Part 13 (1/2)

On the saence froht Tarzan a letter from D'Arnot which had been forwarded from Sidi-bel-Abbes It opened the old wound that Tarzan would have been glad to have forgotten; yet he was not sorry that D'Arnot had written, for one at least of his subjects could never cease to interest the ape-man Here is the letter:

MY DEAR JEAN:

Since last I wrote you I have been across to London on a matter of business I was there but three days The very first day I came upon an old friend of yours--quite unexpectedly--in Henrietta Street Now you never in the world would guess whom None other than Mr Samuel T

Philander But it is true I can see your look of incredulity Nor is this all He insisted that I return to the hotel with him, and there I found the others--Professor Archimedes Q Porter, Miss Porter, and that enormous black woman, Miss Porter's maid--Esmeralda, you will recall While I was there Clayton came in They are to be married soon, or rather sooner, for I rather suspect that we shall receive announcements almost any day On account of his father's death it is to be a very quiet affair--only blood relatives

While I was alone with Mr Philander the old fellow became rather confidential Said Miss Porter had already postponed the wedding on three different occasions He confided that it appeared to him that she was not particularly anxious to marry Clayton at all; but this tih

Of course they all asked after you, but I respected your wishes in the in, and only spoke to them of your present affairs

Miss Porter was especially interested in everything I had to say about you, and asked ht in picturing your desire and resolve to go back eventually to your native jungle I was sorry afterward, for it did seeers to which you wished to return ”And yet,” she said, ”I do not know

There are le presents to Monsieur Tarzan At least his conscience will be free from remorse

And there are moments of quiet and restfulness by day, and vistas of exquisite beauty You e that I should say it, who experienced such terrifying experiences in that frightful forest, yet at ti to return, for I cannot but feel that the happiest moments of my life were spent there”

There was an expression of ineffable sadness on her face as she spoke, and I could not but feel that she knew that I knew her secret, and that this was her way of transht still enshrine your ed to another

Clayton appeared nervous and ill at ease while you were the subject of conversation He wore a worried and harassed expression Yet he was very kindly in his expressions of interest in you I wonder if he suspects the truth about you?

Tennington careat friends, you know He is about to set out upon one of his inter the entire party to acco of circu Africa this time I told him that his precious toy would take him and some of his friends to the bottoet it out of his head that she was a liner or a battleshi+p

I returned to Paris day before yesterday, and yesterday I met the Count and Countess de Coude at the races They inquired after you De Coude really seems quite fond of you Doesn't appear to harbor the least ill will Olga is as beautiful as ever, but a trifle subdued I ih her acquaintance with you that will serve her in good stead during the balance of her life It is fortunate for her, and for De Coude as well, that it was you and not another a's heart I am afraid that there would have been no hope for either of you

She asked me to tell you that Nikolas had left France She paid hiratulating herself that she got rid of him before he tried to carry out a threat he recently made her that he should kill you at the first opportunity

She said that she should hate to think that her brother's blood was on your hands, for she is very fond of you, andso before the count It never for a ht be any possibility of any other outcoreed with her in that He added that it would take a regiment of Rokoffs to kill you He has a most healthy respect for your prowess

Have been ordered back to my shi+p She sails from Havre in two days under sealed orders If you will address me in her care, the letters will find me eventually I shall write you as soon as another opportunity presents

Your sincere friend, PAUL D'ARNOT

”I fear,” a has throay her twenty thousand francs”

He read over that part of D'Arnot's letter several times in which he had quoted from his conversation with Jane Porter Tarzan derived a rather pathetic happiness from it, but it was better than no happiness at all

The following three weeks were quite uneventful On several occasions Tarzan saw thewords with Lieutenant Gernois; but no a by Tarzan revealed the Arab's lodgings, the location of which Tarzan was anxious to ascertain

Gernois, never cordial, had kept more than ever aloof fro-room of the hotel at Aumale His attitude on the few occasions that they had been thrown together had been distinctly hostile

That he , Tarzan spent considerable ti in the vicinity of Bou Saada

He would spend entire days in the foothills, ostensibly searching for gazelle, but on the few occasions that he cah to any of the beautiful little animals to harm them he invariably allowed the his rifle fro the most harmless and defenseless of God's creatures for the

In fact, Tarzan had never killed for ”pleasure,” nor to hihteous battle that he loved--the ecstasy of victory And the keen and successful hunt for food in which he pitted his skill and craftiness against the skill and craftiness of another; but to come out of a town filled with food to shoot down a soft-eyed, pretty gazelle--ah, that was crueller than the deliberate and cold-blooded murder of a fellow man Tarzan would have none of it, and so he hunted alone that none