Evening Star Newspaper, December 31, 1922, Page 11

LT (Continued from_Yesterday's Star.) Q in a dreary tone. “but can‘t nderstand you. I'd no idea there w men _who seemed just like other men and Yet hehaved in this . this extraor- dinary fashion “I'm not aware that my behavior « extrordinary. [Every man in my country has a harem if he can aftord e Deliberately he put these facts be- fora the girl in his desire to hurt and hate her as he hated her father. But the look of suffering on her face fnurt him as much as he was hurting her. And he hated himself more than he hated her. because uprooting the love he had for her out of his heart was proving such a di k. Tt's a harem, is it said astefully, Now I'm beginning to erstand But | don't want to Vear anvthing more about it. 1 see now it was a mistake my asking vou here. But [ wanted you to know-— 10 _know—"" She flounlered and stopped and started again, anxious to be fair with him in spite of everything. “I wanted you to understand that the fact of your religlon and race made your behavior seem quite differ- ent from what it would have been wera vou a . a European. T want to see that | know vou have t of view, that I can’t in for dolnz what excnses for him. his point of view “You'r 4 unkind. she y fiashed, ‘suddenly out of You'ro making eversthing for me as you possibly can. You're doing it deliberately; and you look us if you enjoyed hurting me. 1 naver thought you'd be like this, Raoul. T would have liked to part as friends since . . . else 1s impossible. His name on her lips made a spasm cross Le Breton's face. As he stood there fighting against vou are very himself he knew he was still madly | /n love with the zirl he was deter- vined to h and he despised him- self for his own weakne: Pansy watched him. a look of sup- pressed suffering shadowing her eyes. She would have given all she pos- sessed—Rer cherished freedom. her vast riches, her lite—to have had him as she once thought hi lour. not with this dread- ul black barrier between them; a rragedy so gh: ‘aughing matter. He was lost to her forever. No amount of love or un- derstanding could pull down that rrier. said. holding out v we ever dropped HeTOSS one another.” Le Breton made no reply. Cold and iling. he watched her. There was a brief silence. __Outside. the sex sobbed and splashed Lgainst the vessel's side. orld could As they stood & at one an- other. a verse came and sang like a dirge in Pansy's head: Good by« “Good-by rever. Good-bre. good-bre. she said again Then he smiled his cold, cruel smiie. |13 “No. Pansy. I u revoi _ Tgnoring her outstretched hand. he howed. Then. after one long look «t her. he turned and was sone. As the door closed behind him Panay blinked back two tears. Tt had hurt her horribly to sce him 50 set and cold. with that cruel look in his eves where love once had been. She wished that “The Sultan" had killed her that day in the East End of London: or that Raoul Le Breton had been drowned that night in the ;-h:.u“;\r;])'lhinfi rather than that they ave met t 1 ahoud t to make each other CHAPTER 1. Over El-Ammeh great stars flashed, ke silver lamps in the purple dome above the desert city. Their light save a faint. misty white tinge to the scented blueness of the harem garder There trees sighed <oftly. moving vague and shadowlike as a warm breeze stirred them. The walled pleasance was filled with the scent of flowers, of roses, magnolia, heliotrope, mimosa and a hundred other blos- sams, for night lay heavy upon the x’l‘;d::'x‘nken ponds the st e stars - rored, rocking gently on u.'."é'fif'?.':e of the ruffled water. Close by one of the silvered pools, a man's figure =howed, big and white, In flowing sarments. Against him garme: him a slender girl Rayma's eyes rivaled the star: {he gazed up at her sultan and owner, et in their dark depths anxiety lurked. Pl A fortnight ago. the sultan had re- turned to El-Ammeh. The first week d been one of blissful happiness for the Arab girl. For her master had re. turned more her lover than ever. But, as the days went on, doubts crept into her heart. vague and haunting. At tlmes it seemed to her he was mot «auite the same man who left her for Parfs. For he had a habit now that he had not had before he went away - -a diseoncerting habit of looking at | her with unseeing eyes, as if his thoughts were elsewhere. ‘This mood was on him now. _ Although the night called for noth- ing but love and caresses, none had fallen to her lot. Although she rested against him, she might not have been there for all the notice he took. He appeared to have forgotten her, as he zaged in a brooding, longing manner at the soft, velvety depths of the pur- ple sky—sky as deeply, softly purple as pansies. Rayma pressed closer to her lord and sultan, looking at him with love- laden, anxious eyes. “‘Beloved,” she whispered softly, “are vyour thoughts with some woman in Paris? With a start, his attention came hack to her. In the starlight he scanned her little face in a_flerce, hungry, disappointed manner. For the slight golden girl who now rested upon his heart brought him none of 1he contentment he had known when Pansy had been there. “No, little one.” he said gently. “I prefer you to all the women I met in Paria” Her slim arms went round his neck in a clinging passionate embrace. “Oh, my lord,” she whispered, “such words are my life. At times I think you do not love me as you once did. You seem not quite the e. For, often, although your arms are around me, you forget that I am there!” A bitter expression crossed his fac He did not forget ‘that she wi there. Although he had come back to the desert girl he had once loved, it was not her he wanted, but the girl who had scorned and flouted him, his enemy's daughter. And he tried to forget her in the slim, gold that ‘held him, with such passion. “No, Rayma, I'm not tte _the saine® ho said. stroxing the ilttls face that watched him with such love and *on:!u‘: “For sixteen years and more have waited to avenge my father’s “Hio broke of. aad Ixnghed sxrapely o e of u a1 A ever is ext week I “And now—my father's almost within my grip. s:u‘. out with my men to capture him. R was & sentiment the Arad zirl cou! ; understand. m: ,” she whispered, “Mt- tle wonder tha ur mind wanders I am within o T et T The sultan ne reply, Deep down In his ewn heart he \ " A’ Son of the Sahara A Modern Story of the Desert (Gopyright. 1922, by the Macamiay Os. E mssrneess By Louise Gerard wssussssssnssansneansanyi since anything | entertain his daughter. A man of { teen up and dressed before Alice— 1y that the fact of jpar stay in Africa—appeared with Lucille Lemesurier now seemed a|(he early morning tea | knew his excuse was a false one. Tt was not vengeal that came be- tween him and R: i "And now he hated the English girl. ! for she had robbed all other women of their sweetness. ¢ CHAPTER 11 i Over the old fort near the river the | Britisn flag drooped limply. Many vears had passed since it had last hung there. Nowadays, the place was not used. The country was too peace- ful to need forts. and the district officer lived in a corrugated iron bun- galow just beyond the remains of the stockade. It was getting on toward evening. The mist still rose fiom forest and shadow vailey, as it had risen sixteen vears before when Barclay first came to these parts. And in the stunted cliffs another generation of baboons | swarmed. On the roof of the old fort Pansy stood with her father, watching as she had often watched' during her months in Africa the sunset that each night painted the world with glory. A golden mist draped the horizon, its edge gilded sharply and clearly. Across the golden curtain swept great fanlike rays of rose and green and glowing carmine, all radiating from i« blurred mass of orange hung on i the world's edge where the sun sank slowly behind the veil of gold nist rolled up from the wide MNey, in banks and tattered tainbow tinted. And the t. in the dry season. ula\‘_l\i'd the course of b unken river gleamed like jewes in the flood of .!light poured out from the heavens | The constant change and variety of the last few months had eased Pan- sy's pain a little. “*With her father she bad “'2;3‘:,"}; colony. She had slept under canvas, ln.uve huts and iron_bungalows. And there were half a dozen officers on the governors staff, all anxious to But for the nights, Pansy would have enjoyed herself immensely. | "“’Give me the nights. Pansy, and the ldays I'll leave to you. Yery often Raoul Le Breton's words came back to her, as she lay sleepless. It seemed that he had her nights now, that man she loved yet could not harey. Often her heart ached with a | Violence that kept her awake until | the morning. 5 Pansy tried to make her nights as |short as possible. She was alwavs the last to bed and the first to rise. iher plump, pretty. mulatto maid, a ! mission girl Pansy had engaged for And when- ever it was possible, she was out and away on her old racehorse. with some Iniember of her father's staff And the day that followed was gen- larally full of novelty and interest. | Thera were new people to see; a wild {eountry to travel through; some |negro chief to interview: a native Ivillage to visit. A« the Journey continued, the Fu- opeans grew fewer. Until that day. (it was nearly a week since Pansy inad seen a white face, except thos of her father's suite Only that afternoon the further- most point of the tour had been reached. A mile or so beyond was French territory With her father Pansy often went {over the maps of the district and the | country that lay around it. She knew ithat beyond the British possessions reely populated and but lit- n district: vast areas, scarce- . of scrub and poor grass. Sahara. But. interested as Pansy always province, and all that lay about it, she was not thinking of any of these things as she stood on the roof with him. but of her old playmate, Capt. Cameron. £ The governor. his Staff and the dis- trict officer were going the next day to visit some rather important negro chief. Pansy was to have been one of the party, but on reaching their journeyv's end, Cameron had suddenly loped a bad attack cf malaria. T don't think I'll go tomorrow, father,” she was saying. “T don't like leaving Bob. I know his orderly can Jook after him all right. But he says he feels better when I'm about, so I promised to stay and hold his hand.” “Just as vou like Sir George an- swered. “In any case the pow-pow Will be very similar to a dozen others you've seen. And Bob needs keeping cheertul.” ‘ “He takes it very philosophically, Pansy answered. “It's the only way to take life” her father answered, a trifle sadly. Pansy rubbed a soft cheek against his in silent sympathy. 5 She loved and understood her quiet. indulgent father more than ever. But the dead girl he still grieved for was only a misty memory to his child. Yes. Daddy, I've learnt that too,” she said. “It's no use grousing about things. T r better to laugh in the teeth of fate. George Barclay’s arm went round his daughter. She had followed out her own pre- cepts, this brave, bright girl of his. ‘As she went about his camp no one would have guessed her life was a |tragedy. And even he knew no more ithan she had told him on her unex- pected return from Grand Canary. She was fighting her battle alone, as he in past years had fought his, in his own unselfish way, refusing to let her shadows fall on those about her. CHAPTER IIL About five miles away from the old {fort, deep in the forest, there was a |large grassy glade, an unfrequented spot. Within it now were aencamped what looked 'to be a large party of Arab merchants. There were about a hundred of them, and they had come early that morning. with horses, and camels, and mules, and bales of mer- chandise. And they ' outnumbered Barclay's party by nearly three to one. His following were mnot_ more than forty, including thirty Hausa soldiers. Immediately on arriving in the glade, two of the Arabs, with curios, had been dispatched to the English camp? outwardly to sell their goods, but. in reality, as sples. They had hardly gone, before the rest of the party put aside its peac ful air. Out of their bales weapons were produced; guns of the latest pattern and vicious-looking knives. In his tent the Sultan Casim Ammeh sat, in white burnoose, awaiting the return of his sples. With him was Edouard, his French doctor, who was watching his royal master with an air of congern.. “I_shall E’“ when this thing 5 3 done with," 'And all T hope is that nglish don't get hold of you. 11 be_ short shrift for you, if yflo:z\xre caught meddling with their of- cials.” “They'd shoot me, as Barclay shot my "’B‘ er,” the Sultan replied grim- 1y. ut 'm willing to risk that in or to get hold of him.” *“I wish we were safely back in El-AmmeR,” the doctor sald, deen love ‘or & devp Mate, Bdoward: o e, Hdouar ‘The surface of things has always sat- {a8ed you. - You're to ba enviedr oo (Continued in Tomorrow's Star. E Ll L L bl b ol st atotetaiad 1 s A SON i SAHARA 5 Read the Complete Book o Al t SPEARLMAN'S BOOK SHOP & 3933 G St Y. ool 1rrrttrrf¢rrrrmf e was In all connected with her father's | | A REMARKABLE VALUE. Just four left of these Four- Piece Jacobean Oak Dining Room Suites, as pictured; com- prising large Buffet, China Cabinet, Serving Table and Ex- tension Table. A wonderful value at this very low price. January Clearance Price. . . cc.ccee.iinrinececcmaceccacmn Easy Credit Terms at “The National” GUARANTEED QUALITY AT The National Furniture Co. § ‘FREE With every purchase of $100 or more we will give our beautiful 42- plece set of Decorated Dinnerware or a 26-piece ret of Wm. A. Rogers Silverware. (LA g g Q O [} ! "Inmmllluflhl|mmmmlnmmflluml ittt Begins Tuesday. THIS FOUR-PIECE WALNUT BED- ROOM SUITE, as pictured, is a very good wvalue at this price. Consists of Dresser and Vaaity with mirrors, Chiffonier and Bed. January Clearanoce price. D Easy Credit Terms Kitchen Cabinet Golden Oak January Clearance Price $977.50 Easy Terms Extension Table Golden Oak January R [ Wit st 135" THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., DECEMBER 31, 1922—PART T ] 'i an g I byt il ,‘ i i Mttt e CREDIT—SERVICE—LOW PRICES AT The National Furniture Co. CREDIT FOR ALL A small first payment will secure any article in this ad. The balance can be paid in small weekly or monthly installments. T U qr Hlllmu.mmllmumunmuunnumumllluumul!l Still Lower Prices on Guaranteed Furniture of All Kinds to Clear It From Our Floors. Easy Credit Terms Sale Starts Tuesday, 8 A. M. for our January Clearance at.... HERRE IS A BEDROOM OUTFIT IN THREE PIECES THAT suy woman will buy on sight. A continuous-post White Enam- eled Metal Bed, good Spring and soft Top Mattress comprise the set, and it {s really a wonderful value at this low price. $16.75 Easy Credit Terms at *“The National”’ THIS ROOM SUITE, like the picture, consists of Jarge, roomy Dresser with plate mirror, Man's Chifforette, Semi-Vanity and full- site Bow-end Bed. Price mcaeeniaa.. HERE IS A BIG THREE-PIECE OVERSTUFFED LIVING ROOM SUITE, just like the picture, that is another wonderful value. Settee, Rocker and Armchair, covered with good grade of tapestry. To clear these suites out quickly, we’re marking them Easy Credit Terms at “The National” FOUR-PIECE WALNUT BED- January Clearance creeecemececcneas Easy Credit Terms THIS WONDERFUL TEN-PIECE WALNUT DINING ROOM SUITE is a wonder for value. Consisting of an Oblong Extension Table, China Closet, Buffet, Server, 5 Side Chairs and Armchair with genuine leather seats Easy Credit Terms at “The National” -at January Clearance Prices A complete assortment of rugs in ‘all sizes and of all the well-known makes. Prices are very low on all of them. Come and buy on the National's Easy Terms. Here are three of the many bargains you ean find. Tapestry Brussels Velvets Axminsters 9x12 9x12 $18.75 9x12 $29.75 $34.75 Also = full line of the Congoleum Gold Seal Art Rugs can be seen in our Rug Department—any of them may be purchased for a small deposit on the National's Easy Credit plan. January Clearance Price, ~ $190 Easy Terms Clearance Price, $4.35 Easy Terms