The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-09-25

yellow beard, who is selling rubies
from the same place, and has very
likely gone off with yours. He looked
like a bad egg In spite of his hand
some face"
He turned his eyes thoughtfully to
the window. Barak plucked gently at
his sleeve and pretended to write in
the palm of her left hand, and then
went through all the descriptive ges-
lures again, and then once more pre-
tended to write, and coaxingly pushed
him towards a little table on which
she saw writing materials.
You'd like to have his address,
would you, Miss Barrak? I wonder
why you don't call in your Interpreter
and tell me SO. 1t would be much
simpler than all this dumb crambo."
Once more he made step towards
the door. but she caught at his sleeve
and entreated him in her own Ian.
guage not to call any one; and her
voice was so deliciously soft and be-
seeching that he yielded, and sat down
at the small table and wrote out an
address from memory. He handed her
the half-sheet of paper when he had
dried the writing and had looked over
it carefully.
poor little thing" he said in
tone of pity. IF you ever find him
he'll eat you"
Barak again showed signs of great
emotion when she put the address
into an inside pocket of her mans
coat, but it was not of the same kind
as before. She took Van Torp's big
hand in both her own, and, bending
down, she laid 1t on her head, meaning
that he might dispose of her life ever
afterwards. But he did not under.
stand.
"You want my blessing, do you, Miss
Barrack? Some people don't think
Brassy Van Torp's blessing worth
much, young lady, but you're welcome
to 1t, such as it Is"
He patted her thick hair and smiled
as she looked up, and her eyes were
dewy with tears.
That's all right, my DEAR" he said.
Don't cry!" ~
She smiled, too, because his tone
was kind, and, standing up, she took
out her little leathern bag again quick
". emptied the twists of paper into
her hand, selected one by touch, and
slipped the rest back. She unwrapped
a large stone and held it up to the
light, turning it little as she did so.
Van Torp watched her with curiosity,
and with an amused suspicion that
che ho1 nnrhonc n1o ~
scene in order to mollify him and in
duce him to buy something. So many
people had played much more elabo-
rate tricks in the hope of getting
money from him. and the stones might
be limitations after all, in spite of Lo-
gotheti's penciled line of recommends
tion.
But Barak's next action took Van
Torp by surprise. To his amazement,
she pressed the ruby lightly to her
heart, then to her lips, and last of all
to her forehead, and before he knew
what she was doing she had placed it
in his right hand and closed his fin
gers upon it. It was thank-offering.
"Nonsense!" objected the million.
iare, smiling, but holding out the stone
to her. tits very sweet of you, but
you don't mean 1t, and don't take
presents like that. Why, it's worth q
thousand pounds in Bond street any
day"
But she put her hands behind her
back and shook her head to show that
she would not take it back. Then with
her empty hand she again touched her
heart, her lips and forhead, and
turned towards the door.
Here, stop!" said Mr.. Van Torp,
going after her. II can't take this
thing! See here, say! Put it back
into your pocket"
She turned and met him, and made
a gesture of protest and entreaty, as
If earnestly begging him to keep the
gem. He looked at her keenly, and
he was Judge of humanity, and saw
that she was hurt by his refusal. As
a last resource, he took out his pock-
et-book and showed her a quantity of
folded bank notes.
"Well,' he said, "since you insist,
Miss Barrack, I'll buy the stone of
you, but I'll be everlastingly jiggered
If I'll take it for nothing"
Barak's eyes suddenly flashed in a
most surprising way, her lower lip
pouted, and her cheek family changed
color, as drop of scarlet pomegranate
Juice will tinge bowl of cream.
She made one step forwards, plucked
the stone from his fingers, rather than
took it, and with quick, but girlish-
ly awkward movement, threw it to-
wards the window as hard as she
could, stamping angrily with her little
foot at the same moment Mr.. Van
Torp was extremely disconnected, as
he sometimes was by the sudden &C.
tions of the sex he did not under
stand. Fortunately the stone hit the
wall instead of going out of the win
dow.
I'm really sorry, Miss Barrack," he
said in tone of humble apology, and
he went quickly and picked up the
gem 81 hadn't uuite understood, you