OWKOON, FRIDAY. (KTOUKU lo. I'M)!).
6
THE MEDFORD DAILY TRIBUNE. MEFOKU.
'.The Lure
:.Mask
lX J HAROLD j
2 Y 7 MAC GRATH
X I Copyright. 1908. by the Bobb.
X 1 Merrill Co. 1
(Continued.)
.SYNOPSIS
CHAPTER I Jack Hilliard, a
wealthy New Tork clubman, hears a
mysterious voice singing in the night
under his window.
II He inserts an advertisement in
a personal ccolumu to find the singer.
He receives a reply.
CHAPTER III.
HUE. A.NGOT.
THREE uights Inter, as HlUard
and Merriliew were dining to
gether at the club, the stew
ard came into the grill room
and swept his placid eye over the
groups of dluers. Singling out llil
lard, he came solemnly down to the
corner table and laid a blue letter at
the side of Hlllard's plate.
"I did not see you when you came
In, sir," said the steward, his voice as
solemn as his step. "The letter ar
rived yesterday."
"Thank you. Thomas." With no
small difficulty Hillard composed his
face and repressed the eagerness in his
eyes. She bad seen; she bad written;
the letter lay under his band! Who
said that romance had taken flight? :
True, the reading of the letter might j
disillusion him. bnt always would I
there be that vision and the voice com- j
ing out of the fog. Nonchalantly he ,
M :
T ! j
Be sat Oicre staring. minutes to scrape off the makeup."
turned the letter face downward and ! Merrihew put bis cue in the rack,
went on with the meal. - He made off for the coat room.
"I did not know that your mail Hillard laughed and went up to the
came to the club," said Merrihew. writing room to fulfill a part of his
"It doesn't Only rarely a letter destiny. He took the letter out and
drifts this way." 1 read It again. He replaced the letter
"Well, go on and read It Don't let 1" 'ts blue covering, and then for the
me keep you from it Some charmer, . first time bis eye met the superscrlp
I'll wager. Here I pour all my adven- tion. Like a man entranced he sat
tures into your ear. and I on mv side
never so much as get a bint of yours.
Go on. read it."
"Adventures, fiddlesticks'. The letter
can wait. It Is probably a bill."
"A bill In a fashionable envelope like
' that?"
Hillard only smiled, tipped the cra
dle and refilled Merribew's glass with
some excellent Romanee Conti. "When there stood a brownstone' house, with
does Kitty saH'r" he asked after awhile grotesque turrets, winding steps and
of silence. glaring polished red tiles. There
"A week from this Saturday, Feb. 2. was a touch of the gothic, of the
What the deuce did you bring up that renaissance, of the old English mnn
for? I've been trying to forget it." j or; Just a touch, however, a kind
"Where do they land?" of blind man's bull of a bouse. A
"Naples. They open in Rome the very rich man lived here, but for ten
first week in March. All the arrange- months in the year he and his fnmily
ments are complete." After coffee fluttered about the soclnl centers of the
Merrihew pushed back his chair. "I'll j world. And. with a house like this on
reserve a table In the billiard room his hands, one could scarce blame bim.
while you read your letter." Twlce wcek durnB thlg abRence a
"I'll be with you shortly," grate- caretaker came In; flourished a feather
I duster and went away again. Society
So with the Inevitable black cigar reporters always referred to this house
between his teeth Merrihew sauntered , ..tne palatini residence."
off toward the billiard room, while , tdIs morning a woman stood in the
Hillard. Elcjied. up. Ijls jett?r jad alcove window, and. looked, down Into
studied It." His fingers trembled slight
ly as he tore open the envelope. The
handwriting, the paper, the modest
size, all these pointed to a woman of
culture and refinement But a subtle
spirit of irony pervaded it all. She
would never have answered bis print
ed Inquiry had she not lnughed over
it, for pinned to the top of the letter
was the clipping, the stupid, banal
clipping: "Will the lady who sang
from 'Mine. Angot" communicate with
gentleman who leaned out of the win
dow? 3. ' H.. Burgomaster club."
There was neither a formal beginning
nor a formal ending, only four crisp
lines. But these implied one thing
and distinctly the writer had no de
sire for further communication "with
gentleman woo leaned out of the win
dow." He read and reread slowly:
I am sorry to learn that my singing dis
turbed you. There was a reason. At that
particular moment 1 was happy.
That was all. It was enough. She
had laughed. She was a lady humor
ously inclined, not to say mischievous.
A comic opera star would have sent
her press agent round to see what ad
vertising could be got out of the inci
dent; a prima donna would have Bp
pealed to her primo tenor for the
same purpose. A gentlewoman surely;
moreover, she lived within the radius,
the official radius, of the Madison
square branch of the postofflce, for
such was the postmark. Common
sense urged him to dismiss the whole
affair and laugh over It as "the lady
in the fog" had done. But common
I sense often goes about with a pedant s
strut and is something to avoid on oc
casions. Here was a harmless pastime
to pursue, common sense notwith
standing. The vein of romance in him
was strong, and all the commercial
blood of his father could not subju
gate It. He rang for paper and a
messenger and wrote: "Mme. Angot
There is a letter for you in the
mail department of this ofBce." This
time his Initials were not necessary.
Once the message was on its way he
sought Merrihew. whom be found
knocking the balls about in a spiritless
manner.
"A hundred to seventy-five, Dan.
"For whnt?" ,
"For the me.re fun of the game, of
course."
"Make it cigars. Just to add inter
est" "Cigars, then."
But they both played a very indif
ferent game. At 10:30 Merribews
! eyes began to haunt the clock, unci II II-
lard grew merciful for various reu-
sons.
"What time does the performance
end?" he asked. .
"At 10:.. but It takes about twenty
there staring. The steward had
brought the letter to him, and in bis
first excitement this had made no im
pression upon his mind. He bad seen
nothing peculiar nor strange. And
here It was, not bis Initials, but his
name in full.
She knew who he was!
In a fashionable quarter of the city
the gllsttMiing street. The Venetian
rod of her luilr trapped the reflected
sunlight from the opposite windows,
and two little points of silver danced
In her blue eyes. Ah. but her eyes
wore blue blue ns spring water In tho
morning, blue as tho summer sky seen
through a cleft In tho mountains, blue
ns lnpls laitull, with tho same tllwin of
gold. And every feature and contour
of the face harmonized with tho luar
velous hair and the wonderful eyes; a
beautiful face, warm, dreamy, engag
ing, mobile. It was not the face of a
worldly woman; neither wus it the
face of a girl. It was too ctuotlonnl
for the second, and there was not
enqugh control for the first.
But the prophecy of laughter did not
come to pass. The little wrinkles faded,
the mouth grew sad. and the silver
points no longer danced In her eyes.
The pnln In her heart was always
shadowing. She had seen her fairest
dream beaten and crumpled upon the
reef of disillusion.
Yet ngnln the smllo renewed Itself.
She was a creature of varying moods.
She twisted and untwisted the news
paper. Should she? Ought she? Had
she not nlways regretted these singu
lar Impulses? And yet whnt harm to
read this letter and roturn It to tho
sender? She was so lonely here. It
was like being among a strange people,
so long ago was It that her foot bad
touched this soli. Was It possible that
she was twenty-Ovc? Was there not
some miscount, and was It not fifteen
Instead? Would not this war of wis
dom and folly be decided ere long?
She opened the paper and smoothed
out the folds. "Mme. Angot There
Is a letter for you In the malt depart
ment of this ollice." it was so droll
It was unlike anything she hail ever
heard of a personal iuipiirv milium,
where Cnpli! nr.fl IVyrln-s lilllci! mid
cooed. The merest chiinit' had thrown
the original Inquiry nmh r her iintlco.
Her answer was an ImpuNc to which
she bad given no second thought till
too late. She ought to have Ignored
It. But she was lonely; the people she
knew were out of town, mid the Jost
.might amuse her.
This mnn was In nil probability a
gentleman, since he was a member, of
a gentlemen's club. But second thought
convinced her that this prove,-; nothing.
Men are often called gentlemen out of
compliment to their ancestors. Still,
If this man only saw the affair from
her angle of vision, the grotesque hu
mor of It and not the common vulgar
Intrigue! She hesitated, as well she
might. Supposing that eventually be
found out who she was? That would
never, never do. No one must know
that she was In America, about to step
Into the wildest of wild adventures.
No; she must not be found out. The
king, who bad been kind to her, and
the court must never know. From
their viewpoint they would have de
clared that she was about to tarnlsb
a distinguished name, to outrage the
oldest aristocracy In Europe, the
court of Italy. But she had her own
opinion; what s! proposed to do was
in Itself harmless and Innocent. But
this gentleman who leaned out of the
window? She had seen the match
flare In the young man's face. Was
It the face she bad seen In that flash
of light that Interested her sufficiently
to risk the note? Against the dark of
the night If hnrt npnraird . for an In
stant, clean, crisp, ruddy us a tamco.
The face warranted confidence.
She had sung because she had been
happy, happy with thnt transient bnp
plness which nt times was her portion.
Could she ever Judge another mnn by
his looks? She believed not. flow
Bbe bad run! The man. bareheaded,
giving chase and the burly policeman
across the street!
She stepped down from the alcove,
wound the gray veil round the riding
crop and tossed them Into a corner.
I Somehow In the daylight the magic
was gone from his face, for she bad
recognized hi in thnt first day In the
park. He rode well. She touched a
bell. A mnld nppearcd.
"Bettlnn. you will go to the office of
this newspaper and Inquire for a letter
addrewed to Mme. Angot. And ti
quick, for I may change my mind."
The maid was back in a half hour.
"There was a letter, then?" The
points were dancing ngnln In the blue
eyes.
"You may go. Perhaps." and Bettl
na's mistress smiled "perhaps 1 may
let you read It und answer .lt nftcr I
am done with it. That would be
rather neat." ,
The slight nod wns a dismissal, and
the maid went about her duties, which
were not many in this house.
Meanwhile the liuly with the Vene
tian hair toyed with the letter. Club
paper! Evidently he wns not afraid to
trust her. But would he amuse her?
The contents gave her n genuine sur
prise. She ran to the window. Ital
ian! It wns written In Italian, with
all the flourishes of an Italian born.
She turned to the signature Hillard.
So .be hnd signed his name In foil?
She ruminated. How came such a
name to belong to a man who wrote
Italian so beautifully? She looked at
the signature again. John Giovanni.
She would call bim Giovanni. She
bad been rather clever. To have
bad the wit to look In the library
for the blue book and the club
lM-n.Pl woman. tteshl njjve
thought of that. Then a new Inspira
tion came to her. She sent liettliia
for tho card basket. She scattered the
contents upon the floor ami sat down
Turkish -wise. . Sho sorted tho cards
carefully, and, lo, she was presently re
warded. She held up tho curd In tri
umph. He hnd called nt this houso on
Thanksgiving day. lie wns known,
then, to tho master and mistress. Very
good. She now gave her full attention
to the loiter, which she had not yet
perused:
To the I,nly In tho Fog:
To bourn with, let me say that I, too.
hnvo luuKheri. Hut there was some ilettree
of chnurln In my ImiKhter. On my word
of honor. It wus a instinct slinrk to my
sense of ttlKnlty when I snw that trilntlo
Itersonnl of mine In the paper. It Is my
first olTunse of the kind, mul 1 am roitlly
ashnmi'il. Hut the situation was not ordi
nary. Ordinary women tlo not sins In
the streets nflvr mWlnlKlit. As you could
not possibly be ordinary, my offense has
Kreater nmirnttudo. To Indite a personal
to a Kenttuwomnu! A thousand pardons!
I doubted thnt It would come under your
notice, and, even If tt did, 1 was sure that
you would Isnore It. To find a woman
with an appreciable sense of humor Is
rare. To find one who couples this with
Initiation Is rarer still. How you found
out my nnme confuses me.
"Indeed!" murmured tho lady.
Doubtless you have tho club list In your
house. Do you know, when the lottor was
brought me 1 saw nothlnic uuusuut about
the address. It was only when i began
this letter that I comprehended how clev
er you woro. Thore are half a doxon
J. It's at the club. 1 tell you truthfully
over my own nume that your vole star
tled me.
1 was startled because my thoushta
wero far away. 1' was dreaming of Italy,
where I was born, though there Is no
more Italian blood In my veins than there
Is In yours.
"What made him think that, I won
der?" ! therefore wrlto this in a InnirunRO fa
miliar to us both, certain you could not
sins Lecocq's koiiks In Italian If you did
not speak and undurstnnd tt thoroughly.
8lKnora or signorina, whlchevor It may
be. have we no mutual friends? Are you
not known to some one who knows me
some one who will speak for me, my
character, my hnblts?
"It Is rather a dull letter so far,"
snld the lady.
You say you sang because at that mo
ment you were happy. This Implies that
you are not always so. Uurely with a
voice like yours one cannot possibly be
S?i held wd the card in triumph. j
unhappy. If only 1 mlKht meet youl ;
Will you not do me thai honor? Isn't .
there just a little pure, healthy romance i
waiting to bo given life? Your voice !
haunts me. Out or every silence It comes
to me "tihe is so Innocent, so youthful!"
JOHN H1LLAKD.
The letter fluttered Into her In p. Sho
leaned on her elbows. It was not a
bud letter, nnd she rather liked tho
boyish tone of It Nothing vulgar
peered out from between the lines.
Did he really love music? Ho must,
for It was not every young man who
could pick out the melody of an old,
forgotten opera. Rather than tempt
fate she decided not to answer this
letter. It would be neither wise nor
useful.
Romance.' The word enmo back to
her. With an unmusical laugh she
stood up. shaking the letter to tho
floor. Romance! She was no longer
a girl. She was a woman of five nnd
twenty, and what should a woman
know of romance? Ah. there had been
a time when all the world was ro
manceromance: when the night
breeze had whispered It under her
casement window, when tho lattice
climbing roses had brenthed It, when
the moon and the stars hnd spelled It.
Romance! She hated the word not
less than she hated the Italian Ian
gunge, the Italian people,' tho country
Itself. She spurned the letter with
her foot and fed the newspaper tothe
Are.
She went downstairs to the piano
and played with strong feeling. Pres
ently she began to sing a haunting,
melancholy song by Abt. She was
mistress of every tone, every shade,
every expression.
The door opened gradually. Crash!
The music wus over.
"Bettlna? llettlnn, are you listen
ing?" "I nm always, listening." Hcltlna
squeezed Into the room, "It Is beauti
ful, beautiful! To sing like that!
There will be kings and dukes at your
feet!"
."Enough!"
"Pardon, slgnora, I forgot. But' lis
ten, 1 bring u message. . A buy came
to say that the rehearsal will be at 4
this afternoon. It 1 now after I'J."
"So Inter We liliiMt lie olT.'
"And the Idler upstairs on the flour?"
"Some day. Ilctiliia. you will entei
the forbidden clininlier, and I shall
have to play Mluebciird. Till I line,
however, I do not mind. I .cave II there
or burn II." Indifferently.
itetiiiin knew her inlHircHH, She
thought -liisl to leave the teller where
It lay, forgotten for the tlmo being.
(To ho continued.)
TAXIDERMIST AND FURRIEM
Send your trophies to me. for mount
ing. Hig giuno htmilx, fish, hii'ils mid
miiiiiniiils mounted truo to tint tiro by
improved niothmhi. I do tanning, make
fur rugit, nuikn, remodel mid elenii
fur garment. Kxpress and mail or
ilora proiupllv attended to.
C. M. HARRIS.
405 Washington Street, Portland, Or.
Telephone Main 31100.
CRESTBROOK ORCHARD TRACTS
5
10
Adjoining Hillcrest orchard and con
tain unexceled deep, rich soil. Rea
sonable prices and generous terms.
OREGON ORCHARDS SYNDICATE
SELLING AGENTS ROGUE RIVER VALLEY
SALEM BEER
SALEM Is the most popular beer In Northern California and South
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others. The proof for this assertion lies In drinking Salem brtr.
If you wish to be convinced, ask for Salem beer and drink It.
SALEM BREWERY ASSOCIATION,
Medford Depot: Medford lea & Storage Co.
When we suggest that you
Toast Your 'Bread
On Breakfast Table
We tlo not mean that you should eat off
the stove toast
With an Electric Toaster
and have crisp, brown, delicious toast
costs 1c per meal to operate. We
have the best toaster on the market for
- sale at $4.50. Clean, appetizing, sanitary
. ROGUE RIVER ELECTRIC CO.
Successors to Condor Water & Power Co.
apples; and pears and all kinds of
FRUIT AND ORNAMENTAL TREES.
YAKIMA VALLEY NURSERY
Largest Commercial Nursery in the Pacific North
west. Not in the combine. Competes with all first
class nurseries.
L. E. HOOVER, Agent
MEDFORD, O R E J O X
A MiDroBD, oacooir M.
State Depositary
Established 1888,
Capital aad Surplus 1125,000
Roiourros 1700,000
Advertise in
TO BUY A PIANO
mid know you lire (rented the sumo ns
your neighbor i n HiilUlWIiun. You
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TIIH ONK-rillt'K I'lANO IIOIKK,
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1HI
lien. inn lli'im., tho wulillo mid har
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pured to fill nil orders nt short no
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of harness, Huddles, bridles, wlii',
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20 Acres
HIGHEST ATTAINMENT IN
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Tho Ja.-ltson County Hnnk rospoct
fully solicit ypur account, suh.ject
lo your chock, with the strongest
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We offer the highest attainment in
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W. I. VAWTER, President.
G. P. LINDLKY, Cashier.
the Tribune