Evening star., 1922-01-29
The Men of Zanzibar

PAPER"
: She drew the notebooks from Mrs.
Adair's fingers and dropped it under
the tea table.
; Letters must wait. my child" she
declared. ,..
"But Sir George" protested the
girl.
: "Sir George must wait. too." con-
tinued his wife. "The foreign office
must wait. the British empire .-..sst
wait until you have had your tea"
The girl laughed helplessly. AS
though assured her fellow-country-
man would comprehend. she turned to
him., r
: They're so exactly like what you
want them to be-" she said; Il mean
about their tea.'
Hemingway smiled back with such
intimate understanding that Lady
Firth glanced up inquiringly.
"Haye you met Mrs. Adair already :"
she asked.
NO" said Hemingway, but have
been trying to meet her tor thirty
years."
Perplexed, the Englishwoman
frowned, and then, with delight at
her own perspicuity, laughed aloud.
II know"" she cried; sin your coun-
try you are what they call a hustler!
Is that right" She waved them
away. Take Mrs Adair over there"
she commanded '"and tell her all the
news from home. Tell her about the
railroad accidents and 'washouts' and
the latest thing in lynchIng.:'
The young people stretched out in
long wicker chairs in the shade of
tree covered with purple flowers. On
perch at one side Of them an orang-
outang In a steel belt was comblny
the whiskers OF her infant daughter:
at their feet what looked like two
chow puppies. but which happened to
be Lady Firth's pet lions, were chew
ing each others toothless gums. and
in the immediate foreground the hos
pttal nurses were defying the sun at
tennis while the sultan's band played
selections from a Gayety success Of
many years in the past. With these
surroundings. 1t was difficult to talk
of home. Nor on any later occasions.
except through inadvertence. did they
talk OF nome.
For the reasons already stated. 1t
amused Hemingway to volunteer no
condolences. On account Of what that
same evening Harris told him Of Mrs.
Adair. he asked none.
Harris himself was young man in
no way inclined to withhold conf
dences. He enjoyed giving out in
formation. He enjoyed talking about
himself his duties, the other consuls.
the zanzibaris and his native state Of
Iowa. So long as he was permitted to
talk, the listener could select the sub
ject. But Hemingway had found him
kind hearted, intelligent, observing.
and the call Of a common country had
got them quickly together.
\
HEMINGWAY was quite conscious
- that the girl he had seen but once
had impressed him out Of all proper
tion to what he knew of her. She
$50 ~nnd to be true.
The discovery that on meeting a
wu-.. 4or tne first time he still
could be so boyishly and ingenuously
moved greatly pleased him. 1t was
most delightful secret. So he acted
on the principle that when a man i'm
mensely admires a woman and wishes
to conceal that fact from every one
else he can best do so by declaring
most open manner. After the tea
party, as Harris and himself sat in
the consulate, he SO expressed him
self.
"Wha: an extraordinarily nice girl"
he exclaimed, "is that Mrs. Adair!
However did a woman like that come
to be in a place like. this?'
1t seemed to Hemingway that at
the mention Of Mrs. Adair's name he
had found Harris mentally on guard.
"She just dropped in here one day."
said Harris, "from no place in par
ticular Personally I always have
thought from heaven
ITS a good address," said Hem
ingway.
ut seems to suit her. the consul
agreed. Anyway. II she doesn't come
from there, that's where she's going
just on account Of the good she's done
US while she's been here. She arrived
four months ago with typewriting
machine and letters to me from our
consuls in Cape Town and Durham.
She had done some typewriting for
them. 1t seems that after her hus-
band died, few months after they
were married. she learned to make
her living by typewriting. She
worked too hard and broke down, and
the doctor said she must go to hot
countries, the hotter the better So
she's worked her way half around the
world typewriting. She worked
chiefly for her own consuls or for the
American commission hodses. Some
times she stayed a month. sometimes
only over one steamer day. But when
she got here Lady Firth took such a
fancy to her that she made Sir George
engage her as his private secretary.
and she's been here ever SINCE"
In a community SO small as was that
of Zanzibar the white residents saw
one another every day, and within
week Hemingway had met Mrs, Adalr
many times.
Hemingway had no work to occupy
his time, and he placed it unreserv-
edly at the disposition of his country
woman. In doing so it could not be
said that Mrs. Adair encouraged him,.
He assured himself that a woman.
young and attractive. in a strange
land in her dependent position must
of necessity be discreet. but In hts
conduct there certainly had been
nothing that was not considerate.
courteous and straightforward. He