Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-04-13

the back. do you think?"
You shall have a woman who does,
and who can talk with Gula, and the
two will fasten the fine dresses for
you Logotheti spoke with becoming
gravity
YES" Baraka answered. Spend
money for me, that I may be good to
see- Also, wish to have many serv-
ants. MY father has a hundred, per
haps thousand, but now have only
two, Gula and Spiro. The man seek
| viii think am poor, and that will be
a shame. While I was searching for
him, 1t was different; and besides, you
/ are teaching me how the rich Franks
! live in their world. It IS not like ours
You know, for you are more like us,
( though you are king here"
| She spoke slowly and laZily, paus-
ing between her phrases. and turning
her eyes to him now and then without
moving her head: and her talk amused
him much more than that of European
women, though it was so very simple.
like that of a gifted child brought
suddenly to new country, or to see
fairy pantomime
! Tell me-" he said after time. "if
1t were the portion of Kralinsky to be
gathered to his fathers before you
saw him, what would you do?"
Baraka now turned not only her
eyes to him but her face
why do you ask me this? Is it be-
cause he is dead, and you are afraid
to tell me?"
He was alive this morning" Logo
theft answered, "and he is a strong
man But the strong die sometimes
suddenly, by accident If not of q
fever"
ut is emptiness" said Baraka, still
looking at him. He will not die be-
fore see him"
Allah forbid! But If such a thing
happened. should you wish to go back
to your own people? Or would you
learn to speak the Frank and live in
Europe?'
"If he were dead, which may Allah
avert" Baraka answered calmly. Il
think 1 would ask you to find me
husband
"Ah!" Logotheti could not repress
the little exclamation of surprise.
Yes. 1t is q shame for woman
not to be married Am I an evil sight,
or poor. that l should go down to the
grave childless2 Or is there any re-
proach upon me? Therefore l would
ask you for a husband, because l
have no other friend but only you
among the Feringhis. But if you
would not. 1 would go to Constant
nople again, and to the Persian mer-
chants house, and I would say to his
wife: Get me a husband. for l am
not a cripple. nor a monster, nor is
there any reproach upon me. and why
should I be cbildless" Moreover, l
would say to the merchants wife:
Behold. l have great wealth. and l
will have rich husband, and one who
is young and pleasing to me, and who
will not take another wife; and if you
bring me such a man, for whatsoever
his riches may be, will pay you five
per cent"
Having made this remarkable state
ment of her intentions. Baraka was
silent, expecting Logotheti to say
something. What struck him was not
the concluding sentence, for Asiatic
match-makers and peace-makers are
generally paid on some such basis,
and the slim Tartar girl had proved
long ago that she was a woman of
business. What impressed Logothet
much more was what seemed the cool
cynicism of her point of view. 1t was
evidently not a romantic passion for
Kralinsky that had brought her from
beyond Turkestan to London and
Paris; her view had been simpler and
more practical; she had seen the man
who suited her. she had told him SO,
and had given him the secret of great
wealth. and in return she expected
him to marry her. If she found him
alive. But if not, she would imme-
diately take steps to obtain another to
fill his place and be her husband, and
she was willing to pay high price to
any one who could find one for her.
Logotheti had half expected some
such thing, but was not prepared for
her extreme directness; still less had
he thought of becoming the matri-
monial agent who was to find a match
worthy of her hand and fortune. She
was sitting beside him in a little
ready-made French dress. open at the
throat, and only bit of veil twisted
round her hair. as any European
woman might wear it; possibly II was
her dress that made what she said
sound strangely in his ears, though 1t
would have struck him as natural
enough If she had been muf1ed in a
yashmak and ferajeh, on the deck Of
a Bosphorus ferry boat.
He said nothing in answer, and sat |
thinking the matter over.
Il could not offer to pay you f1ve !
per cent" she said after a time, DE |
cause you are a king, but I could give |
you one Of the fine rubies have left,
and you would look at 1t sometimes
and rejoice because you had found |
Baraka a good husband"
Logetheti laughed low. She amused |
him exceedingly, and there were mo- |
ments when he felt a new charm he |
had never known before.
Why do you laugh?" Baraka asked, |
q little distuEbed 81 would give you |