Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-04-06

- - 49, 'DAy 6OO0y anu ACA AACL1OIe
for details was fair, and II she did
not look often at his face, she watches
his hands and listened to the intona-
lions OF his voice, and her conviction
that he was Leven grew during din
ner. Yet there was still shadow of
doubt, though she could not have told
exactly where 1t lay.
She longed to lead him into a trap
by asking some question to which II
he were Leven, he would know the an
swer. though not If he were any one
else, question to which he would not
hesitate to reply unsuspectingly II the
answer were known to him. But Lady
Maud was not ingenious in such cox
versational tricks, and could not think
of anything that would do.
The outward difference of appear
ance between him and the man she
had married was so small that she
could assuredly not have sworn in ev-
idence that Kralinsky was not her
husband There was the beard, and
she had not seen Leven with beard
since the first months of her mar
rage four years ago, when he had cut
1t off for some reason known only to
himself. OF course a recollection, al
ready four years old, could not be
trusted like one that dated only as far
back as three months; for he had left
her not long before his supposed
death
There were the hands, and there
was the left hand especially. That
might be the seat of the doubt. Pos
sibly she had never noticed that
Leven had a way of keeping his left
little finger almost constantly crooked
and turned inward as II IL were lame
But she was not sure even of that,
I for she was not one of those people
who study the hands of every one they
know, and can recognize them at a
glance. She had certainly never
watched her husbands as closely az
she was watching Kralinsky's now.
Margaret was in the best of spirits,
and talked more than usual, not STOP
ping to think how Van Torp's mere
presence would have chilled and ST.
fenced her three or four months
earlier.
On the whole Il was a gay dinner,
and Mrs. Rushmore and Kralinsky
knew that it was a very good one, and
told each other so afterward as they
walked slowly up and down the great
promenade deck in the starlight. For
people who are very fond OF good eat
ing can chatter pleasantly about their
food for hours, recalling the recent de-
lights of a perfect chaud-froid or a
faultless sauce; and it was soon evI
oent that there was nothing connect
ed with such subjects which Kralin-
sky did not understand and appreci-
ate, from Chinese bird 's-nest soup to
the rules of the great Marie-Antoine
I Careme and Brillat-SaVarin's "Physi-
ology of Taste" Kralinsky also knew
everybody. Between gastronomy and
society, he appeared to Mrs. Rush
more to know everything there was
to be known.
Lady Maud caught snatches of the
conversation as the two came near
her, and then turned back and she re-
membered that Leven used to talk on
the same subjects with elderly women
on whom he wished to make a pleas
ant impression. The voice was his,
too, and yet she knew she had a doubt
somewhere, very small doubt, which
II was a sort Of slow torture to feel
was still unsatisfied.
Mr.. Van Torp sat between her and
Lady Margaret, while the two others
walked The deep-cushioned straw
chairs stood round a low fixed table
on which there had been coffee. and at
Margaret's request the light had been
put out, though 1t was only a small,
opalescent one, placed under the avn
ing abaft the wheel-house and bridge.
I'VE must be going very fast" said
Lady Maud" for the sea is fat as a
millpond, and yet there's a gale as
soon as one gets out of the lee of
things
she's doing %. I believe" replied
Van Torp, and she can do % II
she gets warmed up"
Where are we going?" Margaret
asked. "At this rate we are sure to
get somewhere"
81 don't know where we're going,
I'm sure" The millionaire smiled in
the gloom. But as you say, it doesn't
take more than five minutes to get
somewhere in a ship like this"
You must have told the captain
what you wanted him to do! You
must have given some ordersi"
why, certainly. l told him to look
around and see if he could find anoth-
er yacht like this anywhere I'm the
Mediterranean. So he's just looking
around, like that, I suppose. And IL
he finds another yacht anything like
this, we'll see which Of us can go fast
est You see 1 don't know anything
about ships, or where to go, so l just
thought of that way of passing the
time. and when you're tired of rushing
about and want to go anywhere in par
ticular, why, I'll/ take you there. If
the weather cuts up we'll go in some
where and wait, and see things on
shore. VIII that do?"
Margaret laughed at the vagueness
of such rowing commission, but Lady
Maud looked toward her friend in the
starlight and tried to see his express
sion, for she was sure that he had
settled plan in his mind, which he