Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1922-11-21

OF Police Of Paris. told me this
story. We were on the deck OF his
yacht in the Mediterranean; the
coast of Africa was in the distance.
We had been talking Of that strange
famous Englishman whose tragic
death in the North Sea had stirred
the world.
why had he never married-the
greatest Englishman OF his time
we did not name him. Monsieur
Jonquere called him "Sir Henry" in
the story
The Project Of Police of Paris pre-
scented the story as though It were
a detached tale of an oriental story
tel er a bazaar of Cairo. And I
listened with my eyes closed. on the
cool deck, moved slowly by the long
swells 49,. listened to the tragic
love story of this strange, reserved,
famous Englishman who had lived
in mystery ana died in mystery:
The man who rode north from
the citadel, along the Boulevard
Mohammed Ali, was no longer
young.
He sat firmly in the saddle. and
TO the distant eye, he was hard and
lean like a hunter in condition, but
his face discolored by wind and sun,
in repose, was tired. 1t was an un-
usual face. scanned and crossed with
lines, the mouth firm. almost harsh,
with the muscles developed along
the Jaw. But Il was not these fea-
lures that impressed one.
II was the mans extraordinary
eyes. They were large and set far
apart. The color you Immediately
saw--a dark metallic blue-the blue
of certain remote spaces in the
tropic sky. The lids dropped. giving
the man an expression at once of
serenity and menace.
He rode a gray Arab. and his
clothes were evidently the best pro-
duct OF a Bond Street tailor. He
rode like soldier-iike one accus-
toned to live days and nights in the
saddle.
The man felt old and tired
The vast. eternal unchanging as
spect OF Egypt oppressed him. Here
all human effort seemed equally
futile. Here as in India, one grew
only old and accomplished nothing.
And. on this evening, he felt acutelyl
the menace of Egypt.
England had only extended fingers
on this great desert running south :
into impenetrabie mystery. She had
only the peace of the bayonet; and
behind the Incidence. the listlessl
resignation Of these desert peoples. /
there seemed to lie a vast, inherent ,
hatred OF the invader that never !
lessened, and that waited always
with an unfailing patience In I
India, this thing skulked in the dis
lance. but here it seemed to ap-
.proach--to be at hand.
Perhaps what the man knew
staged this impression. The whole
world OF Islam was uneasy. She
had been despoiled in Turkey and 4
shamed. She felt that weak rulers. I
for gain or the love OF life, had held
her in leash when she ought to have
been looeeDed with a great shout 70
a holy war. The heads OF Islam
were quiet. but the tribes were rest
less.
England, feeling always with her
delicate antennae knew this and
always wise, moved first. She had
Withdrawn this man from India and
sent him here TO set the butt OF the
Lee Endheld a little firmer in the
sand south toward Khartum.
He had a fortnight in Cairo before
he took up this tremendous labor,
and he used il TO be free. to be
alone, to ride when he liked with
out an orderly always at his heels.
1t was great honor that England
did him. He might, in the end. be-
come Viceroy Of India or Slrdar
of Egypt. But, on this evening he
was impressed with the value of I,
what he paid--his youth had been i,
required OF him When he should 4,
come up out Of this desert he would
be old. And What had he got what q,
would he get out OF these great y
honors?
The man rode slowly, holding the :
nervous Arab in. The strange, in 4
congruous current Of the city passed
him but he was thinking OF some .
thing else. and he gave It no at $
tsntion. n
There was another thing. He .
vaguely. He had seen on b
III S very day. in the shade Of b
Towering vine, young Il
soldier and an English girl They n
were sitting on a bench: neither
moved. and only their hands ],
touched. They did not speak. and o
yet their faces were Ike the faces a
OF angels.
This was a thing that he had al r
ways hated. It was not the enemy e
In the front that threatened the s
army, II was these loving creatures a
IN the rear. Ruthless and deter G
mined, he had set his face against e
II The army should be ceIibate q
And he had broken and elbowed out s
the men who would cucumber them c
selves with loving heart.
Well. he had lived by the rule
himself There had been no woman /,
about him on the frontiers Of the ,
Empire. When he came, now and =.
then 10 London, the current OF life
IN which they moved failed 20 touch
him. They were creatures apart.
He knew OF them only what ap-
pcared before the eye. And. while
be saw the beauty which they as
semblsd. he saw also the thousand
foliles that seemed 10 give them
pleasure, and he wondered in what
mysterious charm lay their appalling
influence on his soldiers.
And on this evening. alone in this I
r1veter Gus city he began 10 be as