, 1922-12-31
CHAPTER XVIII.
t~Confinuod.l

NHE lay sill. reclining. not IN pain
- but In wondsrnsnt. A. the was
en- slid on its side. the driver
stumbling along and stu c.iaginE 70
ne lines as II be tried to hold giant
falcons IN LEASH. The caravan grew
ressive. too. and Mem was consumed
with perp.sx ~ a. she sEw one OF
the animals forced 10 It's knees not
ar from her. The sheik. or whatever
he was. tumhiod frgm tie saddls and
ran 20 her.
A brown face looked out from the
hood, and from the scarlet lips sur
rounded By q short beard came a voice
s~tartlingly un-ArAbic
Miss steddonl Miss Remember
steddoar'
She wa 80 dazed hat she could
only stare into the mysterious fAoe
douhly DARK against the binding sun.
The Arab smiled and laughed.
You don't know met Don't you
recall Mr.. woodvine7"
This frightened her and confused
her unbea-ably.
who are your she gasped.
As a matter OF fact. I'm only NIr.
HgIby-rom Hobby a common movie
Etor out on location. But the last
.time you saw me you called me Mr..
woodville."
"oh. did II / was thinking of my
husband"
Your husband You wero Miss
steddon n week or two ago"
- 49,
"oh. I seei You have taken the
fatal step stnca then. Is that Mr..
woodvnie playing tag with those dan.
oine demons over ;here?'
''oh mol He's dead"
Dead. already n you only mar.
ried a few daysi Why. what on
earth"
She dropped her head. She could
not face the rush Of sympathetic hor.
ror In those famous eyes. Sho could
not think IN the failing sunbeams
pounding her aching head.
Hobby read this as grief and sighed.
You don't war. TO talk about IL.
of course Forgive me- But you can't
stay here."
CHAPTER A1A
They say that tho Magdaien WIS
>rct really a magdalen-that tradition
~ forgotten the text and mixed her
with a woman Of Bethany Just Is
P~otiphar's wife is carelessiy branded
with the deeds Of anothr woman
But Mem. as she covered on the
sand. felt as humble as the Magdalen
in tho pictures. though the man who
looked down upon her so tenderiy had
never posed as n Galiiean even in the
miracle play they sive every sum.
mer in the canon at Hollywood.
Tom Holby's profession was. the op-
posite of n preacher. He tried TO
how how people actually did behave.
not how they ought to. -xis authors
would not let him be vert real, but
always forced a moral. and that is
the true immortality of the moving
pictures; not that they present wick
edness SO that innocent people may
initiate It. but that they present life
as II 1t punished wickedness and re-
warded virtue; which is a pretty lie,
but a lie none the SIS.
~ Alllt IlClb1 A40 al "a
pic.on that Mem was not telling him
" truth, he felt no call to rebuke
Eer or to wiring IT from her. He
thought: She's pretty. She's In trou'
BILE. Ny business Is to be as nice to
her as I can"
He lifted her from the sand. brush;
ed her off. and went for her suitcase
-ut.t.t. Lod t-ar [,.ra1ad into the
stunted stubs AZ a cholla cactus. that
vegetable pore, ipine whose frosty
barbs were fiendishly ingenious in
creeping into his skin. Hobby brought
away a few spires chat would cause
him long agony until with a knife
and pliers he SHOULD gouge them out.
The darts OF Cupid might hive been
p.ucked from the same bushi and
Hobby found the thoughts OF this shy
girl like cactus srines embedded ~
his thoughts tormentingiy. As -
iugged the suitcase back to the rSn'
lie tripped on the long skirts of his
Arabian burnous. He had practice
walking in it when he was before
the camera. but he was thinking of
/, Mem now.
! lie was thinking: "she was not
Unmarried when I met her on the train;
s<yeek later she is a widow. She has
gone through two earthquakes IN
quick succession--a honeymoon and a
funeral. 1 have found that. when
ever a calamity occurs to anybody.
'ack of money adds to the horror OF
1 it,
His instinct was not to save her
soul. but to make her body comfort
able.
And so when he set the suitcase
down by Mem he asked her to rest
upon It, and stood between her ana
the sun while he spoke very
ly:
Tell me to mind my own business
II I'm impairment, but may 1 ask
yo,, ~ question: Did your husband