The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1912-12-27

WI AFHNf1
acquired some fame as a Judge and
an appraiser. When the chief.buver
retired George was given the position
with an itinerary that carried him half
way round the planet once a year, to
Greece, Turkey, Persia, Arabia and
India, the lands of the GENT and the
bottles, Of arabesques, of temples and
tombs, Of many-colored turbans and
flowing robes and distracting tongues
He walked and always in a kind of
mental enchantment
The suave and elusive Oriental
with his sharp practices, found his
match IN, this pleasant young man,
who knew the history of the very
woods and cottons and silks woven
in a rug or carpet. So George pros
pered, became known in strange
places, by strange peoples; and saw
romance, light Of foot and eager Of
eye, pass and repass; learned that
romance did not essentially mean fall
ing In love or rescuing maidens from
burning houses and wrecks: that, on
the contrary, true romance was kalei.
doscopic, having more brilliant facets
than a diamond; and that the man
who begins with nothing and ends
with something is more wonderful
than any excursion recounted by Sim
bad or any tale by Scheherazade. But
he still hoped that the iridescent god
dess would some day touch his Shout
der and lead him into that maze of
romance SO peculiar to his own fancy.
And then into this little world of
business and pleasure came death
and deAth again, leaving him alone
and with twisted heart. Riches
mattered little, and the sounding title
of vice.president still less. 1t was
with distinct shock that he realized
the mother and the father had been
with him so long that he had forgot
ten to- make other friends. From
one thing to another he turned in
hope to soothe the smart. to heal the
wound: and after a time he drifted,
as all shy intelligent and imaginative
men drift who are friendless, into the
silent md intimate comradeship Of in
animatA things, such as jewels, worries.
old m12als, rare woods and ancient
embro1 leries, and perhaps more COM
forti1 Inn all, these. good books.
he bef tale Of how the afore.
said irttescent goddess jostled (for 1t
scarce slhay be said that she led him
into ssfomanoe lacking neither com
edy nor tragedy. now begins with
trihing BIT Of retrospection. One of
those women who were not good and
who looked into the clear pool Of the
boys mind saw the harmless longing
there, and made note, hoping to find
profit BY her knowledge when the per
tinent day arrived. She was a woman
so pleasing, SO handsome, SO adroit
that many man. older and wiser
than George. found her mesh too
strong for him. Her plan matured
suddenly and brilliantly, as projects
Of men and women of her class and
caliber without variation do.
Late one December afternoon Ito
be precise. 1909, George sat on the
tea.yeranda of the Hotel Semiramis
in Cairo. A book lay idly upon his
knees. II was one of those yarns
in which something was, happening
every other minute. AS adventures
go, George had never had a real one
in all his twenty-eight years. and he
believed that fate had treated him
rather stability. He didn't quite ap
preciate her reserve. No matter how
late he wandered through the mysteri
GUS bazaars, either here in Egypt o,
over yonder in India, nothing ever be
fell more exciting than an argument
with carriage-driver. He never car
ried smallarms, for he would moi
have known how to use them. The
only deadly things in his hands were
bass-rods and tennis-racquets. No
nothing ever happened to him; yet
he never met man in a ships smoke
room who hadn't run the gamut Of
thrilling experiences. AS George
wasn't q liar himself, he believed all
he saw and most Of what he heard
Well, here he was, eight-and.twenty
a pocket full Of money, a heart full
of life, and as hopeless an outlook, sc
far as romance and adventure were
concerned, as an old maid in q New
England village.
George, you old fool, what's the
use?" he thought. What's the use
of a desire that never goes in q
straight line, but always round and
round in q circle?"
He thrust aside his grievance and
E
surrendered to the neverending won
der Of the Egyptian sunset; the Nile
feluccas. riding upon perfect ref1ec
tons; the date.palms, black and mo
tionless against the translucent blue
Of the sky; the amethystine prisms Of
the Pyramids, and the deepening gold
of the deserts brim. He loved the
Orient. always so new, always sc
strange, yet ever SO old and familiar
A carriage stopped in front, and hfs
gaze naturally shifted. There is cease
less attraction in specializing about
newcomers. in hotel, what they are
what they do, where they come from
and where they are going. A Tine
elderly man of fifty got out. In tht
square set Of his shoulders, thes1 Tow