The Unspeakable Perk

ner would have borne with equanimity. But Miss Brewster had also absented herself, which was rather too much for the devoted, but apprehensive, lover. Thus, ample time was given him to consi

he last week's mail, the arrival of which had been about contemporaneous with her change of spirit, and some local cause. W

dious Miss Brewster's fancy would be captured only by a gentleman, not by any such homunculus as the mountain dweller. Her interest, perhaps; the man possessed the bizarre attraction of the

ttentions to the Northern beauty had become the joke of the clubs-except when Raimonda was present. By the same token, half of the gilded youth of the capital, and most of the young diplomats, were the sworn slaves of the girl. It wa

d, should, even in a hot climate, produce heavy circles under the eyes, a droop at the mouth corners, and a complete s

giving him her hand. "Have you

e any notice to get

ul of me! We may l

ship doesn't seem to b

was unintentional,

oming with us

ndsome face li

nd of people should we be to leave any

e. "Dictates of humanity, and that sort o

he pleaded. "You know it would m

self-control and reserve on which he prided himself, but he

py to leave any one els

stirred the

ny of them again. I'm tired of it all. I want

n, taking a step toward h

ne little su

I-I don't feel

he su

stion," he apologized. "It was k

," she said, smiling a litt

window, and gazed out across the square. On the far side

o have collected quite an a

ned her on the

g a revolution. Any on

high, strident voice, ca

girl. "He's speaking

nch, and Spanish. Quite a polyglot the fr

steady ey

ns is not

N

see him, or to he

u've found o

. "Yes-at least-Ye

tted it

lied a

e a call on Mr. Perkins," said

"He'd only run away and hide." As she said it

ant to be fair to that fellow. It doesn't fo

coward!" s

ourself that he'

uldn't, and

int to see him before I leave. If he can explai

the girl. "I shall go back upstairs and writ

Demosthenes," said her companion. "I was going to do a little shopping,

Apparently he had not, for the crowd had melted away. The legless one was rocking himself monotonously upon his stumps. His head was sunk forward, and from his extraordinary mouthings the spectator judged that he m

ormous, misfit white gloves. He went down to the beggar, reached forth a hand, and, to the far-away spectator's wonder-struck interpretation, seemed to thrust something, presumably a document, into the breast of the mendicant's shirt. Having performed this strange rite, he leaped up the step

, whereupon Carroll arose and embraced him warmly. And with this grouping, the vehicle, bearing its lunatic load, sped around

wful native cheroot, whose incense spread desolation about him. Further and more extraordinary, when she essayed to obtain a solution of the mystery from him, he repelled her with emphatic ges

it mean? On Mr. Brewster's return, she lai

he hazarded. "Nothing else

d a local coachman get sunstruck at one an

ough, the crippled beggar seems to have b

or help? I listened, but di

can't quite see the heir of all the Virginias in the

up to his room. Isn

s coming around this eveni

ve had something else on his

ter," he remarked, setting down his cup. "He's off

were," said

lic of Caracuna is concerned. Some of its politicians wouldn't be over-grieved if the local Americans underwent th

When I sat next to him at dinner last week he offered to establi

aid this the tri

he Hochwald Legation"-he lowered his voice-"is

rewster. "There's enough

and they want to make all the trouble they can for him, and make it impossible for him to get actual information

te. "We don't want to have to run D

hes in the slums. Sir Willet doesn't like the looks of it. If there were any way in which you could get through, and to se

Or, at least, so my daughter, to w

quickly. "There is reason to bel

heard so

our consul at Puerto

sked the co

y. "It isn't quite clear, but it

that young lady co

e guarded-was that people planning to take Dutch leave woul

fter to-morrow, wouldn

g at all," substitut

the Gran Hotel Kast, Miss

for a brigade of Biddies, with good stout mops, and

bad. I'm glad yo

ery one ag'i

ion is a very lonely place. Now,

iage, Mr. Sherwen?" twinkled the gir

d. "But, no. This is a measure of safety. Sir Willet thinks that your party ought to be ready

gation has no official exi

st, it adjoins the British Legation, which would be quite safe. If it weren'

s Polly warmly. "But surely it wo

get the machinery running. She constantly takes advantage of my bachelo

us," said Mr. Brewster. "And we're very gratef

You won't mind his being there? He's a rou

hould judge," said the magnate. "Then

ot my men ou

-advisable for us

ians not the slightest peg on which to hang a charge that Americans have been responsible for any t

aid Miss Brewster, wi

hwaldian, which is a quarter of a mile down the hill. On our corner is a house where several of the English railroad men live, and across is the C

" cried Polly gayly. "I'll begin to roll up m