The Ordway new era., 1913-03-07
CHAPTER XII.

CHAPTER XII.
At my evening conference with Eve
Ign Grayson. reviewing the days
events. l dwelt with some insistence
upon the singularity Of that episode at
Yup Sings.
TT was impressively significant" I
maintained. even II It was only a
coincidence. incidentally It convinced
me that nothing escaped Mr.. Yup's OBJ
servation. had no intention Of re-
ferring to my discovery. chose rath-
er to have him think had not noticed
the figure the child was painting. But
my choice was not to be gratined. He
knew that had seen and noticed 1t:
and SO. to relieve the situation. he
frankly directed my attention to the
symbol. explaining that what had re.
garded as mysterious was most com
monplace. It is one Of the first things
that Chinese babies learn to draw
he went on. 1t Is like the pothook and
hanger of the American primary
schools. First they draw houses. then
ships. then men: and the houses. the
ships and the men are all alike. Just
as are your AS. your BIS. and your
C's. And when signed to a letter. I
queried. what does your ship stand
for! He shrugged his lean shoulders
In a manner almost Gallo. who shall
say? he returned"
And do you believe the pothook
and hanger explanation" Evelyn
asked. pointedly. 1t was her way to
probe at once to the heart of a matter.
81 can't say that I am altogether
convinced" I answered. non-commit-
tally. 'In spite of Mow's enthusiastic
encomium. was not very favorably
impressed by Yup Sing. His wall of
reserve is too high and too thick It
is neither scalable nor penetrable
And yet he stands well. believe. in
the community"
We sat in the music room. whore 4
fire of drift wood wove a wool Of
green and violet strands through the
red warp of the blaze. for the weather
had turned chill. Evelyn wore a cling
ing gown OF black panne velvet. with
purple orchids at her waist. 1t had a
wonderfully mature effect for one so
young as she. but It was not unbecom-
ing. Indeed 1t effectively accentuated
the deep raw gold tints OF her hair
and added to the transparency Of her
unwonted pallor was marvelling
once again over her outwardly brave
up-bearing in spite Of the constant
anxiety Of which pallid cheeks were
the only visible sign. when she said:
81 was sure we should hear from
Captain Macleod today"
''He has probably met With rough
weather" consoled. ut lint child's
play rounding Point Judith 81 this sea-
son. you know"
Rough weather or not" she insist
ed, "he must have reached Gloucester
by now. And II he found eter John
son. or II he didn't. he was to tele-
phone. you remember"
Gloucester is something OF a
place" explained. adopting the yer.
nacular. ut includes no less than
eight villages and five thousand men
are engaged there in the fishing indus
try. Macleod can't be expected to
learn in FIVE minutes whether a man
named Peter johnson is one of the
five thousand"
"But the whole community would
know II one Of their number had such
an experience as he Just passed
through" And for this argument I
had no answer ready.
Fortunately. however. none was re-
quired OF me. for at that moment
steps were audible crossing the hall,
and when our eyes turned downward
they encountered the dapper figure of
Louis. Cameron's French valet, halt
ing respectfully on the threshold
"Mademoiselle." he said. bowling.
'.mais voici des lettres qui 1ai trouve."
And We saw, then. that he carried a
tin despatch box.
Evelyn directed him to place it<up-
on the table by which she sat. It
seemed that she had not given over
the idea that the letters for which we
had searched SO diligently on Sunday
were somewhere in the house, and
had directed Louis to bring to her
anything in the way OF writing that
he could lay his hands upon.
He had found the despatch box. he
told us. hidden away behind some sell
dom employed volumes in the library,
and thinking 1t might contain that Of
which Miss Grayson was in quest. had
foced the lock, to discover several
carefully-tied packets Of letters.
wish I could give even a half ade-
quate idea Of the way she thanked
Louis. It would add SO much to a
realizing sense Of her sweetness with
out detracting at all from the envis-
agement of her dignity. No one could
have heard her bon garcon" and not
have felt impelled to consecrate his
endeayors henceforth and forevermors