The Press., 1914-01-28
The eDeath Stone of MuSu
 "The Tale Has Served Its Purpose"
By JESSIE 1. SHARP

the foot of the terraced hill the waters of the inland sea Tapped the silver sands.
 It was all very beautiful, very peace. ful, a place to dream of love or a happy past or sweet, beckOning flu ture.
 Yet Harrington stood there with a grim smile on his lips and murder in his heart. In the doorway of a tiny hillside temple his form bulked large beside the small Japanese guide.
 You are sure?" he asked Taxi for the third time that afternoon.
 Of a most positive sureness," re- sponded Taxi, also for the third time.
 Harrington turned slowly and went back into the temple. Six strides car l ried him across to the shrine with its image of the sitting Buddha, calm, peaceful and remote in its attitude of meditation.
 He did not look up at the image His eyes sought the small flat gray green stone set in the exact center O1 the votive table. It was round and polished as if with much rubbing. If you have lied to me, Taki." he said sternly to the guide, who had pad ded softly in his wake, ''it will go hard with you. l am not to be taken in by ordinary tourist stories
 "That is a truth" assured Taxi sol emnIy. II have myself seen it with my own eyes,
 Seen whatY'
 "The action of the death stone, hon. Orable sir"
 | Harrington suppressed a shudder, and his voice shook little as he mo- toned to the Japanese.
 "Go on. Taxi. Tell me about it''
 Taxi drew long. hissing breath and sat down upon his heels. HarrinetO ton i gazed mOodily down at the green stone.
 "A man from my village had an en- emy. He wished him much evil. and he persuaded his enemy to come to | MuSu and to kiss the death stone; said it would bring much virtue. The enc my kiss the stone and fall dead on the | table.
 Harrington walked slowly to the door and went down the crooked path
 
 came out on the seashOre and made his way toward the picturesque little inn where he had been stopping.
 His host came forward, rubbing his hands with i'll concealed pleasure.
 My lord will not dine alone to- night" he said. smiling. "Other Amer ican gentlemen and ladies will honor | my worthless house.
 Harrington smiled absently, and then as a sudden thought blazed its way through the dark chaos of his mind he asked abruptly:
 "These new people-what are theiI names?"
 "Alas. it has escaped my wretched memory" Iamented ChenyO, but one is a tall gentleman of reddish hair and merry laugh"
 "Grayson himself. At last!" mutter. ed Harrington, and he hurried away to his tiny room, where a servant was in waiting with water for his bath.
 When he emerged an hour later he was clothed in spotless white, and cool, refreshed and handsome. he was warmly welcomed by the little party of Americans dining on the veranda. "Dick Harrington, by all that's good! shouted James GraysOn, spring ing up and grasping HarringtOn's re- mctant hand. Priscilla. here is an old friend. You remember Priscilla, eh. Dick?" Grayson laughed heartily as his pretty wife arose and shook hands with the grave eyed man.
 
 rumbled Harr1ngton's deep voice, and the pretty color which had graced Pris- cilIa's cheeks faded and left startled pallor. :.
 Priscilla Grayson had nearly loved Dick Harrington once upon a time. Then Grayson had come and swept her heart into his own keeping. She had never forgotten Harrington's white hot anger. his bitter despair and his denunciatiOn of GraysOD. who seemed | quite unconscious of playing traitor to his friend. F.
 Harrington had waited his time Some day. he told himself, there would come the opportunity to pay back | Grayson for. his treachery. A kindly l fate must bring them together, and then-let Grayson look out for him. self.
 So Harrington had nursed his hatred and Jealousy through a bitter year of restless wandering from one country to another. nowhere finding comfort or peace for his troubled heart. A few weeks ago, when he first came to Ja- pan. he heard that the GraySOhn were in Tokyo. When Taxi. his guide. had told him the story of the death stone of Musu it had entered Harringt0n's mlnd to lure Grayson here. and well. 1 the death stone would do the rest. It was something of shock for him to find that the Graysons had CoIhe to Musu without lure of any sort save the beauty of it's slOping hillsides and The exquisite pictures of sea and land and sky at sunrise and sunset. James Grayson YVES a landscape painter. and Musu had lrawn htm to paint her IOvelfness. Now, as Lney gathered around the ta- ble, Harrington, the two Graysons and bride and groom from San Francisco, l the Martins. there was little hint of the tragedy that lurked behind Har- rington's pleasantries. Priscilla quite forgot her nervousness and laughed and tested with her old lover, never knowing that each light reference to the past was like a stab wound in his heart. His lips grew white, and there was tense look about his mouth when they arose from the table.
 An idle evening followed. They walked on the sands and stood speech less in the glory of the sunset They saw the moon rise over the distant peak of Fujiyama, and they were dumb when the moons rays fell on the sacred mountain and turned the crest to lustrous pearl
 What wonderful cOuntry!' breath xn6A T . EGVA