The Union daily times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1918-current, 1922-06-19

to how 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. 1t was too
/ easy to feel the dead Eithnas 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
instincts-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 conf1ded it to Leving-,
ton. But then there had been much
more. March's interests did not begin
or end I'm a federal commission. Con
realized now the deep and double joy
or his friend when he had FIRST found,
Chez Ming in Dory street, marketing
the drug. only to find that the tracings
led to the Cobb desert.
The affair Of the present morning
required to miDd-the monzoul In his
enchanted garden. Despite seeming
leisure. events In the palace went too
swiftly for final valuation. Con was
puzzled to find that the more closely
he tried to recall the garden, the ap-
pearance Of the fat lord, the singing
bird, the dancer. and the magician, the
less he knew about them. Had the
1uggler poured his wine into the fourth
dimension, or was the watcher merely
transported by breath Of the drug7
Lexington went now to the outer cor
ners Of his prison. enduring the hostile
eyes Of q double guard, to look for the
vine-covered bower Of royal entertain
ment, but could see nothing Of It. He
must have turned into q courtyard of
the palace itself. One grim assurance
clung to him-the sinister fragrance
of koresh.
Through mi2-afternoon, as of.en as
his active mind abandoned some new
and equally futile plan of escape, his
| thought circled around to Helen. He
reclined under the green silken awning
and repeated her name. He was awak-
ened to the center Of his being, and
was scarcely aware that every new,
plan for escape included two others
besides himself, and one q princess.
Mentally she remained with him-in
the throne room, her glance toward
the prisoner she had spared, her bore
dom with the proceedings, her beauti-
full feet, Western woman as he must
have guessed had 1t not been for the
slight tilt Of her brows and this he
had seen, more closely, to be but the
cunning work of her maid-servants; In
her own apartment, surrounded by
things American, the transformation
that was net complete because Of her
Chinese training, personal qualities
that tantalized him, the first words
that had thrilled him so unaccountably
and the last bringing q clutch of ter
ror; the clear young beauty Of her
face, her lips, the soft brown Of her
hair, the curve of girlish shoulders,
the grave pleasure at meeting that
! stranger, her father, and the upemo-
tional view she held Of her own future
as queen of this fantastic state. These
fr9gmentary thoughts possessed Lev
fngton. brought him life as 1t had
never come before, hurt him savagely,
so that he sighed and tossed about on
| the green cushions.
Then he remembered once again that
they would not permit him to live.
This fact had a totally new aspect,
and the novelty Of It now brought him
to his feet. His gray slave started up
in surprise, and the pair of big-sword-
ed soldiers made themselves felt at
the stair-head. For the first time in
his career Con rebelled against death.
1t seemed no longer part Of the
game. Instant or slow, death did not
interest him now; 1t was a stupid rule
Of the play. He wanted nightly to
live. There was something both sweet
, and very bitter In dwelling In the same
desert city with Helen March. There
were so many things he had to tell
her, so much he longed to ask also
an additional urgency for a talk with
her father.
Late in the afternoon, he retreated
to his inner chamber, hot and impa-
tient. In the smaller of two rooms,
which were barely furnished, the walls
i a ruhifo ho annor him colf