Zurich Herald, 1924-11-06, Page 2THE WEB
Ells footsteps must have been heard,
far the door opened before he, had
reached the. bell.
'"Oh, I thought it was the doctor!"
'said, the girl,
"No, it's I," said • Masterton, "What
e) has happened? Can I be of any ser -
A man and a girl lingered in an Es- vies?"
Belk lane and talked of trivialities. And 4'My uncle is ill," She beckoned him
while they talked the girl's heart was and closed the door again. "His heart
asking: "Will he, before he goes?" And .is weak, and he received a letter this
the man was telling himself; "I dare inor•ning weieh—" ,
not! She would loathe me it she knew A. voice calledfrom one of the bed -
the truth!" So he kept silence. • rooms, and she left him.
t "He wield like to speak to you," she
The bell in the inner office rang, and said presently from the lauding.
Masterton went in. Hunnett was lean-, , Masterton went up. The old pian,
ing back in his chair. He raised his in a shabby dressing -gown, was on a
slatey-grey eyes slowly. 'couch by the fire. He saw Masterton
"'Where did you spend Your lastI hesitate, and beckoned imperiously,
holidaYs?" "Come in! Listen! I've had an -
"At Ushingham, Mr. Hunnett" other communication from that villain
"Well, you'll be given an opportunity Hunnett. He talks of sending someone
of paying a second visit, You'll go down here—the one thing I feared. If
straight down to -morrow. There's a you could stay—"
• fool there named Fellowes"—a chill He broke off, panting.
touched Mactertou's heart—"who bor-. "Yes, I'll stay," said Masterton.
rowed a hundred a few months back.' Other footsteps sounded outside. It
I've had to write pretty stiffly, and was the .doctor: Masterton went down
now he won't answer the letters. He's to the library. He could hear pacing to
gat to be taught that I'm not a pleas- and fro overhead, the murmur of
aut man to deal with when a client voices.. At last the doctor departed.
gets on the high horse! It's the first; It was three o'clock before Margaret
lob of the kind I've given you, and I came in. The look on her face shocked
don't•expect you to boggle it, I'll give I.
and chilled him.
you all the figures before you leave to -1 "Is—is your uncle—"
night.' That's all!" I 'He is. still living, and still ignorant
Masterton slept little that night—a, of the worst. He hasn't guessed all.
decent man sometimes finds it difficult There are some phases of human vile-
to sleep when he is a moneylender's mess that he's incapable of suspect -
confidential clerk, and knows that re- ing."
signation means the resumption of a The unutterable scorn in her eyes
hopeless search for work. But he wastold him that she knew.
at Ushingham next morning. 1 A few moments ago," she continued
The Pomegranates. Folilowes' house,' in a level voice, `this arrived." She
was some fifty yards from the stop- hold up a telegram. "It is from the
ing-place. 'With his heart thudding, man Hunnett, asking if his representa-
MID THE WORST IS, YET T9, GQMEI
London. „Scotland's Stone. .
her castle hero, l., The propcaeil nta.de by a Scottish.
Romansh bob set k e
where beats member of. Parliament 'recently. that
The art o England; 1 heartl d hithor no, winds the stone of Destiny Pholeld be re;
But sing of.youtli; long Once the Bells the seat of the Coronation Chair, to
of Bow i Wd: kc
'Westminster AlebeY, to Holyrooal-
Called Whittington; 'here Milton, Lainb ace,. Edinburgh, recalls -a' number <.of
and Keats quaint old legends. Acoording to the
Once bowed the knee to her; and .he oldest of these, it was this stone which
that meets was Jacob's at Bethel. Afterwards it
In some ^pale dawn that gallant band was in the possession of the I'haraolis
s'ha't know of EgypteThen it oame' to Ireland,
Her'secret, and why Shakespeare long whore it was.on the Bill of Tara in'
a,go the year 700 B.C. •
Left Stratford for the beauty of her TJltiiiiately the stone was presented
,s'treets. by a legate of the Pape to Kenneth.
McAlpin, as a reward for having con -
Still when the moth of twilight flutters verted Scotland to Christianity, and
down was brought to England by Edward
Poets and kings and sages long since I. as a Fort of security for Scottish
dust good behavior.
Leave Paradise to gather at her gate; Another legend regarding the origin
These gave their liven as jewels- for of the stone states that it was in the
her crown, possession of the Scots before their
Left us this Loudon as a. holy trust, conversion to Chritianity. The god
l3iddiug us keep their faith inviolate. Odin, according to this version, tbrew
—Lucy Matteson, the stone„a.t the head of another diety
a___- who had annoyed him. Odin seems to
have been a bad marksman; because
Ants That Eat Forests. the stone fell, not upon the offending
There Is'a large part of Northern divinity, but among the Scots, who
Australia where wooden Houses never hell it in reverence ever afterwards.
last long, for if they are built they are One interesting point about" the oxi•
eaten. The whole of the woodwork le gin of the'stone thus diversely account
inside
chewed . to pulp from the by
c 4 v J I
The Aeroplane: - I Easter Island Folk Tell Time
he walked up to the gate. tive is here. The same man, it ap- The morning washed the wind with
"Is Mr. Fellowes at home” Master- pears, was sent on Friday, Hunnett April rain
ton asked. But before the maid could even furnishes a description—"medium And there were eagles on the noon-
answer a girl appeared and held out height,' and so forth. You, of course, day blue;
With none to takethe paths on still waves . its fronded palms in air. These hills are usually irregular
which they W. Captain Alfred Kling sends to "Illus cones with odd little pinnacles, • but
Now as the world's unhappy voices trierte Zeitung" an account of some of there is one sort of termite, called the
wane its,.peculiarities. "aneridisnal, which builds hills about
Great wings are on the loneliness "In former times," the captain writes, five times as long as they are wide. Stone of Destiny. And the phophecy
again, "the tribes and clans on the island The most extraordinary point about appeared to be fulfilled when James VI
And ere it home from out the Crim -
by Sunlight.
Easter Island, in the South Pacific, teen to eighteen feet is the average ' „
Unless the fates are faithless found
blow moved, from its' re•5'ting-place beneath
'1
ed for is that it was examined some
white ants, and the house becomes a 1 time ago by the late Lord Bryce and
mere shell, with walls no thicker than an expert mineralogist. They found
paper. When a storm comes it falls
that the stone, which is of red sand
flat. 1 stone, did not at all correspond with
Nothing short of sheet iron is safe'specimens of sandstone procured front
from these pests. Furniture, rafters, 1 Scome,
floor boards, door posts—the ants eat I While the Stone of Destiny was at
them all. The white ant, which is not Soome the Kings of Scotland were
reallyan ant at all, but a termite, is crowned on it, and an old Latin
the most terrible of insect plagues. prophecy, the origin of which Is as
P
It lives in hills the size o W i 'mysterious as that of the stone e ,
compared with the proportions sof the became current. This prophecy, trane-
insect itself is simply taggering. Fif- lated, reads:
which recently was reported to have height. But some tower to twenty-five
vanished in a submarine convulsion, or even thirty feet!
her hand with a quick gesture of wel-
come.
"Have you Dome down here for a
holiday?"
"A—a sort of holiday," he stammer-
ed.
"Will you be staying long?"
"Only for 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 us what brings you to
Ushingham."
Masterdom dropped intoa chair.
"It is merely a business visit," he
___.said mechanically, and was grateful blind instinct to break from the web
beyond measure when Fellowes went that enmeshed him, he made his way
to Hunnett's- flat.
"Is Mr. Hunnett in?": liasked the
` t
lilt attendant.
The man stared.
"Mr.,Hunnett was run down in the
fog as he was leaving his office , this
said Masterton huskily: evening. He died before they got him
"The facts," said Fellowes, "are to the hospital."
these. Some time ago I borrowed • •
money from a so-called corporation, Masterton went to the funeral. When
which proves to be a private concern the little group about the grave broke
directed by a Mr. Jason Hunnett. I up, a clean-shaven man beckoned hint
'Signed certain documents which I, aside.
read, I fear, perfunctorily. I was very "My name is Rousdell," he said, and
unwell and Worried at the time. I , produced a card. "The late Mr. Hun -
won't go into details over the coffer -1 nett was my cousin, and I am .his
pondence which followed my failure executor."
to pay the extortionate interest de- "Mastertondded waiting
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, carie to a station, and
caught a London train.
With no plans, nothing beyond a
on to discuss his own literary work.
But presently the old pian said:
"I would like year ad'' ce on -a busY-
ness matter," he said. "I—I haven't
many intimate friends here."
"I hope I may he able to help vou;"
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
son west,
A weary bird returning to the nest,
Into the sunset drifts the -aeroplane. caves of the island. The original To -day there are hundreds of square pensati�on enough for the loss, of the
Kanakas had a very. queer cult, for miles of country dotted all over with stone, but it has always been a griev-
A mote in that magnificence,` it dies, which they built gigantic statues of a these hills. Each hill marks the spots ante in the Northern kingdom. At one
Fading upon the barren, splendid skies lava. The biggest of these statues is 1 where a tree once grew, a tree now time, so -strong was this' feeling, a
That fade in turn, closing their that of the thunder god. It is twenty- i eaten away to its very roes, for the number of young -Scotsmen, mostly
courts of light. - one meters long and seven meters; termite, not content with the destruc- s"tudents, formed a plan to steal the
lived in constant warfare with each these strange dwellings is that the op -
other. The captives were eaten. Many posite ends point with perfect precis -
human bones still lie about in the ion to he magnetic Poles.
of Scotland became James' I. of Great
Britain and.Ireland.
This might have been thought coin-:
Da tremor high •d d weighs twenty tons. Whether tion it works above ground will bur- stone from Westminster.and smuggle
Darkness and then a wide
an w g it back to Scotland, The plan, how -
these far: these stone monuments• were idols or # •ow sixty Peet down into the earth in
Are those your wings, gray condor of the statues of famous island person- search of moisture. ever ,came to nothing.
the night, --
aiities cannot be ascertained.
Seen and then lost below the setting "Some of these monuments carry a
star? mysterious heirogiyphic script, There Pulling lag t to ems.
The present agitation iiiay, of course,,.,
have no Blore practical result. In-
deed, according to .a cynic, Scotland's
in Youth's CoinAn astronomer studies the stars by 'real •grievance is not that,the stone i,
George • Sterling ars about 555 ofthese ::giants, the Westminster --there are now more�
anion. , a ''r . a tokens -of �fohuer civilization. In4863 pulling their, light to pieces. This pro -}n
p Peru -1 Scots in London than in Edinburgh'.
the sland'.was discovered by. Ce s enables him to discover their cam
slave.dealers, who eaught the majority position. but that any one who wishes to see it
of the Kanakas and took them by force Two methods are used to break up must give six pence,
to the Perunic Guano islands, where starlight. The older is to pass the
they died of epidemics. light through a triangular glass prism.
"The island people own wild chick The other, which is in some respects
ens and pigs. The chickens fly like' a superior method, is to employ a "die -
the fraction grating," a plate of glass ruled
trees. The owners identify their i with an enormous number of :fine, ac
/ S chickens by a cut on•the toes. Wild -1 curately-spaced lines.
cats are the only•game on Easter Is- The ruling of the lines is the most
land. Daytime is determined by, the delicate work imaginable. It is found
position of the sun. Tobacco plants that gratings. ruled with about 15,000
grow an the islands. The natives use lines to the inch give the best results.
banana leaves as- cigarette paper; they This is done by a marvellously con- ,
always carry a provision of banana trived machine. It consists of a car-,
nodded,
".Chere's nothing to be gained by lis- .�.�
mantled I need only show you this." riage which is moved along- by a tiny
to the carriage is a Dotting instrument
He extended a letter. 1vTasterton ! Cueing his methods of business. w screw. This screw is probably the
d; most accurate in existence. Attached
lar. me, and that I don't propose.to con- this sheet! It don't cover the news! I seemed to n,• t marriage among
"Probably," Fellowes contlnu.ed, tinue thein. You, I understand, were Newsie–"Dere ain't no sheet goin members of tl;e e.,me household was . carrying a diamond point. Each time
"you've never met that particular his clerk and in his confidence?" to cover de news to -day, mister;,, it's prohibited,. A ridlation of this law– the carriage passes across the work
brand of Shylock before You'll note ""I was, to a certain extent." too big! Uxtree! Here yer: are. was punished by putting both_offend-
mended.
ffend the -diamond -scores a line,in the glass:
leaves at their belt.
, Ill Too the•Sheet. "I could never quite find out ho
read it. He had dispatched many simi- 1 only say that they never appealed to Old Gent—"Hey,' boy I don't want marital condit''• were on the isian
that he refers to immediate and dras- "Then I've a proposition to make. T
tie steps. What steps can he rater hi d t But Salted Babies. •complete pre -nuptial freedom. Cacti- of the lines., which is essential to the
I
Might Not Be a Safe Breed.
Mrs. Aristah Kratt—"And,_of course,
we will have several' pergolas in the-
. garden."
Mrs-. Nurich "But, my dear, 1
wouldn't get a srtrange' breed --those
dogs 'Il bite somebody as sure as you:
live."
ers to death. Otherwise there was . The crew ensures• the perfect spacing
want the whole t ng tvoun i p.
every case must be gone into on its Salt plays a curious part in christen ous fathers shut theirdaughters all 'success of the grating
Masterton shook his head.
"I'm hardly qualified to offer advice."
"I'd defy the vermin to do his worst ,and repayment made where a client infants skin -- Y P
hasbeen harshly treated
merits. And that's going to be your ing ceremonies in some countries. The diamond point which cuts the
job. Interest limited to five per cent., The Armenians cover a new-bora____--4,--....lines must be perfectly formed, for
ih fine' owdered salt. A Likely Story, should it develop the slightest chip
While three Irishmen were rowing the work would get ruined. The ma-
tle the details later. The point is, thesalt is washed off with warm water. on a river, writes a contributor, their chine must be kept at a constant tem -
ll draw three hundred a year while A mountain tribe of Asia Minor leaves boat upset. Only one of them could perature and for thin reason it is in
you red in this way for r
the winding up proce.s is goingpromptly made for the stalled underground.
to the family his s i
if it weren't for Margaret. He's not •We can set- After being left on .one for three hours,
likely to come down in person, I sup-
pose,• or to send anyone."
Masterton made a halting allusion s. Din on the baby cava swim, and he promp Y a
lawyer. It was an un- and I'll do my
best to find you a berth twenty-four hours. nearest bank, leaving companion _
ark. Fellowes' solicitor, d „ The Greeks sprinkle their babies thebottom f the capsized 1
fortunate rem afterwar s.
it appeared, was at present serving He held out his hand. Masterton, with salt at the christening, a custom
three years' penal servitude for em- dazed, could only mutter his thanks. that also marks the naming of child-
be"Seve nt. It was a month later when the door ren in some parts of Germany.
"Seventeen thousand of the money office opened. and Mar- In countries where the custom pot -
of Hunnett's p
he embezzled was mine," said the old garet Fellowes came in. Masterton sists it is believed that the practice en-,
mau, "That may help you to, under- that she was in deep mourning.
saw
stand why I fell back on this scoun•
drel."
Hunuett was in a bad temper on the
following morning, and greeted Mas-
terton with a scowl.
""Did you make the old fool under-
stand what would happen if he didn't
pay up?"
"He—he can't pay. He's been rob-
bed. His solicitor--•--" fidant, and told him the thing you did,
Hunnett flung himself back in his 1 suppose it didn't occur to you that,
chair, glaring.
"What's at the 'back of this?" he de anyone else might be interested
mended. And when Masterton was enough to ask questions?"
i ilenta "A woman, as linnet, I sup- A dull color crept in Ma,sterton's
pose?" cheeks, T -ie shook his head.
"We were discussing Mr. Fellowes." "We had a long talk this morning.
"We'll discuss what I choose to lis- At the end he told nie that your work `
Miss, But yon can go back to your here was practically ilnislzed, and that
room for the present, You've made a you were taking up a post with an en-;
hash of the business, but I'm willing to eineering firm—a'post with real pos.;
give you a second chance; You'll go ! sibilities. There wore other things ho
down to the hoarse again on Monday, , told me --things I hadn't dreamed of 1
tell Fellowes exaetiy what you're in-' before, If I've beet cruel or unjust—!
etruoted to tell hien, and wire the re -'she paused; to ,steady her voice—"I
suit inrniedia,tely'after the interview.; want you to make allowances. If ever
If you fail you'll be sacked at once,' you care to call and see roe--"
without references, Understand?" "Care!"
turned iI "Good•hyr for the present, then!'"
Masterton r9rrsr., and went. He
loathed xluunett, loathed himself, and rho said.
yet saw no avenue cif escape. Dismiss- 1'Ter' eyes avoided his, but he caught i
01 would n1oea tlaother aigoeizing des- lire shadowy smile. on her lips,' and•
delft into the.r.it of destitution his heart glowed.:
On Monday- he was again at i, siiing- lie had'po need now to asic forgive.
tlain. As he seeing epos the gate load-, ness. Tl• ft' rr',raw d clay, not very far
iii to Pellowat' bailee lie caught the distant„ wire,, he might asst an even
eika of firtyl,neit stt ssii upper window,' .greater thins',
"I have called," she began levelly,
dows a child with health and strength
and that it also wards off evil in -
"to say that I—I aim grateful for all ! fluaucas•,
you have arranged."
A scientist has calculated that the
dell. The final decision was his." eyelids of the average man open and
"Any. thanks are due to Mr. Rons-
olin.ging too om o
craft, Soon, however, the swimmer
returned and one by one rescued his
imiperrilled friends.
When they were all safe on the bank
one of the men inquired of the res-
cuerer, "Mullaney, why didn't ye take
wan o,1 us the first trip ye 'made to
shore 'stead o' gate' empty-handed?"
"Sure, an' didn't I have to save me
o-Vn life first?" deinanded the ocute
Mullaney.
"I've already seen and thanked him." shut four millifii times in a year.
She paused, her hand on the back of
the chair Masterton had wheeled for -1
ward. He saw that she was trembling,
"When—when you made him your eon-
' Crickets Are Harmful.
A cricket on the hearth is a pleas-
ant thought, but an entomologist says
that a cricket that gets into the house
will eat holes inclothingand lace cur-
tains. It is hard to believe that the
"cricket on the hearth," the emblem
1 of cheerfulnees and homely 'comfort,
would do a thing like that, but the
entomologists probably know more
1 about it than the.writers.
Through a silken chutehead fir at, this fire-trapred victim hes "slid tosafety" in a deittonstration of the most
„
modern of fire escapes" The tilbe is of balloon silk encased in heavy netting,
Dick Whittington's "Cat."
The word "cates," meaning dainty
food, is probably never used except in
poetry,, and seldom there, yet 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, jiroininence
lately in connection with the fifth• cen
tenary celebrations of the famous Dick •
Wlritington, whose fame rests more
solidly on his possession of a cat than
:upon any municipal honor which carie
to him,
There have been all 'neither of
learned discussions' as tow,. 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 'cat" was an
abbreviation of this old English word
"cate," meaning provisions, -whichSur-
vives, even in' English geography, in
the Otte River at Plymouth," .
Garden-VI!lag'e,
A French :garden-viliage.is planned
exclusively for writers, painters,'sculp-
tors and musicians. ` It will occupy a
beautiful wood on the outskirts of
Parts and 'may somewhat •relieve the
housing problem, • The village con-
tains a hundred houses arid a number
of studios, all of which rent for eloi'v
price. The goveruthent, which owtte
the wood, has'contributed nearly four
million francs toward the project and
has stipulated that every resident
must 'have at least three dhiidren and
an income Jess than; twenty thousand
francs a year. The place is to be,
named for that great artist Sarah..
73ernhardt, •
Masquerades were created in Ohl
sixteenth century by an Italian it it(
said,: