Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-01-18
CHAPTER TX.

when every ones step was buoyant,
and all life stirred theoretically. There
was cheer and hope everywhere; men
faced their labors with clear eye and
feared nothing: women sang at their
work. It was only at the close of day
that despair and defeat stalked the
highways. So she was up with the sun.
whether in her own garden or in these
odd and mystical cities. Thus she' saw
the native as he was, not as he later in
the day pretended to be, for the bene-
fit of the Feringhi about to be
stretched upon the sacrificial stone.
She saw, with gladness, the honey-bee
Thrilling the rose, the plowman's share
barring the soil: the morning, the
morning, the two or three hours that
were all, all her own. Her mother was
always irritable and petulant in tho
morning, and her uncle never de-
veloped the gift Of speech till after
luncheon.
She had the same love Of prowling
that lured Ryanne from beaten paths.
She was not inquisitive, but curious,
and that ready disarming smile of hers
opened many portal.
She was balancing upon her gloVed
palm, thoughtfully, a Soudanese head
trinket. pendant Of twisted gold
wires, flawed emeralds and second
pearls, really exquisite and not gener-
ally to be found outside the expensive
shops in the European quarters, and
there infrequently. The merchant
wanted twenty pounds for 1t. Fortune
shook her head regretfully. 1t was FAR
beyond her means. She sighed Only
once in a great while she saw some.
thing for which her whole heart cried
out. This pendant was one Of these.
II will give you five pounds for 1t.
That is all have with me-"
"Salaam madame" said the jeweler,
reaching for the pendant.
eff you will send it to the Hotel
Semiramis this afternoon
But she faltered at the sight Of the
merchants incredulous smile.
'Ill give you ten for it; not
piastre more. can get one like it in
the Sharia Kamel for that amount.
Both Fortune and the merchant
turned.
eyes, my child. And what are you
doing here alone, without drago'
man." !. ...
ooh, I have been through here alone
many times. I'm not afraid. Isn't 1t
beautiful? He wants twenty pounds
for it and cannot afford that"
She had not. seen him in many
weeks, yet she accepted his sudden
appearance without question or sur
prise. She was used to his turning
up at unexpected moments. OF course,
she had known that he was in Cairo:
where her mother and uncle were this
secretive man was generally within
calling. There had been time when
she had eagerly piled him with ques-
lions, but he had always erected bar
riers of evasion, and finally she ceased
her opportunities, for she concluded
that her questions were such. No
matter to whom she turned, there was
no one to answer her questions, ques-
tons born of doubt and fear.
-,"Ten pounds replied Ryanne, a
hand in his pocket.
The merchant laughed. Here were
young man and his sweetheart. His
experience had taught him, and not
unwisely, that love is an easy victim,
too proud to haggle, too generous to
bargain sharply. twenty, ne
reiterated.
"Salaam." said Raynne. "Good day"
He drew the somewhat resisting hand
of Fortune under his arm and made for
the door. "Sh!" he whispered.
leave. it to me-" They gained the
street.
The merchant was dazed. He had
misiudged what he now recognized as
an old hand. The two were turning
10 another street when he ran out,
shouting to them and waving the pen
dant. Raynne laughed.
Ten pounds. I am a poor man,
effendi, and I need the money. Ten
pounds am giving it away" The
merchants eyes filled with tears, al
trick left to him from out the ruins
of his youth, that ready service to fore
stall the merited rod
Ryanne counted outs ten sovereigns
and put the pendant in Fortunes hand.
And the pleasure in his heart was such
as he had not known in many days.
The merchant wisely hurried back to
his shop.
"But :" she began protestingly.
"Tut, tut! | have known you since
you wore short dresses and tam
o'-shanters.'
81 really can not accept it as a gift.
Let me borrow the ten pounds"
"And why can't you accept this little
gift from me-?
She had no ready answer. She
gazed steadily at the dull pearls and
the fiaky emeralds. She could not ask
him where he had got those sovereigns.
She could not possibly be so cruel. She
could not dissemble in words like her
mother. That gold she knew to be
part of dishonest bargain whose
forestep had been theft-m-ore,
sacrilege Her honesty was like
pure gold, unalloyed, unmixed with
sophistic subterfuges. That the young
man who had purchased the rug might
be mildly peccable had not yet occur
red to her ..
WHY not, Fortune?" Ryanne was
very earnest and there was pinch at
his heart. f.
Don't you like me, just a little?"
.'Why,lI do like you, Horace But
l do not like any man well enough to