The Huttig news., 1911-05-27

put ere MT hutton. SIT
 "Gone-out there-I don't know just l where" Amber moved back to the table. You see. he had a caller"
 "A caller, sir-on a night like this ?'
 The man he came here to hide from, said Amber.
 T knew e was tryin' to dodge somethin'. sir; but e never told me aught about 1t. What kind of per son was e, sir. and what made MT. Rutton go aw'y with im?"
 He didn't; he went after him to . Amber caught his tongue on the verge of an indiscretion; no mat. ter what his fears. they were not yet become a suitable subject for discus sion with Rutton's servant T think, he amended lamely. he had forgotten something"
 And 'e's out there now! My Gawd what night,' He hung in hesitation for little. Did ? wear is topeoat and at. sir?"
 No. he went suddenly den't think he intended to he gone long"
 I'd better go after i'm. then. Ell
 
 into me clothes and. He slipped nto the back room. to reappear with surprisingly little de's;, fully dressed and bnttoring long ulster round his hroat You didn't appen to no ice which wy e went sr?"
 AS well as cou'd judge. to the east
 i-sn and a cap from pegs in the wall "11l To my best te find i'm: Q might lose imself. you know. with no light nor aothin'.
 The door slammed behind him.
 Alone. and prey to misgivings he scarce dared name to himself. Am Der from the window watched the hot of light from noggeft's hsndlamp fade md vanish in the storm. then. hecom- ing sensible to the cold. went to the fireplace. kicked the embers together until they blazed. and piled on more fuel
 A cozy, cracking sonnd began to be audible in the room. sibilant jets of flame. scarlet, yellow, violet and green. spurted mp from the driftwood Under the hypnotic influence of the comforting warmth, weariness de scended upon Amber like a burden: he WAS afraid to close his eyes or to sit down, lest sleep should overcome him for all his intense excitement and anxiety He forced himself to move steadily round the room, struggling against feeling that all that he had witnessed must have been untrue, an ions that had beset him between the loss of Quain and the finding of Rut- ton, The very mediocrity of the sur roundings seemed to discredit the testimony of his wits
 In setting so hopelessly common. place and everyday, one act of a drama of blood and fire had been played: into these mean premises the breath of the storm, as the babu en- tered. had blown Romance. Incredible,
 And yet Amber's hand, dropping idly in his coatpocket. encount red priceless witness to the reality of what had passed Browning. troubled, he drew forth the ring and slipped it upon his finger; rays of binding em- erald light coruscated from it.. daz- he took it to the amplight Never had he looked upon so fine a stone, so strangely cut
 It was set in ruddy soft gold, work ed and gravep with exquisite art In the sembldnce of twoheaded cobra: Inside the band was an inscription so worn and faint that Amber exper- fenced some difficulty in diciphering the word Rao (king) in Devanagari flanked by swastikas. Aside from the stone entirely. he speculated, the value of the ring as an antique would have proven inestimable AS for the emerald itself. in its original state. before cutting. it must have been worth the ransom of an emperor much had certainly been sacrificed to fashion it in it's present form.
 To gaze into its depths was like questioning the inscrutable green heart of the sea. Fascinated, Amber felt his consciousness slip from him as mantle might slip from his shoul- ders; awake. staring wide-eyed into he emerald eye, he forgot self, for got the world, and dreamed, dreamed euriously.
 The crash of the door closing be hind him brought him to the right bout in panic hutter. He glared stupidly for time before compre- hending that Rutton and Doggott had returned.
 If there were anything peculiar ir ais manner, Rutton did not remark It. indeed he seemed unconscious, for time, of the presence either or Amber ar of Doggott The servant relieved him of his overcoat and hat, and he strode directly to the fire, bending over to chafe and warm his frost nipped hands. Unouestionsbly he Ia bored under the influence of an ex. traordinary agitation. His limbs twftched and jerked nervously, his eyebrows were tensely elevated. his eyes blazing, his nostrils dilated; his face was aShen gray