Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-01-24
CHAPTER XVII,-Continued.

O0A1 j En- a Vxx.-VOUGluVSU.
Mrs. Chedsoye strolled in and out of the
beautifully appointed rooms. Never had
she seen more excellent taste. Not too
| much: everything perfectly placed, one
object nicely balanced against another.
Here was a rare bit of Capo di Monte,
there a piece of Sevres or Canton. Some
houses, with their treasures, look like
museums, but this one did not. The
owner had not gone mad over one sub
1ect: here was a sane and prudent col
lector. The great yellow Chinese carpet
! represented q fortune: she knew enough
| about carpets to realize this fact. worries,
jades, lapis lazuli, the precious woods,
priceless French and Japanese tapestries.
some fine paintings and bronzes; the
rooms were full Of unspoken romance
and adventure; echoed with war and
tragedy. too. And Fortune might have
married a man like this one A posi-
bility occurred to her. and the gnost OF
s.nile moderated the interest In her
face They might be upon the desert Tor
weeks. Who knew what might not hap
pen to two such romantic simpietons!
The butler and the first man (who was
also the cook) were impeccable types OF
servants; SO thought Reynolds. They
moved silently and anticipated each want.
to drop line to Jones and compliment
him upon his good taste in the selection
Of his friends. A subsequent. press OF
Office work. however, drove the deter
mination out Of his mind.
The instant his car carried him out or
sight strange scene was enacted. The
butler and the first man seized the major
by the arms and the three executed q
kind of pas-seul. Mrs. Chedsoye eyed
these manifestations Of joy stonily.
tsNnw then what's haQn 6Oney' asked
shaking the wrinkles from his sleeves.
Half done!' cried the butler
Fine: What do you do with the
. refuse?'
Cart it away in an automobile every
night, after the gun starts down the
other end of the street
Gum The major did not quite UNI
derstand.
Gun or bull; that's the argot for police
..Thieves' argot," said Mrs. Chedsoye.
contenptuously
The butler laughed. He knew Gioconda
of old.
"Behind that sketch by DetailIe. And
the butler, strange to say, pronounced II
Det-i.
"Can you open it,"
Tried, but failed. Wallace is the man
for that
Hell be along In an hour or So"
where's Ryanne?"
Don't know; don't care. The major
sketched the predicament Of their fellow
conspirator.
The butler whistled, but callously. One
more or less didn't matter in such an en-
terprise.
When Wallace arrived he applied his
talent and acquired science to the wall
SAFE and finally swung outward the lit
steel dnnr The Tor nllShpd MIN
| aside and thrust hand into the metaled
cavity, drawing out an exquisite Indian
casket of rosewood and mother OF pearl.
He opened the lid and dipped hand
within. Emeralds, deep and light and
shaded, cut and uncut and engraved.
f1awed and almost perfect. He raised a
handful and let them tinkle back into
the casket. One hundred in all. beauties,
/ every one Of them. and many famous.
| And while he toyed with them. Pleased
as a child would have been over hand
full OF marbles, Mrs. Chedsoye spread out
the ancient Yhiordes in the library. She
stood upon the central pattern. musing.
Her mood was not one which she had
called into being: not often did she be-
| come retrospective; the past to her was
always like a page in a book, once fin
| ished. turned down.. Her elbow in one
palm, her chin in the other, she stared
without seeing. 1t was this house, this
home, it was each sign Of riches without
| luxury or ostentation. where money ex-
pressed itself by taste and simplicity; a
home such as she had always wanted.
And why, with all her beauty and intel
lect, why had she not come into Osses-
siopo She knew. Love that gives had
ney IL been hers; hers had been the love
that receives, self-love. She had bartered
her body once for riches and had been
fooled. and she never could do 1t again.
> And the child was overlooking with
| the love that gives. She couldn't UNDER
stand. The child was the essence OF It.;
| and she her mother, had always laughed
at her
Inc furry of snow outside in the court
she saw not. Her fancy reformed the
, pretty garden at Mentone, Enclosed by
| pink-washed walls. Many a morning
| from her window she had watched For
| tune among the flowers, going from one
| TO the other, like a bee or a butterfly.
| She had watched her grow. too. with
| that same detachment a machinist feels
| as he puts together the invention of an
| other man. Would she ever sec her
again? Her shoulders moved ever so lit
| tie. Probably not. She had blundered
| the two together. Unanswered. And she
| had permitted this adventure TO obsess
/ her. She might have stood within this
/ house by right of law, motherhood. mar
riaGe. Ryanne was in love with Fortune.
and Jones by this time might be. The
desert was Il terribly lonely place.
! She wished il might be Jones. And i'm
mediately retrospection died away from
| her gaze and actualities resumed their
| functions. The wish was not without a
| phase OF humor, formed as 1t was upon
/ this magic carpet; but it nowise dis
turbed the gravity OF her expression