Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1912-02-09


asked.
Meaningless and conventional Per-
sian borders" answered the English
man. They are feature of all rugs
of certain century. That border
was cut off by the marauder, appar-
emily aimlessly. But now, sir, l in
sist upon discussing this affair of the
dog What do you advise me to do?"
Let me see him and his blanket"
Crewe answered. when would it be
convenient for us to call?"
you can come back with me at
once" Sir Arnold answered. "And
If you can solve the mystery / shall
be most grateful, and Mr.. Boone
will"
Crewe waved away the suggestion
of the reward. He rose and took his
hat Are you ready, Langton?" he
asked
l rose and we two followed Sir
Arnold out CT my office. We descend
ed to the street and took Lexington
avenue car to the millionaire's town
house, which was temporarily occu-
pied by the Englishman and his wife.
Once inside Crewe asked to be taken
to the collection Of textiles.
Sir Arnold led us into the chamber
in which they were spread out for
classification. The mutilated rug was
not at first apparent, for the injury
had been much slighter than we had
supposed. Only one extreme corner
had been removed, having been cut
out in & zig-zag fashion with pair of
blunt scissors, a1d the wooden
threads were curleu and warped over
the texture. Crewe studied the rug
long and earnestly.
"The arabesque was in the part re-
moved?" he asked. "Then why was
there no similar border woven ito
the fabric upon the other corners?"
Here Sir Arnold felt himself upon
safe ground. This was his province.
/ He turned upon Crewe somewhat
! pompously.
"My good man." he said, "the craze
for evenness of design did not most
fortunately afflict the Persians of the
date when this fabric was made. The
weaver chose to place a border upon
!. one corner of the rug alone, and that
fact, in itself, fixes the date of it be-
yond all doubt. And now. if you
! have quite satisfied your curiosity,
will you look at my dog or not?"
Before Crewe could answer there
came a scampering of feet along the
passage and the animal bounded into
the room with many demonstrations
! of affection for it's new master. 1t
! was curly mongrel, of no particular
| breed and worth perhaps fifty cents
in the open market. Trailing from its
! back was the dog blanket. Crewe
stopped, unfac tened it, and placed it
upon the table.
"And this, you say, is of modern
workmanship" he asked What do
| those Persian words signify?"
"That," replied Sir Arnold, litter
| ally translated, is: May the wealth of
| Azriban and the treasures of Mulik's
castle go to the possessor 1t is
purely conventional expression, WOW
! Syrians in imitation of the ancients,
and wishes prosperity to the owner"
And the blanket cannot possible
be of the same date as the rug?"
asked Crewe.
Sir Arnold smiled in a patronizing
way.
"You can take it from me-" he
said, that there is no possible con-
nection between the rug and the
! blanket They were made several
hundred years apart. Do you mean
to suggest that the man who mutilat
ed the rug sold me the blanket?"
'Offhand, should say that it is ex-
tremely unlikely" answered Crewe.
Then will you tell me, sir, the
meaning of this persecution, and why
the former owner of the dog desires
him back again. and why the blanket
is an essential feature Of the de-
| mand?"
Suddenly Sir Arnold's brows con-
tracted. He staggered slightly and,
raising his hand, pointed through the
open window into Lexington avenue
"My God! There he is again." he
cried.
We looked in the direction indicat-
ed and saw man of swarthy coun-
tenance standing on the opposite side
of the road and watching us intently.
As soon as he saw that he was per-
ceived he shook his hand menacingly
j, toward us and leaped on a passing
street car. There was no possibility
of capturing him; before we could
been out of sight.
my explanation" I said, when our
host had recovered from the unex-
! pected shock, would be that you are
| the victims of an insane Syrian who
imagines that you are keeping his
property from him, and, having mutt
J lated your rug, he now desires the
dogs blanket"
"But he sold my wife the dog
CllSu OH al lIOlu Auu lie waits Tic
dog as we'll. Confound it all, there's
no sense in the affair at ALL"
LET me advise you" said Crewe.
Send the dog out by a messenger
boy, with instructions that it is to be
delivered to the first man who asks
for it."
Sir Arnold was thoroughly exasper-
ated. THAT is similar to the advice
of the police" he cried 1.-THE dog is