Evening star., 1911-06-04
CHAPTER XII.
The White Hand.

It Is an old truth that things have their
true existence only in ourselves. A pic
ture is perfect, moderate or Indifferent
according to our tastes; an event fortu-
nate or unfortunate according to our
character. Thus life, though in reality
no more than a pure stream Of colorless
water. changes its hue the moment 1t is
poured into the waiting pitchers, and be-
comes turbid. or assumes some lovely
color or retains its first crystal clearness.
in measure that the earthenware Is OF the
best or poorest quality.
In Travers' pitcher ii had become ka-
leidoscopic. only saved from dire confu-
sion by one steady, consistent color.
which tinged and killed by its brilliancy
the hundred other rainbow fragments
Such was life for him-such, at least, 1t
had become-a gay chaos in which the
one important thing was himself; game
partly instructive, partly amusing. with
no rules save that the player Is expected
to win. OF course, as In all matters.
certain order. or appearance Of order. had
to be maintained; but Travers believed,
and thought every one else believed, that
it was mere appearance" and that.
as in the childish game Of cheating"
the face 1T is affirmed by the player to
possess. Doubtless 1t is sometimes an
honest card-Travers himself played hon
est cards very often-but that Is part of
the Rdme D6TL Oh the CuCdtIUS, Ole UQlSlI
be tempted to say.
A suspicious opponent becomes shy Of
accusing player who has been able to
refute a previous accusation, and those
people whose doubts had been aroused
by one of Travers' transactions, and had
been rash enough to conclude that all
Travers' works were SHADY" had been
badly burned for their presumption. After
one indignant vindication of his methods
Travers had been allowed to go his way,
CVvoil3 QrfI uyit
twinkle in his eye for his detractors
| which acknowledged q perfect under
standing. On the whole he had been sue
cessful. A Napoleon Of finance, he never
paigns failed. as they sometimes did. he
had always a safe retreat left open; and
If his bridge proved only strong enough
to carry himself over. and gave way
under his flying followers-weil, 1t was a
misfortune, which could have been avert
ed If every one had taken as much care
of himself as he had done. When well
beyond pursuit. he would hosd out a help
ing hand to the survivors, and received,
therefore, as much gratitude as on the
other occasions he received abuse. Which
| filled him with gOod-natured amusement.
the one being as undeserved as the other.
His last enterprise, the Marut cam
paign, thanks to a happy constellation of
circumstances, promised an unusual de-
gree of success. and his enthusiasm on
| the subject was not the less real be-
| cause he kept hidden his usual reserve
for unforeseen possibilities. According
| to the rajah's invitation, he repaired
early on the second day after their mo-
mentous conversation to the palace. He
| was received there by an old servant.
who told him that NehaI Singh had gone
out riding before sunrise. but was ex
pected to return shortly.
''The Rajah Sahib remembers my COM
| ing?" Travers asked.
Eyes. sahib The Rajah Sahib COM
manded that the palace should be at the
sahib'S disposal while he waits.''
The idea suited Travers excellently. He
shook himself free from the obsequious
native. who showed very clearly that he
would have preferred to have kept on
| watchful attendance, and began a Ian
guild, indifferent examination of the laby-
rinthlike passages and deserted halls But
the languidness and Indifference were
only masks wfich he chose to assume
when too great interest would have
thwarted his own schemes. In reality
there was not a jewel or ornament which
he did not notice and appraise at the cor
rect value. The immensely of the pal
aces dimensions and it's intricate plan
survey in SO short time, but at the
end of half an hour Travers original
theory was confirmed. Here was power
of wealth lying idle. waiting. as it
seemed to his natural egoiSm for his
hands to put it into action.
In his imagination he saw the jeweled
pillars dismantled and the inlaid gold and
silver changed into the hard money neces-
sary for his campaign-not without re-
gret. The man OF taste suffered not a
| little at the changed picture. and since
| there was no immediate call upon his
activities, he allowed the man Of taste
| to Iredominate over the specula.or. But
| the enlistment for those who serve God
! and mammon is inevitable. There comes
the moment when the worshiper of man.
mon hears the voice of God calling him,
be II through a beautiful woman, a beau
tiful poem, beautiful sculpture. or
simple child. and the soul. God-given,
struggles against the bonds that have
| been laid upon It
So 1t was with Travers as he stood
| there in the throne room, gazing thought
| fully out over the gardens to the ornate
| towers of the temple. He was fully con-
| scious OF the dual nature in him, and it
gave him a sort Of painful pleasure to al
low the idealistic side a moments su-
premacy, to imagine himself throwing up
his plans. and leaving so much loveliness