Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-12-30
THE SEA HAWK
BY RAFAEL SABATINI
published by Arrangement With First National Pictures
Inc. Copyrighted by Houghton- Mifflin Company
CHAPTER Xxx
The Sublety of FenziIeh

The Sublety of Fenzileh
~ LIVER considered the woman for a
long moment as she sat half-crouch-
~ ing on the divan, her hands locKeo'
her face set and stony, her eyes Lowered
He sighed gently and turned away.
Now that truth had been dragged from
it's we'll, and tossed, as it were, into Rosa
mund's lap, he felt none OF the fierce ex-
ultattan which he had conceived that such
an hour as this must bring him. Rather'
indeed, was he saddened and oppressed
To poison the unholy cup Of JOY which he
had imagined himself draining with such
thirsty zest there was that discovery OF a
measure of justification for her attitude
towards him in her conviction that his dis
appearance was explained by flight
He was weighted down by a sense that
he had put himself entirely In the wrong;
that in his vengeance he had overreacned
himself; and he found the fruits OF It,
which had seemed 80 desirably luscious,
turning to ashes in his mouth.
Long he stood there, the silence between
them entirely unbroken. Then at length
he stirred, turned from the parapet, and
paced slowly back until he came to stand
beside the divan, looking down upon her
from his great height.
cat last you have heard the truth" he
said. And as she made no answer, he con
tinued:
ST am thankful It was surprised out Of
him before the torture was applied, else
YOU might have concluded that pain was
wringing false confession from him"
He paused, but still she did not speak;
indeed, she made no sign that she had
heard him,
THAT" he concluded, was the man
whom you preferred to me. Faith, you did
not flatter me, as perhaps you may have
learnt"
At last she was moved from her silence,
and her voice came dull and hard
II have learnt how little there Is to
choose between you" she said 1T was
to have been expected. 1 might have known
that two brothers could not have been so
dissImilar in nature. oh, I am learning
"You are learning?" he echoed. What
are you learning?"
acknowledge of the ways of men"
His teeth cleaned in his wry smile.
II hope the knowledge will bring you as
much bitterness the knowledge Of women
of one woman-has brought me. To have
believed what you believed meme
whom you conceived yourself to loye!"
IF I have mercy to beg of you it is
that you will not shame me with the re-
minder.
"Of your faithlessness?" he asked. "Of
your disoyal readiness to believe the worst
evil of me?"
"Of my ever having believed that I loved
you. That Is the thought that shames me,
as nothing else in life could shame me, as
d
suit to which you have submitted me could
shame me. You taunt me with my readi-
ness to believe evil of you"
Il do more than taunt you with It," he
broke in his anger mounting under the pitiIess
lash of her scorn. 81 lay to your charge the
wasted years of my lfe all the evil that has
followed out Of it, all that l have suffered, all
that 1 have lost, all that am become"
She looked up at him coldly, astonishingly,
mistress of herself.
you lay all this to my charger" she asked
him.
81 do" He was very vehement. Had you
not used me as you did had you not lent a
ready to lies, that whelp, my brother,
would never haze gone to such lengths, nor
should l ever have afforded him the oppor-
tunity'.'
She shifted on the cushions of the divan
and turned her shoulder to him.
"AlI this is very idle she said coldly.
Yet perhaps because she felt that she had
need to justify herself, she continued:
IF, after all, was so ready to believe evil
Of you, it is that my instincts must have
warned me of the evil that was ever in you.
You have proved to me tonight that it was
not you who murdered Peter; but to attain
that Lroof you have done deed that is even
fouler and more shameful, deed that reveals
to the full the blackness of your heart. Have
you not proved yourself a monster Of ven
geance and tmpiety?"
She rose and faced him again in her sudden
passion.
Are you not-you that were born a Cornish
Christian gentleman-beCOme a heather and
robber, a renegade and a pirate? Have you
not sacrificed your very God to your yengeful
lust?"
He met her glance fully, never quailing
before her denunciation, and when she had
ended on that note of question he counter
questioned her.
and your instincts had forewarned you Of
all this? Gods life, woman! Can you invent
no better tale than that?"
He turned aside as two slaves entered bear
ing an earthenware vessel.
Here comes your supper I hope your ap-
petite is keener than your logic"
They set the vessel, from which savory
smell proceeded, upon the little Moorish table
by the divan. On the ground beside 1t they
placed broad dish Of baked earth in which
there were a couple Of loaves and red,
short-necked amphora Of water with drink
ing-cup placed over the mouth Of it to act as
stopper.
They salaamed profoundly and padded soft
ly out again.
"Sup," he babe her shortly.
az want no supper" she replied, her man
ner sullen.
His cold eye played over her.
"Henceforth girl you will consider not
what you want, but what bid you do. T
bid you eat; about it, therefore"
81 will not"
"Wiu not?" he echoed slowly. "Is that
speech from slave to master? Eat I say"
az cannot! cannot" she protested.
"a slave may not live who can not do her
masters bidding"
ai-7-. IL ahn -eH