Adventure Magazine Cover, October 1911 — page 137: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Road Lucia bowed. ‘Don’t permit me to de- tain you, signorina. Not for an instant. The Signor Intendente has little time to spare when he visits Vodra. You are right to make the most of it—you are, indeed!” And she passed on, on the crest of her little triumph. The last word? No smash- ing blow in the forefront of the battle thrills the feminine foeman with the elation won by a successful Parthian shot. AS KATRINE came into the inner room through the veranda her father looked up. Agnew rose, exchanged greetings, and placed a chair for her. But there was something restrained in the atti- tude of the two men—something which her woman’s instinct told her concerned herself. They both smiled—a little artificially, she reflected, as if they discounted bad news before it was disclosed. So convincing was her instinct that she probed for information without delay. “What is it?” she said quietly. ‘‘Some- thing has happened—something new?”’ On her father’s face was an expression of difidence. And that this emotion was domi- nant in his mind was evident by the way with which he played with the litter of his writing-table. The engineer’s eyes met her impassively—or was there in them some tiny hint of compassion? She repeated her question. 7 Gresham drew back his shoulders and faced her. There was a sort of wearied resolution in his glance. ‘“‘Can you tell me, daughter,” he asked slowly, ‘“‘on what terms you parted from Gordon Glaisher? That is a question which I hate to ask you, but you must blame Fate, not me.” He tried to smile over his conclusion, but it was a lame attempt. The unexpectedness of it almost stunned her. Gordon Glaisher? Surely that page had been turned for good and all. She stammered. ‘‘I—I don’t understand,” she cried. Gresham lifted his shoulders with a shrug. *“‘T didn’t seek or need the information be- fore,” he said. ‘‘I never thought to ask for it. You told me that your engagement with him was definitely at an end. Directly afterward we left for Europe. Now, if you can bring yourself to it, tell me how he took your decision. Did—did he put up any sort of—fight?”’ Again he made his pitiful little attempt . said Agnew. 1083 at jocularity and again made it entirely un- convincing. But now she had regained full self- possession. ‘I told him that I had never loved him,” she answered quietly, and her glance—in spite of, not because of herself, as it seemed to her—met Agnew’s squarely. “He made no attempt to influence my decision.” Her father nodded. ‘‘ Nothing that could in any way be described as—as a threat?” he suggested. “‘A éthreat?’? Her surprise was over- whelming. ‘You have heard from him again? He is demanding—what?”’ He shook his head.. ‘No. I have heard nothing. But he is here—not six miles away, at Jeka, the guest of our friend Esuli. What has brought him there? If you can throw no light on his movements we must attack the puzzle from our own point of view. But we thought—” he shrugged his shoulders again—‘‘we thought you might—have your own opinion?” Her bewilderment increased. “He is there—without letting us know?” she cried. “But that is incredible! Esuli? What has he to do with him?” She was still standing. With a gesture that half pleaded, half commanded, Agnew pointed to the chair. And there was some- thing intimate in the act which madea pulse of happiness leap within her. She thanked him with her eyes and sat down. “Bluntly, Esuli focusses—so we believe— the whole of the opposition to the road,” “The inference is that Glaish- er has joined it. His knowledge of and communications with the Turk previously we can only conjecture. Hisobject? That js more easily guessed. He and his uncle are still believers in Birs—perhaps they have earlier political information than even Esuli. But they want to buy the Bir Railway at wreckers’ prices—after the wreck.” The troubled shadow on her face lifted. “Then I ?”’ she began. The engineer interrupted. ‘‘Then you have had no responsibility in his action,” he said quickly. “If the personal question is lacking—and your assurance proves that —the man descends at once to the level of the common blackleg, selling a partner for gain.” And he spoke with a certain satis- faction which he did not attempt to conceal. Her father nodded. “Perhaps you kept the dog chained, Katrine,’ he smiled con- CO MICLOOKS ©