r :
m
8YNOP8I3.
JU a nrlvitto view of the Clmtworth
nml estate, to be sold at auction, the
UxUmrth rloe. known a the Clew Idol,
Myntrrinusly dlssupcaxs. Harry Cressy,
vtw vu present, describes the ring to
Ma Stanroe. Flora Gllsey, and her chap
rrm. Mrs. Clara Brltton, a being like a
bcalKrn nod, with a beautiful sapphire
act la the head. Flora meets Mr. Kerr,
an KnKllshmnn, at the Hub. In dls
mrtinK the diaappenrance of the rlnK, the
eyptorts of an English thief, Fnrrell
aml are recalled. Flora has a fancy
that Harry and Kerr know something
about Uie mystery. Kerr tells Flora that
ha has met Harry somewhere, but cannot
C- re him. 120,(100 reward Is offered for
rctrrrn of the ring. Harry admits to
flora that he dislikes Kerr. Harry tnkes
Vra lo a Chinese goldsmith's to buy an
agarenient ring. An exquisite sapphire
ant la a hemp of brass, is selected. Harry
nrgea her not to wear It until It Is reset.
Ttaa possession of the ring seems to enst
a aprJI over Flora. She becomes uneasy
ana apprehensive. Flora meets Kerr at a
bos pariy. She Is startled by the effect
o Urn when he gets a glimpse of the
aapltre. The possibility that the stone
Is part of the Crew Idol causes Flora
rmx-h anxiety. Unseen, Flora discovers
(Ihira ransacking her dressing room.
Mora refuses to give or sell the stone to
Kerr, and suspects him of being the thief,
flora's Interest In Kerr Increases. She
dnrWes lo return the ring to Harry, but
he tfls her to keep It for a dny or two.
MHa Knlh-r tells Floia thnt Clara is set
ting ner cap for her rather, Judge Buller.
Flora believes Harry suspects Kerr.
' CHAPTER XV. (Continued.)
"Hot Judge Buller has already
votrelicd for that man," she said quick
ly. "o he must bo all right."
Kerr inclined his head to her with
a smile.
"fltiller Is easily taken In," said
Harry calmly. Under the direct, the
insolent meaning of hlB look Flora
felt her face grow hot her hands
eolV Harry could sit there taunting
this man, fitting hira over another
man's back, and Kerr could not resent
It, He could only sit his head a llt
4j$ canted forward looking at Harry
.rth the traces of a dry smile upon
' his lipa.
She thought the next moment every
Units would be declared. She sprang
p. and, with an Impulse for rescue,
west to the door of the smoking-room.
"JutfKe Duller," she called.
There was a sudden cessation of
talk; a movement of forms dimly seen
fa the thick blue element; and then
ttirottgh wreaths of smoke, the Judge's
face dawned upon her like a sun.
through fog.
"Well, well. Miss Flora," he wanted
to know, "to what bad action of mine
to 1 owe this good fortune?"
She retreated, beckoning him to the
mldtte of the room. "You owe it to
the bad action of another," she said
gayty. "Your friends are being slan
dered." ' Harry made a movement as if he
miM have stopped her, and the ex
pression of his face, In Its alarm, was
conic But she paid no heed. She
laid her hnnd on Harry's arm. "Mr.
Kerr is Just abput to accuse us of be
tas; Impostors," she announced. She
nad robbed the situation of its peril
by early turning it exactly inside out.
' The judge blinked, puzzled at this
extraordinary statement. Harry was
disconcerted; but Kerr showed an as-
' taajtshrnont that amazed her a con
cern that she could not understand.
He turned at ber. Then he laughed
rather shakily as he turned to her
with a mock gallant bow.
"All women impose upon us, ma
dam. And as for Mr. Cressy" he
Bind Harry with a look "I could not
. aocase htm of being an impostor since
we have met in the sacred limits of
BL James'."
The two glances that crossed be
fore Flora's watchful eyes were keen
as throat and parry of rapiers. Harry
hawed stiffly.
1 believe, for a fact, we did not
axeet, but I think I saw you there
nee at some embassy ball."
The words rang, to Flora's ears, as
,they bad been shouted from the
hecsetops. In the speaking pause that
followed there was audible an un
fcaanrn hortatory voice from the smo
. Mag room.
I tell you it's a damn-fool way to
anaaage It! What's the good of twen
ty thousand dollars' reward?" Flora
thatched nervously at the back of her
chair. She seemed to see the danger
f discovery piling up above Kerr like
a mountain.
The Judge chuckled. "You see what
yea aaved me from. They've been at
hammer and tongs all the even
lac Every man In town has his idea
aa that subject."
Tor Instance, what 1b that one?"
Kerr's casual voice was Jin contrast to
hta guarded eyes.
The judge looked pleased. "That
caw? Why, that's my own was, at
east, half an hour ago. You see,
about that twenty-thousand-dollar
jjrapoeitlon " They moved nearer to
htsa. They stood, the four, around the
ned velvet-covered table, like people
waiting to be served. "The trouble is
'right here," said the judge emphasis-
las with blunt forefinger. "The crook
has a pal. That's probable, Isn't it?"
Harry nodded. Flora felt Kerr's
i japan ber, but she could not look
"Aed we see the thing la at a dead-
, don't we? Well, now, the Judge
triumphantly, "we know If
aaty one 'person bad the whole ring
ft weald be turned In by this time.
hi the weak spot In the reward
policy, Thoy didn't reckon on the
thing's being split."
"Split? No, really, do you think that
possible?" Kerr Inquired, and Flora
caught a glimmer of , irony in his
voice. " :
"Well, can you see one of the chaps
trusting the other with more than half
of it?" The Judge was scornful. "And
a fellow needs a whole ring If he is
after a reward." - He rolled his head
waggishly. "Oh, I coi'ld have been a
crook myself!" he ch.kled, but his
waa the only smiling face in the
party.
For Kerr's was pale, schooled to a
rigid self-control.
And Harry's was crimson and swol
len, as if with a sudden ruun of blood.
His twitching bands, his sullen eyes,
responded to Judge Buller's last word
as if it had been an accusation.
"It makes me damned sick, the way
you fellows talk as if it was the easi
est thing in the world to" He broke
off. It was such a tone, loose, harsh
and uncontrolled, as made Flora
shrink.
As If he sensed that movement In
her, he turned upon her furiously.
"Well, are we going to stand here
all night?" He took her by the arm.
She felt as if he had struck her.
Buller was staring at him, but Kerr
had opened the door through which
she had entered, and now, turning Hs
back upon Harry, silently motioudd
her out.
She had. a moment's fear that Har
ry's grasp, even then, wouldn't let
go. Indeed, for a moment he stood
clutching her, as If, now that his rage
had spent Itself, she was the one
thing he could hold to. Then she felt
his fingers loosen. He stood there
alone, looking, with his great bulk,
and his great strength, and his
abashed bewilderment, rather pa
thetic. But that aspect reached her dimly,
for the fear of him was uppermost.
Her arm still burned where he had
grasped it. She moved away from
him toward the door Kerr had opened
for her. She passed from the light
of the crimson room Into the dark of
the passage. Some one followed her
and closed the door. Some one caught
step with her. It was Kerr. He bent
his dark head to ppeak low.
"I don't know why you did it, you
quixotic child, but you must not ex
pose yourself in this way, for any rea
son whatsoever."
The light of the crowded rooms
burst upon them again.
"Oh," she turned to him beseech
ingly, "can't you get me away?"
"Surely." His manner was as if
nothing had happened. His smile was
reassuring. "I'll call your carriage,
and find Mrs. Britton."
When Flora came down from the
dressing-room she found Clara til
ready in the carriage, and Kerr mount
ing guard in the hall. As be hand
ed her In, Clara leaned forward.
"Where Is Mr. Cressy?" she In
quired. "He sent his apologies," Kerr ex
plained. "He is not able to get away
just now." ,
Flora lay back In the carriage. She
was dimly aware of Clara's presence
beside her, but for the moment Clara
had ceased to be a factor. The shape
that filled all the foreground of her
thought was Harry. He loomed alarm
ing to her imagination all the more
so since, for the moment, be had
Beemed to lose his grip. That was
another thing she could not quite un
derstand. That burst of violent irri
tation following, as it had, Judge Bul
ler's words! If Kerr had been the
speaker It would have been natural
enough, since all through this Inter
view Harry's evident antagonism had
seemed strained to the snapping
point.
But poor Judge Buller had been
harmless enough. He had been mere
ly theorizing. But wait! She made
so sharp a movement that Clara
looked at her. The Judge's theory
might be close to facts that Harry
was cognizant of.
For herself she had had no way of
finding out how the sapphire had got
adrift But hadn't Harry? Hadn't he
followed up that singular scene with
the blue-eyed Chinaman by other
visits to the goldsmith's shop? Why,
yesterday, when he was supposed to
be in Burlingame, Clara had seen him
in Chinatown, f The idea burst upon
then. Harry was after the whole
ring. He counted the part she held
already bis, and for the rest he was
groping In Chinatown; he was trying
to reach it through the Imperturbable
little goldsmith. But he had not
reached It yet and she could read his
irritation at his failure in his violent
outburst when Judge Buller so inno
cently flung the difficulties in his face.
She knew as much now as she could
bear. If Harry did not suspect Kerr,
It would be strange.' But Harry wait
ing to make sure of a reward before
be unmasked a thief! It was an ugly
thought! 1 '
And would he wait for the rest now
now that the situation was so gall
ing to blm? Might not he Just de
cide to take the sapphire, and with
the evidence of that, risk his putting
his band on the "Idol" when be
grasped the thief?
The carriage was stopping. Clara
was making ready to get out. She
braced herself to face Clara in the
light with a casual exterior but
when she bad reached her own rooms
she sank in a heap in the chair before
her writing-table, and laid her head
upon the table between, her arms.
In her wretchedness she found her
"I Mean It, I Mean
self turning to Kerr. How stoically
he had endured it all, though It must
have borne on him most heavily!
How kind he had been to her! He
had not even spoken of himself, though
he must have known the shadows
were closing over his head.
In the gray hours of the morning
she wrote him. She dared not put
the perils Into words, but she im
plied them. She vaguely threatened;
and she Implored him to go, avoiding
them all, herself more than any; and,
quaking at the possibility that he
might, after all, overcome her, she de
clared that before he went Bhe would
not see hira again. She closed with
the forbidden statement that whether
he stayed or went, at the end of three
days she would make a sure disposal
of the ring. She put all this in reck
less black and white and sent It by
the hand of Shima. Then she waited.
She waited, in her little Isolation,
with the sapphire always hung about
her neck, waited with what anticipa
tion of marvelous results avowals,
ideal farewells, or possibly some in
credible transformation of the grim
face of the business. And the answer
was silence.
CHAPTER XVI.
The Heart of the Dilemma.
There is, in the heart of each gale
of events, a storm center of quiet.
It is the very deadlock of contending
forces, in which the individual has
space for breath and apprehension.
Into this lull Flora fell panting from
her last experience, more frightened
by the false calm than by the whirl
wind that bad landed ber there. Now
she had time to mark the echoes of
the storm about her, and to realize
her position. ... I.
From the midtfe of ber calm she
saw many Inexplicable appearances.
She saw them everywhere, from the
small round of Clara's movement to
the larger wheel of the public aspect
Clara was taking tea with the Bullers,
and the papers had ceased to mention
the Crew Idol.
It had not even been a nine days'
wonder. It had not dwindled. It had
simply dropped from bead-lines to
nothing; and after the first murmur
of astonishments at this strange van
ishing, after a little vain conjecture as
to the reason of it the subject dropped
out of the public mouth. The silence
was so sudden it was like a suppres
sion. To Flora It shadowed some
forces working so secretly, so surely,
that they had extinguished the light
of publicity. They must be going on
with concentrated and terrible ac
tivity in cycles, which perhaps had
not yet touched her.
So, seeing Maj. Purdle among the
crowd at some one's "afternoon" where
she was pouring tea, she looked up at
his cheerful face and high bald dome
with a passionate curiosity. He knew
why the press bad been extinguished,
and what they were doing in the dark.
She knew where the sapphire was
and where the culprit was to be found.
And to think that they could tell each
other, If they would, each a tale the
other would hardly dare believe.
Amazing appearances! How far away,
how foreign from the facts they cov
ered! But Maj. Purdle had the best
of It He at leaat was doing his duty.
He was standing stiffly on one side,
while she hesitated between, trying
desperately to push Kerr out ef sight
It," He Assured Her.
before she dared uncover the Jewel.
But he wouldn't move. In spite of all
she had done, he wouldn't
Across the room that very after
noon she caught the twinkle of his re
sisting smile. He had had her letter
then for two days, and still he had
come here, though he'd been bidden
to stay away; though he bad been
warned to keep away from all places
where she, or these people around
her, might find him; though he had
been implored to go, finally, as far
away as the round surface of the
world would let him.
By what he had heard and seen In
the red room that night he must
know her warning had not been ridic
ulous. And there was another threat
less apparent on the surface of things,
but evident enough to her. It was the
change In Clara after she had begun
her attack on the Bullers, her appear
ance of being busy with something,
absorbed with, intent upon, something,
which, if she had not secured it yet
at least she had well In reach. And
that thing suppose it bad to do with
the Crew Idol; and suppose Clara
should play Into Harry's hands!
For Kerr's escape Flora had been
holding the ring, fighting off events,
and yet all the while she had not
wanted to lose the sight of htm. Well,
now, when she had made up her mind
finally to resign herself to the dreari
ness of that, might he not. at least
have done his part of it and decently
disappeared? So much he might have
done for her.
He was playing her own trick on
her, but her chances for getting at
blm again were fewer than his bad
been with ber. She could not besiege
him in his abode; and in the places
where they met large houses crowded
with people, the eye of the world was
upon her. For how long had she for
gotten It she who had been all her
life so deferential toward it! Even
now she remembered it only because
It interfered with what she wanted
to do.
For the eye of her small society
was very keenly upon Kerr. She re
alized, all at once, that be had be
come a personage; and . then, by
smiles, by lifted eyebrows, by glances,
she gathered that her name was be
ing linked with bis. She waB aston
ished. How could their luncheon to
gether at the Purdtes', their words
that night in the opera box, their few
minutes' talk in the shop, have crys
tallized Into this gossip? It vexed ber
alarmed ber, how it bad got about
when she had seen blm so seldom,
hsd known him scarcely more than
a week. It waa simply In the air. It
was in her attitude and in his, but
how far it bad gone she did not
dream, until in the dense crowd of some
one's at-home she caught the words
of a young girl. The voice was so
sweet and so prettily modulated that
at Its first notes Flora turned Invol
untarily to glimpse the speaker, a
slender creature In a delicate mist of
muslin, with an Indeterminate chin
and the cheek of a pale peach.
"Just think," Flora, heard her say
ing, "he went to see her three times
in two days, but to-day, did you no
tice, be wouldn't look at ber until she
went tip and spoke to blm. I don't
see bow a girl can! Harry Cressy "
Bhe moved away and the words
were lost Flora looked after her. For
the moment she felt only scorn for
the creatures who had clapped that
Interpretation upon her great respon
sibility. These people around her
seemed poor indeed, absorbed only in
petty considerations, and seeing every
thing down the narrow vista of the
"correct" Her eyes followed the
young girl's course through the room,
easy to trace by her shining blond
head, and the unusual dellclousness of
her muslin gdwn. She stopped be
side two women, and with a certain
sense of pleasure and embarrassment
Flora recognized one of them Mrs.
Herrick. She caught the lady's eye
and bowed. Mrs. Herrick smiled,
with a gracious inclination in which
her graceful shoulders had a part
It gave Flora the sense Mrs. Her
rlck's presence always brought her,
of protection, of security, and the pos
sibility of friendship finer than she had
ever known. She started forward.
But Mrs. Herrick, presenting InBtantly
her profile, drew the young girl's
band through her arm and moved
away.
Flora winced as If she had received
a blow. The other people who had
heard the same gossip of her had
been, on account of It, all the more
amused and anxious to tnik to ber.
She felt herself judged judged
from the outside, it is true but still
there was Justice in It. She had been
flying In the face of custom, Ignoring
common good behavior, In short,
sticking to her own convictions In de
fiance of the world's. And she must
pay the penalty the loss of the pos
sibility of such a friend.
But it was hard, she thought, to pay
the price without getting the thing
she had paid for. It was more like a
gamble in which she staked all on a
chance. And never had this chance
appeared more Improbable to her than
now. For if Kerr valued the ring more
than he valued his safety, what argu
ment was left her?
CHAPTER XVII.
The Demigod.
On the third day she opened her
eyes to the sun with the thought:
Where is he? From the windows of
her room she could see the two pale
points and the narrow way of water
that led into the western ocean. Had
he sailed out yonder west Into the
east, Into that oblivion which was
his only safety, for ever out of her
sight? Or was he still at hand, ignor
ing warning, defying fate?
She drew out the sapphire and held
It In her hand. The cloud of events
had cast no Dim over its luster, but
she looked at It now without pleasure.
For all Its beauty it wasn't worth
what they were doing for it Well,
to-day they were both of them to see
the last of it To-day she was going
to take It to Mr. Purdle, to deliver It
Into his hands, to tell him how It had
fallen Into hers in the goldsmith's Bhop
all of. the story that was possible for
her to tell.
She had made it out all clear In her
mind that this was the right thing to
do. It hadn't occurred to ber ,she
had made it out only on the hypothe
sis of Kerr's certainly going. It had
not occurred to her that she might
have to make her great moral move
In the dark; or, what was worse, In
the face of his most gallant resistance.
In this discouraging light she saw her
Intention dwindle to the vanishing
point, but the great move was just as
good as It had been before Just as sol
id, Just as advisable. Being so very sol
id, wouldn't It wait until she had time to
show him that she really meant what
she said, supposing she ever bad a
chance to see him again? The pos
sibility that at this moment he might
actually have gone had almost es
caped ber. She recalled it with a dis
agreeable shock, but, after all, that
was the best she could hope, never to
see him again! She ought to be grate
ful to be sure of that, and yet if she
were, oh, never could she deprive him
of so much beauty and light by her
keeping of the sapphire as he would
then have taken away from her!
She would come down then, indeed,
level with plainest, palest, hardest
things people and facts. Her ro
manceshe bad seen It; she had had
it in her bands, and it had somehow
eluded her. 'It had vanished, evapo
rated. She leaned and looked through the
thin veil of her curtains at the splen
did day. It was one of February's
freaks. It was hot The white ghost
of noon lay over shore and sea. Be
neath her the city seemed to sleep
gray and glistening. The tops of hills
that rose above the up-creeping
bouses were misted green. Across the
bay, along the northern shore, there
was a pale green coast of bills divid
ing blue and blue. Ships In the bay
bung out white canvas drying, and the
sky showed whiter clouds, slow-moving,
like sails upon a languid sea.
She looked down upon all,' as lone
and lonely as a deserted lady In a
tower, lifted above these happy, peace
ful things by ber strange responsibili
ty. Her thoughts could not stay with
them; her eyes traveled seaward. She
parted the curtains and, leaning a lit
tle out looked westward at the white
sea gate. "
A whistle, as of some child calling
bis mate, came sweetly in the silence.
It was near, and the questing, expec
tant note caught ber ear. Again It
came, sharper, Imperative, directly be
neath her. She looked down; she
was speechless. There was a sudden
wild current of blood In hef veins.
There he stood, the whistler, neither
child nor bird, but the man himself
-Kerr, looking up at her from the gay
oval of her garden. She hung over
the window-Bill. She looked directly
down upon him, foreshortened to a face,
and even with the distance and the
broad glare of noon between them
she recognized his aspect his gayesV
of diabolic glee. There lurked about '
htm the Impish quality of the whistle
that had summoned her.
"Come down," he called.
All sorts of wonders and terrors
were beating around her. 'He had.
transcended her wildest wish; he had
come to her more openly, more dar
lngly, more romantically than she
could have dreamed. All the amace
ment of why and how he had braved"
the battery of the windows of her
house was swallowed up In the greater
Joy of seeing him there, standing In'
his "grays," with stiff black bst
pushed off his hot forehead, hands be
hind him, looking up at her from the
middle of anemones and daffodils.
"Come down," he called again, and, '
waved at her with his slim, glittering!
stick. How far he had come since
their last encounter, to wave at and
command her, as If she were verily
his own! She left the window, left
the room, ran quickly down the stair.
The house was hushed; no passing
but her own, no butler in the ball, na
kitchen-maid on the back stair. Only
grim faces of pictures ancestors not
1 her own glimmered reproachful
upon her as she fled past Light
echoes called her back along the halt
The furniture, the muffling curtains,
her own reflections flying through the
mirrors, held up to her her madness,
nnd by their mute stability seemed te
remind ber of the shelter she was
leaving seemed to forbid.
' She ran. This was not shelter; It
was prison. He was rescue; he was
light itself. The only chance for ber
was to get near enough to him. Near
him no shadow lived. The thing waa
to get near enough. She rushed di
rect from shadow into light. She
came out Into the sun, into the gar
den with its blaze of wintry summer,
its whispering life and the free air
over it The man standing In the
middle of it for all his pot hat and
Gothic stick, was none the less Its
demigod waiting for her, laughing.
He might well laugh that she who bad
written that unflinching letter should
come thus flying at his call; but there
was more than mischief In him. The
high tide of his spirits was only the
sparkle of his excitement. It waa
evident that he was there with some
thing of mighty importance to scy.
Was It that her letter had finally
touched him? Had he come at last to
transcend her idea with some even
greater purpose? She seemed to see
the power, the will for that and the
kindness she could not call It by an
other word but though she was be
seeching him with all ber silent atti
tude to tell her Instantly what the
great thing was, be kept It back a mo
ment, looking at her whimsically, in
dulgently, even tenderly.
"I have come for you," he said.
"Oh, for me!" she murmured. Sure
ly he couldn't mean that! He was
simply putting her off with that
"I mean it, I mean it" he assured
her. "This doesn't make It any less
real, my getting at you through a gar
den. Better," he added, "and sweet
of you to make the duller way im
possible." She took a step back. It had not
been play to her; but he would have
it nothing else. He, too, stepped
back and away from ber.
"Come," he said, and behind him
she saw the lower garden gate that
opened on the grassy pitch of the
hill, swinging idle and open. The
sight of him about to vanish lured her
on, and as he continued to walk back ,
ward she advanced, following.
"Oh, where?" she pleaded.
"With me!" Such a guaranty of
good faith he made it!
She tried to summon her reluctance.
"But why?"
"We'll talk about It as we go along."
His hand was on the gate. "We can't
stop here, you know. Shell be watch
ing us from the window."
Flora glanced behind her. . The win
dows were all discreetly draped
most likely ambush but' that he
should apprehend Clara's eyes behind
them! Ah, then, he did know what be
was about! He saw Clara as she did.
She would almost have been ready to
trust blm on the strength of that
alone. Still she hung back. ;
"But my things!" she protested.
She held up ber garden hat "And my
gown!" She looked down at her frail
silk flounces. Was ever any woman
seen on the street like this!
"Oh, la, la,, la," be cut her short
"We can't stop to dress the part
You'll forget "em."
She smiled at him suddenly, looked
back at the house, put on her hat
the garden bat The moment she had
dreaded was upon her. In spite of her
warning reason, In spite of every
thing, she was going with him.,
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
Insufficient Data. .
Blobbs What is Quxsler Uke whoa
he's sober?
' Blobbs I don't know. I've oaljr
known him about nine ysare.