ly be cheered by its wonder, as she
had been that afternoon to get back
from the luncheon and make sure it
was still in the drawer. She must
ee it in spite of Clara at her right
hand, whose little chiseled profile
Might turn upon her at any moment
a full face of inquiry.
She held her left hand low In the
shadow of her chair; and if, as the
Mghts went up again, there was any
ohiNige in the sapphire, It was merely
a sharper brilliance, as if, like an eye,
It bad moods, and this was one of Its
Moments of excitement. In its ex
traordinary luster It seemed to pos
sess a beauty that could not be val
ued; and she wanted to hold it up to
Kerr, to see if she couldn't startle him
out of his mood to see if he wouldn't
respond to it, "Yes, there Is more in it
that you can touch."
She turned to him with the daring
flash of timid spirits. It was so sharp
a motion that he started instantly
from his reverie to meet it, but his
alacrity was mechanical. She felt
the smile he summoned was slow, as
if he returned, from a long distance,
a little painfully to his present sur-
troundings.
I The intermezzo was playing, and to
k speak tinder the music he leaned so
Through that narrow space between
them, almost beneath his eyes, she
moved her hand a gesture so slightly
emphasized as to seem accident. He
had started to speak, but ber motion
seemed to stop his tongue. He looked
hard at her hand, and something vio
lent in his lntentness made her clutch
the side of the chair. Instantly she
met his look, so fiercely, cruelly chal
lenging, that it took her like a blow.
For a moment they looked at each
other, her eyes wide with fright, his
narrowed to a glare under the terrible
lntentness of his brows. What had
she done?
She was as shaken as If he had
seized hold of her. If he had snatched
the ring off her finger she wouldn't
Instantly ' Sha Met His Look,
mn i
' 1 1111 tiTlh, r - I
O t A tor , fev.
have been more shocked. The whole
box must be transfixed by him, and
the whole house be looking at nothing
but their little circle of horror! She
was ready for It She was braced
for anything but the fact which ac
tually confronted her that no one
had noticed them at all. It was mon
strous that such a thing could have
been without their knowing! But
there wag no face in all the orchestra,
the crowded galleries, or the tiers
of boxes to affirm that anything bad
happened; no face in their own box
had even stirred, but Clara's, and
that had merely turned from profile to
the full, faintly inquiring, mild, and
palely pink In the warm reflections of
the red velvet curtains.
And what could Clara have seen, if
she had seen at all, but Flora a little
paler than usual with a hand that
trembled; and what worse could Clara
conjecture than that she was being
silly about Kerr? She turned slowly
toward him, and looked at him with a
courage that was part of her fear.
Rut wasn't she, in a way, being silly
about Kerr? What had become of his
expression that had threatened her?
There was nothing left of it but her
own violent impression.
And yet the thing had actually hap
pened. Its evidence was before her.
He had been silent. Now he was talk
ing. He had been absent. Now she
thought she had never seen hlra more
vividly concerned with the moment.
Yet for all his cool looks and diffuse
talk around the box, she felt uneasily
that his concern was pointed at her,
nnd that he would never let her go.
He only waited for the cover of the
last act to come back to her single
handed. She would have deflected his attack,
but It was too quick, too unexpected
for ber to do more than sit helpless,
and let him lift up her left hand,
delicately between' thumb and finger,
as if in Itself it was some rare, fine
curio, and, bending close, contemplate
the sapphire unwinkingly. She had
an instant when she thought she must
cry out, but how impossible in the aw
ful publicity of her place a pinnacle
in the face of thousands! And after
the first fluttered Impulse came a cer
tain reassurance in such a frank and
trivial action. For all Its intensity,
how could It be construed otherwise
than a lively If unconventional inter
est? It must have been her fancy which
had discerned anything more than
that In his first look. And yet, when
he had laid her hand lightly back, and
readjusted his monocle, and looked
out, away from her, across the black
house, she didn't know whether Bhe
was more reassured or troubled be
cause he had not spoken a word. Yet
the next moment he looked around at
her.
"We Fhan't meet every evening In
such a way as this," he said, and left
the statement dangling unanswerable
between them. It sounded portentous
final. She couldn't answer. She
could only look at him with a reflec
tion of her trouble In her face.
"Are you surprised that I thought of
that?" ho inquired. "It's not so odd
as you seem to think that I should
want to see you again. I don't want
to leave It to chance; do you?" He
shot the question at her so suddenly,
with such a casual eye, and such dry
gravity of mouth, that he had her
admission out of her before she re
alized the extent of its meaning.
"Then when are you at home?" he
So Fiercely, Cruelly Challenging.
asked her; and by his tone, he con
veyed the impression that he was only
making courteous response to some
Invitation she had offered him; though,
when she thought, she bad not offered
it, he had got it out of her.
She answered somewhat stiffly:
"Fridays, second and fourth."
He looked at her with a humorous
twist of mouth. "What? So seldom?"
She was impotent if he wouldn't
be snubbed; but at the worst she
wouldn't be cornered. "Oh, dear, no
but people who come at other times
take a chance."
"Does that mean that I may take
mine to-morrow?"
He was pressing her too hard. Why
was he so anxious to see her, as he
had not been the first night or yester
day, or even ten minutes ago? She,
who, ten minutes ago, would have
been glad, now was doing her best to
put him off. She was silent a mo
ment, considering the conventions, and
then, like him, she abandoned them.
Without a word she turned away from
him. Her only desire now was to
evade him, lest he should force her
out of her non-committal attitude. She
wanted to shield herself from further
pursuit.
She drew her glove over the ring.
The lights were imminent. It would
be hard to hide the great flash of the
jewel. And besides, she didn't trust it.
She couldn't tell In what direction it
might not strike out a spark of horror
next.
The rustle of final departure was all
over the bouse. The people in the
box were stirring and beginning to
stand up; and Flora saw Kerr turn
and look at ber. She wanted some
one to stand between herself and
Kerr, and It was to Harry that she
turned; not alone that he was so
large and adequate, but because she
thought she saw in him an inclination
to step Into that very place where
Bhe wanted him. She saw he was a
little sullen, and though she didn't
suspect him quite of jealousy, she won
dered if he had not a right to blame
her for the appearance of flirtation
that she and Kerr must have pre
sented. Then how much more might
he blame her for what she had actual
ly done for deliberately showing the
sapphire to Kerr! The very thought
of It frightened her. She talked the
harder, she even took hold of Harry's
arm to be sure of keeping him there
between her and what she was afraid
of, as they came out on the sidewalk
and stood waiting In the windy night
for the approach of their carriage
lights.
Itow upon row of street lamps
flared In the traveling gusts. The
midnight noises of the city were at
their loudest; and half their volume
seemed to be a scattered chorus of
hoarse voices yelling all together like
a pack of wolves. What was this fresh
quarry of the press, Flora wondered,
that made It give tongue so hideously?
She had stooped her head to the
carriage door, when Harry stopped
and took one of the damp papers from
a crier in the pack. She saw the head
line. It covered half the sheet the
great figure that was offered for the
return of the Chatworth ring.
CHAPTER IX.
Illumination.
Just when the two ideas had co
alesced in her mind Flora couldn't be
sure. It had been some time in the
first dark hour that she had spent
wide awake in her bed. There bad
been two ideas distinctly. Two im
pressions of the evening remained
with her; and the last one, the great
figures that had stared at her from
the paper, the fact that had been Har
ry's secret, made common now In
round numbers, had for the moment
swallowed up the first
For all the way home that sum was
kept before her by Clara's talk. She
remembered nothing of that talk ex
cept that it hadn't been able for a
moment to leave the Chatworth ring
alone. It had been aimed at Harry,
but it had fallen to Flora herself to
answer Clara's quick speculations, for
Harry had been obstinately silent,
though not indifferent, as it In his
own mind he wa as unable to leave It
alone as Clara. One with silence,
one with her talk, they had written
the figures of the reward so blazlngly
in Flora's mind that for the moment
she could see nothing else. Yet now
she was alone her first adventure re
curred to her. As soon as she was
quiet in the dark there came back
with reminiscent terror the look that
Kerr had given her In the box. She
was afraid of the meaning of his look
which Bhe didn't understand. It only
established in her mind a great sig
nificance for the sapphire, if it coald
produce such an expression on a hu
man face. It had given htm more
than a mere expression. It had given
him an impulse for pursuit' as if,
like a magnet It was fairly dragging
him. He had covered his Impulse by'
his very frankness, but she knew he
bad pursued her that for the matter
of seeing her again he had hunted her
down. And what had followed? Why,
she was back again to the great fig
ures In the paper.
At first It seemed as though she had
taken a clean leap from one subject
to another. She had in no way con
nected them. But all at once they
were connected. She couldn't sepa
rate them. She didn't know whether
she had been stupid not to have seen
them so before, or whether she was
stupid to see them so now. For the
thought that bad sprung op la her
mind was monstrous. It startled her
so broad awake that she sat up In bed
to meet it the more alertly.
The room was dark except for now
and again the yellow square of light,
from some passing cable car, traveling
along the celling. The four walls
around her, their dark bulks of fur
niture and light ripple of moving cur
tains, shut her up with this monster
of ber mind. It had sprung upon her
from the solid actualities of the night
And, yes, of the day before and the
night before that Oh, she had known
well enough that there had been some
thing wrong at the goldsmith's shop.
She had felt it even before she had
seen the sapphire; and afterward how
it had held them, both herself and
Harry! , To have moved Harry It must
be something Indeed! Had he sus
pected It then, or had be only won
dered? If he had suspected why hadn't he
spoken of It? Well, her appalling
fancy prompted, hadn't he spoken of
It? though not to her. There flashed
back to her the memory of him there
In the back of the shop with the blue
eyed Chinaman. How furiously he
had assailed the little man! She
could be almost sure that the mon
strous ldeo which had Just overtaken
her had, however fleetlngly, flashed
before Harry's mind In the goldsmith's
shop. But surely he couldn't have en
tertained it for a moment. That was
Impossible, or he would never have let
her take the sapphire Harry, who
had seen the ring, the very Crew
Idol Itself, within the 24 hours.
"A little heathen god curled round
himself with a big blue stone on the
top of his head." Harry hadn't said
what sort of stone it was; but Kerr
had said it was a sapphire. There
was a sapphire on her, and now. She
touched It with her finger tips cau
tiously, as if to touch something hot.
So near to her! In the same room
with her! On her own hand! It
was too much to be alone with in the
dark! She reached out softly, as if
she feared to disturb some threaten
ing presence lurking around her, and
lit the small night lamp on the low
table by her bed. The shade was yel
low, and that contended with the
blue of the sapphire, but couldn't
break its light. With the first flash
of its splendor in her face she felt
certainty threatening her. She Bhook
the ring quickly off her finger and it
fell with a light clatter on the table's
marble top fell with the sapphire
face down, and all its light hidden.
She took It up again a little fearfully,
as If it might have got some harm;
and again while she looked at It it
seemed to her that nothing that hap
pened about this Jewel could be too
extraordinary. If only It had been
less wonderful, less beautiful, she
would not have felt so terribly afraid!
She put it back on the table and for
a moment held her hand over it, as
if she Imprisoned a living thing.
Then, without looking again, she
got out of bed and went to the win
dow. It overlooked the dark steep of
the garden, the moving trees and the
lighter plane of the water. She
leaned out, far out. Black housetops
marched against the bay, and be
tween them, light by light, her eyes
followed the street lamps down to the
shore.
Oh, to escape out of this window
Into the Innocent, Bleeping city, away
from the horror at her back! 'To look
in from the outside and be even sure
there was a horror! And !f there was,
to run away Into the wide soft dark!
But there was another way to be
rid of it The real Idea occurred to
her. How easy' It would be to take It
that beautiful thing and throw it;
throw it as hard as she could, and
let the night take care of It. The win
dow was open, as if it stood ready,
and there was the ring on the table.
She went to it, looked at it a moment
without touching it holding her hands
away.
Then with a little shiver she backed
away from it and sat down on the
foot of the bed. She looked pale and
little, as If the eye of the ring, bia
sing under the feeble lamp, like the
evil eye, bad sapped her fire and
youth. She hugged her arms around
her updrawn knees, and resting her
chin upon them eyed the sapphire
bravely.
"I suppose you know I cn't throw
you away," Bhe murmured, "and yet I
can't keep you!" She pondered, chin
in hand. To take it to Harry! That
seemed the natural thing to do the
simplest way to be rid of It She hes
itated. "If I only knew! If I only were
sure!" She locked her fingers closer,
staring hard. If It had been the whole
Crew Idol, the undismembered god
himself, then there would have been
less terror, and one plain thing to do.
She looked hard at the sapphire set
ting, as If she hoped to discover upon
Its brilliance sonio tell-tale trace of
old soft gold; but there was only one
great, glassy, polished eye, and out of
what head it bad come, whether from
the forehead of the Crew Idol, or from
that of some unheralded deity, who
was there who could tell her?
She tried to summon a coherent
thought but again it was only a flash
out of the darkness.
"Kerr! Why, he knows more than
I." She looked at this stupidly for a
moment as if it were too large to take
In at once. Of course he must have
known 1 Why hadn't she thought of
that before?
What series of circumstances might
hare led up to Kerr's knowledge she
could not dream. He was one of whom
nothing was Incredible. From the
first moment his face bad shot Into
the light, from the moment she had
heard his voice, like color In the level
voices around blm, she had been be
wildered by his variety.
And where, she asked herself In a
summing up, might such a man not
be found? But there were few places,
Indeed, In even the broadest plain of
possibility, which could hold knowl
edge of so particular and piercing a
quality as his look had Implied. There
had been so much more than curiosity
or surprise in it. She could hardly
face the memory of It, so cruolly It
had struck her. There was no doubt
in her mind that Kerr had seen the
ring. Somewhere In the pageant of
his experience be had met it, known
It but what he wanted of it
She broke off that thought, and
looked long at the little flame of the
lamp. It was strange, but there was
no doubt in her mind but that he
wanted it. That had been the strong
est thing In his look. She felt herself
picking her way along a very narrow
path, one step over either edge of
which would plunge her chasms deep.
Now she snatched at a frail sapling to
save herself. The fact that Kerr
knew her stone didn't prove It belong
ed to the Crew Idol. And if it didn't
If It wasn't the crown of the heath
en god, then her whole dreadful sup
position fell to pieces. But she hadn't
proved It and the simplest way was
Just to ask; Kerr. Her chance for that
was the chance he had fought so bard
for, the chance of their meeting the
next day.
It seemed It should be simple, It
should be easy to face Kerr with her
question; but she was possessed by
the apprehension that it would be
neither. Would the question she had
to ask be a safe thing to give him?
And if she dared undertake It and
should be overpowered after all then
everything would be lost.
CHAPTER X.
A Lady Unveiled.
She wakened In the morning to
some one knocking. She thought the
sound had been going on for a long
time, but, now she was Anally roused,
it had stopped. This was odd, for no
one came to her In the morning ex
cept Marrlka, and it was tiresome to
be thus Imperatively beset before she
was half awake. Now the knocking
came again with a level, unimpatlent
repetition, and she called, "Come In!"
at which Clara, in a pale morning
gown, promptly entered an appari
tion as cool and smooth and burnished
as If she had spent the night, like a
French doll. In tissue paper.
Clara's coming In In the morning
was an unheard-of thing. Flora was
taken aback.
"Why, Clara!" She was blank with
astonishment. She sot up, flushed
nnd tumbled, and still blinking. "I
hope I didn't keep you knocking
long."
"Oh, no, Indeed; only three taps."
Clnra looked straight through Flora's
astonishment as if there had been no
such thing In evidence. She drew up
a chair and sat down beside the bed.
It was a rocking chair, but it did not
sway with her calm poise.
"It isn't so very late," Bhe said, "but
I have ordered your breakfast. I
thought you would want It If you had
that ten-o'clock appointment; and
there is something I want to ask you
-I Wonder, Now, Whtra gha
before you go out Had you any lie
the Herrlcks were in straits?"
"The young Herrlcks?"
"Ob, no! The old Herrlcks, the Her
rlcks, Mrs. Herrlck whom you so
much admire! Of course, one Isk't
told; but they must be, to be wllhiaj
to let the old place."
"Not the San Mateo place?" saM
Flora, with a stir of interest
Clara complacently nodded.
"Why, I should love that!" Flora,
frankly confessed. ,
"Well," Clara conceded, "at any
rate we know it's genuine, and that's
a consolation. The number of Imltae
tlons going about and the way people
pick them up is appalling! While I
was getting that rug for you at Vigo's
yesterday, Ella Buller came in and
bought three imitation Bokharas, with
the greatest enthusiasm. She buys
quantities, and she's always taken la.
It is enough to make one nervous about
the people one Bits next to at dinner
there. One cannot help suspectlnc
them of being some of Ella's bargains.
I wonder, now, where she picked ay
that Kerr."
This finale failed to take Flora off
her guard. "At any rate, he Is odd
enough to be genuine," she said with;
a gleam of malice.
"Ob, no doubt of that," Clara mildly
assented, "but genuine what?"
"Why, gentleman at large," said
Flora, and quickly wanted to recall It,
for Clara's glance seemed to give It a
double significance. "I mean," aha
added, "Just one of those chronic trav
elers who have nothing else to dot
and whose way must be paved wills
letters of introduction." she flounder
ed. "At least, that was the Idea hw
gave of himself." She broke off, doub
ly angry that she had tried to explain
Kerr, and tried to explain herself,
when the circumstances required noth
ing of the sort. She was sure Clara
had not missed her nervousness,
though Clara made no sign. Her eyes
only traveled a second time to Flora's
hands, as if among the flare of red
and white Jewels she was expecting to
see another color. To Flora's palpi
tating consciousness this look made a
perfect connection with Clara's next
remark.
"At least his manners are odd
enough! There was a minute last
night when he was really quite start
ling." Flora felt a small, warm spot of
color increasing in the middle of each
cheek. She drew a long breath, as If
to draw in courage. Then Clara had
really seen! That smooth, bllndish
look of hers, last night, bad seem
everything!
"I am afraid he annoyed you.
Flora."
The girl looked Into the kindly sc
llcltude of Clara's face with a bard,
almost passionate incredulity.
"These continentals," she went on,
now lightly swaying to and fro in her
chair, "have singular notions of
American women. They take us for
savages, my dear."
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
Picked Up That Kerrr
- J;