Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-08-28
TODAY IS INSTALLMENT.
The Az and the Tree.

| The Ak and the Tree.
Paul Sake walked down the deserted
little street that led to the shop at the
Sign of the Toby Jug The afternoon
was smiling and pleasant one of those
late February days that delight in mas
querading as May. He wore his favorite
gray, his Homborg hat was set at a
rakish angle, and in his coat was a
carnation of a subtle shade of pink His
whole aspect as he strobe along in that
easy, loose limbed stride of his, was well
worthy of the original adjective applied
to him-he looked positively a radiant and
beautiful vision in that dreary little
street
The mental attitude of Mr. SAKE, how
ever, lacked that pleasant ease which his
| outward bearing displayed, He felt some-
thing as near uneasiness as his sanguine
mind ever experienced-an uneaSiness
that was not altogether unmixed with
fear. The simile of a cat who, doing
on the hearth rug dreams of the turning
| of the tables and goes in terror of her
life before the menacing advance Of a
stalking mouse, would probably meet the
case exactly.
He had been summoned to the Toby
jug that afternoon. There was no other
way of putting the matter Not "Win
you kindly or IF it is convenient, sir,
but Please call at the shop this after
noon on matter of business"
OF course. lit was preposterous He
must read JeX a sharp lesson. Yet it was
significant that it had not occurred to
Paul SAKE to refuse that request.
What had occurred to him more than
once as he walked was that lately Jex
had appeared to be getting a bit out of
hand. Ever since the affair of Sir George
Lumsden-that very clumsily maneuvered
suicide in Dieppe-as a matter of fact 1t
had showed itself in various ways, this
spirit-in a certain insstence on the
rights Of Little Bess," the red haired
imp of evil he was supposed to acknowl-
edge as his daughter.
For all the radiance of his look, there
was very ugly expression in Paul Saxe's
eyes. His flexible. well coored lips were
set in rigid line as he pushed open the
door of the shop and went in, letting
1t bang behind him with great ringing
of the sharp-voiced little bell
No one came out in response to the
bells warning Only Leah, the big gray
eat asleep on the counter, on which the
dust lay thiclIly. rose AMIGA bly, to greet
him, yawned with a vast display of red
notified mouth and age-revealing teeth,
and, jumping down, stalked solemnly be-
fore him to the glass door of the parlOr.
Samuel JeX, it may be stated here, had
not for a moment intended that It should
have been left to Leah, the gray cat, to
welcome and entertain Paul SAKE on his
arrival at the Toby jug. When he had
issued his peremptory request for the
fnancier's attendance to Armadale street
he had fully intended TO be present with
the particular item of business referred
to in that request ready for discussion.
1t began with the taxicab 1t had
seemed to Jex that the occasion war
ranted extravaganza of such a vehicle.
He was going to call upon a parsonage.
That in itself perhaps, would not have
affected Jex very greatly. What made
Of this morning a true festival day was
the fact that he saw within a few hours
of him the pulling off of that great coup
for which he had been working so long.
In a few hours he would have shaken off
the chains of his bondage forever. In a
few hours he would be the master of his
master,
Walking up into Victoria street he had
hailed cab from the rank outside the
army and navy stores.
His destination was the large house
outside Regents Park which Prince Ser
gius karazoff had rented for the last
three years-ever since. in fact, the tragic
suicide of his young wife had made him
a voluntary exile from his own country
and from society The prince was a man
of science, who used the big laboratory
built out over a large part of what had
once been a garden famous for it's beau
ty, very seriously indeed. But it was not
as scientist Samuel Jex was going to con-
suit with the prince
A Personal Affair.
1t was on a matter intimately per
sonal to his serene highness-a matter
touching the honor of the dead and the
vile dishonesty of the living-a matter
which, as Samuel Jex thought over it in
the Businesses of the cab. caused him to
smile that evil smile of his. in the pro-
cess of which his eyebrows went up too
high and his nose came down too low
over his chin and transformed him into
a laughing satyr far from pleasant to
see.