I
CHAPTER XIV
—14—
The tragi-ridiculous perplexity of
Jebb solved itself. He heard a rus
tle and Miruma came to him as
swiftly as she had vanished. He
greeted her with effusion:
“Thank heaven, you came, for I
was just—”
“I came to beg that you forgeeve
me for to be so rude to you. Jebb
Effendi has been so kind to me. It
is to heem I owe that I am free.
I am very bad. I have not the right
to be angry that he—”
"Deceived you. Say it!” said Jebb
humbly, but she would not accept
the word.
“—That he did not telled me the
things I have no right to know. Let
us be friends once more—yes? Tell
me you forgeeve me for to be Jeal
ous.”
“Oh. don’t—” he was going to say;
“don’t stop being jealous of me!’
but'he caught himself.
There was no time to explain or
to let Miruma escape. Miss Lud
lam was at Jebb’s elbow with the
check folded and palmed, as If it
were a slight tip. She pretended to
■hake hands with him and left the
money as she released the clasp:
“There you are, Mr. Pier—Dr.
Jebb, and I can never thank you
enough."
Don t thank me at all—er—er—
Miss Ludlam, may I present to you
—may I present to you—Miss—Ma
dame—for heaven’s sake, hanim ef
fendim, what is your name? She’s
my dearest friend on earth, but I
don’t know her name!”
"I am Madame Miruma Janghlr.
I did take my father’s name.”
Miss Ludlam was staring with
both ears at this mysterious conver
sation. She was as much interested
In Miruma as Miruma in her. Each
was exotic to the other. Miss Lud
lam sat down and motioned the oth
er two to sit.
To explain this ring legend himself
was intolerable, so Jebb rose and
said:
‘‘Won’t you two talk to each other
a few moments, while I go find out
about the trains to Budapest? I
must take the first one.”
Seeing that Miruma was afraid
and deeply troubled either at this
news or at being left with her sup
posed rival, Jebb added:
“And perhaps Miss Ludlam will
tell you the story of the ring.”
Then he decamped, leaving Miru
ma very erect and disdainful toward
Miss Ludlam. When he came back
the story had evidently been told,
for the two women had their heads
close together and were on cordial
terms. He said:
“I find there is a train at 6:46—
my old friend the Orient Express. It
gets me to Budapest an hour before
midnight. I think I'd better take
it. There’s just time enough for a
good drive about Vienna before train
time. Would you care to go?”
Miruma was willing enough to go
anywhere with Jebb, and she asked
only time enough tb get a hat and
a wrap. When she was gone, Jennie
Ludlam, who could see through a
millstone with a hole in it, and
had guessed at once that Jebb and
Miruma were infatuated, lingered to
say;
“She’s a perfect dear—and such a
beauty! I’ll take care of her for you
while you are in Budapest. Your
generosity to me was princely. I
wish I could repay it in some way—
but you are so rich. When you come
back I hfive a scheme which might
interest you—as a physician; though
I dare say you don’t practice any
more: but perhaps you would lend
me your advice. This is for charity,
too.”
On a sudden impulse, he made
her sit down, and told her briefly the
story of his curse, his other person
ality, the loss of the child, and his
arrival in Turkey. And her sympa
thy came in a rush of warm thoughts
implied in a pressure of his hand, a
look of compassion, and a few
words:
“I understand. 1 had a brother,
a younger brother—Wentworth was
his name—he would have been about
your age now. and he would have
been a great man if—if—it’s about a
memorial to him that I want to talk
to you some day—oh. be glad, that
you have at least half a life left to
you, Dr. Jebb, and don’t despair.
You have helped so many in dis
tress. You have helped me. You can,
you shall help numberless others
And perhaps some day—"
He looked a “God bless you!" but
he said:
“She is coming now." And he rose
to meet Minima.
Sister Jennie rose, too, and said:
“You’re a vision, my dear. And
since Dr. Jebb is called to Budapest
for a day or so, I want you to go
with my brother and me to the
Opera tonight.”
Miruma accepted with a bashful
gratitude, and Jebb and she set out
for their drive.
Along the broad glory of the Ring
strasse, over the Danube by the
Aspern Bridge, and down the Prat
erstrasse the horses galloped.
In the Prater the turmoil was gay,
bewildering. The long colonnades
of chestnut trees in the Haupt-Allee
were choked with people. And the
air was tremulous with music from
the Viennese and the Magyar bands
in the cafes. At the entrance was a
circle where stood a naval monu
ment on a stone column with bronze
prows protruding. It reminded Jebb
of the entrance to Central Park via
Columbus Circle and its monument.
He longed to be there again, and
above all he longed to have Minima
there with him.
"Jebb EiTendi goes to Budapest
thees evening to find the little child.
Could I not help by to go too?"
“You could—of course you could,
but—but I could hardly take you with
me.”
“Why?”
“Don’t you see?— don’t you real
ize?—it would—it would be unfair
to you; it would be compromising."
“If you do not want me—”
“Oh!” The sight of her distress
unnerved him; his love was at his
very lips. But he could not say
anything without saying everything.
When they reached the hotel it
was so late that he had no more
than time to make his train, and she
less than time to dress for the Op
era, which begins at seven in Vi
enna.
So their good-by was a mere ex
change of hearty promises to meet
again, and a short hand-grip in the
crowded hotel corridor.
Of course, that evening sister Jen
nie let slip an allusion to the pathetic
Checkless pieced together
the man’s fragmentary story.
affliction of poor Dr. Jebb, thinking
Miruma knew of it; and of course
Miruma extorted the whole story
from her before they parted.
As she crept into her bed her
heart was full of pity for her be
loved, wrestling like another Jacob
with a ghostly enemy, but her heart
rejoiced, too, with a radiant happi
ness, since now her intuition told
her that this, and no other cause or
person, was the reason for his as
perity with her.
Also in Pest there is a Hotel Bris
tol, and Jebb woke there the next
morning. He had not been long in
Budapest before he learned that the
Margit-Szigel was, as Miruma had
imagined, an island—in English.
Margaret’s Island. But, though tt
split the Danube, it lay so far to the
north that he could not see it from
his window.
He took his breakfast at one of the
coffee-houses on the promenade, one
of the coffee-houses that have never
closed since they first opened It
gave Jebb untold relief to find Eng
lish the favorite language of the
town, the affectation of the Magyar
He had not finished his breakfast
when a man at the next table ad
dressed him in a rather thick dia
lect and introduced himself as a fel
low-American, though his name was
unpronounceable, even when he
handed Jebb his card with a legend
like a line of pied type:
Gyorgy Czeklesz.
He asked Jebb to call him
"George Checkless’’ for short and
for easy. He explained, without be
ing asked, that he had been swept
into America on one of those tidal
waves that nearly depopulated many
an Hungarian village; he had be
come naturalized, had prospered,
and returned to his country with
Yankee ideas.
After some desultory conversation
Mr. Checkless rose with a:
“Excoose, please. I got to go and
hear de newspaper.’’
"Hear the newspaper!”
“Sure. Ve got a telephone news
paper. Ain’t you heard him? Come
listen once.”
He led Jebb to a teiephone-like
affair on the wall and putting the
receiver to Jebb’s ear watched while
Jebb listened to a clear voice spill
ing consonants lavishly:
"You don’t understand it? No? Let
me listen.”
He took Jebb’s place and a star
tled expression came over him.
"Dere goes anudder bunch of
dough for me. Prooklyn Rapid Tren
sit closed two points off last night
in New Yorick.”
Checkless repeated more news:
“Now the newspapers say the Kink
of England comes to Carlsbad next
mont’. Now he names de odds on
de horse-races dis afternoon.”
But Jebb was not Interested in
Hungarian horse-races. Jebb had a
curiosity to see this Margaret’s Is
land where he and Cynthia had been
together. Here George Checkless
took pleasure in acting as Vergil to
his Dante. They crossed a heavy
Y-shaped bridge to the huge em
erald set in the tarnished gold of
the Danube.
He found himself in a rose gar
den and here as his nostrils wid
ened over the fragrance, his arm
was suddenly clutched by a peasant,
evidently a gardener, who bombard
ed him with a shower of gutturals
which he supposed to be peasant
Hungarian.
"What’s the matter with the old
boy?” Jebb asked Checkless. "Dobs
he think I’m going to carry off his
garden?”
At length the interpreter interpret
ed: "He says how dare you came
here.”
"Isn’t it a public garden?”
“Yes, but he says that you came
here a mont’ or so ago and bringed
a little girl vit you, and then valk
off and leave her to strangers to
protect.”
To Checkless’ amazement this hei
nous accusation seemed to All Jebb
with delight He embraced the
earth-smudged gardener and treat
ed him as a long-lost prodigal.
CHAPTER XV
After much parley, Checkless
pieced together the man’s fragmen
tary story into this narrative:
“He says one day in the efter
noon, you are came here vit a nice
little gyermek—child, and he makes
notice of her, she is so pretty, and
she loves his flowers so. He cannot
understand it vat she say, but he
loves her because she is so lovink
for his roses. But you did look tired
and sick and you sit on a bensh
and go like you take a little sleep.
“The little girl she plays all the
time and talks vit the gardener. He
does not know what lengwitch she
speaks it, but they make signs and
become grand friends. She helps
him trim the rosehedge, and gets vit
the thorns sticked, but is very brave
and does not make a cryink. In
stead she makes such a laughink!
“Soon a lady and gentleman is sit
on another bensh and watches the
little girl, and they call her and she
talks by them. But they are not un
aersianaing ner enner. xne man is
take her on his lap and lets her
listen his watch, and they tell the
gardener they weesh God had to
them a little child gave like that.
“Long time the child plays here,
and then she makes a looking for
you. But you are not there. You
had gone out of sight. The little
girl is afraid, but she tries not to
cry. The lady and gentleman stay a
long while to keep her brave, for
they say all the time you surely
come back. Then the lady and gen
tlemans say, 'Ve take her to our
house and if you see the man you
tell him we got the Child.’
"The gardener says. ’You better
tell the police, too.’ And they say.
Yes, they tell the police; but all
the same they like to keep the baby
"Long times go by and the gar
dener is almost forgetted it all
When today comes you again and he
has got such a big mad at you he
wants to fight it. It is cu-rious; you
are looking for a child and you
look like a mans vat looses a child."
"I am the man," said Jebb; “I
was—ill. and I wandered away in a
—a sort of delirium. When I came
to my senses 1 was in another coun
try, and I couldn’t remember.’*
Checkless almost swooned at so
much history in such essence.
“So! Den all yet got to do it is to
find the gentlemans and lady vat
keeps the child in cold storatch and
say: ’Here ve are again.' '*
"We must find them at once. What
was their name?”
On hearing the question translat
ed, the gardener made them wait
while he went to the tool-house and
brought from his coat a soiled and
wrinkled card bearing this, and this
only:
NIKOLAI POGODIN
Machines-a-ecrire Flaubert
VARSOVIE ET PARIS
Checkless gleaned from this:
“He is a Rossian name, and he
sells French typewriters in Poland.”
“I see that," said Jebb. “But
this does not tell where he lives in
Budapest; ask him."
The gardener turned the card over
and put an earthy finger on a pen
ciled address on the back of the
card. But it had been blurred till
nothing was legible but "Pension—
ky . . . Ulloiut.”
"Who is Ulloi-ut?" said Jebb.
“He is a street, one of the long
est streets in Pest.”
The gardener could remember
nothing more. The number of the
house had been there, but it was
rubbed oft his memory as well as
the card.
Abruptly Checkless was smitten
with an idea.
“I got it,” he said. "Ve go to
the telephone newspaper and tell
them they got to tell everybody in
Budapest all about it, and maybe
sure somebody telephones to the of
fice something about it.”
The vocal advertisement was ac
cepted for its news value without
charge and put upon the wires while
they waited.
The rest of the day Jebb spent in
wandering up and down Ulloi street,
studying every house and seeing in
each one a den where Cynthia was
incarcerated.
He dined with Checkless at the Ho
tel Bristol. When they had ordered
dinner, Checkless went to telephone
to the telephone-paper. He came
back beaming:
"A man has called up the paper
and says he knows somet’ink. They
give him this address and he comes
here any minute.”
At last a hotel servant brought a
man who had asked for Jebb at the
desk. Jebb asked Checkless to ask
the man to sit down and feast. The
stranger answered rather petulant
ly for himself:
"Ain't I got any English? Ain’t 1
gone to New York many times?”
"You are not Mr. Pogodin, then.”
“Me him? If I was I should yoomp
into the Donan. He is one dam'
reskel, that faller. My name is Las
zlo Pataky, proprieting the Pension
Pataky, rates reasonable, food sub
lime.”
Mr Pataky was a man of great
excitability. He was chiefly im
pressed with the fact that Mr. and
Mrs. Pogodin had gone away owing
him money, and that they had re
fused to pay for a vase and a pitcher
the child had broken.
When Jebb offered to pay for the
breakages of Cynthia, Mr. Pataky
became almost amiable. The gist of
a long three-cornered duel with him
was that Mr and Mrs Pogodin tried
to sell French typewriters in vain
competition with the American
makes.
(TO m: C.O\TINUF.D)
Experiments Shew Narcotic Effect on Brain
Narcotics, such as tobacco and al
cohol, dampen the fires of the brain.
Test tube experiments with
minced brain tissue and slices of
the cortex, the “thinking'' part of
the brain, which show this hitherto
unsuspected effect, were described
before the British Association for
the Advancement of Science, by Dr.
J. H. Quastel, Oxford university
bio-chemist.
The brain, like every other part
of the body, serves as a furnace in
which sugars and starches, the fuel
of life, are “burned" by means of
the oxygen carried in the blood
stream. This process provides the
energy for mental activities. Even
in relatively low concentrations, Dr.
Quastel explained, the narcotics
greatly inhibit the consumption by
the cerebral cells of certain of the
breakdown products of the sugars
and starches—notably the blood su
gar glucose and the pyruvic acid
which is one of the intermediary
substances in the brain-burning
process.
The explanation probably is to be
found, Dr. Quastel said, in some
physiological substance, as yet un
discovered, which is extremely sen
sitive to the narcotics and which
acts as a carrier of hydrogen in the
complicated chemical process of tis
sue respiration.
The report formed part of a sym
posium on a new field of the chem
istry of life—the precise processes
by which the body transforms food
stuffs into the energy of living by
the oxygen-combining, or burning,
process. It has been impossible to
study this in living organisms, but
light now is being shed on it by
improved test-tube techniques. It
is the basic process of life itself.
A revolutionary development, de
clared Prof. R. A. Paters of Ox
ford, has been the finding that the
oxygen which comes out of the
cell in the form of carbon dioxide is
not the same oxygen which entered.
The final combustion with its libera
tion of energy, he said, now is
known to be due to a succession of
oxidations with well-defined and
highly specific stages.
Each stage, he said, is known to
depend on certain catalysts, or en
zymes, normally present in the
body. These are substances which
set off a chemical process, such as
burning, without being themselves
effected by it. This function is be
lieved to be served by various vita
mins, deficiency in any one of which
may make the flames of life burn
very dimly.
Household News
CHOCOLATE UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE AN UNUSUAL DESSERT
(See Recipes Below)
Spring Menus
Planning meals can be fun, if
you’ll let your imagination and your
conscience be your guides! Meal
planning does require imagination
and a bit of originality, too, if you
don’t want the responsibility of three
meals a day to be
a bore, and three
meals a day with
out that touch of
“something” dif
ferent can be bor
ing—to you as
well as to your
family! A meal
may be properly
and carefully
“balanced” from the standpoint of
proteins and carbohydrates and vita
mins and minerals—and still be a
drab and uninteresting affair.
That seems to be particularly true
in spring, when appetites are likely
to be jaded, and you seem to be
running out of menu ideas. And
that’s exactly the time to try some
thing different, a little trick to add
newness and interest to soups; a
tasty and unusual meat dish; and a
salad or dessert that makes use of
some of the refreshing spring vege
tables and fruits.
Just for variety, for instance, when
I want to serve hot soup as the first
course of a meal, I combine equal
parts of canned consomme and to
mato juice, simmer the resulting
mixture for about 5 minutes with a
bay leaf for flavor, and serve it
very hot with a spoonful of salted
whipped cream sprinkled with
chopped chives or green onion tops.
And I serve green onions and crisp,
succulent radishes in place of the
relishes I’ve used all winter. I use
rhubarb for sauce or for dessert,
just as soon as the price comes down
within reach of my budget; I shred
young carrots, or cut them in thin
slivers, and cook them with an equal
amount of onion, sliced fine; drain
them and season with salt, pepper
and butter. Or I cook carrots and
potatoes together and mash them
just as I would for mashed potatoes,
to serve with the rich brown gravy
of a pot roast.
Here are three spring menus that
I like.
Menu No. 1.
Corned Beef Hash Patties
Spring Vegetable Salad
Hot Corn Bread
Rhubarb Dessert
Menu No. 2.
Steak Roll
Mashed Potatoes and Carrots
Cabbage and Green Pepper Salad
Hot Rolls
Chocolate Upside-Down Cake
Menu No. 3.
Economy Bridge Menu
Porcupine Meat
Balls
Potatoes au Gra
. tin
t Grilled Mush
I rooms
I Nut Bread
Plum Jelly
Mixed Green Salad
Rhubarb Tarts
Corned Beef Hash Patties.
1 16-ounce can corned beef hash
Vi cup chili sauce
8 slices bacon (cut in halves)
Place can of corned beef hash in
! refrigerator and chill thoroughly.
Open can at both ends. Push corned
beef hash out of can, slicing it in
V4-inch slices. Place slices in but
tered baking pan. Place 2 teaspoons
chili sauce on top of each slice and
top with two half slices of bacon.
Bake in a moderately hot oven (400
degrees >for 10 minutes or until
corned beef hash slices are thor
oughly heated and bacon is crisp.
Johnny Cake or Corn Bread.
(Makes 1 Johnny Cake)
or
(12 Corn Meal Muffins)
1V4 cups yellow (or white) corn
meal (uncooked)
% cup general purpose flour
V« cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
% teaspoon soda
1% teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
lVi cups sour milk
3 tablespoons butter (melted)
Mix and sift dry ingredients into
! mixing bowl. Combine beaten egg,
sour milk and melted butter and add
to dry mixture. Stir lightly and
pour into greased shallow pan, muf
fin tins or corn stick pans. Bake in
a hot oven <425 degrees) for 25 min
utes.
Steak Roll.
(Serves flj
1 slice round steak (V4 inch thick)
2 tablespoons butter
lb. ham (ground)
Vi cup thin cream
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
Salt and pepper
Vi cup bread flour
1 cup canned tomatoes
Wipe steak with damp cloth. Melt
butter in frying pan and brush over
one side of steak. Mix together the
ground ham, cream, and mustard,
and spread over buttered side of
steak. Roll like a jelly roll and
secure with skewers or string. Sprin
kle roll with salt and dredge with
flour. Saute in remaining butter un
til golden brown. Remove roll to
baking dish. Add tomatoes to fat
in skillet and heat to boiling. Pour
this tomato mixture over the roll;
cover with a lid and bake in a mod
erately hot oven (350 degrees) for
1V4 to 1% hours, or until tender.
Chilled Rhubarb Dessert.
For an extra-special fruit dessert
try the following: To one pound of
rhubarb (cut in %-inch pieces; add
1 cup sugar, V« cup orange juice and
1 tablespoon grated orange rind and
cook in a double boiler 30 minutes
or until tender. Serve cold.
Rhubarb Cream Tarts.
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups rhubarb (diced)
IV4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 eggs (separated)
Vi cup thick sweet cream
Vfe teaspoon salt
Melt butter, add rhubarb, and 1
cup of the sugar. Cook slowly for
aixiui iu minutes
or until the rhu
barb is soft. Com
^ bine remaining
\ fourth-cup of sug
ar with the corn
^ starch, the well
beaten egg yolks,
cream and salt.
Add to fruit mixture and cook until
thick (about 3 minutes). Pour into
baked tart shells. Top with meringue
made from the 2 egg whites, beaten
stiff, with 4 tablespoons sugar beat
en in. Bake in a slow oven (300 de
grees) until brown (about 18 min
utes).
Chocolate Upside-Down Cake.
1*4 cups cake flour
% cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
V« teaspoon salt
1 sq. bitter chocolate (1 oz.)
2 tablespoons butter
*4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
*4 cup broken nut meats
Topping.
2 tablespoons cocoa
*4 cup brown sugar
*4 cup granulated sugar
■4 teaspoon salt
1 cup boiling water
Sift and measure the flour. Then
sift flour, cup granulated sugar,
baking powder and salt together into
a mixing bowl. Melt together the
chocolate and butter; mix with the
milk and vanilla. Stir into the dry
ingredients. Add nuts and blend
thoroughly Pour into a well-greased
deep layercake pan.
Topping—Now mix together the
cocoa, brown sugar and the *4 cup
granulated sugar and salt. Spread
this over the top of the cake batter.
Over all pour the cup of boiling wa
ter and place in a moderate oven,
(350 degrees) to bake 1 hour.
This is a rich chocolate cake with
a chocolate sauce underneath. Turn
it out for serving. It is best served
slightly warm with whipped cream.
Porcupine Meat Balls.
(Serves 6)
1 pound beef (ground)
1% cups rice (uncooked)
% cup bacon (diced)
1 tablespoon onion (minced)
1 tablespoon green pepper
(fhopped)
% teaspoon salt
Dash pepper
1 No. 2 can tomatoes
Mix all ingredients thoroughly in
order given. Form Into small meat
balls. Place in greased baking dish
and cover with tomatoes. Cover bak
ing dish. Bake approximately 1V4
hours in a moderate oven (350 de
grees).
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
The Rescue of an
Old Wicker Chair
By RUTH WYETH SPEARS
T"HIS chair, now so smart in its
* sateen cover, button tufting
and moss fringe trimming, barely
escaped the trash burner. It had
been such a comfortable chair
that everyone hated to see it go.
Sis said it was out-of-date and pos
itively untidy. Someone suggest
ed it might be covered. Mother
said that wouldn’t be a bad idea
if it could be padded first! That
gave Sis a brain wave. Why not
tuft it? By pushing a long darn
ing needle back and forth through
the cover, padding and openings
-PAO WITH COTTON
BATTING BASTED TO
MUSLIN
REMOVE MAGAZINE
HOLDER OR ARM
_
V^rownIL
l{ SATEEN, Ip
V GREEN B
FRINGE AND BUT- /]
TONS-TUFT BT If
SEWING THROUGH^
ARMS,BACK AND
CUSHION
in the wicker? She had been
wanting a tufted chair, so work
began at once.
The sagging arm rest, maga
zine holder and frayed-out wicker
around the legs were removed.
The chair was padded and cov
ered, as shown, and a new seat
cushion was added. The tufting
was done by sewing through tight
ly with heavy carpet thread; add
ing a button on each side of the
stitch.
• • •
NOTE: Detailed directions for
changing an old iron bed into the
latest style are given in Mrs.
Spears’ Book No. 3; also how to
make “The Rug That Grew Up
With the Family.’’ Thirty other
fascinating ideas for Homemak
ers. If you want to use this idea,
better clip it out now for back
numbers cannot be supplied.
Don’t delay in sending name and
address with 10 cents coin for
Book No. 3. Send order to:
MRS. RUTH WYETH SPEARS
Drawer M
Bedford HUlf New York
Enclose 10 cents tor Book No. 3.
Name ..
Address .
I
—
mmmtga
Brimming bankets of
tasty vegetables, uni
formly excellent. That’s
your reward from
Ferry’s Seeds. Displays
in stores everywhere.
FERRY’S
SEEDS
WNU—U17—40
BUREAU OF
STANDARDS
• A BUSINESS
organization which wants
to get the most for the
money sets up standards
i by which to judge what
is offered to it, just as in
Washington the govern
ment maintains a Bureau j
of Standards.
•You can have your own
Bureau of Standards, too.
Just consult the advertis
ing columns of your news
paper. They safeguard
; your purchasing power
every day of every year. •