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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1924-11-5, Page 2THE WEE A man and a girl lingered in an Ids sox lane and talked of trivtallties. And While they talked the glee heart was asking: "Will he, began he peel" And the roam wee telling himself: "i dare not! She would loathe me if she knew the truth!" So he ]rept alleges, The bell in the inner office rang, aid Masterton went in.; Hammett was lean- ing book in his chair. Ile raised his elatey-grey eyes slowly. "Where did you spend your last haltdayee" "At Uehingltaln,Mr, IlunnetL" "Well, you'll be given an opportunity of paying a. second visit. You'll go straight down 'to -morrow. There's a tool there named Fellowes"--a chill touched Masterton's heart—'"who•bor. roeved a hundred a few' months back. I've had to write pretty etifiiy, and now he won't answer the letters. IIe'a got to be taught. that I'm not a pleas. ant man to deal with when a client gets on the high home! it's the first job of the kind "I've given you, and I don't expect you to boggle it, I'll give you all the figures before you leave to- night. That's all!" Masterton slept little that night -a deeeet.man sometimes finds It difficult to sleep when he is a moneylender's confidential clerk, and knows that re- signation meand:tlie re lonettori of a hopeless search for work. But he was at tlahingham next morning. The. Pomegranates, Folilowes' house,' was some fifty yards from the stop- ping -place. With his heart thudding, he walked up to the gate. "Is Mr. Fellowes at home" Master - ton asked. But before the maid could answer a girl appeared and held out her hand with a quick gesture of wet come. "Have you come down here for a holiday?" "A—a sort of holiday," he stammer- ed. "Will you be staying long?" "Only tor the day." "Come in and talk with my uncle. You'll lunch with us, of course?" He followed her helplessly into the big, shabby library. An elderly man looked up from a desk near the win- dow. "This," he said, "is plleasant. Sit down and tell ue what brings you to tiehingham." Masterdom dropped into a chair, i1It is merely a business visit" he said mechanically, and was grateful beyond measure when Feliowes went on to discuss his own literary work. But presently the old man said: "I would like your advice on a busi- ness matter," he said. "I—I haven't many intimate friends here." "I hope I may be able to help you " said Masterton huskily. "The facts," said Feliowes, "are these. Some time ago I borrowed money from a so-called corporation,' which proves to be a private concern directed by a Mr. Jason Hunnett, I signed certain documents which I read, I fear, perfunctorily. I was very unwell and worried at the time. I won't go into details over the corres- pondence which followed my failure to pay the extortionate interest de-! t mended. I need only show you this." 1 He extended a letter. Masterton read ft. He had dispatched many stmt-, lar. "Probably," Feliowes continued, "you've never met that particular brand of Shylock before You'll note that he refers to Immediate and dras- tic steps. What steps can he refer to?" Masterton shook his head. "I'm hardly qualified to offer advice." "I'd defy the vermin to do hie worst if it weren't for Margaret. He's not likely to come down In person, I sup -1 pose, or to send anyone." Masterton made a baiting allusion to the family lawyer. It was an un- fortunate remark. Fellowes' solicitor,. It appeared, was at present serving three years' peaol servitude for em -i bezzlement, "Seventeen thousand of the money he embezzled was mine," Bald the old' man. "That may help you to under-' stand why i fell back on this scoun- drel." Hunnett was in a bad temper on the, following morning, and greeted Mas terton with a scowl. "Did you make the old fool under -I stand what would happen if he didn't pay up?„ "He—he can't pay. He's been rob- bed. His solicitor—" Hunnett flung himself back in his oheir, glaring. "What's at the back of this?" he de- manded. And when Masterton was silent: "A woman, as unuat, 1 sup -1 pose?" "We were die -cussing Mr, Fellowae." "We'll discuse what I choose to dis- ouss. But you can go back to your room for the present. You've made a hash of the business, but I'm willing to give you a second chance. You'll go down to the house: again on Monday, tell Feliowes exactly what you're in- ; etreeted to tell him, and wire the roe suit immediately 'atter the interview.' If . you tall you'll be sacked at onee. without references. Understand?" Masterton turned and wen!. Ile loathers Hunnett, loathed ltlm anlf art 1 ; yet stew no avenue, of escape. Dismiss- al would Menu another agonizing t'+.;- cent into the pit of destitution On Monday bre was agate at t a t:x- j ham. As he swung open the ,. tc lead-' ing to Fellowet' house en caught the jeleant of fieelllght at ail upper window, t ldisfootstepe meet have been heard, for the door opened before he had rseabed the bell. "Ole, I thought It was the doctor!" . Bahl the girl, "No, it's I," sold Maaterton. "What hem happened? Can I be of any aer- vlce?" "My uucle is ill." She beckoned him anti elected the door again, "Ilis heart 10 rta.lt, mail he received a letter this me mat ' weinit--" A. vice called from one of the bed- i rooms, and she left him. "Ile would like to :meek to you," she said presently from the landing. 1 Masterton went up. The old man, in a r:l:• bby dressing -gown, mons on a couch l • the lire. Ile saw 11lasterton hesitate, and beckoned imperiously. "Come in: Listen! I've had an- t other communication from that villain Hunnett, He talks of sending someone down here- the one thing I feared. If you could stay=-" He brake off, panting, "Yes, I'll stay," said elaccterton. Other footsteps sounded outside. It was the doctor. Idasterton went down to the library. He could hear pacing to and fro overhead, the murmur of vetoes.. At last the doctor departed. It was three o'clock before Margaret came in. The look on her face shocked and chilled him. "Is—is your uncle---" 'He is still living, and still ignorant of the worst. He hasn't guessed all. There are some phases of human vile - nese that he's incapable of -suspect- Mg- The unutterable scorn in her eyes told him that she knew. A. few moments ago," she continued in a level voice, 'this arrived." She held up a telegram. "It Is from the man Hunnett; asking if his representa- tive is here. The same man, it ap- pears, was sent on Friday. Hunnett even furnishes a description—`medium height; and so forth. You, of course, are the man?" "Yes," "You came first to spy, then to threaten, to bully—" "Before Heaven, no!" "I say you did! You deceived us from the beginning. You have been a despicable, contemptible fraud!" He might have argued, pleaded, ex- plained. But the contempt in those steady eyes held him dumb. "My uncle trusted you, confided in you. Now----" She checked herself and led the way to the door. He stumbled out. For half an hour he went blindly forward; then, by sheer chance, came to a station, and caught a London train. With no plans, nothing beyond a blind instinct to break from the web that enmeshed him, he made his way to Hunnett's flat. "Is Mr. Hunnett in?" he asked the lift attendant. The man stared. "Mr. Hunnett was run down in the fog as he was leaving his office this evening. He died before they got him to the hospital." Masterton went to the funeral. When the little group about the grave broke up, a clean-shaven man beckoned him aside. "My name is Itousdell," he saki, and produced a card. "The late Mr. Hun - nett was my cousin, and I am his executor." "Masterton nodded, waiting. "There's nothing to be gained by dis cussing his methods of business. only say that they never appealed to me, and that I don't propose to con- tinue them. You, I underatand, were his clerk and in his Confidence?" "I was, to a certain extent." "Then I've a proposition to make. I want the whole thing wound up. But every cane must be gone into on its merits; And that's going to be your job. Interest limited to Rae per cent., and repayment made where a client has been harshly treated. We can set- tle the details later. The paint is,, You'll draw three hundred a year while ; the winding -up process is going on, and I'll do my best to find you a berth afterwards." He held out his hand, Maaterton, dazed, could only mutter his thanks. It was a month later when the door. of Hunnett's office opened and Mar- garet Feliowes came in. Maaterton saw that she was in deep: mourning. 1 "I have called," she began levelly,. "to say that I--1 am grateful for all you have arranged." "Any thanks are due to Mr. Rous- dell. The final decision was his." "I've already seen and thanked him. She paused, her band on the back of` the chair Masterton had wheeled far -I ward. He saw that she was trembling, "When—when you made him your con fidant, and told him the thing you did,' 1 suppose it didn't occur to you that] anyone else might be interested enough to ask questions?" A dull color crept in Masterton'e: cheeks. He shook his head. "We had a long talk this morning. At the end he told me that your work • here was practically finished, and thati you were taking ftp a post with an en- gineering firm ---a post with real pas- sibliitlea, There were other things he told me- -things I hadn't dreamed of before. If I've been cruel a; unjust --•-1 she paused to steady her vofee--"I' want you to matte ellowanees. If ever yen rare to will and see me------" - "rare! " E„ad-by» for the present, then!" • she girl. T •r race, :ivnide:l Ms, but he caught.. the elveleee -m1!e an her lips, and 1,i,, Lung' g1o, r:l. are e't1 nn nee now in':t.:k forgive. ore:. Ile foveae, n day, not very' far deli: et, witnrn 1ur might ask an even greater thing. a- A1•lt) TPE WORST IS YET TO COME The Aeroplane. The morning washed the wind with April rain And there were eagles on the noon- day blue. With none to take the paths on which they flew. Now as the world's unhappy voices wane Great wings are on the loneliness again, And ere ft home from out the crim- son west, A weary bird returning to the nest, Into the sunset drifts the aeroplane. A mote in that magnificence, it dles, Fading upon the barren, splendid skies That fade in turn, closing their courts of light. Darkness and then a tremor high and far: Are • those your wings, gray condor of the night, Seen and then lost below the setting star? --George Sterling in Youth's Com- panion. Easter Island Folk Tell Time by Sunlight. Easter Island, in the South Pacific, which recently was reported to have vanished in a submarine convulsion, still waves its fronded palms in air. Captain Alfred Kling sends to "Illue- trierte Zeitung" an account of some at its pecul[arities• "Informer times," the captain writes, "The tribes and clans on the island lived In constant warfare with each other. The captives were eaten. Many human bones still lie about in the•', caves of the island. The original, Kanakas had a very queer cult, for' which they built gigantic statues of lava. The biggest of these statues is that of the thunder god: It Is twenty - wide andweighstwenty tons. Whether these stone monuments were idols or the statues of famous island . person- alities cannot be ascertained. "Some of these monuments carry a 4 mysterious helroglyphie script. There ! are about 555 of these giants, they tokens of former civilization. In 1$63 the island was discovered by Peru slave dealers, who caught the majority of the Kanakas and took them by force to the Perunic Guano islands, where • they died of epidemics. "The island people own wild chick- ens and pigs. The chickens fly like pheasants and stay at night In the trees. The owners identify their I chickens by a cut on the toes. Wild- cats are the only game on Easter Is-) land. Daytime is determined by the Too ,..,, ,.,' the Sheet. Old Gent --"Hey, boy, I don't want this sheet! It don't cover the news!" Newsie—"Dere ain't no sheet goin' to cover de news to -day, mister, it's too big: Uxtrea! Here yer are!" Salted Babies. Salt plays a curious part in christen- ing ceremonies In same countries. The Armenians cover a new-born infant's skin wilt finely powdered salt. Atter being left on one for three hours, the salt is washed off with warm water. A mountain tribe of Asia Minor leaves the baby covered in this way for twenty-four hours. The Greeks sprinkle their babies with salt at the christening, a custom ,chat also marks the naming of child- ren in some parts of Germany. In countries where the custom per- sists it is believed that the practice en- dows a child with health and strength and that it also wards off evil in- fluences. ' A scientist has calculated that the eyelids of the average man open and. shut four mMier'1 times in a'year. position of the sun. Tobacco plants ! grow on the islands. The natives use banana leaves as cigarette paper;' they ! always carry a provision of banana leaves at their belt. "I could never quite find out how marital conditions were on the island. I seemed to me that marriage among members of the same household was prohibited. A violation of this Iaw was punished by putting both offend- ers to death- Otherwise there was complete pre -nuptial freedom. Cauti- ons fathers shut their daughters up." A Likely Story. While three Irishmen were rowing on a river, writes a contributor, their boat upset, Only one of them. could awim, and he promptly made Inc the t nearest bank, leaving his companions 1 clinging to the bottom of the capsized ! craft. Soon, however, the swimmer returned and one by one rescued his immperrilled friends. When they were all safe on the bank l' one of the men inquired of the res. cuerer, "Mullaney, why didn't ye take wan of us the first trip ye made to shore 'stead o' gain' empty -banded?" "Sure, en' didn't 1 have to save me awn life first?" demanded the ocute London, Itamance Tuts est her cit 110 bere, Where beats The hoai't at.Fiuglandq,hitlter no wlntbi bluty But sing of youth; long since the Bella of Bow Culled Whittington; here Milton, Lamh and Feats Once bowed the knee to her;; and be that meets In some pale demon that gallant bund shall lueow filer secret, frail wlty Shakespeare long ago Left Stratford for the beauty of her etreete. • Still when the moth of twilight flutters down Poete•antl kings and sages long sluce duet Leave Paradise to gather at her gate; These gave their llreo as jewels tor leer crown, Left us this London as a holy trust, Bidding us keep their faith inviolate. --Lucy Mal!eson, Ants That Eat Forests. There la • a large part of'tNorthern Australia where wooden houses never last long, for If they are built they are eaten. The whole of the woodwork is chewed to pulp from the inside by white ants, and the house becomes a mere shell, with walls no thicker than paper. When a storm comes it falls fiat, Nothing short of sheet iron la safe from these paste. Furniture, rafters, floor boards,door posts—the ants eat them all. The white ant, which is not really an ant at all, but a termite, le the most terrible of insect plagues, It lives in hills the size of which compared with the proportions of the insect itself is simply taggering. Fif- teen to eighteen feet is the average height. But some bower to twenty-liye or even thirty feet! These hills are usually irregular cones with odd little pinnacles, but there is one sort of termite, called the meridisnal," which builds hills about live times as long as they are wide. The most extraordinary point about these strange dwellings is that the op- posite ends point with perfect precis- ion to he magnetic Poles. To -day there are hundreds of square miles of country dotted all over with these hills. Each hill marks the spota where a tree once grew, a tree now eaten away to its very roots, for the termite, not content with the destruc- tion it works above ground, will bur- row sixty -feet down into the earth in search of moisture. • Pulling Light to Pieces. Au:.astronomer studies the stars by phlling their light to pieces. This pro- cess enables him to discover their com- position. Two methods are used to break up starlight. The older is to pass the light through a triangular glass prism. The other, which is in some respects a superior method, is to employ a "dif- fraction grating," a plate of glass ruled with an enormous number of fine, ac- curately -spaced lines. The ruling of the lines is the most delicate work imaginable, It Is found that gratings ruled with about 15,000 lines to the inch give the beet results, This Is done by a marvellously con- trived machine. It consists of a car- riage which is moved along by a tiny screw. This screw is probably the most accurate in existence. Attached to the carriage is a cutting instrument carrying a diamond point, ' Each time the carriage passes across the work the diamond scores a line in the glass. The crew ensures the perfect spacing of the lines, which is essential to the success of the grating. The diamond point which cuts the lines must be perfectly formed, for should it develop the slightest chip the work would get ruined. The ma- chine must be kept at a constant tem- perature and for this reason it is in - Stalled underground, • a Crickets Are Harmful. A. cricket on the hearth la a pleas- ant thought, but an entomologist says that a cricket that gets into the house will eat holes in clothing and lame cur- tains. urtains. It is hard to believe that the "cricket on the hearth," the emblem of cheerfulnes„ and homely comfort, would do a thing like that, but the entomologists probably know more 'Mullaney. 1 about it than the writers. Through a Ailhen chute, heed fir .t, ilia ,. el -4 er t:4'.1 ci••itta be ''slut t,i.afarty" in a dcalonat modern of fire escapes, The tube is of balloon . ill; ,nc:::.eJ in beavy netting..' atlon 4 he most Scotland's Stone. The proposal made by a $oottieit member pt Parlialaent rehently that the atene. of Heathy tibeeld be efe moved from its t'esting-placo beneath the seat of the Cw'Puattan Chair, 1A Westutinater• Abbey, to Helyroed Yui' rtes, Feliatairele recalls a cumber of quatut old legontls. According to Cite oldest 4f these, it was this stone evhiolt I was Jaoob'a at Bethel, Aiiterwards it Wag In the peeses'sion of the Pharaohs a of Egypt. Then it came to Ireland, whore it was 0n .the Hilt of Tara In ,the year 700 B,C, 1 UltintatelY the stone was presented by al legate of the Paps to itoanoth 1 McAllen, •, as a reward for having con - Ported Scotland to Christianity, and 1 W43 brought to England by Edward I, as a sort of security for Scottish geed behavior. Another legend regarding the origin of the atone states that it was in the possession of the Soots before their Coneersiou to Chrlttanity, The god Odin, according to this version, threw the stone atthe head of aoottter Welty who had annoyed him. Od1u seems to have been a bad marksman, because the gtone fell,. not upon the offending divinity, but among the Scots, who held. It in reverence ever afterwards. Oae interesting point about the ori- gin of the stone thus diversely account- ed for is that it was examined some' dine ago by the late Lord Bryce and an expert mineralogf$L They found that the stone, which is of red sand- stone, did net at all correspond with specimens of sandstone procured from Scome. While the Stone of Destiny was at Somme the Kings of Scotland were crowned on it, and an old Latin prophecy, the origin of which Is as mysterious as that of the stone Itself, became current, Thls prophecy, trans lated, reads: "Unless the fates- are faithless found and visions merely dream, Where'er this stone be on the ground! the Scots shall reign supreme," It was this traditional couplet which gave to the stone its name of the Stone of Destiny. And the phephecy appeared to be fulfilled when James VI ai Scotland ,beanie Tames I. of Great Britain and Ireland. Thi$ might have been thought com- pensation enough for the loss of the stone, but it has always been a griev- ance In the Northern kingdom. At one time, so strong was this feeling, a number of young Scotsmen, mostly students, formed a plan to steal the stone from Westminster and smuggle it back to Scotland. The plan, how-. over, came to nothing. The present agitatlonleay, of course, have no more practical result:In- deed, according to a cynic, Scotland's real grievance is not that the stone is In Westminster—there are now more Scots in London than in Edinburgh but that any one who wishes to see it must give six pence. What the Thumb Reveal. The skort thumb rules the heart, ace cording to Henri Rem, the taoeouil French soteutiet. 11 la the thumb et toteranee, indlcating an individuality but $11811'47 developed) a feeble will, lack et Bale -tete, inability to resist, en Intpulelve, ehengeahle,, weak end. careless being, who aliowe ielmaelf to be led toward good au easily Ile to- ward evil. This ie the thumb of the naive artists like Albrecht pater, tyrannizer] over by hie wife. It is the thumb of ! Monaigne, tate alteptic; of La Foie Milne, the teller of fables; of Louis XVI„ the type o1, Indecision; of Alex- ander Dumas, the older, who when Ire wrote made himself laugh and ended by believing that what lie had dreamed Ior writen had really happened, In Cite case of the long -bombed per- son the head rules. It is the thumb of the excluaive. It Indicates a nem will, a decided personality in general, a thinking being wherewill is' informed with firmness, tenacity and poreever- ance, The tons, very large and very strong thumb shows the dominating will `power of men ofinitiative, who are l persevering, teaaceous, born to com- mand, and who feel the need of ruling others. It is the thumb of the ambitt- 1 ous, of those who "arrive," of the mase tern of men, the heads of cults whose will power 1a immense, Since in the long thumb it le the head which dominate, and in the short thumb tate heart, the long thumb ehould be the attribute of man and the short thumb that of woman. This is not always the case however, according to the famous French scien- t!st, Therefore we find that in married life the woman with long thumbs al- alwaye wishes to control and direct everything. If the husband, too, has a long thumb, then a state of war reigns in the home, There Is strife, separation and divorce. In marrying, a longthumbed man should select a short -thumbed woman. And a long -thumbed woman should select a short -thumbed man, for in that case she will have a docile cora- Pardon and a humble servant who will submit to her will and her caprices. Sunlight -Health. Every soldier who has been In one of the government •hospitals which ac- commodate patients senoritas from tuberculosis knows what is meant by "on the root" It is on a part of the roof specially designed for the purpose that the patients enjoy the healing and invigorating qualities of outdoor air and sunshine. "Outdoor air and sunshine!" Not only do they help to cure those who are ill but they preserve the health of those who are well. Sunshine and fresh air are Nature's best tonics. Sunlight helps to keep us in health. It improves physical condition and gh'es a mental benefit. In fate, the affect on our feelings does as much as the condition of the aft. Happiness and sunshine somehow go together. Sunlight.cures •some diseases and la of great benefit in others. Sufferers from tuberculosis and rickets find la sunlight their best medicine. Like other farms of treatment, sunlight must be taken with care and discre- titn. When a patient is given a sun - cure the exposure during the first treatment may be only the arms and feet for ten minutes. The next day a little more of the body is exposed and for a louger period. Thus the close is gradually increased until after a month the whole body may ,seek In sunlight for several home a day. The reason why sunlight works such won - dens for these sufferers is not well un- derstood but the benefits are remsrk- able, Sunlight is .one of the best germ killers. Many germs are Itiliel quick- ly by sunlight, For, tr; tanee, In a gloomy room an the north side of a house, tuberculosis gt rata may retrain alive for half a year. In a brightsun- ny room en the south side of tate' ante house, they may be !flied in half an hour. For disinfecting a room after a communicable disease, 5-unshiue and soap suds aro a winning team. Such a room may be made safe for use by a thorough hottsecleaning and scrubbing, followed by a sun bath with windows open for a couple of days. Disease germs lurk in dirt and darkness but suds and annshine kill them quickly. ! Might Not Be a Safe Breed. Mrs. Aristah Kratt—"And, of course, !we will have several pergolas in the garden," j Nies, Nurieh — "But, my dear, 1 wouldn't get a strange breed—those (dogs 'I1 bite somebody assure as you live." Dick Whittington's "Cat." The word "cats," meaning dainty food, is probably never used except In poetry, and seldom there, .get we call the person who caters for our food a caterer and in that form the word is of everyday occurrence. It has come into some prominence lately in connection with the fifth ran- tenary celebrations of the famous Dick Whitington, whose fame rests more solidly on his possession of a cat than -upon any municipal honor which came to him. There have been all manner of learned discussions as to Whitting. ton's cat, one of which pointed to the probability that this city merchant had a ship called the Cat- But the late Professor Rowley of Bristol, England, was. perfectly sure that 'eat" was an abbrevietlon of this old English word "cats," meaning provisions, which sur- vives, even in English geography, in the Cate Riverat Plymouth.. Garden -V l llag e, A French garden -village is planned exclusively for writers, painters, scalp - tors and ntusiciahs. It will occupy a. beautiful wood on the outskirts of Parte and may somewhat relieve the housing problem. The village con- tains a hundred houses and a uttmber of studios, all of which rent for a low price. The government, which awna the wood, has contributed nearly four million Prones toward the project and 11x,3 stipulated that every resident must have at least three cltilriren and an income less than twenty thousand francs a year, The place 11 to' fir =nee' for that great. artist Sarah Bernhardt. alaecvuerades were created in the sixteenth century by an Italian, it as sail]. To Enrich Science, The British mean 10 have ano:1utr try at Everest In tee. By that time it may be possible to hop by plane to the world's loftiest tumult. But that is not the way the mountaineers of the Alpine Club and the Royal °eogra- phical Society intend to tape. They feel that they owe it to the pioneers vho died in the previous attempts, to follow in their steps over the craves- See and along the ridges, In order to prove that hien can live end ntcvo in a tenuous atlncspbere depleted of its oxygen. Fier this climb Is meant tee enrich see:nice; it Is not simply a sporting exercise. Were the ascent nothing better than a gymnastic feat, It would not justify tee money spent neon the determtuel sleet! cf, "tire Roof of the World." Ambitious. Sad Is the day Ter any ratan witett he becomes absolutely cattstled with the life he is living, the thoughts that he 10 thinking and the 1100ds that he is tie- ing; weer' there eeaees to be forever beating nt the doors of itis soul it de.' sire to do sVantetlfing larger whlth he. feels and knows he tvas meant and in- tended to do. I5lrilllps Broo)o%.