The Washington times., 1918-08-16
Continued From Yesterday

too, by his environment, asked him
self If, after all, 1t were wrong that
she should rejoice. The man she
loved-the man she hated-she
found them both engaged in an at
tempt to slay each other. And be-
cause the man she loved was the
weaker she had gone to his aid, and
with one blow had turned the scale
In his favor. Was it not wholly
natural. wholly instructive?
You came not to help me-" she
said, reproachfully. you go to
him, to that Paul and you try to
bring him back to life, life when he
far better dead. I understand that
not Why you do it," She looked
at him, her eyes contracted into an
expression Of puzzled wonder.
'sHe was your enemy, too" she
added, softly. 'He would have
killed you had he had the chance"
81 know it," returned Basil 81
know that he was waiting outside
this van to attack me whilst 1 was
talking 20 you. You were in the
plot, cara. You knew / was to be
killed"
Yes" she said, simply, "btA
am glad that you were not killed"
Che looked at him with wonder
ing eyes. They had moved away
from the bed upon which they had
been sitting in the little front room.
She had thrown herself down on a
couch covered with bearskin, and
he had taken his seat upon a low
Moorish stool
81 knew you not" she said. 'Tt
was nothing to me IL you,
stranger, lived or died. When 1
avoke and saw you I was sorry. I
was glad that you had the mark of
the gypsy upon your hand 1t was
I who spoke and saved your life"
But murder!" he said '1s mUr-
der no crime to you? / can under
stand you killing a man to save the
life of the one you love, in tlse heat
of the moment, as you did this
evening, but TO deliberately plot to
slay-surely you admit that it is
wrong?
'T do as my uncle bid me-" she
said. @I knew not who 1t was my
uncle would kill say: TT is an
enemy?" She shrugged her shoul-
ders. at is not matter to me. It
not my affair. But awake and see
you" She looked at him cunningly,
and It was as IL she were once more
calling up that weird fascination Of
which she was capable. 'T know
perhaps even more than Lorski
know. I say, He shall not die
think scheme. 1 speak for you
in my own language, which you not
understand And then I see the
Ziegeuner mark upon your hand-it
is what need"
$50 you spoke up for me, cara
You spoke for me even before you
saw my wrist7 By Jove, It was
good of you, and / owe you much"
He was quite forgetting that she
had been a party to the attempt to
murder him It was fascinating to
listen to her deep, full voice, to the
charm OF her foreign accent, to her
quantity tuned sentences. And she
smiled upon him with her red, pout-
ing lips, q rich color mantled her
cheeks, which he had first seen so
pallid beneath their bronze, and her
eyes glittered like lights OF chang
ing hues. He told himself that never
had he met SO strange a personality
of nature most primitive, and yet be-
hind It q something which he could
not fathom. something now subtle
and snakelike, now fierce and saw
age as the instincts of a tigress. She
lifted her arms above her head, and
her sleeves fell loose about them;
she clasped her hands behind the
glossy mass OF her hair. She might
have been posing for a picture OF
some sorceress of the East. Was il
a pose-or was her attitude natural?
This was a question to which Basil
found no answer. He preferred to
think II natural. She looked such a
child: he had thought her eighteen,
but now he WAS inclined to think
her eVeh yodnser-a daughter OF
Gree.
"a she-devil-a daughter Of a She
deviIr' What had Paul meant by
that exclamation?
$50 you will stay with us-a little
whiIe?' she smiled. you must not
leave us tin my uncle is we'll. You
will be the guest Of the gypsies-the
guest Of cara"
He looked at her, and he was in
eiined to yield. A day or two
what did II matter, after all? He
had no urgent cases to attend to
and his servant knew that she must
send patients who might call in his
absence to his friend and partner,
DR.. Smell, who practiced in another
part Of the same village. It was an
adventure, and he always had a lik-
ing for adventure. Besides, there
was the possibility OF making dis
coveries that might be useful to
Esther-these people. these gypsies,
were undoubtedly connected in some
strange way with the secret of the
But was 1t right to
Esther that he should stay as the
guest OF cara?
you will stay?" smiled the girl
again. That hook which he could
not explain was stealing over her
eyes. He gazed into them prey
TO their fascination. What was It in
his life that he connected with this
strange girl? II he could only hold
the elusive vision!
'I will tend to your uncle tonight,
zara," he said, softly, tomorrow we
will see"
H. k-rv a bis heart that he was
doin /. gErr e He knew that II was
his GByy q go even to report to the
polio the doings to which he had
been witness, PauPs death and the
plot gains. his own life, But what
ala a. meant Ezra would be arrest
ne county tsfi: he would have to
1--WE evidence against her. And
vhat you'd they understand, the
orthodox justices of |
he pesce q this wild, untamed
,atureR Would hey find excuses
or he--aE he was able to do?
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