The Irish standard., 1912-11-23

w. 1
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''certainiy, You Arc My Daughter"
II am ringing for the hall-maid. :"
And Fortune resumed her chair,
picked up her Baedeker. and became
apparently absorbed over the map Of
Assuan.
Again wrath mounted to her moth.
er's head. She could combat anger.
tears, protestations; but this indiffer.
ence, studied and unfllial. left her
Weaponless: and she was too wise to
unbridle her tongue, much as she
longed to do 30. She was beaten. Not
an agreeable sensation to one who
counted only her victories.
Fortune. later you will be sorry for
this spirit" she said. when she felt
the tremor of wrath no longer In her
throat.
Fortune turned page and jotted
down some notes with q pencil. Sad
as she WIS Mt heart, tragic. as she
knew the result OF this outbreak 10
he, she could hardly repress a smile
at the thought Of her mothers dis
comflture.
And so the chasm widened, and
went on widening till the end of time.
Mrs. Chedsoye was glad that the
hall-maid knocked and came In Just
then. 1t ut least saved her the ig.
nominy of Il retreat. She dressed,
however. with the same deliberate
care that she had always used. Moth.
Ing ever deranged her sense of pro-
portion relative to her toilet, nothing
ever made her forget it's Importance.
"Good-by DEAR" she snid. II shnll
be In at dinner" II the maid had
any suspicion that there had been a
quarrel. she should at least be i'm
pressed with the fact that she, Mrs.
Chedsoye, was not to blame for 1t.
Fortune nibbled the end of her PEN
Gil.
The door closed behind her mother
and the maid. She waited for time,
Then she sprang to tho window and
stood there. She saw her mother
driven off. She was dressed in pc. Il.
grey, with a Reynolds hat of grey
velour and sweeping plumes: as hand
some and distinguished O woman az
could be found that day In all Cairo,
The watcher threw her Baedeker, her
notebook. and her pencil violently
into corner. 1t had come to her at
last. this thing that she had been
striving for since noon. She did not
care what the risks were; the storm
was too high In her heart to listen
to the voice OF caution. She would
do 1T; for she Judged it the one thing,
In Justice to her own blood, she must
accomplish. She straightway dressed
Tor the street; and If she did not give
the same care as her mother to the
vital function, she produced an effect
that merited comparison.
She loitcrcd before the porter's bu-
reau till she saw him busily engaged
In answering questions of some wom-
en- tourists. Then, with slight but
friendly nod. she stepped into the bu-
reau and stopped before the key-racl1.
She hung up her key, but took 1t
down again. as If she had changed
her mind. At least, this was the por-
ter's impression as he bowed to her
IN the midst of the verbal lombard
ment. Fortune went upstairs. Ten
or fifteen minutes elapsed, when she
returned. hung up the key. and walked
briskly toward tho sideentrnnce at
the very moment George, in his fruit
less search of her, pushed through
the revolving doors in front. And all
the time she was wondering how X
was that her knees did not given un.
der. 1t was terrible. She balanced
between laughter and tears, hcsteri.
cally.
She had gone scarcely hundred
yards when she was accosted by a
tall Arab whom she indistinctly recol,
lected having seen before; where, she
could not definitely imagine. It was
the ragged green turban that cleared
away her puzzlement. The Arab was
the supposed beggar over whom Perez.
val (hoW easily she had fallen into the
habit Of calling him that!) had stun.
bled. He stood so tall and straight
that she knew he wasn't going to beg;
80 naturally she stopped. Without q
word, without even look that ex.
pressed anything, he slipped a note
into her hand, bowed with Oriental
gravity, and stepped aside for her to
proceed. She read the note hastily
ss she continued her way. Horace?
Why should he wish to meet her that
evening, at the southeast corner of
the Shari'a Mahomoud- El- Falaki, a
step from the British Consulate's?
And she mustn't come in carriage
nor tell any one where she was go.
ing? Why all such childish mystery
He could see her far more conven.
iently in the lounging-room of the
hotel. She tore the note into SCRAPS