The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1907-02-28

CHAPTER ~.
A Face at sherry's.

lnduc no ulleFeuCe 10 me whether the
market rose or fell. Something of the
spirit of adventure that had been my
curse Quickened in my heart as |
walked through crowded Broadway
past Trinity church to a bank and
drew the balance remaining on my
letter of credit. | received ia currency
slightly less than $1,000.
As turned from the teller's window
gan into the arms of the last man in
the world | expected to see.
This. let it be remembered was in
October of the year OF our Lord, nine
teen hundred and one
Don't mention my name an thou
lowest met" said Laurancc Donovan.
and he drew me aside. ignored my
hand and otherwise threw into our
meeting a casual quality that was
somewhat amazing In view OF the fact
that we had met last at Cairo.
Allah IL Aliah!"
II was undoubtedly Larry. felt the
heat OF the desert and heard the camel
drivers cursing and our Sudanese
guides plotting mischief under a win.
dow far away.
"well!" we both exclaimed inferno
gatively.
He rocked gently back and forth,
with his hands in his pockets, on the
tile floor Of the banking house. had
seen him stand thus once on a time
when he had eaten nothing in four
days-it was in Abyssilia, and our
guides had lost us in the worst possi-
Bile place-with the same untroubled
look in his eyes.
Please don't appear surprised. or
scared or anything. Jack he said
with his delicious intonation. Il saw
fellow looking for me an hour or so
ago. He's been at II for several
months; hence my presence on these
shores of the brave and the free. He's
probably still looking. as he's a per
sistent devil. I'm here, as we may
say, quite incOg. Staying at an East
Side lodging house. where ! shan't in
vite you to call on me. But must see
you"
Dine with me tonight. at sher-
rvs"
Too big, too many people"
Therein lies security, II you're in
trouble I'm about to go into exile.
and | want TO eat one more civilized
dinner before ! CO."
PERHAPS it's just as well Where
are you off for.-not Africa again."
mo. Just Indiaaa.--one of the SOW
creign american states. as you ought
ia know"
"Indians?"
mo; warranted all dead"
Pack on--automoblle-
camels.-how do you get there?"
Vanished cars. It's easy. It's not
the getting there; it's the not dying of
ennui after you're on the spot"
"Humph, What hour did you say
for the dinner?"
Seven O'clock Meet me at the en-
trance"
IN be there II I'm not In Jail Kind
ly allow me to precede you, and don't
follow. please"
He walked away his gloved hands
clasped lazily behind him. lounged out
upon Broadway and turned toward the
Battery. | waited until he dsap-
peared, then took an uptown car
My first meeting with Laurance Don
ovan was in Constantlnople at cafs.
where | was dining. He got into row
with an Englishman and knocked him
down. II was not my affair, but liked
the ease and definiteness with which
Larry put his foe out OF commission. |
learned later that II was way he had
My friend, the American consul gen
eral at Constantinopie, was not with.
out a sense of humor and | easily en-
listed him in Larry's behalf The Eng
lishman thirsted for vengeance and in
voked all the powers. He insisted.
with reason, that Larry was a British
subject and that the American consul
had no right to give him asylum,-a
point that was. / understand, thor
oughly well-grounded in law and fact.
Larry maintained. on the other hand,
that he was not English but Irish. and
that. as his country maintained no
representative in Turkey. 1t was his
privilege 10 find refuge wherever Il
was offered. Larry was always the
most plausible OF human beings. end
between us.-he, the American consul
and I've made an impression. and
got him on.
I did not realize until later that the
real joke lay in the fact that Larry
was English-born. and that his devo-
ton 10 Ireland was purely sentimental
and quixotic. His family had. TO be
sure, come out of Ireland some time
in the dim past. and settled in Eng
land; hut when Larry reached years of
knowledge, II not of discretion. he cut
oxford and insisted on taking his de-
gree at Dublin. He even believed.-or
thought he believed.-in banshees. lie
allied himself during his university
days with .he most radical and turbu-
lent sayocateS Of = separate national