Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1912-08-07
The Carpet
From Bagdad
49,: 80

At noon the caravan was once more
upon its way. Ryanne was able TO
ride. The fumes Of whatever drug
had been administered to him had
finally evaporated, and he felt only
bruised, old, disheartened. An evil
day for him when he had set forth
for Bagdad in quest Of the rug. he
was confident that there would DE no
rug awaiting the courier, and what
would be Mahomed's procedure when
the boy returned empty-handed was
not difficult to imagine. Mahomed
was right; so far honor had not en-
tered into the contest. According TO
his lights, the Arab was only paying
coin for coin. But for the girl, KY
anne would have accepted the situa-
ton with shrug, to await that mo-
ment when Mahomed, eased by the
sense Of security, would naturally 10
lax vigilance. The presence OF For
tune changed the whole face OF the
affair. Mahomed could have his eyes
and heart II he would but spare her,
He must be patient; he must accept
insults, even physical violence, but
some day he and Mahomed would play
the final round.
His past, his foolish. futile past: all
the follies, all the petty crimes. all
the low designations In which he had
INDUCED. seemed trooping about his
camel. hooking and gibbering at him
Why hadn't he lived clean like Jones
there? Why hadn't he fought temp
taticn as he had fought men? Enyi-
ronment was no excuse; bringing-up
offered no palliation; he had gone
wrong simply because his inclinations
had been wrong. On the other hand,
no one had ever tried to help him
back to decent living. His mother
had died during his childhood, and
His father had been @ money-maker,
consumed By the pleasure Of building
up pyramids OF gold. He had never
reasoned with mic y0upgnst-born; he
had paid his ii is without protest or
reproach: i; w'ao 70 irrch n month to
BIO writes ;,Yw:, il. lie expense &C.
count And he Gr.i-horn had been
his natural ,IeIar riCIn lie days of
the nursery. Still, lie could not acQuit
himself; his own arraignment was as
keen as any Judge could have made.
Strong az he was physically, brilliant
as h. was mentally, there was a NOR
tai weakness IN his blood; and search
as be might the history Of his ances-
tors, their lives shed no light upon
his own.
In stating that his face had been
granted that dubious honor and con-
Germ of the perpetrators Of the rogues'
gallery, he had merely given rein to
a seizure Of soulbitterness. But there
was truth enough In the statement
that ne had been short in his accounts
many thousands at his fathers bank;
gambling debts; and In making no ef-
fort to replace the loss, he was soon
found out by his brother, who seemed
only too glad to dishonor him. He
was given his choice: to sign over his
million, due him year later (for at
this time the father was dead), or go
to prison. The scandal of the affair
had no weight with his brother; he
wanted the younger out of the way.
Like the hot-headed fool he was, he
had signed away his inheritance, TAX
en- paltry thousand and left Amer
lea, facing Imprisonment If he re-
turned. That was the kind Of broth
er he had. Once he had burned his
bridges, there came to him dozen
ways by which he could have extri-
Gated himself. But once fool, always
a fooli
Disinherited, outcast, living by his
wits, ingenious enough; the finer
senses callousing under the contact
with his interiors; gambler, hard
drinker periodically; all in all, fine
portrait for any gallery given over to
rogues And he hadn't worried much
over the moral problem confronting
him, that the way Of the transgressor
Is hard. 1t was only when love rent
the veil of his faulty that he saw
himself as he really was.
Love! He gazed ahead at Fortune
under the MAMMAL. That guileless
young girl as she was should enchain
him! That the sight Of her should
always send q longing into his soul