The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1924-12-05
The Green Fan
Romance
By CLARISSA MACKIE
(Copyright.)


desk. Besides the life insurance,
there Is the house and furniture. and
the contents Of this box" His weak
fingers inserted small gold key in
the lock and raised the lid. Inside
was small oblong package wrapped
in many folds Of tissue paper.
open 1t, dear"
Helen obeyed. The tissue paper re-
vealed at last small green fan Of
Chinese origin. Strange to say, only
half Of the fan was there. 1t had
been carefully split through the CEN
ter, leaving one carved ivory stick on
one end and cut paper on the other.
The green paper was covered with
small enameled figures that formed
lovely pictures, and there was much
fine gold writing In Chinese ideo-
graphs.
what Is 1t, fatherY asked the girl,
more to please him than because she
was interested In the broken fan. She
was trying to keep up her courage In
the face of the sorrow that was creep
ing toward her. Her father had been
stricken with an unusual malady and
the doctors had given him up. Helen
had hoped against hope, and wondered
Ii he had felt the end drawing nearer
and had been prompted to have this
last talk with her. what Is the
meaning OF the broken fan, fatherY
she repeated
1T Is more or less of a mystery.
Years ago when l was In China !
had q partner named Kerwin. There
was In our employ a Chinaman who
robbed US shamelessly. He was 8
trusted man and had large sums Of
our money at his disposal He ap-
prOpriated the money and fed 1t
about ruined us, and broke up our
partnership. Just before / left China
q missionary from some distant sta
sandalwood box with the fan inside
just as you have seen 1t. Il seems
that our man Cheng had been con-
verted and was now Christian. He
had confessed his sin and had sent the
broken fan to me, while another box
containing the other half of the fan
had been sent to James Kerwin. The
whole fan reveals the hiding place of
the stolen money, and his Chinese
mind evolved the simple plan Of send
ing half of the torn fan to each
partner. Neither half Is of any use
without the other"
DO you know where Mr.. Kerwtn
is, fatherT asked Helen after while
"No, my dear. / suspect he Is dead
have sought him for years, because
| wanted to renew our friendship, but
| he was fond Of travelling and went
from place to place. / have not much
| faith In the hiding place Of the treas
ure. That Is why call 1t q sorry in
heritance."
| Months afterward, when the loss OF
her father had become less poignant,
Helen came across the green fan. A
sudden impulse prompted her to ad-
vertise for the other half of the fan.
1t must be somewhere.
"WANTED-The other half of
torn green fan. Please COM
municate with a. L. Moore, p. o.
Box 2OO9."
1t was one November day that
Helen received her first reply. 1t was
| owned such a fan and would be glad
| to discuss the matter. The note was
| signed, Benjamin Kerwin."
A few days later Benjamin Kerwin
| came to see her
"Your father-is he livingT' asked
| Helen
He shook his head sadly. Before
| he died he gave me the sandalwood
| box and half Of the fan and / put
them away among my belongings.
have not much faith In Chinese mys-
| teries,' he told her
Did you bring the fan, Mr.. Ker-
win?' asked Helen.
'Oh, yes,' and he drew a small par
Gel from his pocket. They fitted the
| two pieces together and mended II
with transparent gummed paper.
With the aid Of Chinese student
| who read the riddle of the fan, the
way to the recovery of the treasure
was made very plain. The two young
| people studied maps and routes for
many months before Mr.. Kerwin left
on his next trip to China.
Il have been told that 1t is dan
gerous country" objected Helen, who
was dying TO go along on the trip, for
the romance appealed to her inherited
| love of adyenturing
81 am accustomed to going among
the people," declared Kerwin.
sometimes / am tempted to tear
up my half of the fan SO that you
cannot go into such needless danger
said the girl Loyalty.
All the way home that night the
young man puzzled over that remark
IF she knew how / am tempted tc
give up the whole thing the
purchasing end of business, so that
may remain near her, she would moi
add her weight of bugabOos In the
way!"
At last the moment came to say
good-by. Helen" he burst out
marry me and let us make ii .
| honeymoon voyage SO they were
| married that very day. When they
| finally discovered the location related
on the fan they realized that they had
| been hoaxed by the oblique minded
Cheng. Never mind, darling" said
Kerwin happily. IF we didn't find
the treasure, we did find each other 7!
And that is why you will find the
green fan carefully framed in glass
hanging on the wall of their home