HER GLOWING EYES
By GRACE B. WHARTON.
(Copyright, 1914, by W. O. Chnpmnn )
Verne Tyson roused up with a start,
He rubbed his eyes, he shook himself.
Then he stared across the table where
his club acquaintance, Colonel Reeves
so-called, should have been. No col
onel. Then beyond that at the spot
where last he had seen the volatile,
never-to-be-forgotten Madame Hor
tense Vassour. Gone. A discreet wait
er, napkin on arm, approached. His
well trained face expressed a mild
inquiry, a strong suggestiveness of
being of service.
"How long have I been here?" asked
Verne abruptly.
"Three hours, sir."
"Alone?"
"Yes, sir."
"And the others?" demanded Verne,
with a sweep of bis hand,
"They Joked about your siesta and
seemed to think It sport to give you
the surprise of waking up alone."
"So," muttered Vorne, and his face
showed that he did not like the sit
uation. He arose. The waiter helped
Mm to his hat and gloves, bowed his
thunks for a careless liberal fee, and
Verne walked from the cafe garden
Into the street.
"It wasn't the wine I didn't touch
It," he ruminated. "It was not ennui,
for the colonel and bis lady friend
were positively brilliant this evening.
It was that woman's eyes!"
Verne knew little of the colonel,
less of the woman. The former lived
a mysterious existence at the club.
The lady was his cousin, he had said.
From the first her eyes had repelled
Verne, becausa every time tl:ey cpar-
"How Long Hava I been Here."
kled they gave him an unaccountably
uneasy feeling, She was pretty, witty,
winning in her ways. She was Intelli
gent, too. The conversation had drift
cd towards the occult, hypnotism and
all that during the little refection.
Then then
"I went to sleep," reflected Verne,
"and I remember my lady's glowing
eyes the last thing. Iirr-rr! It 1b un
canny. Perhaps she tried the art mes
meric on me. I'll go and see Leila
and forget all about It."
To Leila he was affianced. Society
saw an Ideal love match in their pros
pective union. The Boyds were
wealthy and Verne was the heir of
his uncle, the richest man In the dis
trict. The wedding had been set for
two weeks ahoad.
It was fortunate that Leila had some
other callers that evening, for Verne
felt dull and uncompanionable. He
could not shake off a certain apathetic,
letharglo feeling that oppressed him.
Leila noticed it, and when he left she
whlBpered softly:
"We Bhall be alone tomorrow eve
ning come early."
Hut something prevented. The fol
lowing morning Mr. Tresham, Verne's
uncle, sent his nephew away on a busi
ness mission to a city a day's Journey
distant It covered a stay of some
weeks, where attention to a lagging
lawsuit would require constant vigi
lance. Verne wrote a hurried note to Leila
explaining the situation. Mrs. Vas
sour passed out of his mind, but she
was revived temporarily two days
later, when to his surprise Verne met
Colonel Reeves on the street in Trux
ton. "Heard you was here on business,"
spoke Reeves familiarly. "Some busi
ness of importance likely to keep me
here for a week or two. If you are
going to make any kind of a prolonged
stay, we can find pleasant mutual
quarters down at the Ramblers club."
Verne thought not any too much of
Reeves, but time was likely to hang
heavy on his hands, the colonel was
good company and some very pleas
ant days passed.
"My cousin, Mrs. Vassour, Is still at
Mldvalo," announced the colonel one
day. "By the way, she wrote me that
he met your uncle at a reception.
Fine old gentleman. He was very at
tentive and courteous toward her."
If Verne had not known that his
rich relative was a confirmed bach
elor, he would have felt uneasy. As
It was, when he wrote to his uncle
lie jocularly expressed the sentiment
"beware of the vldders!" and gave
bis uncle a hint that Mrs. Vassour
waa scarcely en regie with upper crust
society.
I At the and of two weeks there cam
m
some vast surprises for Verne. For j
several days he bad not received any
word from Leila. His uncle, too, waa
strangely silent. Then there appeared
at Truxton a young lawyer who some
times did business for Mr. Tresham.
"You are to return borne at once,"
said this visitor.
"But the lawsuit here?" remon
strated Verne. "I have got It In Just
the right shape, I am familiar with
Its details and can certainly be ot use
regarding It."
But the lawyer very gravely and
seriously reiterated the unqualified di
rection from Mr. Tresham, so Verne
returned to Mldvale.
It was an Inexplicable and chilling
reception that awaited him. He had
never seen his uncle so distant.
"Yes, I sent for you," he said stern
ly. "I suppose I need not tell you
why," and he passed across the table
between them three checks for ten
thousand dollars each. They bore
dates a few days apart and the can
celled stamp of the bank. They had
been made out payable to self or bear
er, and they had been cashed through
a bank at Truxton.
"Well?" questioned Verne, looking
up In a puzzled way, "what has this
got to do with me?"
"Have you the audacity to ask,"
challenged his uncle stormlly. "Lis
ten I know all. You forged my name
to those checks. You alone can 1ml'
tate my handwriting so cleverly, for
on occasions I have warranted your
using my signature. You alone had
access to the check book In my safe,
and those three chocks were torn out
from the back of my check book."
ur course Verne indignantly pro
tested. It was of no avail. His uncle
swore that unless he went away to a
distant solitude he would disown him,
Verne found the Boyd home shut
against him. Leila had been sent
away to a relative convinced of his
guilt, his uncle claimed.
A broken man, confronted by a mys
tery he could not fathom, Verne re
mained In seclusion for a week. One
evening a visitor was announced. It
was Mrs. Vassour.
She was pale, wretched looking.
She inquired of Verne whore he had
last seen Reeves. He told her at
Truxton. She said he had disap
peared from there. She broke out
into bitter vituperation of the wretch
who had borrowed all her money and
left her penniless.
Verne felt sorry for the adventur
ess. He inquired gently as to her
necessities and tendered her some
money. She took it, started to leave
the room, and then, some wild im
pulse Btirring her, returned to his
side.
"You are a gentleman and a friend,"
she said, her voice quivering. "I con
fess all."
In amazement Verne listened to her
story. A past mistress in the art
hypnotio, she had placed him under
the Influence of her power that eve
ning at the cafe garden: She had
forced him to reveal all about his
uncle and the details ot his business.
While he was at Truxton she had
visited Mr. Tresham. Upon him Bhe
had worked her spell also. Uncon
sciously he had produced the check
book and followed her directions.
Reeves had cashed the checks at
Truxton and had disappeared with the
money.
"I do not know where he Is," said
Mrs. Vassour, "but I know his old
associations, and if you promise not
to prosecute me I will assist in run
ning him down."
Which was done, and nearly the
whole of the money recovered. Then,
amid the amazing manifestation that
the signature to the checks -was hit
own, Mr. Tresham was more than con
trite. He gave the entire amount re
covered to his nephew, and Leila be
came a happy bride.
Invisible, But Supporting.
The most wonderful part of a planl
Is usually that which Is not visible
The roots act not only as anchors tc
hold the plant firm in the ground, but
as wandering mouths, picking up food
and drink for their parent.
Roots travel amazing distances li
search of their requirements. A tim
ber merchant, excavating for a sewei
in Gloucester, found an elm root on
and a quarter Inches in diameter and
63 feet long running through a bed ol
sawdust from the tree to the nearesl
water, the Gloucester and Berkelej
canal.
The aggregate length of root thrown
out by some plants is almost incred
ible. A cucumber will, within It
short life of about half a year, throw
out from ten to fifteen miles of roots
Clover roots will go straight dowl
to a depth of six to nine feet it
search of moisture, and coltsfoot, on
of the most powerful and perslsteni
of weeds, sends its suckers down U
an even greater depth.
"Toelno the Mark."
The phrase "toeing the mark" Is ol
fairly old and somewhat obscure orl
gin. Several different opinions ar
held as to how it originated, but th
derivation most generally accepted U
that it comes from an old fashioj
among military men in drilling to draw
a line upon the ground and make th
tompany "dress" by toeing this mark
The phrase thus acquired the mean
ing of "standing up" to something, an
so became used in quarrels, when oni
ot the parties would challenge tht
other to stand up to him. Even now
adays in Borne of the country district)
in Great Britain It is customary fot
lads when quarreling to provoke theii
opponents finally to the encounter bj
drawing a line upon the ground am
tolling them to "toe the mark." Tin
meaning of the phrase as now general
ly used Is to come right forward an
"tan4 up" to anything.
COSTLY MILE OF WIRE
ERECTED DURING 8IEGE OF PORT
ARTHUR, IN 1905.
Estimated That Ten Thousand Lives
Were Lost and Millions of Dollars
Expended In "Condemning" the
Right of Way.
"There are many individual miles
of city-built telephone line that have
cost well up In the hundreds of thou
sands of dollars," remarked an offi
cer of the United States army who
saw much of the war between Russia
and Japan a few years ago, "but the
mile of telephone wire that cost, be
yond all comparison, more money and
lives than any other line ever built
was erected during the siege of Port
Arthur In 1905.
"For weeks and months the Japs
had been eating away at the defenses
of the RusBlnn fortress, but with small
(success. The hills around the town
find harbor seemed to have been fash
ioned by nature for defense. The
Japs, though they had brought up
tnelr great 12 and 14-Inch siege guns,
were able to make but slight impres
sion upon the forts and none at all
upon the town or the Russian fleet
that lay safe within the Inner harbor.
The trouble was thnt, though the
great guns 'Osaka babies' they called
tnem, arter the name of the town
where they were manufactured
could easily carry from their positions
into Port Arthur and the harbor, there
was intervening a great range of hills
from five to six hundred feet in height
and crowned with the most powerful
fortifications In the world to that
ante. Hence, the gunners could not
get a sight of their targets.
"Suddenly the 'Osaka babies' com
menced to open fire upon the town
and harbor, and the Russians smiled,
for experience had shown them how
Impossible it was for the shells to
strike their unseen targets. But, to
their astonishment, after a shell or
two, one lit squarely upon the main
building in Port Arthur and shortly
after one plunged through the deck
of a battleship and sank her like a
stone.
"In a Bhort time the town 'was
wrecked and the fleet, with half Its
Bhlps sunk or disabled, had to put out
to sea.
"For, from the telephone In the
hand of the Jap hidden on the sum
mit of 203 Meter hill there ran a wire
to the batteries where stood the great
'Osaka babies,' and the whole thing
became as simple as a kindergarten
problem. The man with the telescope
observed where the shells from the
'babies' struck; he reported It to the
(nan with the telephone, who, In turn,
telephoned it to the gunners of the
'babies.' They modified their fire un
der these directions and placed their
great shells as accurately as though
they were firing point-blank at a tar
get. "It was the beginning of the end of
Port Arthur, that mile of telephone
line running up the flank of 203 Meter
Hill. It was but a single wire mount
ed on poles so small tthat they were
Invisible a quarter of a mile distant,
but it cost 10,000 men and several mil
lions of dollars In ammunition and
other war-cost to 'condemn' the right
of way."
Ichthyol.
The Importation of ichthyol, a pe
culiar asphaltic material found In Aus
tria, which finds application after ap
propriate chemical treatment as a very
Important medicament, has been, along
with many other products, cut off by
the war. The raw material comes from
a fosstllferous deposit near Seefeld, in
the Austrian Tyrol. It Is carefully se
lected and subjected to dry distillation.
The distillate thus obtained is then
sulphonated and subsequently neutral
ized with ammonia. The use of this
material has greatly increased in the
last few years, and it has proved very
beneficial. Almost immediately follow
ing the beginning of the war its price
doubled, going to over 60 cents an
ounce. Already, however, a firm in St.
Louis has a material on the market,
which has been favorably recommend
ed as an efficient substitute, closely re
sembling Ichthyol itself. United
States Geological Survey Bulletin.
A Profession and a Home.
That a married woman can keep up
her profession and her home as well
Is being successfully proved by the
principal of one of the largest schools
tor girls In New York.
She has a 12-room apartment run
by a capable maid and a Japanese
cook. She took up her teaching again
when her daughter was two years old
and has managed to prepare her
laughter for college at the age ot fif
teen. Anne Warner, the authoress, also
has been married three years and
Joes her writing at home by settling
her housekeeping by nine In the morn
ing and then shutting herself up in
her study to write until five the
usual hours of a business man to
which she considers herself entitled.
Difficult
"French fashions have stopped com
ing over," says a New Yorker, "and
evening gowns for the winter will in
wnsequence be less decollete. A good
thing, too, I said to a woman at a
lance last week:
"'How beautifully your daughter is
iressed. Don't you find it difficult to
keep her in clothes?
"'Indeed I do!' my friend replied.
Haven't you noticed the decollete
own ahe'a wearing tonlghtf"
I ' ""f ,luu . .;1
This is one of the latest Krupp
is.
SINKING
ii ii T Li) p, n-, ,, ,i. m.i ii .. :i-WwMfcdfos
Remarkable photograph of the sinking of four German destrovars in thn
on a ooat tnat went to tne rescue of the
GERMAN TOWN DESTROYED BY RUSSIANS
This photograph of Neidenburg, East Prussia, was made Just after the
Russians had left the city. Though unfortified and undefended, it was shelled
for two hours and the hospital, the church and many other buildings were
destroyed.
MADAME PATTI VISITS THE WOUNDED
v,
wiiiiiMrtwfcaa.jRX.
Madame Pattl, the famous singer, visiting the wounded Belgians in the
Pattl ward of the Swansea hospital She sang at a concert In London in aid
of the Belgian relief fund.
NEW KRUPP GUNS FOR KAISER'S
?....'.rJ
guns, several of which, it is said, have
OF FOUR GERMAN DESTROYERS
Boating survivors.
Si--
f i
FLEET
been mounted on the German battle
North sea, taken by a British officer
FIRING AT A TAUBE
British aircraft gun firing at a Ger
man Taube aeroplane from an ar
mored train in Belgium. The first pic
ture to be shown of this guiu-
Officer Makes Coward Brave.
Paris. Nothing better illustrates
the relations between French officers
and privates than the following inci
dent related by a wounded soldier:
"One day under the peppering of
mitrailleuse fire," he said, "a soldier
fighting in the first rank was over
come by panic and turned to the rear.
The captain seized him by the arm,
led him back to his post and remained
beside him until he quieted. Shortly
after we charged bayonet, and do yon
know who led? It was the very man
who wanted to fly. The captain had
inoculated him with his own ooui
age."