Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-02-05
CHAPTER XXxIv.
ono Jarancre Character..

me Japanese AnhEtAtNtENs
Through the thin paper pane parted by
his moistened finger, Wares hot, hollow
eyes saw the japanese girl come into the
room. She had not waited TO shut the
shoji behind her. She drew quick sobbing
breaths and her eyes had the desperate
look OF a hunted animal She ran into the
sleeping apartment and closed its shikiri
Barbara had halted at the doorway. As
she stood looking I'm, her eyes fell on tho
mauve kimono with its silver camelias 1t
was the robe Haru had worn the first
evening she came to her IL she had
doubted, all doubt was now gone. An in
slant she hesitated, then, with sudden
resolution, knocked on the grill and stepped
across the threshold.
The man who watched could not solve
the puzzle but in that instant the sick sus-
plcion he had harbored became a cold and
lifeless thing in his breast. A sense OF
shame rushed through him as lie saw her
gaze wander about the interior with its
veneer of the foreign; to the dlsordered
desk-the lounge and its litter of books
the photograph on the wall-the open panel
with its champagne bottles In her glance
distaste had grown TO a quick question.
The coarse suggestions OF the place were
yelling over her, Whose house was this2
Had Haru seen her and was she hiding
from her?
Suddenly she saw the mans cap and
gauntlet in the corner. Her cheeks rushed
into flame. She seemed to see Haru's in
nocent face smiling at her over the throb-
bling samisen All at once she took an
abrupt step forward. She was looking at
the round glass lantern just outside the
doorway painted with Japanese characters
She chilled as II ether had been poured
in her veins. The name they stood for
Daunt-had been her first lesson In Jap
anese-which Haru had taught herr She
snatched up one of the volumes from the
chair. 1t was Lillienthars Conquest or
the Air. She opened It to the title page
Ware watching, saw with surprise that
she was trembling violently. She had
grown pale to the lips The book slipped
from her fingers and crashed onto the
tatame. 1t lay there, open as she had
held It, and he saw what was written across
the white leaf. It was Daunts name.
His thoughts leaped as II at the flick OF
a lash. Daunts book! What was she think
ing? The piteous pallor that swept her face
like an icy wave answered him. Why she
was there-her interest in this Japanese
girl who fled from her-he could not guess
But 1t was clear that she had not known
the house was Daunts aud that with the
knowledge, she was face to face with what
must seem a damnIng completely. Perhaps
some hint Of this retreat had come TO her
he knew how gossip feathered its shafts!
some covert allusion, some laughing
ouidire, 10 which her coming had now given
such verify Phil was the deus ex machna
OF the situation. His japanese amour she
was now laying at Daunt's doorl All this
flashed through his mind in an instant
lie watched her intenny.
over Barbara was sweeping a hideous
chaos Of hooking voices, bits OF recollec-
ton barbed with agony. The little house
near Aoyama parade ground-the carriage
had passed the great empty plaza a few
moments ago-that he had kept from sen
timent!" The house she had asked him TO
show her when he had evaded the request.
And Haru! feeling Of physical anguish
like that Of death came TO her; a duh pain
was In her temples and the floor seemed Ia
be rising up with her toward the ceiling
Daunt2 He whose lips had lain on hers
whose letter was in her bosom-lt burned
her flesh now ike a live coal! There has
never been another woman 10 me- Barbara
There never will be!' The words seemed
to launch themselves from the air, singing
like fiery javellns.
Behind the shikiri a weird, malevolent
clamor was shouting through Wares brain
He stood alone with his temptation. What
{ had he 10 do with Daunt, or with her belief
p In him? She had accepted his own ad
yances beckoncd him half around the
world-for what? To discard him for thll
man whom she had known but a handful
Of days! Chance had arranged this mise er
scene. Was he TO tell her the truth-ant
lose her? The key 10 tho situation was il
? his hand. He had only TO keep silence!
Al that moment he felt crumble down il
a some crude gulf within the fabric OF hi
a self esteem-the hlgh-built structure o
years Something colder. formless AM
malignant, came to sit on its riyen fOunda
tons. A savage elaton grew In him.
n Suddenly a shikid was flung aside Har,
stood there, her face deathly pale, he
e hands wrenching and tearing at her sleeves
{ She laughed. a high. gasping Immature
Il treble
s Go BE C0ntinued)