Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-29

childs distress.
She gave low, quick sigh, then as he re-
leased her, hid her face in her hands. oh ]
reel 50 strange, so lonely so miserable" she
Depend upon It, you are girl, Desire he
said gently
II think I am," she muttered 'Tf I am,
shall never forgive them for not telling me-
never, never"
They have treated you vilely" said Crossing
nam; they deserve at your hands nothing but
hatred and aversion"
uh1t H la am really girl, shall do what you--ah,
Speak on, Desire, for what you say is right
You will do what have asked you?"
I'll cannot tell You would be kind to
me, my Lord?"
Always, dear; you shall be my little sister"
And never speak to me like you did little
while aeoY"
Never, dear; thought you boy then"
''Then shall go now to my mother, for
| should be able to see her now"
Go then, dear; you need not accompany me
to the cavern, shall find my way"
Goodnight my Lord"
Goodnight, Desire"
my Lord?
Eyes, dear"
"Do people often kiss each other in England"
Friends do, and relatives OF sweethearts
dear; why?"
Because have never been kissed before"
you poor little girl" said Cressingharn
He wandered through the cold and Shiny dark
ness of the tunnel deep in thought, and In his
fancy working out plans for the future. He re-
solved that if he escaped he would really
prove brother to Desire.
| Soon he reached the cavern, where for a while
he forgot everything in making hearty meal
That finished, he fastened one end of the ball
| OF twne to pillar, and lamp in hand strolled
down the passage by which he had entered the
cavern until he reached the cross-cut. There
arrived he turned into the broader path and
commenced the ascent of sloping and exceed
| ingly damp and dismal staircase hewn out Of
the mountains solid matrix.
| Blowing out the lamp he was surprised to find
the darkness less dense than he had expected,
for at the height of mans shoulders from the
ground two tiny eye-holes appeared in the wall,
through which shone subdued glow something
| like the light of freely. He approached these
eyeholes and peering through discovered that he
stood behind the wall of large, old-fashioned
chamber very the ceiling, the floor OF which
was quite sixteen feet beneath his feet.
Three persons were seated before a table lit
tered with TASKS and fagons the Count d d'Attaa
the man whom he had first known Prince
Carlos, and another whom he had difficulty
in guessing the Turk Yussef el Jibalof, the
! father of Desire and Madame Katherins first
| lover.
The first words that came to him were uttered
In the French tongue by the Turk.
"My MASTER" he observed quietly, "is dissat-
isfed, your Highness, and l must say I person
ally share in some way his opinion. Enormous
sums of his money have during the three past
years found their way here"
"Of which you have had your SHARE" cried the
Count, interrupting angriy.
"Quite So but the bulk has always been en-
trusted to your charge ,and for certain purpose
which has not yet been fulfilled, and which viii
need to be brought about very soon If not too
| late to work my master any good. To speak
| frankly, il the Gar the Kaiser, even the
Queen of England had been removed during the
Armenian distur Dances, we should have had
free hand to do what we pleased without fear.
ing the interference of any cursed foreign med
ders. As it was (he shrugged his shou-
ders).
The Count dAttala drummed with his fingers
on the table. What you say is quite true, my
friend, but we did our best, we did best.
Not a copper have l retained in my own inter
ests, all and more has been spent in the cause.
But after all, / cannot control fate. Many at
tempts have failed through the watchfulness Of
the police, more through the cursed cunning Of
that mysterious person Perigord. Money comes
in very stingily, however, and to move We re-
quire great sum. l must confess that my store
is almost depleted. To think that in my old age
/ see beggary stare me in the facet"
The Turk smiled sardonicaly. Money can
be had, your Excellency, money and to spare,
but the Sultan requires guarantee"
"He shall have one," cried the Count "A
bloody guarantee; but something must be paid
us down."
"I have only five thousand with me-"
"'Twil suffice, 80 that it be gold"
"It is Nv servants have orders to bring the
parcel here by midnight less, of course, my
share"
Here Prince Carlos woke up. 'fWhat Of my
share?" he demanded.
'I shall pay you here!" said the Count.
Understand" said Jibaloff quietly, there
must be no mistake this time. My master wishes
guarantee--well and good-but the death of
king, no petty princeling, mind
'I shall satisfy hm-and afterwards"
afterwards ! shall bring you myself one
hundred thousand ounces of Russian gold; the
remainder he will not part with until you have
carried out your promise and England is publicly
embroied with Russia, for only then may the
Sultan be at liberty to entirely crush these rich
Armenian dogs to whom he looks to reimburse
him for the vast sums he has so far frutlessy
expended"
dMv plans are already almost ripe" replied
the Count with a grim laugh; 'it is more easy
to embroil nations than to kill kings One Of
my servants commands Russian warship, now
on its way to Chinese waters He has amongst
his officers one brother, amongst his sailors sew
enteen. On receipt of my message he is pre-
pared to run amuek in the English fleet, and
taking them by surprise he should sink three
ships at least before he is himself destroyed
"For the rest, watch the papers for your guaran.
tee Let me see, this is July 90. / said five
DAYS Just now, but give me nine, so as TO allow
for all contingencies. BY the twenty-ninth at
latest Humbert of Italy will have departed on a
journey to the Lake Of Tartarus, Gentlemen,
charge your glasses; It is only fitting that we
.ka.td drink his health and xsrieh him ko.