Marble Hill press., 1920-07-22
CHAPTER *.



On his roof again. Con noted that
an awning of green silk had been
stretched over his doorway. and a
couch placed beneath IL Ia the open
air. for his added comfort. A silver
pitcher ~ wine stood on a tahoret,
and he found that the wine was &C
cep,able. having been cooled In spring
water. Hut all was secondary. even
the silent departure Of the guards. for
he was thinking In a whirl OF Helen
March.
Her innocence was amazing Ike her
wisdom-an American personality
with strange diagonals " the orient.
Con loved the tang Of desert sunlight
upon her face. her throat and arms.
Her shoulders were neither wide nor
narrow. and she was not tall. He re-
membered everything she had said.
and was unable 10 eyade her FINAL NJ.
terance. which became more sud more
a sublimated poison 10 him. He turned
back 10 yesterday. recalled how she
lopcd from the top OF the ravine after
her word had saved them. how her
brown hair had streamed out from the
soft gray cloak. No Chinese princess
could ever have ridden at such a pace.
But. again, there was the gentle. al.
most lifeleSs movement OF her hands.
and the low fulneSs Of her voice when
she talked OF Tau kuan.
She was a delightful sorrow 10 Lev.
ington. as II all his days, too. had fore
told her. She did not know herself
She was eighteen. The ways OF these
outland people were familiar TO her.
and II was natural she should love
their national interests, strangely like
Americas. bitterly different. The red
dish palace was home. Her mother
was gone. The grand vizir had
brought her American gowns. street
suits, and other articles the models
had displayed at Sperman's in the city
terribly far distant.
There was no estimating the pains
the old Chinese had taken TO secure
such things for her. Con knew at least
Of his connection with the Wedger
house. which must have been arranged
by secret means, and 1t was clear that
Chez Ming had taken many n point
from Cecil Wedger's incipient queens
OF the cinema The vizir had been
content to cook for young snob,
merely to garner some information as
to how a young American girl should
be dressed, how she must talk and
think, and what, II anything, might
please her. Con appreciated the genius
that had made the exclusive Wedgers
a part OF Chez Ming's plan for the
completion Of Tau Kuan, empire Of
the Yellow Sun.
The tangle of East and West trou.
bled Lexington more and more. Helen
had almost lost her mothers counsel
regarding Prince Yekutoi. II was too
easy to feel the dead Eithna's horror
of the young Mongol, and of the plan
she had foreseen. his marriage with
her little white daughter. The mother
must have striven to develop American
instlncts--the riding Of ponies, love of
oak trees. independence, and natural
frankness.
Lexington saw more vividly how
March must have loved Eithna, how
the loss of her had nearly broken down
his sanity, and. at last, how he had
kept secret his innermost Intention for
another journey into the perilous Cobb.
1t had meant too much for him to put
his hope In words. He had planned to
run down the international beast,
koresh: all that side Of the story was
Just as he had confided it to Leving.
ton. But then there had been much
more. March's interests did not begin
or end In a federal commission. Con
realized nos the deep and double Joy
M -