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SYNOPSIS.
At a fcrtvate view of the Chatworth
personal eetate, to be sold at auction, the
Chatworth ring, known as the Crew Idol,
mysteriously disappears. Harry Cressy,
who wae present, describes the ring to
his fiancee, Flora Gilsey, and her chap
eron, Mrs. Clara Brltton, as being: like a
heathen rod, with a beautiful Bapphlre
set in the head. Flora incuts Mr. Kerr,
an Englishman, at the club. In dis
cussing the disappearance of the ring, the
exploits ' of an English thief, Farrcll
Wand, are recalled. Flora has a fancy
that Harry and Kerr know something
abont the mystery. Kerr tells Flora that
he has met Harry somewhere, but cannot
filace him. Jje.OOO reward Is offered for
he return of the ring. Harry admits to
Flora that he dislikes Kerr. Harry takes
Flora to a Chltleso goldsmith's to buy an
engagement ring. An exquisite sapphire
ct In a hoop of brass, Is selected. Harry
(irges her not to wear It until It la reset.
The possession of the ring seems to cast
a spell over Flora. She becomes uneasy
and apprehensive. Flora meets Kerr at a
bo party. She is startled by the effect
on him when he gets a glimpse of the
sapphire. The possibility that the stone
Is part of the Crew Idol causes Flora
much anxiety. Unseen, Flora discovers
' Clara ransacking her dressing room.
Flora refuses to give or sell the stone to
Kerr, and suspects him of being the thief.
Flora's Interest In Kerr Increases. She
decides to return the ring to Harry, but
e tells her to keep it for a day or two.
:11a Buller tells Flora that Clara Is set
ting her cap for her father; Judge Buller.
Flora believes Harry suspects Kerr and
fs waiting to make sure of the reward be-
Core unmasking the thief. Clara seems to
e Intent about something. Kerr and
Clara confess their love for each other.
CHAPTER XVII. (Continued.)
The child furtively tested her coin,
biting it as If to taste the glitter, and
Flora waited, lost, given up by her
elf, passively watching for the room
to be filled again with his presence.
He was back after a long minute, and
this time took up .his stand at the
door, where, pushing aside the tight
drawn curtain a little, from time to
time be looked out into the street
Sometimes his eyes followed the
cracks of the plastered, wall, some
times be studied the floor at his feet;
every moment she saw he was alert,
expectantly watching and waiting;
and though he never looked at her sit
ting behind him, she felt bis protec
tion between her and the darkening
street. She sat In the shadow of it,
feeling It all around ber, claiming her
aa it would claim her henceforth,
from the world. A ghost of light
rllmmered alone the curtains of the
V window, and stopped, quivering, In
the middle of the curtained door,
r Then be turned and beckoned ber.
fihoer weakness kent her Blttlnc. He
went to ber, took her face between
bis hands, and looked into It long and
Intently.
S "You don't want to go!" The words
fell from his Hps like an accusal. His
sudden realization of what she felt
held him there dumb with disappoint
ment "You bave won me," her look
was saying, "and yet I bave Immedi
ately become a worthless thing, be
cause I am going; and I don't believe
in going." She felt - she had . failed
him how cruelly, was written In bis
face. But It was only for a moment
that she made him hesitate. The next
he shook himself free. ,
"Well, come," he said.
She felt that alt doors would fly
open at his bidding. She felt herself
swept powerless at his will with all
the yielding in her soul that she had
felt In her body when his arms were
around her. He bad taken her by the
hand be was leading her out into the
gusty night, where all lights flared
the gas-lights marching up the' street
over the hill into the unknown, and
the lights gleaming at. her, like eyes
In the dark 'bulk of the carriage .wait
ing before the door. It all glimmered
before her a picture she might never
ee again might not see after she
passed through the carriage door that
gaped for 1 her. The will that had
A swept her out of the door was moving
Ber beyond ber own will, as it had
moved ber that morning in the gar
den, beyond all things that she knew.
There' was no feeling left In her but
the despair of extreme surrender.
k She found herself in the carriage.
She saw his face in the carriage door
as pale as anger, yet not angry; It
tras some bigger thing that looked at
her from his eyes. He looked a long
while, as it he bade her never to for
get this moment Then, "I'll give you
24 hours," he said. "This man will
take you home." He shut the carriage
door shut It between them. Before
ahe had gathered breath he had
Straightened, fallen back, raised his
hat, and the carriage was turning.
Flora thrust bur bead, straw hat and
ribbons, out of the window.
"Oh, I love you!" she called to him.
She sank back in the cushions and
covered her face with her bands.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Goblin Tactics.
. For a little she kept ber face hid
den, shutting out the present, Jealous
ly living with the wonderful thing
that bad happened to her: It was as
wonderful as . anything site . had
dreamed might come when she had
written him that letter. And if she
needed any proof of his love, she had
had It In the moment when he had let
her go. There he had transcended
ber hope.
He had -been wonderful in a way
he had sot expected. He had shown
her so beautifully that he could be
reached in spite of his obsession,
alight not ahe hope to touch him just
a little further? Was there any
height now that he might not rise toT
She seemed to see the possible end of
It all shaping itself out of his mag
nanimity. She seemed to see . him
finally relinquishing bis passion for
the Jewel, and hia passion for ber for
the sake of something finer than both.
She looked out of the window. The
flickers of gas-lamps fell intermittent
ly through it upon her. Her queer
vehicle was rattling crazlly Jolting
as if every spring were at its last leap.
She was out of the quiet, blue street
Montgomery avenue, with Its lights,
its glittering gilt names and Latin in
signia, was traveling by on either
side of her. The voice of the city was
growing louder In her ears, the crowd
on the pavement increased. She sat
looking out at the maze of moving
lights and figures without seeing
them, intent on an Idea that was
growing clearer, larger, moment by
moment In her mind.
Kerr's appearance In her garden
his capture of her had not been the
fantastic freak It had seemed. He had
had his purpose. He had taken her
out of her environment; he had car
ried her beyond succor or menace
Just that he might carry them both
so much further and faster through
their differences. They had not
reached the point of agreement yet,
but might they not on some other
ground, where they could be unchal
lenged? It seemed to her If she could
only meet him on her own ground for
once instead of for ever on Clara's
or Harry's only meet him alone,
where beyond their reach, it might be
accomplished, it might be brought to
the end she so wished.
The hack, which had been moving
along at a rapid pace, slowed now to
a walk among the thickening traffic,
and from a mere moving mass the
crowd appeared as Individuals a
stream of dark figures and white
faces. Her eyes slipped from one to
another. Here one ntnnri Rtlll on the
lamp-lit corner, looking down, with
Hps moving quickly and silently. It
was strange to see those rapid, eager,
moving lips with no sound from them
audible. Then her eyes were startled
by something familiar In the figure,
though the direct down-glare of the
ball of light above him distorted the
features with shadows. She pressed
her face against the window-glass In
palpitating doubt It was Harry.
She cowered In the corner of the
carriage. In a moment the risks of
ber situation were before her. Had
he seen her? Oh, no, at least not yet.
He had been too intent on whomever
he was talking to. .She peered to
make sure that he was still safely on
the street corner. He was Just op
posite, and now that the eddy of the
crowd had left- a ' little clear space
around him, she saw with whom he
was talking. It was a small, very
small, shabby, nondescript man pos
sibly only a boy, so short he seemed.
His back was toward her. His clothes
hung upon him with an odd un-Anglo-Saxon
air. He was foreign with a
forelgnness no country could explain
Italian, Portuguese, Greek whatever
he was, he was a strange foil to Har
ry, so bright and burnished.
The hack was turning. She re
alized with dismay that It was turning
sharp around that very corner where
they stood. Suppose Harry should
chance to glance through its window
and see Flora Gilsey sitting trembling
within. The hack wheezed and
cramped, and all at once she heard
it scrape .the curb. Then she was lost!
She looked up brave in her despera
tion, 'ready to meet Harry's eyes. She
saw the back of bis head. For a
moment it loomed directly above her,
then it moved. He' was separating
from his companion. With one stride
he vanished out of the square frame
of the window, and there remained
full fronting her, Staring in' upon her,
the face of his companion. V i '
Back flashed to her memory the
goldsmith's shop dull hues and odors
all at 'once and that wide unwinking
stare that bad fixed her from the oth
er side of the counter. The blue-eyed
Chinaman! In the glare of, white
light, in his terrible clearness and
nearness, she knew him Instantly.
The hack plunged forward, the face
was gone. But she remained nerve
less, powerless to move, frozen in her
stupefaction, while her vehicle pur
sued its crazy course. It was clatter
ing up Sutter street toward Kearney,
where at this hour the town was
widest awake, and the crowd was a
crowd site knew. At any Instant peo
ple she knew might be going in and
out of the florists' shops and restau
rants, or passing her In carriages.
And what of Flora Gilsey In her morn
ing dress and garden hat, in a night-
hawk of a Telegraph Hill hack, flying
through their midst like a mad wom
an? They were the least of her fears.
She had forgotten them. The only
thing that remained to her was the
memory of Harry and the blue-eyed
Chinaman together on the street cor
ner.. She had been given a glimpse of
that large scheme that Harry' was car
rying forward somewhere out of her
sight such a glimpse as Clara had
given ber In the rifling of her room,
as Ella bad shown in her hysterical
revelation. Again she felt the threat
of these ominous signs of danger, as
a lone general at a last stand with
his troops clustered at -his back sees
in front, and behind, on either side of
htm, the glitter of bayonets in the
bushes.
She was In the midst of the tan
gled traffic of Kearney street Swim
ming lights and crowds were all
1
"Why, You Poor Child, What' Happened to You?"
around her. She peered forth cauti
ously upon it She saw a florid face,
a woman she knew casually and
there her eyes fastened, not for the
woman's brilliant presence, but for
what she saw directly in front of it,
thrown into relief upon its background
a short and shabby figure, foreign,
equivocal, reticent, the figure of a
blue-eyed Chinaman.
He was standing still while the
crowd flowed past him. This time he
was alone. He seemed to be waiting,
yet not to watch, as If he had already
seen what he was expecting and knew
that it must pass his way. It was un
canny, his reappearance, at a second
Interval of her route, standing as if
he had stood there from the first, pa
tient, expectant, motionless. It was
worse than uncanny.
All at once an idea, wild and Illog
ical enough,' Jumped up in her mind.
Couldn't this miserable vehicle that
was lumbering like a disabled bug
move faster and rattle her on out of
reach of the glare, the publicity, the
threat of discovery, and, above all, of
her discomforting notion? - ' '
She thrust her head far out and ad
dressed the driver.
"Go as fast as you can, faster! and
I'll give you twice what he gave you."
The words rang so wildly to her own
ears that she half expected the driver
to peer down like an old bird of prey
from bis perch and demand' her rea
son. But he made no sound or sign.
It may have been that in his time he
had heard even wilder requests than
hers. He only sent hif whip cracking
forward to the ears of the lean, horse,
and the cab began to rattle like a mad
thing.
Flora leaned back with a sigh of re
lief. The mere sensation of being
borne along at such a rate, the sight
of houses, lamp-posts, even people
here and there, flitting away from the
eye, unable to interrupt her course, or
even to glimpse her identity, gave her
a feeling of safety.' The more she
was getting1 into the residence part
of the city, the more deserted the
streets, the closer shut the windows
of the houses, the more it seemed to
her as if the night itself covered and
abetted her flight. ' So swiftly she
went it was only a wonder how the
cab held together. She had never
traveled more rapidly in her light and
silent carriage. Now they whirled the
corner and plunged at the steep rise
of a cross street Just above, over
the crown of the hill, she saw the sky,
moonless, blackish, spattered with
stars. Then against it a little flutter
ing shape like a sentinel wisp the
only living thing in sight. It was in
credible, impossible, horrible that he
should be there, in front of her, wait
ing for her who had driven so fast
too fast, it bad seemed, for human
foot to follow. By what unimaginable
route had he traveled? She was ready
to believe he bad flown over the
housetops. And above all other hor
rors, why was bi pursuing her?
The carriage was abreast the China
man now, and immediately be took up
his trot, for & little while keeping up,
dodging along between light and
shadow, presently falling behind. At
intervals she heard the patter, patter,
patter of his footsteps following; at
intervals she lost the sound, and
shadows would engulf the figure, and
she would wait in a panic for its reap
pearance. For she knew it was there
somewhere, o one side of the street
or the other. But, oh, not to see it!
To expect at any moment it might
start up again heaven knew where,
perhaps at her very carriage window.
Her unconscious hand was doubled to
a fist upon her breast, fast closed
upon the sapphire.
With all her body braced, she
leaned and looked far backward, and
far forward, and now for a long time
saw nothing. The distance was empty.
The glare of arc-lights showed her
the shadows of her own progress
the shadow of her vehicle shooting
huge and niisshapen now on the cob
bles, now along a blank wall, wheels,
body and driver, all lurching like one;
now heaped on each other, now tenu
ously drawn out, now twisting them
selves into shapes the mind could not
account for. For here, whirling the
corner, the carriage seemed to wave an
arm and now between the wheels, fast
twinkling, she saw a pair of legs. She
leaned and looked, so mesmerized with
this grotesque appearance that it
scarcely troubled her that all the way
down the last long hill she knew It
rist be that a man was running at
her wheel. - ,
The warm lights of her house were
just before her, offering succor, stif
fening courage. It would be but a
dash from the door of the cab to
her own door. There was no second
course, once the cab stopped. She felt
that to lurk In Its gloom would mean
robbery, perhaps death. She thought
without fear, but with an intense cal
culation. Her hand held' the door at
swing as the cab drew up. Before It
should stop, she must leap. She gath
ered her skirts .and sprang sprang
clean-to the sidewalk. The steps of
her- house rushed by her in' her up
ward flight. Her bell pealed. She
covered her eyes. J
For the ' moment . before ." Shlma
opened the door there - was nothing
but darkness and silence. She had
never been so glad of anything in her
life as of the kind, astute,- yellow
face he presented to her distressed ap
peal.',' :
"Shlma," she panted, "pay the cab;
and if there's any one else there say
that I'll call the police no, no, send
him away." There was no question or
hesitation in Shima's obedience.
Through the glass of the door she
watched him descend upon his errand,
until he disappeared over the edge of
the illumination of the vestibule. She
waited, dimly aware of voices going
oivbeyond the curtains of the drawing
room, but all her listening power was
concentrated on the silence without
a silence that remained unbroken, and
out of which Shlma returned with the
same Imperturbable countenance.
"He wants ten dollars."
"Oh, yes, give him anything," Flora
gasped. If that was all the China
man had followed ber for! But her
relief was momentary, for Instantly
Shlma was back again.
"I gave him ten dollars, the cab
man." Now she gasped again. "Oh, the
cabman! But the other one!" For
an instant Shlma seemed to hesitate;
glancing past her shoulder as if there
was something that he doubted be
hind her. Then as she still hung on
his answer be brought it out in a
lowered voice.
"Madam, there was no one else
there."
CHAPTER XIX.
The Face In the Garden.
With her band at ber distressed
forehead Bbe turned, and saw, be
tween the curtains of the drawing-:
room, Harry, and behind him Clara,
looking out at her with faces of
amazement, and She fancied, horror.
Harry came straight for her. ..
"Why, you poor child, what's hap
pened to you?" i ,
She gave him a look. She couldn't
forget their scene in tbe red room,
but the mixture of apprehension and
real concern .In his face went far to
ward melting her. She might even
bave told him something, at least a
part of the truth, but for that other
standing watching her from the drawing-room
door. With Clara, there was
nothing for it but to ignore her disor
dered hair, her hat in her hand, her
ruffle torn and trailing on the floor.
She put on a splendid nonchalance,
as if it were none of their business.
"Ob, I am sorry If I kept you wait
ing." It was Clara who spoke to her, past
Harry's blank astonishment. "Why,
we don't mind waiting a few moments
more while you dress."
"I shan't have to dress." Such a
statement Flora felt must-amaze even
Shlma, waiting like an image on the
threshold of the dining-room. But if
these, people were waiting to be
amazed she felt herself equal to
amazing them to the top of their ex
pectations. "Oh, but at least go up -and let
Marrika give you some pins," Clara
protested, hurrying forward as if fair
ly to drive her.
"Thank you, no, this will do," Flora
said. On one point she was quite
clear. She wasn't going to leave those
two together for a moment to discuss
her plight; not till she could first get
at Harry alone. Then and there she
turned to the mirror and with her
combs began to catch back and smooth
the disorder of her hair, seeing all the
while Clara's reflection hovering per
turbed and vigilant in the background
of her own.
While her hands were busy seem
ing to accommodate Clara, her mind
was marshaled to Clara's outwitting.
The only thing to do was to tell
nothing. Let Clara spend her time in
guessing. Unless by some wild chance
she had seen Kerr in the garden she
couldn't come near the truth of what
bad happened. But what was to be
done with Harry? Harry was too close
to her to be Ignored.
At that dreadful dinner, where she
sat a conscious frustrater of these two
silent ones, glancing at Harry's faee,
she knew that It she didn't attack she
would be attacked by him.. It was
here In the midst of the noiseless
passings of Shlma, watching Harry's
suspicious glances flashing across the
table at her strange disorder, that the
idea occurred to her of a way out of
it She was bold enough to try a
daring thrust at the mystery. If ever
a hunter was to be led off on a false
scent, Harry was that one. She was
amazed at the sudden, fearless im
pulse that had sprung up in her. She
wasn't even afraid to say to him un
der Clara's nose, "Harry, I want you
to myself after dinner, Come up into
the garden study."
He was very willing to follow her.
She thought she detected In his alac
rity something more than curiosity or
concern. It seemed almost as if Har
ry was ashamed of that scene in the
red room, and anxious to make it up
with her. He even tried before they
had reached the head of the stairs.
"Oh, Flora I say, Flora, I"
But an explanation' between them
was the last thing she wanted Juat
then. She fairly ran, leaving him
panting in the wake of her airy skirts.
For the first time since the thing
began Clara was left out completely.
Flora knew she was even left out of
a possibility of listening at the key
hole. For the bright, tight, little
room into which . Harry followed her
was approached by a square entry and
a double door. Tbe room Itself over
hung the garden as a ship's deck
overhangs the sea. Leather books and
long red curtains were the note of it.
She and Harry had often been here
together before. r.
He hadn't got his breath.- He bad
bardly shut the door on them before
she began. "Well, something has
happened." She had .''his attention.
His other purpose was arrested. "Oh,
something extraordinary. I would
have told you on 'the spot, only I
thought you would rather Clara didn't
know it"
. "I?" That left him staring. "What
bave I to do with it?"
At this she gave him a long look.
"It was through you he ever had tbe
chance of. seeing me. I mean the
blue-eyed Chinaman. He has follow
ed me all the evening. He followed me
here to4he very door." Flora's array
of facts fell so fast, so bard, so point
ed, that for a moment they held him
speechless in the middle of the room.
Any fleeting suspicion she might
have had of his complicity In tbe
Chinaman's pursuit vanished. He
showed plain bewilderment. For a
moment he was more at sea than her
self. The next she saw the shadow of
a thought so disturbing that it sharp
ened his ruddy face to harshness. He
stepped toward, her.- "What did he
say to you?" He loomed directly
above her, threatening.
"Nothing. He didn't say anything.
But I know he followed me quite to
the bouse. I saw his shadow, all -the
way down tbe hill."
Harry still breathed quickly.
"Where how did he come across
you?"
She'd been prepared for the ques
tion. "I was driving down Sutter street
and he saw me at the carriage window."
Harry stood, tense, poised, catching
everything as she tossed it off; then
as if all at once he felt the full weight
of the burden, "Lord!" be said, and
let himself down heavily into a chair.
It was plain in bis helpless stare that
he knew exactly what it all meant
Laying her bands on tbe high chair-
arms, leaning down so that she could
look Into his face, Flora made her
thrust.
"What do you think he wants?" she
gently asked. ' It was as if she would
coax it out of him. Ills answer was
correspondingly low and soft
"It's that damned ring."
She heard her secret fear spoken
aloud with such assurance that she
waited, certain at the next moment
Harry's voice would people the si
lence with all the facts that bad so
far escaped her. But when, after a
moment of looking before him he did
speak, be went back to the beginning,
which they both knew.
"You know he didn't want to part
with it in the- flrst place."
"Yes, yes; but he did," Flora in
sisted. "Well," he answered quickly, "but
that was before " He caught him
self and went on with a scarcely per
ceptible break: "He may have bad
a better offer for it since."
He couldn't have put it more mildly,
and yet that temperate phrase brought
back to her in a flash a windy night
full of raucous ' voices and the great
figures In the paper that had covered
half a page the reward for the Crew
Idol. Could It be that that sum so '
overwhelming to human caution and
human decency which Harry bad
cloaked by his grudging phrase "some
better offer?" What else could he
mean? And what else could the blue
eyed Chinaman mean by his strange
pursuit of her?
"Some one must have wanted it
awfully," Flora tried again, keeping
step with bis mild admission.
Harry covered her with an Impressive
stare. "There's something queer abont
that ring," he nodded to her. He was
going to tell her at last! She gazed
at him in expectation, but presently
she realized' that nothing more waa ,
coming. He bad stopped at the be
ginning. She tried to urge him on.
"Queer, what do you mean?" She
was feigning surprise.
' He looked at her cautiously. "Why, .
you must bave noticed it yourself
when we were at the shop. And now,
to-night, his having followed you."
She could see him hesitate, choos
ing his words. She knew well enough
her own fear of saying too much but,
what was, Harry afraid of? Did he
suspect her feeling for Kerr? Was
that why he was holding back, leav
ing out, giving her the small, expur
gated version of what he knew. She
tried again, making it plainer.
"You think the ring is something he
ought not to have had; something
that belongs somewhere else?"'
He looked , away from her, around
the room, as if to pick up his answer
from some of the corners. "Well, any
way, It's lucky we waited about that
setting," . he said with quick irrele
vance. ."If you're going to be annoyed
in this way you'd better let me have
it." .
Why hadn't she thought of that! It
was what any man might say, after
bearing such a story as bers, yet it
was the last thing she had thought of,
and the last thing she wanted.
' "Oh, leave it with me," she quaver
ed, "at least till you're sure!"
"Ob, no!" He gave his head a quick,
decided shake. "If something should
come out,, you wouldn't want to be
mixed up. in it."
"Then, why not give it back to the
Chinaman?" she tried him.
"Oh, that's ridiculous." He was in
a passion. His darkening eyes, his
swelling nostrils, his aspect so out of
proportion to her mild and almost
playful suggestion, frightened her. He
saw it and instantly .bis mood dropped
to mere irritation. "Oh, Flora, don't
make a scene about It This thing bas
been ; on my mind for days the
thought that you had the ring. I was
afald I had no business to let you
have it in the first place, and what
you've told me to-night has clean
knocked me out. I don't know what
I'm saying. Come, let me have it; '
and if there's anything queer about
the business, at least we'll get it
cleared up."
But, smiling, she retreated before
him. '
"Why, Flora," he argued, 'aalf laugh
ing, but still with that dry end of ir
ritation In his voice, "what on earth
do you want to keep the thing for?"
By this time she backed against the
window and faced him. "Why, it'i
my engagement ring."
He looked at her. She couldn't tell
whether he waa readiest to laugh or
rage. .
- "You gave it to me for that" she
pleaded. "Why shouldn't I keep it,
until you give me a real reason for
giving it up? If you really know any
thing, who don't you tell me?" She'
was sure she had him there; but. he
burst out at last:
(TO BE CONXIiJUBD.)
1