|[ THE UNKNOWN'! N MR. KENT || GEORGE H. DORAN OOw. Ull COPTRIGT. ^ j “Disapointed ?" queried the Ameri can, with cool insolence. “Not much,” same the ready reply Vtth equal coolness. “The way you passed the combination over was— VeO—significant.” 1 TSuppose we sit down,” Kent sug gested. “We’ve got quite a lot of phings to discuss, haven’t we?” “That depends on you. Of course you are quite amenable- I seem feo be in the position of strength. I’ll platen to anything you’ve got to of “You’ll listen? That’s good. If you ■cnly came to listen, why did you come «t all? Say, I’rovarsk! You think Tm fool enough to believe you came feere merely on a polite visit, do you? jjust because you wanted to hear the ieweet sound of my voice? You came <%ecause I’ve got things you want. Things you think I might trade. Things that if you don’t get, might fcpset your little pile of bricks and tip jPOU over into the gutter. Come, let’s jmot try t0 flay blind man’s buff. What fere you after? What card do you ifeeed to fill your flush?” “Pretty fair talk for a man who is ■but in his own room under arrest,” commented Provarsk. “What is it the Kngiish call it—Swank. Yes, that's It. Bluff, I think you style It, you Yankees." “Not at all,” Kent Insisted, serious ly. "A real bluff is where you haven’t got the goods, but try to make the •ther fellow believe you h^ve. Swank, an the contrary, Is merely an ex aggeration of what you possess. Welther word is applicable, because Yve got what you have to have. I Umder arrest? Poof! That's nothing, because I've got what is known as the ■noral supremacy, the Initiative. Also because you are afraid of me and that X might possibly kick your apple cart ■with a lot of freckled wares into the *arbage pile.” "Good!” gaily responded the baron. •'Quite good! Nothing like frank ad mission to get to a business basis, is -■there? You can make it a lot more •certain for me. And in return I can •t least make It certain that you shall Slave a ehanoe to wander farther •field with a whole hide." "And if I don't prove agreeable?" Cut: Honed Kent. ':T'..en," declared the conspirator, rwltl. .x great air of regret, "I am • afraid you won't wander anywhere at •all. About the cheapest thing in Mar -.kcn 11 a lot in the cemetery." "TTm-m-inh,' mused the 'American. "*9f you are so certain of ycwr ground, II can't volte see why you bother with me. You wouldn’t do it. No, Indeed! You’d order the lot." “Jllght again," cheerfully agreed the baron. nuj, tncn lei s get uuwn to ornss tacks. What are you after?" Provarsk got up and began to move about the room, much to Kent a dis turbance. '"Sit down," he said. “I don’t like to talk business to a man who is run ning a race with himself.” -Provarsk sat down and came straight to tho point. “I can get your transfer of that •lining concession whether you give it •r not,” he said, meaningly. "In the same way you got my signa tures to letters I never wrote, eh?’’ "Exacfly,” admitted Provarsk, with • grin. "But it might save some further trouble with yoar employer, John Rhodes, if I actually got the transfer from you.” T believe you are right about that,” Kent agreed. “But you haven’t yet explained where I come in. I'm not fool enough to believe you are doing ibis for the good of the state, you know.” "Of course I’m not!” Provarsk de clared, contemptuously. Tin doing it .for my own good and no one’s else.” "How do ysu propose to handle the .king?” demanded Kent. "He’ll have to de what 1 want him to, for the simplest of reasons, that I •ball have the people behind me. He'll get nothing! He can be king. That’s •sough for Mm.” "tea?" said Henl, Invitingly. "Row •bout me. You have already written to Rhodes. Do I get nothing, too?” ‘That’s just what I’m coming to,” •bserved the baren. "You’ve been a good gamester, bat you've lost, all tho way round. You aud I agree on jnst one thing, which is that either of us keeps his word when ho can do so. That’s right, isn't it?" "Yes. I Oita* It is," Timi if I save you my word as a genfleuMMi on anything, you’d accept T ffihkl should.” "Vwj wtti, that simplifies matters. The Vhm has been getting 10 per cent. «f the mst revenue* frstn the mines. SVpm sow on he vets nothing, and you stall haj|» • per sent, hereafter, ho be tps-sa-tap* be m wherever you 19 choose to hide from Khodes, provided that you give me that concession. Only, of course, you’ve got to stay away from Marken. That’s under stood in any event.” With a studied air of deliberation Kent looked up at the ceiling, until Provarsk began to move restlessly. The latter consulted his watch and got hastily to his feet. "I've no further time to waste in politeness,” he declared, with sharp emphasis. “I shall give you just five minutes more in which to decide.” “Why this haste? Got anything im portant to do?” asked Kent in bland surprise. “I have,” asserted the baron, crisp ly. vitiii, iiuvairm, yu u apaio yourself the trouble," said Kent with the utmost sarcasm. “I know your full plans. I even surmised you might try to seize me and instructed Von Glutz, who, by the way, will be on hand with sufficient strength to act this very morning, that unless it be came a question of saving nay life he was not to interfere with you. With the exception of perhaps a half dozen men, the palace guard is still loyal and awaiting my orders. I could have summoned assistance last night with a single call!" Provarsk looked Incredulous. He concealed the fear that slowly gripped him, and snapped his Angers. “Bluffing again,” he said. “Come, my time Is up.” “Going to read a procalamatlon to the people, or anything like that? If so you may as well save yourself the trouble. By this time the king Is already reading his." Provarsk’s face, at this statement, went white with rage. “You lie!” lie shouted. “I don't,” calmly disputed Kent, In his turn arising (o his feet. “I've al ready returned him his concession and he is by this time presenting the manganese mines, gratis, to the citi zens of Markon. Another thing! You needh't worry about what John Rhodes might do to me. I happen to be John Rhodes, myself! You are—” There was a shout, a curse, a wom an's scream and a pistol shot sound ing together in confusion. Provarsk, infuriated, had whipped a gun from his pocket so unexpectantly that [van had not time to reach him; hut the princess had. with desperation, flung the screen heavily against Provarsk’* arm, and the bullet, deflected from Its mark, spattered Itself in minute particles of flying lead over the tiled floor. Outside, the sentry battered clamorously on the stout door. In ibe debris of the screen two men now struggled furiously, Ivan and Pro varsk, the latter striving with desper ate intent t* twist his pinioned hand cnce more in Kent's direction, and swenring, that, no matter what hap pened, he would at least kilt him. His persistence angered the giant, who l.ad seized his forearm, and threw him to the floor. With a roar like (hat of a charging lion he seemed for the Arst time to exert his full strength He was unswerving and pitiless. His huge right shoulder suddenly lifted until the muscles of his neck were swollen and rigid, there was the harsh siap of breaking bones, an agii,'?-d scream from Provarsk, and Kent >eapt forward. ivan! ivan: ne snouteu, iorget t-ng that the latter could not hear. The princess backed away against the wall, with 3 stare of fascinated, ex pectant horror; for Ivan, with all the hatred he had sustained for the chan cellor unleashed, was intent on killing him thU time, regardless of Kent’s entreaties. He sni :>ed the pistol from the floor and spite Kent's ef itorte plant ul the n :e against Pro varsk's temple, lit- tried to dis charge it; bit 1 in nls haste had unwit t'ngiy thiown the safety clutch. Pro varsk, helpiess beneath him, glared upward with eyes that did not quail. The curious, reckless, fearless faring of the man did not desert him in the least now that ha was at the end. Kent caught Ivan's arm in both his own. but the enraged giant thrsw him eff, dexterously dropped the pistol, caught it by the muzale, and lifted his arm high above his head intent on crushing Provarsk's skull with the butt of rile weapon. Quick as light, Kent saw hie opportunity, and caught the upraised wrist from behind, threw ail his weight against it, and slowly bent Ivan sldesrise from over his vic tim. Th^ giant, though taken at this disadvantage, yielded only inch by i inch, overborn* by the strength ofl Keiit that, with any ordinary man, would have been overpowering. Kent's jaws were set until the nvnecles of his! cheeks shone in kntftu and his eyes! were aflame. “Let me kill him! For God's sake, don't Interfere!” Ivan shouted, and then, pleading for the privilege of de stroying Provarsk, was toppled over, breathing hoarselpu-wod looking up in to Kent’s face. "^iowly the rad flame burned out of his eyes, as he recovered control of himself. The pistol fell from his hand, and the princess, with a spring as graceful as a leopard’s seized it and retreated to a safe distance. ‘‘Promise me that you will not hurt him, Ivan! I tell you not to! Are you mad, man?” "I promise," said Ivan, sullenly, but relaxing himself, and Kent arose. Ivan got slowly to his feet, with a stare of hatred and defeated intent at Provarsk, who was painfully trying to extricate himself from the pieces of splintered screen. Kent put his hand firmly, but gent ly, beneath him and assisted him to his feet, and then to a chair. There was no need to ask his condition. The loosely swinging arm told its own story. The door gave way under a fresh onslaught and several guardsmen fell into the room. Behind them could be seen two others holding Provarsk's mercenary between them. Kent smiled grimly and said, "Thank you men; but I do not require your help. Pull what’s left of the door shut and at once go and arrest or kill Provarsk's hired men. Leave one man on guard outside in case I want him.” They saluted and obeyed with con vincing alacrity. "Provarsk,” said Kent, “I’m very sorry! I didn't wish that done to you.” “That’s all right, Rhodes, or Kent, if you prefer It. It’s nothing to what I wanted to do to you," gamely re torted the baron, “Or nothing compared to what Ivan wanted to do to you,” remarked Kent. “Why didn't you let him finish it? In your place I should have done so,” Provarsk asserted, without rancor, and clutching his shattered arm. "Because,” declared Kent, with quite dignity, “I have punished you enough. You are finished as it la. Somehow, I'm sorry! You’re a game man, Baron, and—I like them. I shall send for a surgeon." "Oh, may as well put that off for a few minutes,” the chancellor said, wincing with a physical pain that barely exposed itself in his levetj voice. “May as well tell me thff1 worst.” “There’s not much to tell,” Kpnt said, gently. “Only that I’ve beaten you past any chance of your coming back. By this time you are not even the chancellor, I vfiink. I fancy Von Glutz, the loyal, has come back to his own. And you are broke. Broken like an empty egg shell!” Provarsk shut his teeth, tried to get. his arm to a less painful position, attempted a brave smile, and •aid, 'T think not. The Marken Mineral com pany. my dear Mr. Rhodes-” "Is worthless! I couldn't quite for give your trying to bribe my secre tary, Provarsk. That wasr't playing the game. I went after you on that. It’s a rule of finance to get a man who tries to bite your leg under the table. I got you! The only un profitable, completely worthless en terprise in Marken, is the one in which you've put eve*y dollar you could got, I saw to that. I kept It going at a totel loss Just for your benefit. You’re not worth a copper centime. You'll have to borrow money to buy your railway ticket out—unless —unless I relent. Maybe I shall. There are a lot of things I like about you. There are a lot of places where I can use brave men, if they are wtlling to be honest, and you are at least brave.” "I don’t think,” said the baron, bit ing his lip to hide his mental and physical pain, “that I can accept any thing from you; but I will say this— just to show you that in my way I am fair—if I can learn this game you play—this thing of finance, and I can find any way to have another go at you, I'll do it! And—and while I'm doing It, all the tim». I'll like and ad mire you, and-” He shut his teeth savagdly in a determined effort to subdue the giddiness and weakness that was mastering him, and then, with a long sigh, fell sidewfcys anS would have fallen to the floor had not Kent leapt forward and caught him in his arms. He picked him up fes if he were of no weight, and strode across the room, followed by the princess, an«l Ivan, whose eyes had roved from lis to lip seizing the spoken words. “Princess Eloise," the American called anxiously over his shoulder, "please summon some one to help me. And also a surgeon. Send Ihetn to my private room. And—and—” he stam mered desperately—“wait for me here!” Her face flushed, an if, in this 'ur mo«, she had interpreted aome hidden significance in his worefc; but she ran across the room, called the sentry from the corridor, and Kent heard her word*. "Send two men them the guard room at onoo to assist Mr. Kent. T ien go—quickly—as fast as you c»r., and summon the court surgeon. Hurry! Mr. Kent aieks you to. Go quickly!“ Ivan cloned the dotrr, dumbly, and the Bound of her volee was cut off. "Hera, rvan,” Kent's ftps meved as tu> tilrDed his hsad toward his ■ >1 i lower tram the tilde of Tu* own lied on which he had deposited the chancel lor. "Hell) me to get hi3 clothe3 oft while he i* unconscious. You should net hav^done this. I can't Are you; because after a fashion you and I are pals. But I'd give $1,000 in be big enough to take it out of your hi At, you big, ill tempered chump!" And Ivan, knowing a lot waj not embodied in his employer’s speech, and having absorbed that strange but true philosophy of Owen Wister’s conveyed through the Virginian, merely grinned and began uniacing the baron’s shoes. CHAPTER FIFTEEN. The Princess Eloise tiptoed to the shattered hall door, and, with infinite care, passed through and closed it be hind her. Then, hesitant, perturbed, distressed, she looked down the long reaches, lonely as a deserted avenue, as if considering a direction for flight. She paused, torn between the tugging hand of convention and de sire, that dragged her in diverse ways. Convention urged her that she was of the blood of p^oud and lasting kings, certain to find her place upon some potent throne, inevitably des tined to rule, endowed by nature, and trained religiously to that small caste whose slightest wish becomes a necessity with the people beneath. But desire cried aloud that all was vain, all happiness lost, the world bar ren, the future a desert, if now she closed her ears to the cry of her heart. A choice of queendom lay before her; one over a vast number whom she might serve, and assist, with a high nobility of purpose, and the other over cne subject, a strange, brusque, many s'ded man who would give of strength, and soul, and fealty, all that he had to give and if need be, uncomplainingly as a duty, reverently as a sacrifice, his | life. Life stretched before her like the corridor, in two directions, each lead ing from the other. Steadily, with clear eyes and clarity of mind, she. weighed one route against the other, and then, with bent head, and tremu lous breath, she made her decision. She turned, retraced her steps, opened the door very gently, stepped inside the room she had left, and closed the door behind. Kent, grave, embar rassed, and yet determined, came but a moment later from his sleeping chamber, and closed the door leading to it; but not with his habitual direct ness and decison. This was not the man She had seen confidently strid ing his way, staring direct with the radiation of personal power and pur pose, intent on some goal beyond oth er eyes. Instead, there was about him a curious altitude of awkward ness, appeal and reverence, a strenge lack of confidence. For an instanj on ly she forced herself to meet his eyes. They cried their message to hers across the silent, waiting room. The sounds of fhe outside world, in which that day the future of a nation was being irrevocably decided, became bushed and still. She seemed to hear in that same soundress silence the struggle of his mind as it fell upon and conquered his tongue. Forced by decision to meet this portentous is- i sue, she heard him coming toward her. His voice sonnded as if reach ing her from a long distance, so qu^et, so gentle, so grave it was in this de cisive moment of its existence. “You," it said, “are a prfpcess. I am nothing, save that which I am— a man wh« has done his best. A plebeian man, Princess Eloise, be cause # all that I have tried and all tl at ITiave done, may seem insignifi cant in your eyes. But what I am, I am." The voIcq, paused in that time she stood with hands crossed above her breast not daring to lift her eyes to hi^j paused as if gathering power to find the way. "I should not dare to speak,” It pro ceeded, more firmly, "had yau not sarfd what youodid a white ago. You said that you would hove glwsn any thing-" he hesttatod and spoke scarcely above a whisper, as if a repetition of her words were profana tion, as if he, a panttent, approached slowly oh hnnds and lmee* to cor - sion. "Yon said that you won' 1 given anything for my frierx’. my esteem! That you had . help mo—always!” ’Fie spo! word like one reading th word of life from the ope destiny, laid once before us ; Eloisei” he cried with a t; •>, beyond all she had dreamed, like that poor, foolish juggler oi Notre Dame, w#»o, unable to do more than juggle gay ball* upon his hands and feet, jret dared toss them at the shrine of Our Lady, a*id thus gave all he Mad to give! I aan helpWes! I am nothing, in thin fight—th* only one trom whieti I’ve ewer flfwehed. I wanted te go before I swats myself away; but you said you *aid——** (To be cewHnued newt The Rent Offense. From the Washington Etar. T hear yon were arrested for dfsvb 1 garding one of the traftfe sighs." -1 don't think it was exactly fhat.” • bed Mr. Chngglm*. Then what were you anrwTWl *yrr‘ 'Not spsaklns with proper pAItteneas to the officer.” KillJ'hat Cold With CASCARA Ef QUININE C.M., Cousk, La GHpp. ~ Neglected Colds are Dangerous Take no chances. Keep this standard remedy handy for the first sneeze. 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