Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-03-04
III CHUNG READS SOULS.


made them seem like butterflies on
wing.
There was Browne, Caesar of litcra-
ture. only without power to use. There
was Florence Willis who seemed t. be
Rernhardt before she had buddcd. II
her sister Nettie and Helen Lewis had
lived in Victorian times they might
have been water colorists or china
painters. In 1916 there was nothing
for them to do but design weird cos
tunes, for which they got fabulous
prices and talk about CeZanne for rec
reation. Joe Gerton and Fred Warner
reformed the world and sold books
Benson wrote them. So did Li1l0. IL
was when ! saw ii Chung watching
|, I.iala that | decided he was not crlti-
cising our manners. lie was penny
weighing our thots.
Lala was our one beauty. sue
ccssful novelist, a talented amateur
actress. ana the lovelicst rreature ever
born, she ruled the group like u
queen. She broke the men-heart and
pockctbook. She borrowed our hair
pins, wasted our time. stole oGr beau
and still we adored her. Not one
of us had ever fostercd any hatred
when she had hurt us. But when she
set A snare for Tyler Farwell there
were times when ! spent hours plan
ming how ] would slip a little poison
into her tea.
Tyler's wife was like an apple bios
som. Liala was an orchid. Tyler was
well, for nice, sweet minded,
hearty sort of westcrncr. Tyler was an
awful fool Perhaps If he had been
one bit less honest himself nc might
have suspected Iiala and her Wllcs.
Eut he Just kept blundering on-get-
ting deeper and deeper, without a
suspicion. that he was leaving ruin
and disaster behind in his adorins lit
tie wifc's heart
never thot Of appealing to Ii
Chung for help in unsnlring Tyler.
Henson's accusations that II was a
conspiracy were absolutely
Well
| We were loafns about Benson's
studio one afternoon, playing with the
ouja board and talking spritsm and
charms. and mysticism. Liala, the
| superstitious one Of the group had
! grown particularly interested. She
/ had Just made the acquaintance of an
/ Indian what-do-you ll-'em, and was
| quite keen about some OF his fads.
Ii was brewing tea IN one corner Of
the room. He could not undel stand a
word but | could see that he was
| watching Tiala intontly lie had been
| watching her mlneuVcr Tyler INTO n
| corner of the deep, many cushioned
/ couch on which she was displaying
/ considerable stocking and some grace
fully training. heavily dra-
peries saw him, too watch Benson as
Le strolled 10 cabinet and brought
forth an old casket-fairly loaded
with ancient Indian, Egyptian and
| Turkish charms.
was making the sandwiches and
! stood close to the Chinaman as Ben
son told the story of one queer little
| carved figure in wrought metal
casket. Ii Chung couldn't understand
| n word but he must have heard Of the
| charm before. At any rate, he pat
! down the tea things and folded his
| hands in his sleeves watching Iiala
| intently. Not a quiver Of her beautiful
| face escaped him as sne bent forward
| IN the candle light. Every bit of her
! half mystic, half supcrst itious nature
came to the surface as Benson talked.
suddenly Ii stepped forward and
! uttered string Of Chinese cutterals
II was as If someone had ripped tho
silken twilight with a brutally fearing
! Knife. Benson frowned. then hest.
| tated The Chinaman was motionina
toward Lola. When he had finished
speaking his masters face was strug-
! Cling between amusement and dis
| pleasure.
"Li says that the gracious lady
wears a charm more potent than any
Of this eastern trash ] have treasured
! He wants to tell YOU about II, to avert
disaster and to free its powers
Liala sal up and we all pressed for
| ward in excitement.
Ii lifted the queer little plaque OF
gold, and Jade and silver and enamel
that danglcd near the woman's
knees. swinging from her neck by q
long. barbaric metal and Jade chain
Benson himself looked awestricken as
he translated. Liala's lips parted and
after little she began to cry.
The story. as III gave it, was awfully
dramatic and rambling. But stripped
Of its trimmings he swore that the
pendant was n charm that was all
rowerfnl to make or mar the wearers :
| life. lie said that dipped three times