The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1912-12-07

9Ag n I
"Don't Worry Any Mere About the
Rug, Then. Know Where It ls."
let her see you like this. She mustn't
know"
"You don't understand" replied Ry-
anne miserably.
II believe do" Georges heart
was heavy. This man was in love
with her, too.
Ryanne struck the tears from his
eyes and turned. aside his head. He
was sick in soul and body. To have
walked blindly into trap like this.
Of his own making, too! Fool! What
had possessed him, usually so keen,
to trust the copper-hded devil? All
for the sake of one glass of wine!
With an effort entailing no meager
pain in his side, he stilled the strang-
ling hfccoughs, swung round and tried
to smile reassuringly at the girl. T
"You are better?" she asked.
There was in the tone of that ques-
ton an answer to all his dreams. One
nights work had given him his ticket
to the land Of those weighed and
found wanting. She knew; how much
he did not care; enough to read his
guilt. =.
It appeared to George that she was
accepting the situation with a philos-
ophy deeper than either his or Ry.
anne's. Not whimper, not a plant,
not protest so far had she made.
She was Roland in petticoats.
ooh, I'm Dashed up bit," said Ry.
anne. 'I'll get my legs in a. day or
so. Fortune, wiz you answer one
question:"
AS many as you like"
"How did you get here?''
Don't you know" '"''z' I
George wasn't certain, but the girls
voice was cold and accusing.
"I?
Eyes. Wasn't it the note that you
wrote to me?"
Ryanne took his head in his hands.
EARLY. II wrote you no note, For
lune; l have never written you a note
Of my kind. You do not know my
handwriting from Adams. In Gods
name, why didn't you ask your mother
or your uncle? They would have rec
ognized the forgery at once. Who
gave 1t to you?"
"Mahomed himself"
Damn him!" Ryanne grew strong
under the passing fit of rage. "No.
don't tell me to be silent. I don't care
about myself. I'm the kind Of a man
who pulls through, generally. But
this takes the spine out of me. I'm
to blame; It's all my fault"
"Say no more about It," She be.
deved him. She really hadn't thought
him capable of such baseness. though
at the time of her abduction she had
been inclined to accuse him. That
he was here, prisoner like herself,
was conclusive evidence, so far as she
was concerned, Of his innocence. But
she knew him to be responsible for
the presence Of Jones; knew him to
be culpabIe Of treachery Of the mean
est order; knew him to be lacking in
generosity and magnanimity toward q
man who was practically his benefac-
tor. what does Mahomed want?"
"The bally rug, Fortune. And Jones
here, who had it, says that 1t is gone"
Vanished, magic-carpet-wise," sup
plemented George
"And Jones would have given It up"
"And thousand like 1t, IL we could
have bought you out of this."
Zones and I could have managed
to get along"
Eve shouldn't have mattered."
"And would you have returned to
Mr.. Jones his thousand pounds?"
eyes, and everything else have"
quite honestly.
Don't worry any more about the
rug. then. know where 1t is."
"You7" cried the two men.
yes. I stole 1t. did 80. thinking
to avert this very hour; to save yo.
from HARM" to George, "and you from
doing q contemplate thing" to Ry.
anne. 1T is in my room, done up in
the big steamer-roll. And now l am
glad that / stole It,"
Ryanne laughed weakly.
Said George soberly: What con.
temptible thing?" He remembered
Mahomed's words in regard to Ry.
anne 40 the latter lay insensible in
the sand.
Ryanne. quick to seize the opportu.
nifty Of solving, to his own advantage,
the puzzle for George, and at the same
time guiding Fortune away from a
topic, the danger Of which she knew
nothing, raised hand. II bribed Ma.
homed to kidnap you, Jones. Don't
be impatient. You laughed at me
when laid before you the rospectus
Of the United Romance and Adven.