Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, December 11, 1916, Page 8

W Scarler 7 Vitagraph Company | From the Popular Novel of the same name| by C. N. and A . MR. EARLE WILLIAMS MISS GYPSY O'BRIEN CHAPTER IX. THE GOLD CIGARET CASE. “Christopher Race, Motorist, Lon- don,” was scrawled in pencil and in an uneducated hand on a commen envel- ope; that and nothing more; yet the powers that be in the postoffice had sent it to him without delay. This was a tribute to his fame, bat it was not enlightening. In the common envelope was a half sheet of thick and creamy parchment paper with a monogram in pale blue and silver; a pretty monogram, but so Intricate, consisting as it did of three letters, as to be almost impossi- ble for an uninitiated person to deci- pher. On this half sheet, written in a firm and somewhat. original hand, which niight be.that & a man or a woman, were two sentences and part of another. %, 8ir: and your car and saw both; I know that you Are a gentle- man and can be trusted. I hope very much that you are free and can come here by Thursday, if possible.early in the morning, as it is a matter of life and death to me, to get away—'" Here the letter broke off, giving no « clew to the nature of the errand or to the whereabouts of the nameless writer. But Christopher was able to ount :&pmtmuk. The scrawled 1, have heard of you hotographe of lope been sent out from Stoke d’Estcourt, In Warwickshire. No, there was nothing to do, and yet the last, broken sentence haunted Christopher. He found himself con- stantly repeating it, and wondering whether his coming with Scarlet Run« ner really had been g matter of Jife lmlI death tod m:‘ w:l:;r bA::l‘n tng c n he pondered at the breaking of I wm:\untmm. which, if finished, A might have explained all. He studied the mono , fancying that it must mean V, L. H., and, though the hand- ‘writing was uncommonly strong for a woman, the monogram was cssen- tially feminine.* 2 Altogether, from telling himself that there was nothing to do in the affair of the unfinished letter, Chris- topher went in a'few hours to the ex- /! e of determining (to do a great _The dbook told him that d’ rt was a small but in- ting hamlet situated about three lles from a rallway station. The ' ?eh was celebrated for its brasses and a Norman font. 'fhe sixteenth century inn, still unspoifed, attracted artists. There were several fine old houses in th e and on the out- also a numl uresque cottages, and QOlffllH were advised to Vvisit the ruins of|a castle in the neigh- borhood. £ X This description nnnounrd Chris® ~ topher in the somewhat wild idea that 3 going to Stoke @' urt and mak- inquiries h4 might be able to find who had sent him'the uTflmhed _His journey was smooth and un- - eventful and it was still early in the murky evening when the blazing rays his lamps Hluminated the quaint front of the old inn of which he had read in the guide-book.. Welcoming ~ lights, streaming through red blinds, ¥ l‘un;‘d”'fi speak of warmth and com- n. barn which had been converted into m: and en“tnd a bedroom. mm thing he ma“ while h'll dlnfi being prepargd was to cal -the loca| directory and pora over pau in the hope of nmn;-{ some- th the initlals “V. L. H." But was disappointed. The popula- of the village and the immediate hborhood was only a few hun. and am hs, fhe Hickses and . the yS .E was noné who owne the “V, L." This was a check for 4 h he had been quite prepared. arrivinpg he had ostentatiously driven Scarlet Runner through the ‘whole length of the village High Street and past the cottages and old Queen Asine or Georglan houses which sur- rounded the famous green, thus ad- vertising his advent to whom it might concern, and though the country air and strong ale made him sleep he sat up late pretending to read old num- of magazines, in the hope of re- ing a letter or word of some sort - from nameless correspondent. By . T o'clock he was dfessed and it was [© not yet 8 when he had breakfasted ;fld Yr lurd llnxt nrllef nu'lll_';l'er nl;:- lore_the door of fhe inn, t thing he did w-) to teuf-teuf con- spicuously to the postoffice, where he inquired if there were any letter for Mr. Christopher Race. But nothing of interest was forwarded, and nobody At Stoke d'Estcourt had taken this means of communicating for the sec- ~ond time with the owner of Scarlet Runner. o “Do you ever get letters here for with the initials V. L. H.?" he ured to ask of the postmistré ‘was too pretty and coquettish to b & polite and good-looking man put eccentric questions. No, so as the young woman could remember, none of her, “regular .m.' had such initials. As for the ent folk, she could not pretend © Baffled, as if he had been the villain of the piece, Christopher went out of ostoffice with only one card left g e game' to play. He determined drive Scarlet Runner slowly, tempt- dngly through every street of the vil- and past the gatey of the great and even far -’ot the sur- rounding ecountry, weaving the car through from to road as his map ~ made possible. sounded his new and singularly . M. Williamson Stars of This Episode - as as Next Week Another Story and New Picture Copyright, 1916, by the Star Company. All Foreign Rights reserved. He drove his car Intq a|p, " [ & strong, clever face softened by the | CHRISTOPHER RACE| VIOLET HARDCASTLE| to take in its full magnificence and fi- nally stopped Scarlet Runner in the shadow of the dark, towering walls, though he did not stop its engine. Looking up from his seat in the gently purring car the huge Norman‘ keep loomed above him. From this| point of view the massive shape of the castle showed no appearance of decay and as Christopher’s lively im- agination pictured moving figures in quaint costumes and gleaming armor suddenly there was framed in a small, ivy-draped window a face as lovely as any for which a knight of old ever did battle. A girl was gazing down at him—a girl whose yellow-brown hair was bright gold—against a backgraund of darkness. Christopher had just ”Te to catch an impression of a beautiful face, white and large eyed with\ terror or_some other emotion strange for uf peaceful English morning, and en | an extraordinasy thing happened. The large eyes met his in appeal; the lips opened without speaking; a hand and arm were thrust through the aper-| ture, and something small that gllt-! tered as it fell was thrown to him. The (thing, whatever it was, was flung v)h.h a Woman's aim and instead of reaching intended destination landed noiselessly in a clump of dead grasses and nettles by the roadside. Instantly Christopher was out of the car, ‘Without minding the nettle's sting, he thrust his hand and arm deep among - rough stems and prickly deaves, coming almost immediately upon the object of his search, which his touch told him must be a metal card case or cigaret case, Before his eyes had a chance to inform him fur- ther a low, Inarticulate cry from the window made him, still stooping over the bed ‘of nettles, Jift his head to look up once more. The girl, silent after the one faint sound which had drawn his eyes to her again, was sign- ing to him eagerly to mount and ride away, Astorlished, but ready to obey a lady's command no matter how strange, Christopher sprang into the qulvering car and taking ,off the brakes put on speed which sent Scar- let Runner flying along the road like a red arrow, It was not until the first turn when the castle towers were hidden from sight by an intervening hill that Race slackened the car's pace and looked* at the thimg which the girl had thrown to him, Then he saw that it as a very handsome though small ret case, made rather flat to avoid ging out the pocket which held it ‘and ornamented with the letters “M. N." in diamonds. There was one peculiarity which caused Christopher to jump at the conglusioh that the thing had been made by special ordel| and for a lady. The Inner part of the case was entirely covered on one side with a mirror set into the gold and surrounded by a frame of tiny brils liants, thus leaving place for cigarets on the opposite side only. The fall had cracked the glass across and the loose bits would have fallen iout if Christopher had not closed up the case, fastening it with a snap. He then put the dainty little affair into his pocket and. drove along his in- lende}_l route in almost hopeless quest o Ve L CH,Y that her act, whatever its meaning, had been one of sheer desperation; that she had chosen a course because ghe could see no other. She/was sg. beautiful, so altogether interesting . that Christopher would gladly have 'selzed upon the theory that she was “V. L. because If that were e must have known of him Ané ummoned him, But common .8 it common sense had any place here—did not support the theory. “V. L. H.,” who had wished} to make use of Scdrlet Runner for a “matter of life or death,” would hatd- Iy have sent Scarlet Runner instantly away out of her sight. In the circumstances Christopher felt constrained for the sake of V. L. H. to carry out his original inten- tions, But he made his round of the {nndu and returned to the village by different way, as he had planned, and no one had come forward to claim his lorvlcu,\ tt} say, "It was I who wrote to you: am glad that you are here.” Nevertheless, Christopher had no thought of leaving the neighbor- hogod. There were two mysteries in- stead of one to be puzzled into clear- ness now. He had Kkept on his room at the inn and when hé had put away Scarlet Runner he shut himself up for an- other look at the cigaret case. Open- ing it, the broken pieces of glass fell out and he saw what he had not gugesed &t before. The mirror con- colled a false back to the case and hidden there he found a photograph of a young man. Hé was an exceed- ingly gaod-looking young man, with dreamy arch of tHe eyebrows, over fine dark eyes. And between the pho- tograph and ‘the thin strip of gold which held it in place was a slip of paper on which were written close to- gether and all in capitals the letters TVBXCHTAY. “A key to a cipher, perhaps," Christopher said to himself. Was he intended to pluck out its secret and profit by what it taught him? He could not tell. Heo decided, as the, person from whom the girl wished to conceal the cigaret case might )mvt‘s%en a flee- ing motor car, that“it would be well for her sake 't6 appear on the scene next time in the guise of an ordinary tourist. Heo therefore exchanged his chauffeur's cap for tweed, t-toned musical siren unnecessa- id faces peered out of cot- ws and fresh-faced girls 10 look at him and his hang- ed car in the village streets, but wu. no one called to him, out of the village and W which, he had been told, " him past several gentle- nflu and outlying farms, t 3 _castle, past General New. 's place, on to Lord Melden's. Be- he last estate he did not intend but would turn there in order 8ir Edward. Leigh's and so go rds Stoke d'Estcourt by an- there he caused his si- A ourse snatches from the La iata, but when he of the castle he forgot Own accompaniment, even a few moments the busi- had brought him to Stoke on of which matched his clothes, and went out on foot without his motor-coat. In half an hour he had reached the castle and was knocking at the door of a cottage built up against one of the half fallen walls. This was the dwelling of the caretaker, whose busi- ness in life it'was to guard the ruins lx-bomt vandals and to show visitors about. He was obliged to lift \the knocker two or thiee times before anyone an- swered, though there was a faint stir- ring inside the house, and he fancied that he heard suppressed voices. Presently the door opened and an old woman appedred. She was small and bent, though strong - looking, with hard features and singularly bright tyes that glittered piercingly out of a yellow network of wrinkles. Christopher said civilly that he had come to visit the castle and hoped that he had not chosen an hour when it was pot to be seen by the public. The old ‘woman, who seemed somewhat Yoully wisa very fiheand striking “hristopher drove very slowly Vi agitated, though these requests must | from a nail on the \HE Bks: OMAHA, MONDAY, [DECEMBER 11, 1916. have punctuated the hours of her daily life for years, replied that the | guardian, her husband, had had an | accident and was In hospital, but that she would take the gentleman round. | She then unhooked an enormous key wall and led the | way out of doors. : To enter the ruins one passed under a portcullis and so on up a gentle, slope between thick, broken walls. At| the end of this passage an ugly mod- | ern door had replaced the old one| long ago destroyed, and following his guide Christopher found himself in| the castle. They went from room to room, many of which were open to the sky, with mere stony suggestions of what the upper stories had been, | but, as Christopher had been led by| his late adventure to expect, the keep was ih a better state of preservation than the rest. He asked no questions, but going up a steep stone stairway which would lead, he knew, to.a cer- tain window, his heart began to, beat rather more quickly than usual. He hoped, and more than half helieved, that he would find a beautiful girl waiting for him at the top of the steps, but he found—stone walls and emptiness, a silent place where noth- ing moved save the wandering sprays 7\ BY THREATENING TO KILE MAURICE NAYLOR FULLY GUARDED SECRET. of ivy which peered and beckoned at the window’ where she had begn. Deeply disappointed, Chrlufophcr walked ‘about, pretending to be inter- ested in the thickness of the walls, The old woman #tood still, watching him as he went to the window and lookéd out., Turning quickly he caught, or fancied that he mugh&pa cynical expression on the dried-afple face, VT saw a young lady ldoking out of the window this morning, whom I took to be an artist,”” said Christopher, growing Impatient. “Very preti§, with yellowish-brown hair and dark eyes—might have been brown or vio- let. I think she had on a dark blue dress.” - “You must have been mistaken, sir,” replied the old woman. “I didn't bting any such young lady in this morning." ¥ Christopher asked no more leading questions, but meekly allowed himself to be shown the usual things and' told the usual legends. Then he gave the old woman the usual fee, with the usual extra tip, and took his leave, But turning to glance back at the guardian's cottage when the door was shut he saw his late guide at the win- dow peering out. Behind her stood a man, looking over the stooping shoul- der, and though, as Christopher's eyes met his, he moved away and was gone in an instant. Race caught a clear enough impression to feel that he would recognize the face again, It was that of a man passing beyond middle age. The ¢yes and skin were singularly dark in contrast to thick white hair and there was something peculiar—Christopher had not time to see clearly what—about the promi- nent nose. quest, he resolved to return to the castle after dark and linger about in the hope that the girl might return under cover of dusk-—to demand her property and explain her strange man- ner of disposing of it. Meanwhile, however, he had half the day to get through, and—save for such inter- ludes &s meals, nothing to, do with it except to make inquiries concerning the girl. Describing her, he questioned the landlord at the inn, and afterwards the coquettish young woman at the postoffice, but neither the one nor the other could tell him anything, and when after nightfall he groped his way through a thick mist towards the castle ruins he had still no clew which might help him te find the lady of the cigaret case. Sauntering as if aimlessly along the road dominated by the vast ruins, Christopher begdn softly to whistle the air from La Traviata which Sear- let Runner's new siren played. It must have been those musical notes, | heard from a distance, which had drawn the girl to the keep-window before he arrived beneath in the CAcL. | . ore of T. V. B, the only way of If she remembered and recognized them now she would know what they meant, as they fluted a message out of the night. same ait, while he lighted a cigaret which should also have its special meaning for the girl if she were near, as well as giving her a hint of his whereabouts. ) Perhaps she wanted a reassuring glimpse of his face before speaking. Well, she should have it. He held up the lighted wax match to the cigaret until its flame began to burn down. Then, as it flared up before the end, suddenly there came 10 his ears a hiss sharp and wicked as a snake's, and at the same Instanf -he was conscious of @ stinging pain In his left arm. _Away went match and cigarette, their sparks drowned in the wet grass and Christopher, surprised and pricked to anger, realized he had been shot at with an air-gun. Suspecting no lurk- R ner [ taker's shoulder. Again he whistled the | ing malice, had calmly made him- self a tary “ / and with a quick desire for-vengeance he started to run in the dirégtion whence the first rustling had pro- ceeded A shadow loomed ahead. Christo- pher sprang at it, only to seize the beetling branches of a young larch or | same time to/ receive a blow on the shoulder fram | yew tree, and at the behind—a sharp, unexpected blow which sent him pitching forward. Be- fore he could recover his balance, the ground seemed to vanish from un- der his feet, and he plunged with a great splash into the stagnant water of the moat. For a few seconds he floundered clumsily, then got to his feet—for the water, though ice-cold, was not deep. By groping he came upon a broken place in the moat wall, where he could get foothold and handhold of a precarious kind. After a slip or two he succeeded in climbing out, and de- spite the danger of being shot at again, devoted his attention to ridding himself of as many weeds and as much loose mud as possible. The per- son who had played him these two sorry tricks, one upon the other, had probably exhausted his forces for the moment. In any case, no further at- tack was made, and after a walk ihls temper, Christopher regained the nn, The wound in the arm was not se- rious, and Christopher, determined to keep his own counsel, attended to it unaided. But he could not help re- flecting that it ha@ perhaps been rather a close shave for him. That noiseless air-gun need ‘only to heve been a lithle better aimed to 'have reached his heart, “instead of inflicting some slight damage on his left arm, Christopher began to see that this affair was of a far more serious and complicated nature than he had sup- posed at first even when its mystery had most puzzled him._ In his own room at the inn he took out the cig- arette case and considered it with in- terest, the while he rid himself of his soaked clothes. Certainly the little gold box was of great value to s¢fe- one, a value far beyond lr intrinsic worth, in spite of weight and spark- ling diamonds. Was it for the con- cealed photograph, or the slip of paper with the queer -ecipher, that someone had lain in wait to shoot or drown him? It was after nine when he waked again, and_he was much annoyed with himself for wasting time in bed, when he might have been better em- ployed in playing detective, During the longy wakeful hours of, the night he had planned, when day came, to find out something about the man who had peered at him through the cottage window, over the old care- But when, by his request, a London newspaper and breakfast were brought to his room, a paragraph in the personal column of the “Dally Recorder” turned his attention in an instant from people and events at Stoke d'Estcourt. “T./V. B.” stared at him in large black capitals at the head of that famous column.” “Whoever can sup- ply information as to these letters and those following, will be richly rewarded if he communicates with Box 2001, ‘Daily Recorder' office,” he read with a keen stab of excitement. “Quick work!" Christopher_gaid to himself. Ior he did not doubt that he was the person for whose benefit the paragraph had been put in print. He was in a position to supply the wished-for information, but he would not supply it until he could be sure that the advertiser was the rightful owner of the cigarette case, with such secrets as it contained. Having dressed hastily, he paid his bill at the inn and departed with Scarlet Runner. En route to gown he concocted a telegram, which he would not have thought it wise to send from the Stoke d'Bstcourt postoffice, and got it of from a small town where he stopped to lunch, “Should the advertiser wish to hear doing so will be to call# o'clock to- night (Friday) on Christopher Race, who may be able to give information but will accept no reward.” This was all, save for the address of his lodgings, number and street. The first thing he did in the morn- ing was to open the “Daily Recorder' and cast his eyes down the personal column. “T. V. B.” was conspicuous only in absence; but towards the end of the column appeared something else which caught Christopher's at- tention at a glance. “V. L. M. is earnestly implored to communicate immediately with one who hoped to meet on Thursday at address V. L! H. knows. Great anxi- ety. Can't bear suspense!" > So, Christopher Race was not the only person who' had been given rea- son to count upon meeting V. L. H, on Thursday! Christopher wished very ardently r gomeone to pot at; |mu he as well as V. L. H. knew the which ‘restored his circulation if not‘l . address of the anxious advertiser; but as he did not, and could think of no means of finding it out, he could do nothing to match the pieces of the puzzle together, A Mr. Warren Lockwood wrote from the Laurels, Pleasant avenue, Barnet, saying that friends had rec- ommended Mr. Race and his car. Would Mr. Race be so kind a§to drive his Scarlet Runner out to the Laur- els, arriving as .near 8§ o'clock as he could make it convenient? For a week's trip Mr. Lockwood was pre- pared to offer the round sum of 100 gulneas, he stated in la postseript, which also asked for a wire. 2 Taking everything together Chris- topher determined that it would be as well, at least, to call at the Laurels, and sent a wire to that effect. Start- ing from Scarlet Runner's garage at 7, he found the fog so densely thick- ened that he doubted if he could find the way. Towards Regents park the fog lifted slightly, but in Finchley road it set- tled again as densely as-ever, and he could go at little more than a walk- ing pace. : Suddenly, at what seemed to be a corner of the wide country road not , HE INDUCED VIOLET TO TELL HER CARE- g‘nr ountside Barnet, a voice called to m, “Scarlet Runner?” it shotited; and Race, ‘astonished, answered before he had stopped to think: “Yes.” Next instant a black figure was sil- houetted strangely in the pale haze of the car lamps, and three short sharp reports barked dryly in the night. Someone had fired a revolver at his driving wheel tires, and two shots had taken effect, for he could feel the car settling down on the deflated inner tubes. Hot with! fury at the outrage, Race leaped from his seat to the road- way, peering into the darkness, ting- ling to inflict punishment, and reckless of all danger for himself. There was no sound of running footsteps. The scroundrel must be lurking. But the thought was cut short abruptly as the breaking of a thread. As he touched ground, something thick and soft was thrown over his head from behind and twisted tightly round his neck. Taken by surprise in the heat of his rage, for an instant Christopher lost his breath. He stumbled under the onslaught. Hands deftly, swiftly, tore open the buttons of his overcoat, and he knew instantly with returning presence of mind that he had two men to deal with. . A flerce upward swing of his rght arm was just in time to prevent the man at his back from twisting the hood too tightly round® his throat. Stepping back heavily on the feet of this fellow he shot out a left arm like a battering ram and caught the would- be pickpocket ‘squarely in the face. /There was a grunt of pain, and the! ‘prying hands fell away from Christo- pher's coat. To attempt pursuit in the fog would be useless. Besides, he had seen the face of neither man. Panting from the struggle he assured himself with some sense of triumph that the cigaret case was still safe in his waistcoat pocket. By the time the car was ready to g0 on again, ,he had made up his mind not to pay the call alone, but to take for a companion a member of the local police. Most policemen within motoring radius of London had heard the name of Christopher Race, and he was re- ceived favorably at the police station in Burnet. Without telling the story ) Oof the cigaret case, he confided to | the inspector in charge, of the fact that a piece of jewelry in his posses- slon was apparently coveted by an unscrupulous stranger. He showed the letter with the address of “The Laurels,”' which was written, not em- bossed, and gave an account of what had occurred to him on his way to keep the appointment. “Whoever this man is,"” said the po- liceman, “he thinks more of his repu- tation than he does of getting what he wants from you, though he's evi- dently keen on that. You can count on ‘The Laurels' being watched; but my opinion is that the hunt won't come back that way. You'll find the wind blowing from some other quar- ter, an unexpected one, maybe, and my word to you is consult Scotland Yard.” | With this advice still echoing in his | ears, Christopher at last drove Scarlet | Runner rapidly back to London, the fog having lifted with a hint of hreeze. He wax tired and hungry, and know- ing that he would get nothing to eat Pt his lodgings, when he had put up the car, he went to his club, where refreshment, liquid or solid, was to be had at any hour, Two men sat at a table in a corner, talking earnestly, and hearing him enter, they locked up, as if not too pleased to have the room invaded. Both were young, and strangers to Christopher, yet the face of one seemed curiously familiar to him, “Now, where have I seen that good- |,rooms,” replied Christovher. {down on®me like hawks and carry looking chap before, and lately, too?" Race asked himself. Then, suddenly the answer sprang into his mind. This was the original of the photograph in the gold cigaret case, He took the gold cigaret case from his pocket/and laid it on the table, where its diamonds flashed in the light of a red-shaded candle. Three minutes later the gleam caught the eye of the young man, and Christo- pher saw his face go through the changes from astonishment and in- creduilty to intensest eagerness. “What will he do now?" was the question in Christopher's mind. But it was almost instantly answered. What the young man did was to jump up, ‘and on pretense of going to the fireplace to warm his hands, pass close to the table where Race sat. He paused and Christopher's eyes and his met, His were honest eyes as well as hand- Some ones, and any doubt that might have crept into Race's mind concern- ing the original of the photograph died\in a second. “You will think it very strange,” said the young man, “but T must beg you to tell me how you got that ciga- ret case.” “I don’t think it/strange,” returned Christopher. “When 1 vecognized your face I put the case there hoping you'd ask me that question. with the greatest pleasure and there are also some questions I trust you'll answer me,"” The qther man got iup and came across the room. “You're Mr. Race, aren't you?" he asked. Christopher assented and added that he had just learned that the other was Fergus O'Brien of Sedtland Yard. “This is my friend—indeed, my dis- tant relative—Mr. Maurice Naylor,” said O'Brien. ‘M. " exclaimed pulsively. “Exactly. We were speaking of that cigaret case, when you showed in. When you've finished your sup- per- " “I have finished it," said Race, who had already done justice to a deviled bone. Christ«(pber im- \."Then, perhaps pou'll accept an in- vitation to my chambers?” “I'd rather you'd both come to my / “You'll understand why, perhaps, when we've had a talk about the cigaret case. You won't have far to go.” And they did understand, in a way that was a surprise to all three; for on arriving at Christopher's lodgings, they came upon a scene of wild con- fusion in his sitting room. Everything had been ransacked and left in dis- order, and it was the same in the bed- room. Someone, under cover ¢f the thick fog, had made an entrance/ proh- ably climbing across from the balcony of an adjoining house which was un- occupied. Nothing had been taken away, so far as Christopher Yould tell, but nothing had escaped the most minute examination. ‘This is aJso on account of the ciga- ret case,” said Christopher. ‘“There's a man who wants it badly. I don't know who he is yet, but—" “I think I can tell you,” cut in Mau- rice Naylor, li "‘y('?'nn you also tell me who is V. L. “She is Violet Hardcastle, the riece of the man’ who probably paid this room a visit while you were out. She —didn’t give 'you the cigaret case?” “In a way, she did—probably to keep it out of her uncle’s hands, as it looks now. Can you tell me where she is?” Al wish I could. I've been adver- tising for news of her.in the ‘Daily Recorder. My friend, Mr. O’Brien knows the whole story. When we saw you I was consulting him about the best way of reaching Miss Hardcastle, who is engaged to me against her uncle's will.” 5 “Perhaps if I tell you how 1 got the cigaret case it will help you both,” said Christopher; and then, be- ginning with the unfinished letter, he gave them the_whole history of the affair, ending”™with the episode in Barnet. 0 “CBrtainly, it's Hardcastle who has planned it%all; if he hasn’t done it all,” exclaimed Naylor. “I'll bet it was he who grabbed you from behind tonight, He's as big a coward as he is a scoun- drel, though Q'Brien was saying that I'll have difficulty in proving him a villain.” . “He has a good enough refutation as a solicitor,” \said O'Brien, “but I begin to think from things Naylor has been telling me that he's got into lowy water—-been speculating with, his client’s money, perhaps, or—" “He's his niece’s guardian,” ex- plained Naylor. “Brother of her dead father, who thought everything of him. But Violet's mother was an /American, and she never liked the man—never trusted him. The money was all hers, but he's got a lot of it in his hands somehow-—against the mother’s wish, 1 fancy—and naturally he doesn‘t want Violet to marry, as by her father's will he has charge of her affairs until she does. He had her at school in Paris tiHl she was 20, to keep her out of the way of men; but I'm at- tached to the embassy there, and we met. I fell in love with her at sight— who wouldn't>—and when Hardcastle heard what had happened, he came and carried her off at once. He was clever enough, though, to stop me from making a row by saying he'd in- quire about me, and if all was well, would allow the engagement to go on. Meanwhile Violet was to stop with hign in some country house he was taking. Hardcastle promised to write, and._promised that if everything went as he expected, Violet should too. He'd let me know the address and all that. Well, T heard nothing. I found out his office address and wrote sey- eral times, which was a horrid bother; but after a fortpight of worry and sus., pense, I received a letter from Violef evidently written in great haste. Here itis. You shall see it, Mr. Race.” From an inner pocket Naylor pro- duced a half sheet of paper, at sight of which Race had to restrain an ex- clamation, for it exactly matched the one which he himself possessed, and the writing, which covered it was the same as that in the letter over which he had so often puzzled. “Dearest Maurice,” he read; “this is in the greatest haste. I've nun away from my uncle's.house—escaped, 1 might call it, for, since a dreadful scene we had, I've been practically a prisoner. I've been planning this for days, but have only just succeeded. I've got to a farm house not far from the village, giving a- different name, and making up a stupid story about myself, but it answers very well, for they're keeping me as a lodger for a night or two. Really, I'm in hiding here, for 1 daren't leavé the house lest my uncle or that hateful, wicked old valet of his.you saw In Paris pounce me back again. I tell you, dearest, I'm afraid of them both. I don’t know what they mayn't do, and all because of my money. I'm sure uncle must have done something dishonest with it. Anyway, he came to me one night and said that he know my mother had left me a great deal which had never come into his hands, that he'd got information about there’ being valu- able bonds in a bank in New York of which he ought to have known. I admitted that it was true, and that dear mother had given me a letter about the bonds just beforg she died, saying that they were never to be put in his charge. He said he must have them, that he was in difficulties, but this extra money would tide him over and he e wonld make it all right afterwards. He begged and pleaded so that 1 began to give him the letters of the combinationlock, and had got as far as TVB when it seemed exactly as if mother's voice spoke in my ear and forbade me to g0 on. There wds a mis\crable scene ~ between us after that. His eyes were awful and he frightened me, You know, in my little cigaret case, which you gave me with your initials in it and your photograph hidden inside, I told you I would keep the thin most valuable to me after your pic ture. That thing is the combinatiol by which the safe at the bank whic! contains the bonds can be opened. Nc¢ one has opened it and cut the bonds since mother was in New York last, not long before she died. Not a soul living except myself knows the com- bination, not even the mangger of the bank. I'm sure mother was right in not trusting uncle, and that this secret fortune is all I have left. I daren't wait for you to come here, but shall try to get to London by motor, rather than show myself at a railway station, and will go straight to the Savoy. You will get this just in time to meet me there if you start from Paris Thurs- day morning. I shall finish this letter and write another arranging about the motor, and to do both I've but one sheet of paper. ~Your loving “VIOLET. Christopher, stood silently thinking for & minute, with the half sheet of paper in his hand. He guessed now that the girl had been interrupted in the midst of her letter to.him, by warning of her uncle's arrival. ‘The I'll answer ithman had traced her to the farm house she spoke of, no doubt, and Violet, be- fore escaping the second time, must have given the unfinished letter to some one at the farm housé, begging that an envelope might be addressed and posted. Maurice Naylor's letter had been posted by the same hand All these thoughts passed through Race's mind in the fraction of a min- ute, and Naylor ‘hag hardly time to grow impatient at”his silence over the letter before he brought out the other half sheet and matched the two together. He and ©'Brien campared deductions and arrived at the same conclusion. “I think,"” remarked O'Brien grave- ly; “that we'd better go down at once into Warwickshire, and pay a surprise visit to Mr. Hardcastle’s house, the sooner the better.” “We can go in my car,” said Chris- topher. “And we can start whenever yvou like—in half an hour if it suits you." 5 “There's just 6ne thing we must do before we start” said O'Brien, “and that is, get a warrant for Hardcistle's arrest. I can do it through Mr. Race's evidence about what occurred to- night.” “Also,” went on O’'Brien quietly, “we shall very likely find out that the spin- ster who's said to own the Laurels is a clinet of Hardcastle’'s. In that case we would have known about her house standing empty, and pefhaps about the convival habits of her caretaker. It's a good thing we can get that war- rant, or the man might give rs trouble yet, his niece being still a féw weeks under age. Besides, if he's got the secret out of her, the first thing he'll do wil) be to step off to'New York and open that box in her mother's bank. I suppose you don't know what bank it is, Naylor?"” “No, I don’t; and hang the bonds. T want to get to Violet,” answered the young man. “I've got money enough for us both.” “Still, I've a fancy for saving those bonds,” smiled O'Brien. It was 5 o'clock on Sunday morn- ing, apd still pitch dark, when they got off in Scarlet Runner, but they had the warrant, and the good car seemed to know that there was stiff work to be done. It flew as it had seldom flown before along the silent, empty roads; and at 9 three haggard mud-spattered men arrived it Stoke d'Estcourt after a non-stop run. They learned from the first person they passed in the village where to find Mr. Hardcastle's place, and were there within the next ten minutes, flashing through the gates up to a severe gray' Georgian house. Mr. Hardcastle, announced & sour- faced middle-aged woman who op&ned the door, was not at home. ‘“Are you his valet's wife?” asked O’Brien sharply. “What business Is that of yours?” was the equally sharp answer. But a look in the woman’'s eyjs told the detective that he had hit upon the truth. Violet Hardcastle had had grim jaMers.” ““We will see Miss Hardcastle, if her uncle is not here,” he said authorita- tively. And to her surprise and the astonishment of his companions, the servant made no objection. Ushering all three into a handsome if sparsely furnished drawing room, she said that Miss Hardcastle was not well, but should have the gentlemen’s message, and would either come down or send wor “Tell her it's Mr."Naylgf.” cried the girl’s lover. “Mr™Maurice Naylor, who's found her, though she gave him no address, and hé codldn’t make out the postmark on her letter.” “Will,she come?” was the question in the minds of the three men. And in two minutes it was answered by the girl herself, pale and lovely, in a tea gown of white) her beautiful hair dis- ordered 'as if she had risen hastily from bed. “Oh, Maurice,” to him, with eyes S / 1t was true that Mr. Hardcastle was “not at home,” as his servant had said. But he had returned early that morn- ing by motor, as O'Brjen had guesse and by threatening to kill Mauride Nawlor, whom he knew to be in Lon- don, he/had induced Violet to tell her carefully-guarded secret, to save her lover's life. Then with his confi- dential man her uncle had gone off again in his car. “But luckily,” remarked the detec- tive when he had heard these details from the girl, “he can't sail for New York today. “I wonder?" she said. “I happeh to know that he's lately bought or hired a big steam yacht, but | don’t know its name.” “We'll she sobbed, running for no one clse. o 0 oeln know/ it before we're very many hours older,” O'Brien assured her. Wwe'll know whether its sailed; if so, from what port and for what port. We'll know all there is to know, in fact; and when Gr. Hard- castle steps on shore across the water, he'll find himself under arrest;” which was exactly what happened. Therefore Mrs. Maurice Naylor is a rich woman as well as a happy one, in spite of the enormRyus speculation of that now fa- mous defaulter, the solicitor Hard- castle, § Thus, after all, Christopher thought that he might fairly say he had won his bet with himself, so he bought the repeater, and Violet Hardcastle made him a present of the said cigaret case. (Another Adventure Next Week.) Churches BEE Building Dec..4-16