Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-08-28
TODAY'S INSTALLMENT.
The Ak and the Tree.

Paul SAKE walked down the deserted
| little street that led to the shop a the
| Sign of the Toby jug. The afternoon
was smiling and pleasant, one of those
late February days that delight in mas
querading as May. He wore his favorite
gray, his Homborg hat was set at a
rakish angle. and in his coat was a
| carnaton of a subtle shade of pink. His
whole aspect as he strobe along in that
easy. looselimbed stride of his, was we'll
worthy Of the original adjective applied
| to him-he looked positively a radiant and
beautiful vision in that dreary little
street.
The mental attitude of Mr. Sake. how
ever, lacked that pleasant ease which his
outward bearing displayed. He felt some
thing as near uneasiness as his sanguine
mind ever experienced-an uneasiness
that was not altogether unmixed with
fear. The smile of a cat who, doing
on the hearth rug, dreams of the turning
OF the tables and goes in terror of her
life before the menacing advance of a
stalking mouse, would proba bly, meet the
case exactly
He had been summoned to the Toby
jug that afternoon. There was no other
way of putting the matter. Not "Will
you kindly or IF it is convenient, sir"
but please call at the shop this after
noon on a matter of business"
OF course, 1t was preposterous, He
must read Jex sharp lesson. Yet 1t was
significant that 1t had not occurred to
Paul SAKE to refuse that request.
What had occurred to him more than
once as he walked was that lately Jex
had appeared to be getting bit out of
hand. Ever since the affair of Sir George
| Lumsden-that very clumsily Unanswered
suicide in Dieppe-as a matter of fact 1t
| had showed itself in various ways, this
spirit-n certain insstence on the
rights of Little Bess," the red haired
imp of evil he was supposed to acknowl-
edge as his daughter.
| For all the radiance of his look there
was very ugly expression in Paul Saxe's
eyes. His flexible, well colored lips were
set in rigid line as he pushed open the
door of the shop and went in, letting
it bang behind him with a great ringing
of the sharp-voiced little bell.
No one came out in response to the
bell 5 warning. Only Leah the big gray
cat asleep on the counter. on which the
dust lay thicllly, rose amicaby to greet
! him. yawned with vast display of red
notified mouth and age-revealing teeth.
and jumping down, stalked soemnly be-
fore him to the glass door of the parlor.
Samuel JeX, it may be stated here. had
not for moment intended that it should
have been left to Leah the gray cat, to
welcome and entertain Paul SAKE on his
arrival at the Toby jug. When he had
issued his peremptory request for the
| tinanciers attendance to Armadale street
| he had fully intended to be present with
the particular item of business referred
to in that request ready for discussion.
1t began with the taxicab. 1t had
| seemed to JeX that the occasion war
| ranted extravaganza of such vehicle.
He was going to call upon a parsonage.
That in itself, perhaps, would not have
affected Jex very greatly What made
Of this morning a true festival day was
the fact that he saw within a few hours
of him the pulling off of that great coup
for which he had been working so long
In a few hours he would have shaken off
the chains of his bondage forever. In a
few hours he would be the master of his
master,
Walking up into Victoria street he had
| hailed a cab from the rank outside the
army and navy stores
His destination was the large house
| outside Regents Park which Prince Ser
gius Karazoff had rented for the last
three years-ever since, in fact, the tragic
suicide OF ms young wife had made him
a voluntary exile from his own country
and from society. The prince was a man
of science. who used the big laboratory
built out over a large part of what had
once been garden famous for it's beau
ty, very seriously indeed. But it was not
as scientist Samuel Jex was going to con-
suit with the prince.
Personal Affair.
IT was on matter intimately per
sonal to his serene highness-a matter
ttouching the honor of the dead and the
vile dishonesty of the livng-a matter
which, as Samuel Jex thought over it in
the Businesses of the cab, caused him to
smile that evil smile of his. in the pro-
cess of which his eyebrows went up too
high and his nose came down too low
over his chin and transformed him into
a laughing satyr far from pleasant to
see