The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-01-28

for him scared and disappeared
among the clouds.
Simon folded his hands under his
chin. Perhaps he had made a mis-
take in retiring. More and more
he felt himself shunted aside. The
fatherly desire to see his son succeed
him was denied him, for the moth
er had seleeted-and insisted upon
a totally different career for the
boy.
For years cambridge had been a
celebrated gem merchant. He was
known in all the famous gem mar
kets of the world, from Amsterdam
to Delhi. He was more than :. mer-
chant, he was a genuine lover, an
ardent collector. He hunted for
rubies, pearls. emeralds and sap
phfres, as other men hunted their
Rembrandts.
Five years had passed since he had
sold out and retired; and not a day
went by that he did not regret the
act. He was rich, but he was also
idle, and unhappy because he was
idle. The only zest in life now lay
in chasing down some gem and add
ing it to his collection. He had
agents everywhere, and when one
of these cabled, Simon would pack
up and sail away, usually alone.
Upon disposing of his business he
had brought home his private col
lection, unrivaled in America; a hun
bred and fifty of the finest pink
pearls outside Baroda; many pigeon
blood rubies; emeralds and sapphires;
q ctn IF
were executed in. bizarre, unusual
fashion.
Simon realized now, when it was
too late, that he should have carried
on the business and made the boy
his partner. He should have set
his foot down emphatically.
But Ellen overruled him. Arthur
was to be trained for the diplomat
ic service. The boy would soon learn,
however, that diplomatic career
was a hedged-in one; natural i'm
pulses had to be squelched every
thing had to surrender to formality.
He would have to marry a woman
with beauty, intellect, breeding and
cash.
Only one thing worried Simon: it
was such a big dream that it did
not seem likely to come true in all
details.
Nine O'Clock. He yawned. shook
himself briskly, folded. the newspa-
per, and put away his glasses. He
was practically alone in the house.
So Katie Mullins was eighteen?
And pretty soon she'd be getting
married, and Mullins would be as
lonesome as Simon cambridge, poor
devil. Mullins had taken her away,
but there hadn't been any need of
that. The house was big enough.
Had Ellen objected to Katies pres
ence without his knowing anything
about it? cambridge wondered.
Ellen was stickler about some
things; servants had to keep their
places in the cambridge menage.
He thwacked his hands together
smartly, brushed a fleck of eigar-ash
from his sleeve, and smiled pleas
ureab1y. No more retrospection; he
would play.
Night after night he went through
a series of formal acts, rarely de-
waiting. First he pulled down the
window shade and drew the heavy
curtains. Then he cleared his desk
of its litter.
Always he would pause to pick up
the 1o-inch Buddha, bronze overlaid
with gold leaf, which was worn
through in spots. The eternal smile
was there, bat this particular Buddha
was blind. Where there had once
been marvellous eyes, there were now
only two gaping holes.
Once upon time this god had
looked upon the world through two
incompatible pigeon blood rubies
One was NOW in the possession oil
Simon cambridge; the other lay
upon the sitting sands at the bot
tom of the turbulent Irawadi.
From a drawer cambridge took
cut a piece of blue velour about
two feet square This he placed on
the clearer space of the desk. Then
he crossed the room to the lack