THE GIFT WIFE.,. I
oturaffhuohcs—wnuwics By RUPERT HUGHES
.. . —- ... _ ... ..... .. ...... . ^_ i
CHAPTER xn—Continued
—13—
Jebb’s whisper reached her. She
started, turned, saw him, checked a
cry with a swift hand to her mouth.
Then she rose—as she alone could
rise, like a lark—came to him fleet
ly, lithely, oblivious of her unwonted
costume. Their hands met in a
fierce clutch and she dropped at his
side.
“I—I didn’t know you at first in
those clothes.”
He could have cursed himself for
such sublime inanity, but her greet
ing was small improvement on his:
‘‘Didden’ you know me? I knewed
you the feerst meenute I heard you
weesper.”
They stared at each other and she
flushed a little deeper as she asked:
‘‘But you didden’ call me hanim
cffendi or madame like that you
used to—what it was the word you
call me joost now?”
. ‘‘Miruma!”
She closed her eyes and breathed
deep as if the sound were perfume.
Of all Fate’s practical jokes this
seemed to Jebb the meanest, that he
should meet Miruma like this in a
crowded hotel parlor!—and that an
other woman should be coming for
him at any moment.
CHAPTER XIII
Rarely has a Woman’s Five Min
utes been longer than Jennie Lud
lam’s, rarely has it seemed shorter.
Miruma was saying with a child
ish giggle:
“You didden’ know me at feerst.
See if you know me now?" And she
hid the lower part of her face, peer
ing over the white, white hand that
mimicked a yashmak.
“Oh, I knew you as soon as I
saw those eyes.”
“Jebb Effendi remembers these
eyes, then?”
“They are the most wonderful
eyes in the world.”
"Mazallah! A compliment!”
“You’re no longer in Turkey
Don’t be afraid.”
Then he flew to safer topics:
“But how did you ever get here?
and when?”
“Didden’ you received my let
ters?”
‘•No.”
“I sended you twice letters!”
He explained the Trieste contre
tempts briefly, but neglected to men
tion the Ludlams. She looked sad:
“Then I deed not helped you! I
hoped so much to help you. You
have flnded the guzeljik—the pretty
leetla girl vitout me!”
“I have not found her.”
“You deed not try the Budapest
place, then?”
"What Budapest place?”
“I sended you in my letter a post
card. You did not been to Buda
pest?"
“I came through there, but I
didn’t stop—except to eat.”
“Only to eat! Yazik, aman, aman!
What a pity! The child was perhaps
very near you. Leesten. The day
after you have goed, Jaffar is breeng
to me a picture postcard. He say he
find it tack up on the wall in the
room of one of the other servants.
The man say he And it long time
before—in the room where Jaffar
maked your clothes dry after you
first earned to my home—you re
member?”
“Do I remember!"
“Jaffar say peerhaps the picture
is fall out of your pocket out, and
shall he burn it. 1 take it and send
it to you in a letter.”
“It is in Trieste now, then. You
say it was a picture postcard?”
“Yes—he is a carte postale in
many colors—a picture of a little
ada—how you say—island. And it
say—I cannot pronounce the majar
language—but I can spell if you have
a pencil—” He gave her a card and
his fountain pen and she wrote
“Margit-Sziget, Budapest.”
“Who is Margit Seegit? I won
der?”
“I think he is the name of the Is
land. The picture is of a beautiful
park. And on eet is writed in a writ
ing like the little writing you send
ed to me, ’Dear Mother: Do not
worry. I am having a nice time here
in theese beautiful place weet Mees
ter Pierpont.’ Do you know a man
name Pierpont?”
Jebb nodded impatiently. "Was
that all?"
"No, then comes, ‘Your loving
child!’ and then in beeg letters like
a child is print them. C-Y-N-T-H-l-A
—the name cf the leetla girl—yes?
Are you remembering such a
place?”
He shook his head blankly.
“I must go to Budapest by the first
train. Surely I’ll find the poor little
waif there You are an angel to
write me. And now we’ve talked so
much about my affairs. Tell me
about you. What brought you to
Vienna?”
It was a brusque question and she
answered it with a blush of meek
confusion that told him more than
he had dared to believe. She had
followed him like another Ruth.
“But tell me, are you—did Fehmi
Pasha grant you the—the talaq?”
“I am nobody’s hanim now. I
am joost me. I am free now,”
She was so beautiful, now, alone;
so doubly lovable here in the sur
roundings of civilization. She would
honor him and bis name anywhere.
But he and his name would not
honor her. What protection could he
give her when he could not protect
himself? He had fought the battle
through in Uskub and had chosen
the honorabler course, had silenced
his love and fled with it. That she
had come up with him and that she
was here at his mercy did not
change his duty. He was wondering
how to broach the subject to Jennie
Ludlam and her brother and the
ring, when he heard his name paged
along the corridor.
He called the boy and was in
formed that Miss Ludlam was wait
ing for him in a lower alcove. Jebb
answered:
"Ich komm’ sofort!"
The boy went his way, and Jebb
turned to And a troubled curiosity
on Miruma’s face.
"Miss Ludlam is—er—you remem
ber that ring I had?"
“Yes."
“It belonged to her.”
"But you did say you buyed it in
Cologne.”
"Did I?”
"You sayed it had no associa
tions.”
"It hasn’t.”
“And I find you here; you wait
for her: the beautiful Mees Lood
lam?”
She rose and crushed the jealousy,
the disillusionment, the shattered
“But I compromised on
five hundred.”
trust back in her breast. Jebb rose
to her side whispering:
“Hanim effendim! — madame! —
Miruma!—I beg you!—I can explain
if you—”
“Please!—if you would not have
me — shame myself here — please
speak nothing—let me—go—”
She hurried away as fast as she
dared, slipping through the crowd
with a lithe panther-like grace that
impressed him even then. He stood
fast and saw her vanish.
And then he heard a voice back of
him—a sweet and womanly voice:
“Is this Dr. Jebb?”
He was brought sharply to book,
by a gasp of surprise.
“Why, it’s Mr. Pierpont. The card
said it was Dr. Jebb."
His worst fears seemed realized
by the swift change from the formal
greeting for Dr. Jebb to the gush of
cordiality for Mr. Pierpont. And his
uneasiness was increased by the
sight of what Mr. Pierpont had af
fianced him to. For he saw before
him a short lady whom even a flat
terer would call plump.
So this was sister Jennie! As he
stared at her in a daze, she smiled
tenderly and said as she pressed his
hand and kept it:
“Was this one of your jokes—send
ing up a strange name and asking
for my brother? Was it just to sur
prise me?”
‘‘Is—isn’t your brother here?”
"Why, no, he's in Servia—some
where in the mountains hunting big
game. Don’t you remember my tell
ing you in Munich? Do you suppose
that if he had been where I could
reach him I should have accepted
all that money from you?”
“N-no, I suppose not”
“I’m awfully glad to see you,"
she pattered on. “Do sit down,” and
she dropped into Miruma’s place on
the divan. "It was awfully embar
rassing to me that you should dis
appear so completely, and leave no
trace.” Knowing nothing else to do,
he just shrugged his shoulders and
smiled.
Meanwhile, sister Jennie sat and
purred over him, like an amiable
tabby with a disabled mouse be
tween her paws. As his eyes rolled
distressfully he saw brother Charlie
steam into the hotel and push to the
desk like a liner crowding up to a
pier.
"There's your brother now." Jebb
exclaimed.
“No! Impossible! So It is!” and
she left him and made an almost
un-old-maidenly haste, catching her
brother just as he was asking for
her at the desk. His eye fell on
Jebb. He stopped short, snorted like
a bull, and charged.
"So here you are, eh? I never ex
pected to see you again.”
“Again?” cried Jennie, “you’ve
seen him?”
“Have I seen him! Didn’t he give
me the slip in Munich?”
"You’ve met Mr. Pierpont before!
Isn’t that funny?”
“Pierpont?—That's Dr. Jebb.”
"Dr. Jebb!—why"—she turned to
Jebb.
"That’s the name," said Jebb.
“And I got your ring away from
him, Jennie. See, here it is.” And
he fished it out. “He wouldn’t tell
me how he came by it, though."
“Wasn’t that delicate of him?”
And she beamed on Jebb till she
frightened him.
“Delicate!" gasped Charlie. “Del
icate! Then you really did give it to
him? Then it is true that you—”
"Sit down, you old dear, and I’ll
tell you." She toppled the mountain
on to the wailing divan.
“It’s an old story to you, Mr. Pier
pont,’’ she said, “but you won’t mind
hearing it again. Well, to begin at
the beginning, you see, Charlie, you
wrote me that you were going into
the mountains for a month or so of
hunting. Just after you disappeared,
Charlie, I had a call for five thou
sand dollars more margin on my
stock in the—oh, that awful invest
ment you let me in for.”
“Rock Island, you mean.”
“That’s it You told me to hold
for a rise.”
"Well, I see by the paper that It's
up twenty-nine points.”
“Yes, but at that time somebody
attacked it and the bottom fell out
for a few days. I had word one
afternoon from my brokers in Mu
nich that if I didn’t cover the drop
by morning I’d be wiped out."
“Is that so! Somebody was ham
mering her, I suppose."
“Well, whoever hammered it, it
i hit the toboggan and I stood to lose
, all I had put up. That very eve
ning the cablegrams announced that
my bank in New York had been
looted by its president, and had
closed its doors. I found where the
cashier of my Munich bank lived and
telephoned his house He said that
my letter of credit was good for
nothing unless the bank opened
again. I was simply in despair.
"At that moment who should come
along but Mr. Pierpont here. I didn’t
know him and he didn’t know me,
but he heard me crying, and said,
‘Pardon me. madame, is there any
thing I can do for you?’ It sounded
so good to hear an American voice
and he spoke so gently and I was
so weak that I just up and told him
the story.
"Well, what do you suppose this
angel of a Mr. Pierpont did? I can
hear him now—‘There, there, my
poor child’—” she laughed moistly;
"he called me his poor child when
I’m old enough to be his mother!”
But Charlie was impatient:
“Go on. What did he say?”
"He said, ‘There, there, my poor
child: if you’ll stop crying. I’ll give
you the money.’ I said, ‘You’ll lend
me—twenty thousand marks—me! —
a total stranger!' 'Certainly,' he
said, ‘you are an American,' and
I said, 'But I have no security;’ and
he said. You're an American’—as
if that proved anything!
"He wouldn't listen to any argu
ment or scruples, he just asked me
to excuse him while he went to his
room and got at his money-belt: and
when he came back he handed me l
the sum in English bank notes. Then
he said:
" ‘You must have something to get
along on till you hear from your
brother or till your bank reopens,’
and he actually wanted to give me
a thousand dollars more. But I com
promised on five hundred. The next
morning I had the money at the
brokers' bright and early and I
made a solemn resolve that I’d nev
er speculate on margins again.”
“Did you keep the vow?” grinned
Charlie. She pouted meekly:
"Well, I might have kept it if the
stock hadn’t gone skyrocketing up
again. It never rains but it pours,
you know, and in two days that aw
ful bank was reorganized and re
opened, and my letter of credit was
all right But when I came to look
for Mr. Pierpont he had paid his
bill and disappeared, taking his little
niece along with him.”
"But the ring—the ring," said
brother Charles, voicing a curiosity
that was aching in Jebb’s breast,
"how did you come to give him the
ring I gave you?”
"Such a silly question, Charlie.
Can’t you see I felt so ashamed of
taking his money with no security,
that I forced it on him. He didn’t
want to take it, but I made him.
When he learned it was worth only
about half what he lent me he con
sented.”
Charlie rounded on Jebb:
"Well, why in thunder didn’t you
tell me all this on the train when I
accused you of stealing the ring?”
"That was his delicacy. Can’t you
see, Charlie? He didn’t want to in
volve me.”
Charles could understand that he
owed Jebb a handsome apology, and
he put it in his own terms.
"I guess the drinks are on me.
old man. I’ve made a Jackass of
myself, and I admit it. What’ll it
be?”
But Jebb declined to liquidate the
account.
And then sister Jennie said she
must run up to her room and write
him a check for twenty-two thousand
marks.
“Would you mind making the
check payable to David Jebb?”
“David Jebb?”
"That's the name you gave me on
the train,” her brother put In.
“That's my real name,” said
Jebb.
Now Charlie was off again: “But
why did you call yourself Pierpont
to my sister?”
“Hush, Charlie, don’t make an
other exhibition of yourself. He was
traveling incog. Very rich people
often do that.”
Brother Charles and Jebb were
such mutually discomforting com
panions that when they were left to
gether Ludlam grew restive:
“Come on into the cafe and have
something.”
“No. thanks."
"Well, will you excuse me if I do?
I’ve just got in from Munich and
I’m horribly thirsty."
“Don’t let me keep you.”
Left alone, Jebb was overcome
by this new turn of the wheel. The
money meant so much to him just
now; it meant power, salvation from
infinite humiliations; it meant funds
for the pursuit of Cynthia.
Then the luxury of being a minor
Croesus faded before a keen anxi
ety for Miruma He must find her.
She must be told the news, the news
that solved everything. He would
go to the desk and send her his
card, imploring her to grant him a
hearing.
He paused—what was her name?
Miruma was her first name—what
was her last"* Had she registered as
hanim effendi? or madame hanim?
or Mmr Fohmi Pasha—or what?
(TO UF CO\TINVF.I)>
Fish Bait Industry Becomes ‘Big Business’
A little boy who got nickels and
an idea digging worms for his fa
ther’s fishing holiday probably is
founder of today's new “big busi
ness”—the bait industry.
Thousands of fishermen with no
time and others with no inclination
to catch their own bait, have creat
ed a demand for a business involv
ing thousands of bait catchers,
wholesalers, retailers and extensive
hatching properties.
Like other more prosaic busi
nesses, the bait industry is mod
ernized to satisfy with super serv
ice, extensive, varied stocks, and
high-speed, streamlined delivery.
Minnows, shiners (silver or gold),
worms, perch bugs, bass bugs,
crawfish and frogs are packed by
the dozen into attractive cartons and
delivered almost to the angler's
hook or sold over the counter.
The precincts are unbounded.
Bait stores are found in city shop
ping districts and along the nations’
highways hard by nearly all well
populated fishing spots. On the
Great Lakes minnows are frequent
ly sold boat-side from barges an
chored off shore.
No accurate estimates have been
made of the bait industry’s size.
Some dealers place total annual
business at $500,000 or more Hatch
ing properties and leased swamp
land is estimated at several hundred
thousand dollars additional.
Eben (Hi) Hidorn, of Rensselaer.
N. Y., is representative of the na
tion's fresh water bait sellers. Lo
cated in the upper Hudson valley,
his clients are mainly Albany, Troy
and Schenectady fishermen bound
for Adirondacks and Catskill lakes
and streams.
Hidorn selects minnows from
large showcase tanks, but only
lively ones. Logy minnows are
thrown out. Crawfish are chosen
from big hatching vats for individ
ual requirements and perch bugs
are pinched at the tails. If they
squirm they are used. The bugs
are stored in refrigerators.
His plant consists, besides cellar
minpow and crawfish tanks, boxes
for earthworms and four breeding
ponds. Two are for minnows and
two for perch bugs. Running well
water is used in the tanks in pref
erence to city water.
From the "store" Hidorn estimat
ed last year’s sales at 72,800 min
nows, 250,000 worms, 65,000 craw
fish, 30,000 helgramite or dobson
and 75,000 perch bugs. He be
lieved the worm estimate low, how
ever, for he said one man alone
bought 100,000.
Not His
Teacher—Now, Tommy, if you
have ten cents in one pocket, and
twelve cents in the other, what
have you?
Tommy—The wrong trousers.
Her Job
Stout Employer—Miss Brown, I’m
afraid I’ll have to—er—reduce—-.
Typist—Oh, Mr. Smith. I wasn’t in
earnest when I said I didn’t like fat
men.
A Scotsman we know has the
very latest thing in golf socks.
There are eighteen holes in one.
Interference
Judge—Can’t this case be set
tled out of court?
Pat—That is what we waz tryin’
to do, yer honor, when the police
interfered.
Less and Less
Mistress (hearing crash from kitchen)
—More dishes, Mary?
Maid—No, mum—less!
Easily Identified
With a worried look on her face,
the shopper tackled the shop
walker.
“I was to have met my husband
here two hours ago,” she ex
plained. “I wonder if you’ve seen
him about here?”
‘‘Possibly, madam,” said the
shopwalker politely. ‘‘Was there
—er—anything distinctive about
him?”
“Well,” replied the lady slowly,
‘‘I should imagine he’s purple by
now.”
Found It Good
‘‘Jack admires everything about
me. My hair, my eyes, my
hands, my teeth, my—”
‘‘Well, don’t you admire any
thing about him?”
“Why, yes—his taste.”
Fair Warning
Marilyn—Joanne, don’t drink
out of that faucet. You might get
the same thing I got.
Joanne—What did you get?
Marilyn—Water.
---
ASK ME O A Quiz With Answers
_ ______ _ _ _ y Offering Information
ANOTHER I on Various Subjects
- - . -^ —--——
The Questions
1. How does a wedding in the
Samoan islands differ from our
ceremony?
2. A word or group of words
that reads the same backward or
forward, as "Able was I ere I saw
Elba," is called what?
3. Which is written, libel or
slander?
4. What is a popinjay?
5. Which are the three largest
countries in the Western hemi
sphere?
6. What are water chickens?
7. How long did Benjamin
Franklin attend school?
8. Can one’s front teeth be re
ferred to as molars?
9. Can a trademark be regis
tered in the United States patent
office before it is in use?
10. What Revolutionary heroine
carried water to the troops?
The Answers
1. There the wedding ceremony
consists merely of eating cake to
gether.
2. A palindrome.
3. Libel.
4. A dude.
AN EXTREMELY smart and
** simple frock, this has triangu
lar pockets, which make it news.
Buttoned down the front like a
coat, it’s so easy to slip into, and
has attractive belt detailing. The
skirt Beams extend into the
bodice, so that you get fullness
over the bust, where you want it.
The waist is finished with a nar
row roll collar, and three darts
at the tops of the sleeves broaden
the shoulders becomingly.
A style equally becoming to
both misses and women, this de
sign (8654) makes up smartly in
5. Canada, Brazil and the Unit
ed States, in size according to the
order named.
6. Water chickens (Florida gal
linules) are birds about the size
of a chicken, squawk like hens,
swim, but rarely fly. They are of
the rail family.
7. Two years, between the ages
of eight apd ten.
8. Molars are back teeth. Front
teeth are incisors.
9. No, it must be in use on mer
chandise or services.
10. Molly Pitcher.
Tabby’s Titles
Recently there was published a
phonetic translation of sounds in
different languages, and the cat’s
miaou was one sound which each
of these languages interpreted in
the same way. It is strange that
the word “cat” is so similar in
various languages.
In Scandinavia the animal is
called “katt,” in France “chat,”
in Germany “katze,” in Holland
“cat,” in Italy “gatto,” in Spain,
“gato,” in Russia “kats,” and in
Poland “kot.” And the Romans
had a word for it—“catus.”
wool crepe, flat crepe or silk print,
and will be nice for street cottons
later on. It is easy to make, and
includes a step-by-step sew chart
with complete directions.
Pattern No. 8654 is designed for
sizes 14, 16, 18, 20; 40, 42 and 44.
Size 16 requires, with short
sleeves, 4 Mi yards of 39-inch
material; with long sleeves, 4%
yards without nap; Mt yard con
trasting material for collar, if de
sired. Send order to:
SEWING CIRCLE PATTERN DEPT.
Room 1324
211 W. Wicker Dr. Chicago
Enclose IS cents in coins for
Pattern No. Size..
Name ...
Address ..
Decision Was Quite Just,
Considering the Evidence
The magistrate was deaf, but
certainly not deafer than the two
men before him. The first man
leaned forward earnestly.
“Sir,” he exclaimed, “this man
owes me a grocery bill amounting
to no less than $20, and refuses to
pay it!”
The second man sprang up.
“That’s a lie!” he cried, indig
nantly. “My dog didn’t bite him.”
There was a pause while the
magistrate reviewed the situation,
then he announced his decision.
“Gentlemen,” he said, “I fully
appreciate your feelings, but I can
see no reason why you should not
combine to support your mother.”
Gems of Thought
DE SURE that straightfor
wardness is more than a
match at last for all the in
volved windings of deceit.—F.
W. Robertson.
The sovereignty of man Heth
hid in knowledge.—Bacon.
Nor deem the irrevocable Past
As wholly wasted, wholly rain,
If, rising on its wrecks, at last
To something nobler we attain.
—Longfellow.
Remember when the judg
ment's weak, the prejudice is
strong.—O’Hara.
He that would govern his
actions by the laws of virtue,
must regulate his thoughts by
those of reason.—S. Johnson.
O-Cedar Itl
Clean away the muggy film and
leave a silken lustra
Mother, add O-Cedar Polish to your damp
ened cleaning cloth and apply that to dull
and listless furniture (woodwork or floors)
just like you'd wash them. Soon the ugly
film of winter dirt is gont and your lovely
wood smiles back at you with a clean and
warm, soft silken lustre. Ask for genuine:
MOPS, WAX, DUSTIRS, CLEANERS AND
O-CEDAR FLY AND MOTH SPRAY
Fully Educated
A man is not educated until he
has the ability to summon, in an
emergency, his mental powers in
vigorous exercise to effect its pro
posed object.—Webster.
I
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