Full Download Taxation of Individuals 6th Edition Spilker Solutions Manual
Full Download Taxation of Individuals 6th Edition Spilker Solutions Manual
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Chapter 2
Tax Compliance, the IRS, and Tax Authorities
SOLUTIONS MANUAL
Discussion Questions
(1) [LO1] Name three factors that determine whether a taxpayer is required to file a
tax return.
Filing status (e.g., single, married filing joint, etc.), age, and the taxpayer’s
gross income.
(2) [LO1] Benita is concerned that she will not be able to complete her tax return by
April 15. Can she request an extension to file her return? By what date must she
do so? If so, what is the latest date that she could file her return this year without
penalty?
Benita can file an automatic six month extension to file her tax return. This
extension must be filed by April 15th. October 15th is the latest date she can
file her return without penalty. If October 15th falls on a Saturday, Sunday,
or holiday, the extended due date will be the 1st day after October 15th that
is not a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday.
(3) [LO1] Agua Linda, Inc., is a calendar-year corporation. What is the original due
date for the corporate tax return? What happens if the original due date falls on a
Saturday?
The original due date for Agua Linda, Inc.’s corporate tax return is March
15th. If the 15th falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, the due date will be
the 1st day after March 15th that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday. In
this example, Agua Linda, Inc.’s due date is March 17th (i.e., the Monday
after Saturday the 15th).
(4) [LO2] Approximately what percentage of tax returns does the IRS audit? What
are the implications of this number for the IRS’s strategy in selecting returns for
audit?
Currently, less than 2 percent of all tax returns are audited. The IRS must
be strategic in selecting returns for audit in an effort to promote the highest
level of voluntary taxpayer compliance.
(5) [LO2] Explain the difference between the DIF system and the National Research
Program? How do they relate to each other?
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The DIF system is basically a scoring system that assigns a score to each tax
return that represents the probability that the tax liability on the return has
been underreported (i.e., a higher score, a higher likelihood of
underreporting). The IRS derives the weights assigned to specific tax return
attributes from historical IRS audit adjustment data from the National
Research Program (NRP).
The NRP analyzes randomly selected returns to ensure that the DIF scorings
are representative of the population of tax returns. The DIF system then
uses these (undisclosed) weights to score each tax return based on the tax
return’s characteristics. Returns with higher DIF scores are then reviewed
to determine if an audit is the best course of action.
(6) [LO2] Describe the differences between the three types of audits in terms of their
scope and taxpayer type.
The three types of IRS audits consist of correspondence, office, and field
examinations. Correspondence examinations are the most common. These
audits (as the name suggests) are conducted by mail and generally are limited
to one or two items on the taxpayer’s return. Among the three types of
audits, correspondence audits are generally the most narrow in scope and
least complex.
Office examinations are the second most common audit. As the name
suggests, the IRS conducts these audits at the local IRS office. These audits
are typically broader in scope and more complex than correspondence
examinations. Small businesses, taxpayers operating sole proprietorships,
and middle to high-income individual taxpayers are likely candidates for
office examinations. In these examinations, the taxpayer receives a notice
that identifies the items subject to audit, requests substantiation for these
items as necessary, and notifies the taxpayer of the date, time, and location of
the exam. Taxpayers may attend the examination alone, or simply let their
tax adviser or attorney attend on the taxpayer’s behalf.
Field examinations are the least common audit. The IRS conducts these
audits at the taxpayer’s office (i.e., place of business), or the location where
the taxpayer’s books, records and source documents are maintained. Field
examinations are generally the broadest in scope and most complex of the
three audit types. They can last many months to multiple years and
generally are limited to business returns and the most complex individual
returns.
(7) [LO2] Simon just received a 30-day letter from the IRS indicating a proposed
assessment. Does he have to pay the additional tax? What are his options?
Simon does not have to pay the additional tax at this time. The 30-day letter
2-2
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Solutions Manual – McGraw-Hill’s Taxation, by Spilker et al.
instructs the taxpayer that he or she has 30 days (1) to request a conference
with an appeals officer, who is independent (resides in a separate IRS
division) from the examining agent or (2) to agree to the proposed
adjustment. If the taxpayer chooses to go to the appeals conference and
reaches an agreement with the IRS at the appeals conference, the taxpayer
can then sign the Form 870. If the taxpayer and IRS do not agree on the
proposed adjustment at the appeals conference, or the taxpayer chooses not
to request an appeals conference, the IRS will then send the taxpayer a 90-
day letter (statutory notice of deficiency).
The U.S. District Court is the only court that provides for a jury trial; the
U.S. Tax Court is the only court that allows tax cases to be heard before the
taxpayer pays the disputed liability and the only court with a small claims
division (hearing claims involving disputed liabilities of $50,000 or less); the
U.S. Tax Court judges are tax experts, whereas the U.S. District Court and
U.S. Court of Federal Claims judges are generalists. Both the U.S. Tax
Court and local U.S. District Court cases appeal to the specific circuit court
based on the taxpayer’s residence. In contrast, all U.S. Court of Federal
Claims cases appeal to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit.
(9) [LO3] Compare and contrast the three types of tax law sources and give examples
of each.
The three types of tax law sources include statutory authority issued by
Congress (e.g., the Internal Revenue Code, committee reports), judicial
authority (i.e., rulings by the U.S. District Court, U.S. Tax Court, U.S. Court
of Federal Claims, U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, or U.S. Supreme Court),
and administrative authority (e.g., regulations, revenue rulings, and revenue
procedures). In addition to being issued by different groups, the format and
purposes of each of these authorities are different. Whereas statutory
authorities are tax laws enacted by Congress, judicial and administrative
authorities generally interpret enacted tax laws.
(10) [LO3] The U.S. Constitution is the highest tax authority but provides very little
in the way of tax laws. What are the next highest tax authorities beneath the U.S.
Constitution?
The Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and Supreme Court decisions represent
the highest tax authority beneath the U.S. Constitution. However, the
Supreme Court does not establish law, but instead, simply interprets and
applies the Code (and other authorities).
2-3
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"For heaven's sake, ma tante, tell me what the Duc de Tremont thinks!"
Her aunt laughed softly. The intrigue and romance of it all entertained
her. She had the sense of having made a very pretty concession to her niece,
of having accomplished a very agreeable pleasure trip for herself. As for
young Sabron, he would be sure to be discovered at the right moment, to be
lionized, decorated and advanced. The reason that she had no wrinkles on
her handsome cheek was because she went lightly through life.
"He thinks, my dearest girl, that you are like all your countrywomen: a
little eccentric and that you have a strong mind. He thinks you one of the
most tender-hearted and benevolent of girls."
"He thinks you are making a little mission into Algiers among the sick
and the wounded. He thinks you are going to sing in the hospitals."
"Young men don't care how mildly mad a beautiful young woman is,
my dear Julia."
"No," said the marquise, "that he will not. I have attended to that. He
will not leave his boat during the excursion, Julia. He remains, and we go
on shore with our people."
"I'm glad you think so," said her aunt rather shortly. "Now I have a
favor to ask of you, my child."
Julia trembled.
"Ma tante?"
"While we are on board the yacht you will treat Robert charmingly."
"I am always polite to him, am I not?"
"I thought," said the girl in a subdued voice, "that it would be like this.
Oh, I wish I had sailed on any vessel, even a cargo vessel."
Looking at her gently, her aunt said: "Don't be ridiculous. I only wish to
protect you, my child. I think I have proved my friendship. Remember,
before the world you are nothing to Charles de Sabron. A woman's heart,
my dear, has delusions as well as passions."
The girl crimsoned and bowed her charming head. "You are not called
upon to tell Robert de Tremont that you are in love with a man who has not
asked you to marry him, but you are his guest, and all I ask of you is that
you make the voyage as agreeable to him as you can, my dear."
Tremont was coming toward them. Julia raised her head and murmured:
"I thank you for everything. I shall do what I can." And to herself she
said: "That is, as far as my honor will let me."
CHAPTER XVI
The short journey to Africa—over a calm and perfect sea, whose waters
were voices at her port to solace her, and where the stars alone glowed
down like friends upon her and seemed to understand—was a torture to
Julia Redmond. To herself she called her aunt cruel, over and over again,
and felt a prisoner, a caged creature.
Tremont found her charming, though in this role of Florence
Nightingale, she puzzled and perplexed him. She was nevertheless
adorable. The young man had the good sense to make a discreet courtship
and understood she would not be easily won. Until they reached Algiers,
indeed, until the night before they disembarked, he had not said one word to
her which might not have been shared by her aunt. In accordance with the
French custom, they never were alone. The marquise shut her eyes and
napped considerably and gave them every opportunity she could, but she
was always present.
The Duc de Tremont had been often in love during his short life. He
was a Latin and thought that women are made to be loved. It was part of his
education to think this and to tell them this, and he also believed it a proof
of his good taste to tell them this as soon as possible.
He was a thoroughly fine fellow. Some of his forefathers had fought and
fallen in Agincourt. They had been dukes ever since. There was something
distinctly noble in the blond young man, and Julia discovered it. Possibly
she had felt it from the first. Some women are keen to feel. Perhaps if she
had not felt it she might even have hesitated to go to Algiers as his guest.
From the moment that the old duchess had said to Robert de Tremont:
"Julia Redmond is a great catch, my dear boy. I should like to have you
marry her," her son answered:
"Why don't you take your godmother and the American girl? Miss
Redmond has an income of nearly a million francs and they say she is well-
bred."
One of his friends had married an American girl and found out
afterward that she chewed gum before breakfast. Pauvre Raymond! Miss
Redmond did not suggest such possibilities. Still she was very different to a
French jeune fille.
With his godmother he was entirely at ease. Ever since she had paid his
trifling debts when he was a young man, he had adored her. Tremont,
always discreet and almost in love with his godmother, kept her in a state of
great good humor always, and when she had suggested to him this little
party he had been delighted. In speaking over the telephone the Marquise
d'Esclignac had said very firmly:
"My dear Robert, you understand that this excursion engages you to
nothing."
"We both need a change, and between ourselves, Julia has a little
mission on foot."
"By all means, any one you like," said his godmother diplomatically.
"We want to sail the day after to-morrow." She felt safe, knowing that no
worldly people would accept an invitation on twenty-four hours' notice.
"But of course not, Monsieur. Are all girls anywhere one thing?"
"Yes," said the Duc de Tremont, "they are all charming, but there are
gradations."
"How ridiculous!"
Her look was so frank that he laughed in spite of himself, and instead of
following up the politeness, he asked:
"There has been quite a deputation of the Red Cross women lately going
from Paris to the East."
"But," said the young man, "there are poor in Tarascon, and sick, too.
There is a great deal of poverty in Nice, and Paris is the nearest of all."
"The American girls are very imaginative," said Julia Redmond. "We
must have some romance in all we do."
Miss Redmond changed the subject quickly and cleverly, and before he
knew it, Tremont was telling her stories about his own military service,
which had been made in Africa. He talked well and entertained them both,
and Julia Redmond listened when he told her of the desert, of its charm and
its desolation, and of its dangers. An hour passed. The Marquise d'Esclignac
took an ante-prandial stroll, Mimi mincing at her heels.
"Ce pauvre Sabron!" said Tremont. "He has disappeared off the face of
the earth. What a horrible thing it was, Mademoiselle! I knew him in Paris;
I remember meeting him again the night before he left the Midi. He was a
fine fellow with a career before him, his friends say."
Miss Redmond, so far, had only been able to ask this question of her
aunt and of the stars. None of them had been able to tell her. Tremont
shrugged his shoulders thoughtfully.
"He may have dragged himself away to die in some ambush that they
have not discovered, or likely he has been taken captive, le pauvre diable!"
A slight murmur from the young girl beside him made Tremont look at
her. He saw that her hands were clasped and that her face was quite white,
her eyes staring fixedly before her, out toward Africa. Tremont said:
"You are compassion itself, Mademoiselle; you have a tender heart. No
wonder you wear the Red Cross. I am a soldier, Mademoiselle. I thank you
for all soldiers. I thank you for Sabron ... but, we must not talk of such
things."
He thought her very charming, both romantic and idealistic. She would
make a delightful friend. Would she not be too intense for a wife? However,
many women of fashion joined the Red Cross. Tremont was a
commonplace man, conventional in his heart and in his tastes.
"My children," said the marquise, coming up to them with Mimi in her
arms, "you are as serious as though we were on a boat bound for the North
Pole and expected to live on tinned things and salt fish. Aren't you hungry,
Julia? Robert, take Mimi to my maid, will you? Julia," said her aunt as
Tremont went away with the little dog, "you look dramatic, my dear, you're
pale as death in spite of this divine air and this enchanting sea." She linked
her arm through her niece's. "Take a brisk walk with me for five minutes
and whip up your blood. I believe you were on the point of making Tremont
some unwise confession."
"He's the most eligible young man in Paris, Julia, and the most difficult
to please."
"Ma tante," said the girl in a low tone, "he tells me that France at
present can do practically nothing about finding Monsieur de Sabron. Fancy
a great army and a great nation helpless for the rescue of a single soldier,
and his life at stake!"
"Julia," said the marquise, taking the trembling hand in her own, "you
will make yourself ill, my darling, and you will be no use to any one, you
know."
"You're right," returned the girl, "I will be silent and I will only pray."
She turned from her aunt to stand for a few moments quiet, looking out
at the sea, at the blue water through which the boat cut and flew. Along the
horizon was a mist, rosy and translucent, and out of it white Algiers would
shine before many hours.
CHAPTER XVII
The American girl and the Frenchman had become the best of friends.
She considered him a sincere companion and an unconscious confederate.
He had not yet decided what he thought of her, or how. His promise to
remain on the yacht had been broken and he paid his godmother and Miss
Redmond constant visits at their villa, which the marquise rented for the
season.
"I think she is engaged to some American cowboy who will come and
claim her, marraine."
"She is certainly very beautiful," said the Duc de Tremont, and he told
Julia so.
"You are very beautiful," said the Duc de Tremont to Miss Redmond, as
she leaned on the balcony of the villa. The bougainvillea leaned against her
breast. "When you stood in the hospital under the window and sang to the
poor devils, you looked like an angel."
"Poor things!" said Julia Redmond. "Do you think that they liked it?"
"Liked it!" exclaimed the young man enthusiastically, "couldn't you see
by their faces? One poor devil said to me: 'One can die better now,
Monsieur.' There was no hope for him, it seems."
Tremont and the Marquise d'Esclignac had docilely gone with Julia
Redmond every day at a certain hour to the different hospitals, where Julia,
after rendering some slight services to the nurses—for she was not needed
—sang for the sick, standing in the outer hallway of the building open on
every side. She knew that Sabron was not among these sick. Where he was
or what sounds his ears might hear, she could not know; but she sang for
him, and the fact put a sweetness in her voice that touched the ears of the
suffering and uplifted those who were not too far down to be uplifted, and
as for the dying, it helped them, as the soldier said, to die.
She had done this for several days, but now she was restless. Sabron
was not in Algiers. No news had been brought of him. His regiment had
been ordered out farther into the desert that seemed to stretch away into
infinity, and the vast cruel sands knew, and the stars knew where Sabron
had fallen and what was his history, and they kept the secret.
"And her hands look as though they could caress and comfort. I like her
awfully. I wish she were my friend."
"Don't be worldly," said Miss Redmond gravely, "be human. I like you
best so. Don't you agree with me?"
She had hurried before him down the little stairs leading into the garden
from the balcony, and she had begun to speak to the native before Tremont
appeared. In this recital he addressed his words to Julia alone.
"Pray do not suggest it," said the duke sharply. "Let him tell what he
will; we will pay him later."
"I have been very sick," said the man. "I have left the army. I do not like
the French army," said the native simply.
"You are very frank," said Tremont brutally. "Why do you come here at
any rate?"
"Hush," said Julia Redmond imploringly. "Do not anger him, Monsieur,
he may have news." She asked: "Have you news?" and there was a note in
her voice that made Tremont glance at her.
"I have seen the excellency and her grandmother," said the native,
"many times going into the garrison."
"What news have you of Captain de Sabron?" asked the girl directly.
Without replying, the man said in a melancholy voice:
"I was his ordonnance, I saw him fall in the battle of Dirbal. I saw him
shot in the side. I was shot, too. See?"
"You beast," he muttered, and pushed him back. "If you have anything
to say, say it."
"Yes," said Tremont, shaking him. "And if you do not give it, it will be
the worse for you."
Tremont said:
"You see the fellow is half lunatic and probably knows nothing about
Sabron. I shall put him out of the garden."
"Except," said the native steadily, with a glance of disgust at the duke,
"except for his little dog."
"Ah!" exclaimed Julia Redmond, with a catch in her voice, "do you hear
that? He must have been his servant. What was the dog's name?"
To her at this moment Hammet Abou was the most important person in
North Africa.
The man raised his eyes and looked at the white woman with
admiration.
"I have a wife and ten children," said the man, "and I live far away."
"Heavens! I haven't my purse," said Julia Redmond. "Will you not give
him something, Monsieur?"
"Perhaps the excellency's grandmother would like to hear, too," said the
man naively.
Once more Tremont seized the man by the arm and shook him a little.
"If you don't tell what you have to say and be quick about it, my dear
fellow, I shall hand you over to the police."
"Well, what have you got to tell, and how much do you want for it?"
"I want one hundred francs for this," and he pulled out from his dirty
rags a little packet and held it up cautiously.
"You take it," said the Duc de Tremont to Julia Redmond, "you take it,
Mademoiselle." She did so without hesitation; it was evidently Sabron's
pocketbook, a leather one with his initials upon it, together with a little
package of letters. On the top she saw her letter to him. Her hand trembled
so that she could scarcely hold the package. It seemed to be all that was left
to her. She heard Tremont ask:
"After the battle," said the man coolly, with evident truthfulness, "I was
very sick. We were in camp several days at ——. Then I got better and
went along the dried river bank to look for Monsieur le Capitaine, and I
found this in the sands."
"Do you believe him?" asked Julia Redmond.
"Hum," said Tremont. He did not wish to tell her he thought the man
capable of robbing the dead body of his master. He asked the native: "Have
you no other news?"
The man was silent. He clutched the rags at his breast and looked at
Julia Redmond.
"The dog!" Tremont shook him again. "Not yet." And he said to the
man: "If this is all you have to tell we will give you one hundred francs for
this parcel. You can go and don't return here again."
Her heart began to beat like mad and she looked at the man. His keen
dark eyes seemed to pierce her.
"To speak with you alone, Mademoiselle! Why should he? Such a thing
is not possible!"
When Tremont, with great hesitation, took a few steps away from them
and she stood face to face with the creature who had been with Sabron and
seen him fall, she said earnestly:
"Oh, can it be possible that what you say is true, Hammet Abou? Would
you really go if you could?"
The man made, with a graceful gesture of his hand, a map in the air.
"It was like this," he said; "I think he fell into the bed of an old river. I
think he drew himself up the bank. I followed the track of his blood. I was
too weak to go any farther, Excellency."
Julia Redmond put out a slim hand, white as a gardenia. The native
lifted it and touched his forehead with it.
"Hammet Abou," she said, "go away for to-night and come to-morrow
—we will see you." And without waiting to speak again to Monsieur de
Tremont, the native slid away out of the garden like a shadow, as though his
limbs were not weak with disease and his breast shattered by shot.
There was music at the Villa des Bougainvilleas. Miss Redmond sang;
not Good-night, God Keep You Safe, but other things. Ever since her talk
with Hammet Abou she had been, if not gay, in good spirits, more like her
old self, and the Marquise d'Esclignac began to think that the image of
Charles de Sabron had not been cut too deeply upon her mind. The
marquise, from the lounge in the shadow of the room, enjoyed the picture
(Sabron would not have added it to his collection) of her niece at the piano
and the Duc de Tremont by her side. The Comtesse de la Maine sat in a
little shadow of her own, musing and enjoying the picture of the Duc de
Tremont and Miss Redmond very indifferently. She did not sing; she had no
parlor accomplishments. She was poor, a widow, and had a child. She was
not a brilliant match.
After a few moments the Duc de Tremont quietly left the piano and
Miss Redmond, and went and sat down beside the Comtesse de la Maine,
who, in order to make a place for him, moved out of the shadow.
Julia, one after another, played songs she loved, keeping her fingers
resolutely from the notes that wanted to run into a single song, the music,
the song that linked her to the man whose life had become a mystery. She
glanced at the Duc de Tremont and the Comtesse de la Maine. She glanced
at her aunt, patting Mimi, who, freshly washed, adorned by pale blue
ribbon, looked disdainful and princely, and with passion and feeling she
began to sing the song that seemed to reach beyond the tawdry room of the
villa in Algiers, and to go into the desert, trying in sweet intensity to speak
and to comfort, and as she sat so singing to one man, Sabron would have
adored adding that picture to his collection.
The servant came up to the marquise and gave her a message. The lady
rose, beckoned Tremont to follow her, and went out on the veranda,
followed by Mimi. Julia stopped playing and went over to the Comtesse de
la Maine.
"To see some one who has come to suggest a camel excursion, I
believe."
"We are not far enough in the East for that," smiled Julia Redmond. She
regarded the comtesse with her frank girlish scrutiny. There was in it a fine
truthfulness and utter disregard of all the barriers that long epochs of
etiquette put between souls.
Julia Redmond knew nothing of French society and of the deference due
to the arts of the old world. She knew, perhaps, very little of anything. She
was young and unschooled. She knew, as some women know, how to feel,
and how to be, and how to love. She was as honest as her ancestors, among
whose traditions is the story that one of them could never tell a lie.
"Ma chère enfant," exclaimed the comtesse. "Why, you are adorable."
"It is terribly good of you to say so," murmured Julia Redmond. "It
shows how generous you are."
"But you attribute qualities to me I do not deserve, Mademoiselle."
"You deserve them and much more, Madame. I loved you the first day I
saw you; no one could help loving you."
"You see," said Julia Redmond swiftly, "I care absolutely nothing for the
Duc de Tremont, nothing."
"And I don't care in the least about being a duchess! My father made his
money in oil. I am not an aristocrat like my aunt," she said.
"Then," said the Comtesse de la Maine, forgetting that she was a Jesuit,
"you will marry Robert de Tremont simply to please your aunt?"
The Comtesse de la Maine looked at her companion and bit her lip. She
blushed more warmly than is permitted in the Faubourg St.-Germain, but
she was young and the western influence is pernicious.
"I saw at once that you loved him," said Julia Redmond frankly. "That's
why I speak as I do."
"Oh," said Julia Redmond, "don't deny it. I shan't like you half so well if
you do. There is no shame in being in love, is there?—especially when the
man you love, loves you."
The Comtesse de la Maine broke down, or, rather, she rose high. She
rose above all the smallness of convention and the rules of her French
formal education.
"You are wonderful," she said, laughing softly, her eyes full of tears.
"Will you tell me what makes you think that he is fond of me?"
"But you know it so well," said Julia. "Hasn't he cared for you for a long
time?"
"He has seemed to love me very dearly for many years; but I am poor; I
have a child. He is ambitious and he is the Duc de Tremont."
"Nonsense," said Julia. "He loves you. That's all that counts. You will be
awfully happy. You will marry the Duc de Tremont, won't you? There's a
dear."
"Dream of it now," said Julia Redmond swiftly, "for it will come true."
CHAPTER XIX
Listening to the man's jargon and putting many things together, Tremont
at last turned to the Marquise d'Esclignac who was sternly fixing the beggar
with her haughty condescension:
"Of course," said the Marquise d'Esclignac, "of course. The war
department must be informed at once. Why hasn't he gone there?"
"He has explained," said Tremont, "that the only way Sabron can be
saved is that he shall be found by outsiders. One hint to his captors would
end his life."
"Oh!" said the Marquise d'Esclignac. "I don't know what to do, Bob!
What part can we take in this?"
Tremont pulled his mustache. Mimi had circled round the beggar,
snuffing at his slippers and his robe. The man made no objection to the little
creature, to the fluffy ball surrounded by a huge bow, and Mimi sat
peacefully down in the moonlight, at the beggar's feet.
"She finds that he has a serious and convincing manner," said Tremont.
Now the man, who had been a silent listener to the conversation, said in
fairly comprehensible English to the Marquise d'Esclignac:
"If the beautiful grandmother could have seen the Capitaine de Sabron
on the night before the battle—"
Tremont put Mimi in her arms; she folded her lorgnon and sailed
majestically away, like a highly decorated pinnace with silk sails, and
Tremont, in the moonlight, continued to talk with the sincere and
convincing Hammet Abou.
CHAPTER XX
JULIA DECIDES
Now the young girl had his letters and her own to read. They were
sweet and sad companions and she laid them side by side. She did not
weep, because she was not of the weeping type; she had hope.
"Nothing, ma tante"
"He has quite changed. This excursion to Africa has entirely altered
him. He is naturally so gay," said the Marquise d'Esclignac. "Have you
refused him, Julia?"
"Julia, do you wish to spoil your life and your chances of happiness? Do
you wish to mourn for a dead soldier who has never been more than an
acquaintance? I won't even say a friend."
"Sometimes," said the girl, drawing near to her aunt and taking the older
lady's hand quietly and looking in her eyes, "sometimes, ma tante, you are
cruel."
"Did you ever think that the Duc de Tremont was in love?"
"I have been watching a lovely woman," said the girl simply, "and a
man. That's all. You wouldn't want me to marry a man who loves another
woman, ma tante, when the woman loves him and when I love another
man?"
"Let us think of the soldier," she murmured, "let us think just of him, ma
tante, will you not?"
He pressed both his hands to his forehead and his breast as the ladies
entered the vestibule. There was a stagnant odor of myrrh and sandalwood
in the air. The marble vestibule was cool and dark, the walls hung with
high-colored stuffs, the windows drawn to keep out the heat.
The Duc de Tremont and Madame de la Maine came out of the salon
together. Tremont nodded to the Arab.
"I hope you are a little less—" and he touched his forehead smiling, "to-
day, my friend."
"What have you got to-day?" asked Julia Redmond anxiously, fixing her
eager eyes upon Hammet.
It seemed terrible to her that this man should stand there with a vital
secret and that they should not all be at his feet. He glanced boldly around
at them.
Tremont took the chart. On the page was simply a round circle, drawn
in red ink, with a few Arabian characters and nothing else. Hammet Abou
traced the circle with his fingers tipped with henna.
Tremont, over the man's snowy turban, glanced at the others and
shrugged. Every one but Julia Redmond thought he was insane. She came
up to him where he stood close to Tremont. She said very slowly in French,
compelling the man's dark eyes to meet hers:
"You don't wish to tell us, Hammet Abou, anything more. Am I not
right? You don't wish us to know the truth."
Now it was the American pitted against the Oriental. The Arab, with
deference, touched his forehead before her.
"If I made a true plan," he said coolly, "your excellency could give it to-
morrow to the government."
She felt as though a slender thread was between her fingers, a thread
which led her to the door of a labyrinth and which a rude touch might cause
her to lose forever.
"If you had money would you start out to find Monsieur de Sabron at
once?"
"You shall have all the money you need. Do you think you would be
able to find your way?"
"Yes, Excellency."
The Duc de Tremont watched the American girl. She was bartering with
an Arabian for the salvation of a poor officer. What an enthusiast! He had
no idea she had ever seen Sabron more than once or twice in her life. He
came forward.
"Let me talk to this man," he said with authority, and Julia Redmond did
not dispute him.
In a tone different from the light and mocking one that he had hitherto
used to the Arab, Tremont began to ask a dozen questions severely, and in
his answers to the young Frenchman, Hammet Abou began to make a
favorable impression on every one save the Marquise d'Esclignac, who did
not understand him. There was a huge bamboo chair on a dais under a
Chinese pagoda, and the Marquise d'Esclignac took the chair and sat
upright as on a throne. Mimi, who had just been fed, came in tinkling her
little bells and fawned at the sandals on Hammet Abou's bare feet. After
talking with the native, Tremont said to his friends:
"This man says that if he joins a Jewish caravan, which leaves here to-
morrow at sundown, he will be taken with these men and leave the city
without suspicion, but he must share the expenses of the whole caravan.
The expedition will not be without danger; it must be entered into with
great subtlety. He is either," said Tremont, "an impostor or a remarkable
man."
"He is an impostor, of course," murmured the Marquise d'Esclignac.
"Come here, Mimi."
"Further he will not disclose to us. He has evidently some carefully laid
plan for rescuing Sabron."
There was a pause. Hammet Abou, his hands folded peacefully across
his breast, waited. Julia Redmond waited. The Comtesse de la Maine, in her
pretty voice, asked quickly:
"But, mes amis, there is a man's life at stake! Why do we stand here
talking in the antechamber? Evidently the war office has done all it can for
the Capitaine de Sabron. But they have not found him. Whether this fellow
is crazy or not, he has a wonderful hypothesis."
"Ah, she's got the heart!" she said to herself. "I knew it." She crossed
the hall to the Comtesse de la Maine and slipped her arm in hers.
"No," said the Marquise d'Esclignac from her throne. "He is one of
those unfamilied beings who, when they are once taken into other hearts are
all the dearer because of their orphaned state."
The Comtesse de la Maine felt the girl's arm in hers tremble. Hammet
Abou answered none of these questions, for he did not understand them. He
said quietly to Tremont: