She may be overcome at times, side
tracked for any special desire that de
mands a clear way; but she's after us,
fast enough, with that battered red
lantern of hers, which, brought down
from all tongues crisply into our own,
reads-"Don't do it!" She herself is
not wholly without cunning. She rare
ly stands boldly upon the track to flag
us as we come. She realizes that she
might be permanently ditched. No; it
is far safer to run after us and catch
us. A d'sgession, perhaps, but mo.r
pertinently an application.
Temptation then no longer at his
shoulder, George began to have
qualms, little chaps, who started buz
zing into his moral ears with all that
maddening, interminable drone which
makes one marvel however do school
teachers survive their first terms.
Among these qualms there was none
that pleaded for the desolate Turk or
his minions whose carelessness bad
made the theft possible. For all George
cared, the Moslem might grind his
forehead in the soulless sand and
make the air palpitate with his plaints
to Allah. No. The disturbance was
due to the fact that never before had
he been wittingly the purchaser of
stolen goods. He never tried to gloze
over the subtle distinction between
knowing and suspecting; and if he had
been variously suspicious in regard to
certain past bargains, conscience had
found no sizeable wedge for her de
murrers. The Yhiordes was confessed
ly stolen.
He paused, with his hand upon the
door-knob of his room. If he didn't
keep the rug, it would fall into the
hands of a collector less scrupulous.
