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“The society is governed b by hard and fast
begio do harm
rules and permits no
for the sake of ‘the good | it ney produce.
criti-
istic ‘principle,
“they will certainly regard this as an expe
dient to escape the Penalty of previous acts
It is useless to cheat myself with false
hopes, carry out ‘this 3 sebeme, Im
prepare to fly the country the day that Gor
don returns.
We both sat silent for a littletime, I feel-
ing that the sacrifice could only be made by
fr :
‘ee Wil
“One thing,” said Kavanagh | at length in
a lighter tone—“one thing th: leases mi
in this idea is that it Sould. completely
rush the enemy.
“back and made hi is experiences public, t
would be such a blaze up in the papers tise
services, and , Taras would be suffered to
live in
“That is ae ehh great sacrifice,” I said.
“Yes, I will think of it. Come, it is time
to peturn.” ” x
way back he said:
ae am glad Thaye talked it out with you,
0 much more clearly by
the ve light another mind throws on them.’
he brougham stopped before the
acor es ‘said
have made up my mind by
morrow, and you shall know the result: ”
Fervently I prayed that he might decide
to carry out his design, and this probably
was the wish he had taken so much pains
to inspire,
—-
CHAPTER XXIV.
KAVANAGH’S SACRIFICE.
Kavanagh, whose comprehensive fore-
thought nothing seemed to escape, went
0 the bouse with me, and in an easy,
Taras an exhanstive de-
He
-any idea upon the affair and thought it
prudent to relieve me from the embarrass-
ment of answering fhe {frestions which
Tazae would probably p
“I, too, have been Tosking. at chrysanthe
muins” said when Kavanagh came
tothe end of his: econ poe he pointedto
the book he had
v“*The Tang of the ‘Shree ”
Kavi anagh sai the title. Then
opening the bool ok anal glancing, at a page, he
continued: ‘Its charms are not overrated, I
suppose, It must bea delightful haven for
the man who seeks refuge from the stor
of life”. -
oman, talked spon this subject until Kav-
this book when you
h rose to go.
an should like to read
have done with it,” he
“Take it with yon. I's like a volume of
ms—pleasant to dipinto now and then
rather than to wade through, and I
quite as happy to take my next dip in a
couple of weeks as in a couple of days.””
Thad listened to this conversation with
jal interest, couceiving that Kavanagh
‘a particular purpose in making inqui~
ries about this distant country.
* “Where is that land you were speaking
about to Mr. Kavanagh?’ I asked Taras
when we were at dinner,
“Ja apan? Oh, 1tg:ton the other side cf
“Then {t must be very difficult to gett.”
“One nitise travel for weekscoutin ously
to reach there,” he said, and then he ent
on to gossip about the country and
ways and customs of the people with thels
simple, sweet and peaceful disposition.
The next morning, just after lunch, Kava-
- nagh brought back the book. He had read
it throngh,
“When I take up « thing, Iam bound to
go through i it to the end,” he said in reply
xelamation of surprise, ne
my room dressed
quickly to go out, Buttoning my gloves, 1
returned to the living room and told Tarke
that I was going into the Kennington roa:
“May [offer you a seat iu my brougham?”
CR AND = PUBL IOTED SOW SPECI ARRANGEMENTS SOs
DUBUQUE, IOWA, JANI. 1, 1898.
CASSELL CO
Ravatingh asWed, Fi
, and we Soe ently went out to-
ether
eecRudersdort has arrived,” Revanagh said
gravely when we had starte
I had to close my teeth tS prevent: them
chattering with the excitement that shook
m
“I saw him this morning.” he continued
in the same som
“Have you settled what you will do?” I
asked, stammering at eac!
“Oh, Thad decided ‘leat question beforel
him. It must be done. There is no
other way out of the difficulty.”
He laughed bitterly as some expreqsion of
thankfulness and gratitude esca|
eet do not pb regret it? Itisa ood hing
able to friend,” I sai
es, but one cmay be excused on feeling
badly us used in-having to escape even the
lesser of two evils, However, y he added
ina lighter tone, “if it is t
well todo it with a good grace,’ Still, it’s
D big wre wrench—tearing one’s self away for
ever from friends and everything that has
made life pleasai
>” said I, aetting myself in his place.
t is a terrible sacrifice to give up all you
love like that. ‘I'm afraid I have not
ght enevgh of your loss.
“Never mind that, my dear girl. For
heaven’s sake, don’t cry!”
*A tear of sympat hy had started to my
eyes as I thought of the Brief it would be
to leave Taras oe en to say
“Come, There’s no time for sentiment.
We have to act, uu will have to help me
in {his affair.”
m glad of that.’ What am I to cor
At present the sole object you havi
regard is to keep ‘Taras entirely Jpnorant of
what is going on.”
men that aie I asked, with disappoint-
abe the present, yes, The time to do
more will come soon enough—soon enough,
you will find.”
~" . CHAPTER XXV.
B LAST CHANCE,
“We must take every precaution to pre
vent the possibility of failure," said Kava
nagh. “It is our last cl
“Have you thought ae how it is to be
sore ras
oO ne oe hesitation which kept
bin silent for a few moments, he said: “I
I may safely trust you. You are not
tery to be imprudent or care
“Carel How can I be? Ton’ 't the life
of Taras oF stake:
“Indeed it is. "the slightest rumor of
suspicion would ruin our hopes, and re-
member it is not nfore important to de
ceive Rudersdorf than it is to: keep Taras
inthedark. If he dreamed of our inten-
tion to get Gordon seized in his place, he
would be the first to telegraph to the min-
ister of police and w: him against the
deception that might possibly be put upon
Rudersdorf.”
“Yes, he would, * never suffer Gordon
to take his place. He shall learn nothing
”
from me,
“My plan is a simple one. It is merely
to lure Gordon to the Mariner's Joy and
serve him ‘eras Wi —of course
employing other men than those who made
Te ner, The less complicated the
scheme is, the better,” he pursued, seeing
possibly the reluctance I felt. “If you can
fuggest ansthing simpler, I shall be only
happy to adopt it, providing, of course,
that i is equally praction
“Wouldn't it be easier to give him a
him off in tl
\e way as you did Taras?”
He een his head dubitatively and said:
“It might be easier, simpler and better
in one epee but we must look beyond
4 dou away.
nquiries
ould be fouud that the same
tide ba ‘tate him which overcame
Tara: e before and tat he had
last heen Oech “ith wwe, What account
could I give that woul! satisfy his friends
and Taras? Slow as Taras is to suspect,
his doubts mast Wen raise! by the peculiar
coinci renee, aud’
“No, 10, that we onldn’ tdo,” I said, inter-
upting Lim. “Your plaa is better—tho
first; how are you going to get George Gor
don to the Joy?”
ch het the time comes, you must fake
him there on pretense that tara has bee!
seized ant id in the cellar
where he. wa: nfined ‘potore. There is
nothing to fear,” he sald, again noticing
my hesitat lon.
oe myself if shall come as seldom as | poset
ble to Lambeth in order to avold a
picion of ‘collusion. If'a mpler scheme
presents itself, I will let Fou know, and of
course you shall have timely and definite
instructions when the moment comes for
action.”
“That won't be long, will it?”
ue wo!
suspicion, and then,” he added, with asigh,
“there are my own affairs to wind wu
property to be réalized, belongings to dis-
ose of, friends to be hunted u the last
time possibly.” He was silent beating ant
then breaking away from reflections that
seemed to shake his purpose he concluded:
“Lshall bolt the very day that Gordon is
aken on Volga, It will be
thought then that he and 1 have simply ru
aw: ay y together fora holiday—till the truth
"reference to the sacrifice he was
about to make silenced me and precluded
further discussion, I felt great confidence
in the success of Kavanagh’s scheme. It
was evident that he would have succeeded
before but for my intervention, Nowevery
effort that I made would be to
esi
eration of bis own interests would change
his pur;
An unusual expression of gravity in Gor
don’s face wheu he called the
told me that he had, alreny re
intimation of Tar:
‘Mademoiselle, m wad ‘ike almost ms. soon
as Mere Lucas had closed the door on us,
“do you think you could understand me if
I spoke in English?”
are say I can,” I replied.
“vee can answer fn French, you know,
which is a lot easier to understand than fe
speak. If you can’t follow me, we'll gi
it up and try the o other way. But the Tact
is I have something of a de! lieate pavnre fe
tell you, and I’m 80 c deadly ba
French that it’s doubtful if 1 could exnlats
tt just asl waut to, you know, in that lan-
guage.”
I ‘o-'this Proposal, and he, after
pulling his beard i in silent meditation for a
minute, said with an ve gh:
“To tell you the truth, sinlemotsll
now that I toe the line, 8 fe peak, I find
it’s not such an easy matt to tell you in
English as I thought it wrould be. Well,
the long and short of it is, I beard some-
thing last night which has made me feel
deucedly anxious and uncomfortable, and
though I should be awfully sorry to alarm
you I think you ought to be made acquaint-
ed witb the facts of the case, That is Bai
<avanagh’s opinion also, and he’s a man of
the world, you know, and a deuced long
beaded fellow.”
“If it concerns our friend Taras,” I said
in a low voice, * uu not to hesitate
in telling me anything you have heard.”
“It does concern him,” he replied, drop-
ping his voice "Perhaps you know
that he is in danger of, being seized by the
secret police of Russia, '
“Ihave every reason to know it.. Two
attempts have already been made to take
>
“Kavanagh told me that, n and also that
in each case the attem ed 01
the head, go to speak, bys you. Do you think
Taras o1
What Nua t that a it you told Taras
that Rudersdorf was waiting out there on
the bridge to Shoot him, Taras, without a
second thon! ight, would go out on the bridge
Gordo jon ms Asse
aa, think that’s what t shoulddo myself,”
Bat that is not what we want Taras to
Xo, we want to keep him out of danger
much as possible; but, as Kavanagh
ointed out, anything that we can do must
6. done without his Know ‘led,
“AIL that we can do is*to bee ou the alert
for anything thatoceu a I can only watch
Thave
if you see any
ing, wont you? I'll Pont in prety fre-
quently, and should you want belp at any
time wken I'm not in the works orat the
office you will find me at my dirgings at
tim Adelphi terrace. [shall in every
night until I feel sure that ° may not Le
wate .
Just then we heard ‘Taras coming down
the passage. He entered ue room before
Gordoa could beata retreat or even assame
the natural atticude of a visitor, A worse
actor lever existed than this honest, sim.
ple fellow, nor ore less capa f conceal
ing auything, aud bis clumsy efarts to ap
=
pear unconstrained anid
anair cf guilty embarrassment that any |
NUMBER 36
e less acquainted with his anifable char
acter than Taras would have certainly sua-
pected him of some wrongdoing. An ir
repressiblesmile broke over’laras’ face as he
shook hands with his friend and congratu-
lated him on looking #0 rosy and well. It
was a trying time for poor Gordon, but
fear of the ordeal did not deter him from
keeping his word, Every day he called in «
and always at an bour when Taras was
working in his atelier,
CAS WAS delighted, She saw in
these visits the realization of ber hopes an
knew perfectly well Gordon came of
moke love to me,
seemed tome that Taras put the same
constuction on these visits andthe awk-
al of Gordon. He gave me no
verbal hint of. his belief. I drew m,
clusions rather from
ject. Always he spoke of Gordon with
rm affection, and yet I fancied with a
certain tinge of pain which IT wasthen ante
at a loss to accou!
CHAPTER XXVL
NEARING THE END.
Now that Gordon , could convey bis
thoughts without pulling up in the middleof
each sentence to find words to express them,
more communicative, and
kindly feeling rapidly expandet into genu-
ine friendship. He liked to talk about his
sweetheart, and he found me an attentive
and sympathetic listener. I
know all about Judith Bell. I was eager to
sound the of their mutual attach-
ment and ascertain the probable outcome
of this erent whe aspect of Kav anagh’s
plan’ for kis ig Gordon msider
ably altered by its bearing upon Judith,
reed that Gordon himself would
wiilinety accept the part assigned him. But
these arguments seemed to lose their furce
now that, another was concerned. Knowing
how I should feel the loss of Taras, I could
not be indiff
i eetheart, even
though thet anxiety might “ond 80 BOON.
But for all that I never wavered in the de-
ermination to play out my part. No con-
sideration of friends or self could turn m
from my purpose, &
Go w Kavanagh frequently, but he
had little to report excep’ det
ho as t left the neighborhood
of Shadwell, orere he had taken lodgings.
Whether this was true or not I had no
means of knowing, for Kavanagh still kept
away, though a week had passed since our
last interview. ‘he suspense of these days
was hard to bear, but incidentally I learned
afgct from Gordon, which explained and
excused his postponing the final act to the
ast m oment possible.
ou see Miss Bell very often?” I
asked Gordon one day,
“Not half so often as I should like to, I
ure you,” he replied, and then, rather in-
consequently, as it seemed to re he c added,
“you see, she’s such a bric!
“Is that any reason why you oad not
see her if she’s engaged to you?”
eoWell, that’s a provisional sort of affair,
you know.
of the pottery, hang it, though of course.
ceed. You
colonel has stuck all bis capital into the
meern, It wasn’t much, to be sure, but
We all be has. Well, if he gets a jolly ‘good
fucome out of it, Jadith will be my wife,
o
e doesn’t well th n”—after hi
beard reflectively for a Y minute in silence—
“well, ‘then we shall be married the
all
same, only it will be a deuce of a Lesher”
» “I don’t think I quite understand.
“It’s like this, mademoiselle, Idon' tmind
telling you, because you are the last one in
the world that would ‘hetray the confidence
of afriend. The fact is poor old Bell’s had
arough time of it aad _{hroust trusting
one confoun Lf and. backing
Dills fur another xe got his finances into
sucha muidle that I doubt if ke would
bave £504 year to liv rpon if all his pre- ©
cious bonds nnd securiti shares were
pee fa the market and realized. Weil, you
‘, he doesn’t know that, and heaven
fal it show ever come to biseara, It
i ver laud in cooking his
Bout the deuce
shan’t if Lean
ace: ae . yor oi be sure,
of it ix ea boss
and it v
find ont
‘AES
2
don't you "eo
is, don't you x
No, 1D den’ ¥ casita How docs that attest
ith Max Bole"
vi Ay. Dated ath ‘kno! Va how matters
ined doesn’t, You Talies are
er than we at eceing ricbt
ho knows that !f this last
voor old dad's
be ands
¥ ntoner,
And swell, that's how tt
ven we're bourd