The Unspeakable Perk

a pleased and mild glow. From the squat cathedral tower the bells clang and jangle defiance to the Adversary, temporarily drowning out the street tumult in which the yells of the lot

government concession that he manages; a less occasional Anglo-Saxoness, browned and marked with the seal that the tropics put upon every woman who braves th

ciation of her external advantages was Miss Brewster. Such as it was,-and it had its qualities, albeit somewhat unformulated,-Caracuna society gave her prompt welcome. There were teas and rides and tennis at the little club; there were agreeable, presentable men and hospitable women; and always there was Fitzhugh Carroll, suave, hands

all that he's so different and the

ng thought of her beetle man. Whatever else he might or might not be, he wasn't alike. She was by no

od, containing what at first glance she had taken to be a jewel, until she saw that it was a tiny butterfly with opalescent wings, mounted on a silver wire. But with them had come no word or token of identification. Perhaps they w

iff and perspiring in his full official regalia, before Mr. Brewster; then before his daughter, whose solemnity, presently breaking down before his painfully rehearsed English, dissolved in fluent French, sett

ber, the man is a gentleman. He feels very badly about the whole affair. Offered to

e poor man was half asleep. And Mr. Bee

ice as an American about his at

him to let the

e was a very good fellow, but of a different class,

r. Per

find him. I suggested that he leave me to deal wi

are you going

first, i

oll stared at her, astonishe

of keeping out of my way. Th

poor lamb out of his wits

innate sense of justice beneath his crust of

ething very wrong with the fellow. A man who will deliberately desert a woman in distress"-Carrol

e been mitigatin

action. And, after that, the fellow had

it?" asked Mis

him finish. I forbade his

are taking a great deal upon yourself, Fitz? What do you really k

h, I think. And I hardl

u're wro

NOW th

; I

father ap

confidence enough in me to l

own that he was a friend of yours, Miss Polly, I never would have spo

or deepened un

ust met and talked with him a few times. But your

said the Southerner stiffly, "But I kno

am as she scanned the perfection and finish of the man

e answered, in sur

are all ma

Miss P

our sh

nd various other t

have them sp

t me better, and

u want them individuali

I supp

ays get your mental

derstand, Miss Poll

ttern," she explained relentlessly. "Inside, you're as just exactly so as a pai

-about Mr. Perkins. If I'd known that you took any interest in him, I'd have bitten my to

n't matter," s

ith an effort: "I had a talk, almost an encounter, with him in

his scorn was so genuine that his cri

old you. And you're honest and loyal and a gentleman. Only I wish s

r made a gest

y understand yo

Perkins seems a sort of helpless creature. Yet in another way he doesn't seem helpless at all. Quite the reve

rried on, and now crossed over to them. "I'll tell you a good one on the little blighteh. D' you k

ha

ppin', ain't it? Like 'The

lips twitched; in some

cause of his trying to help me

ow. Don't-want-to-know-yeh trick. Wouldn't-speak-to-yeh-if-I-could-help-it twist to his f

are

roll's sharply turned face. Galpy not

way-I'm in the Ferrocarril-del-Norte office, you know-has offered

ur road, Mr. Galpy. But

h any day now. I've just taken the mes

freshen up for luncheon, carrying with her the sobriquet she had just heard.

him! I'd make him into a Perk that would sit up and speak when I lifted my little finger." She considered this. "I'm not so sure," sh

k was in plain sight of her window, on a bench in the corner of the plaza, engaged in light conversation with a legless and

en with a start of recognition, the patiently rounded brown back of the forward-leaning figure in the corner. Greatly wroth was Miss Polly Brewster. For some hours-two, a

lled, after all. Thought being usually with Miss Brewster the mother of the twins, Determination and Action, she slipped downstairs and inquired of the three guar

norita"

't his name bee

shoulders that might mean eit

ted bowl of the park. Quite unconscious of her approach, until she was close upon him, her objective chatted fluently with the legless one, unti

e-how did you come

draw a deep breath, count three. And, as soon as you are read

-y

u suddenly, you mustn't try to jump

did

under a rock, as you

B-B-Br

ughts firmly upon your science, until you've reco

that way, I c-c-can't t

approaching, you must repeat, quite slowly, this scientific incanta

antula, dood

tects one from the influence of the malig

t!" she c

ect as a doodle-bug,"

u mention it in your conversation

into my head

omething unscientific into that compendium of science-there's triu

in the beggar crooked defens

ANT-u-la, DOO-

erhaps you think you

third strophe?" he ventured. "It would be just a

You didn't make him

er. The dragon-fly we're going to breed to

to my doodle-bug. He's more

"I'm all right-quite recovered. It's

forget it. And next time we meet you're to

e you know. It's the job of KEEPING sane in this ma

ou've recovered, I'll tell you what I cam

sed me, then? That's nice. You see, I've be

bit," she declared indignant

you w-w-were

I was sorry not to see you when y

to call on yo

he'd seen you, or something

e to see your fat

t ti

elev

o, I don't

own and told me so, o

d pitying

at's what a se

ell l

, and many people come to see him whom he hasn't time to see. So,

an's rather sensitive mout

ever queer the people may be, they at least observe or

you want

ollars of him, of cou

y at me. You see, da

d? To

himself,

aven't wholly wasted it." He glanced toward the begg

u an interview with dad,"

aid crisply. "I'm not patie

by other men, however busy or important; that his own concerns in life were quite as weighty to him, and in his esteem, perhaps, to others, a

she began hesitantly,

e cut in. "To others-Perhaps I cou

." She smiled. "

d feel his glance read her. The gri

't know why y

made a man of aff

You should be planning

iled her harsh lot

wants to dr

o e

ecial inducements to leave, in the form of specia

ut one doesn't stay in i

l and I the 'one,' one mi

arp gesture

childish

lost time and all that sort of thing, and what does it all amount to?" she demanded, with spirit. "That we should sa

take a small boat, and get over to the mainland. As soon as the blockade is off, the yacht can take your lu

ly think it

emphat

the way?" she inquired, gazing with

?

shall

ti

h you Caracuna riots and revolutes and massacres f

of humor. Will you believe me when I tell you that I have certain so

on a certainty in the

ertain that there is

u told me s

up, with no way out. Now, through the good offices of a foreign official, who, of cour

do with that?" she

a friend of mine," he

epidemic of plague here? Don't you thin

s grave and

c plague," he said, "or y

we were really cooped up with an epidemic, I

ed vehemently. "You don't kno

r Pruyn on his way to exorcise the

r Pruyn? Who says

atic set and the clubs. He's t

first case he verifies he'll clap on a quarantine that a mouse

olly approve

, but it's extremely i

athedral cl

!" cried Miss Polly contritely. "What are yo

l me that your father wi

his mind, on five minutes' n

ed to be men of instant and unalterab

t. I saw him drive away.

s; I sup

ce will report at the r

N

y uncomprom

here at four.

as I've wasted so much of your time to-da

with the extreme advisability

"You'll be most awfully glad

eatly re

ittle bi

e was a perceptible tensity in the line of

to her wicked little self, "I'd probably BITE myself rather than say

tter?" said t

hwith bit herself on her

mber to say. "I am, most deeply. So will father be, even if he

must

m that y

it becomes

rview. Most people are afraid

he remarked, unsmiling. "

nd get arrayed for the dail

na," he sai

t the word she came slowly

or an answer, but went on: "You don't come to see me when I ask you. You don't send me any word. You make me feel that, compared to your concerns with beetle

," he co

must think me! But truly inside I appreciate it and thank you, an

gesture of

n do, anyway. Do you remember what the mediaeval m

ell it

er to those who serve you with a good intent,

ore suited to your style than the free-and-untrammeled spaces of nature, and well you know it. But you'll go to-morrow and you'

ys imply a conclusion, even in the mind of the propounder. Miss Br