The evening world. Newspaper, November 18, 1914, Page 19

We yal deg CPO os (Conftiahit: 1030, by A. 0, MeCture & Os.) srxoneia7y PRECEDING CHAPTERS, Paternoster Ruby j The Romance of a Gem That Represented { 3 $500,000 Worth of Bad Luck. By Charles Edmonds Walk re y in the snow on one side of tr e I unfolded it. The sheet bore @ aketched floor plan of som: ‘a interior. There was @ ‘wite otair well. and three ms. One of the rooms— the smallest—had been designated by @ cross, All at once I uttered a little ery. This was @ second floor plan of the - very house I had been exploring. Al- though “"“ GHAPTER IX. Tracks in the Snow. the dust on the imitation ther cover was an oblong print which, the instant I Perceived it, I was seized With @ cay.ice to measure. Ite dimensions proved to be just four by three and one-half inches. Now, this mark in the dust was so manifestly fresh, and its size and shape s0 suggestive, that before I ‘was well aware of the mental opera- tion, my mind had already accounted for its presence there. After Mr. Page had obtaingd the ruby from the safe last night, he had, for some reason, paused by this table before feturning to Maillot in the I!- brary, and bad laid the box thereon. Why? He had retained the candle, which he .was at the time carrying, for there was no indication in the dust that ho had temporarily relieved himself of that object. Had he turned aside to get something from the bed? or maybe from the table? As for the table, it had no drawer. Pondering the matter, perhaps more than it warranted, 1 turned to the Gresser, Tho only detail here worth & passing notice was a small paste- board box containing a number of +38 calibre cartridg: Originally there had been fifty in ye box... 1 counted them. Six were een Just the number required to charge tho cylinder of most revolvers of the same calibre. However, there Was no'rvolver; nor dtd my entire ex- amination of the apartment avail to bring one to light. At lasi—just us I Was turning to leave the room—I received a shock which, for the time being, fairly para- med me. As I lifted my hand to draw the blind over the window again I hap- pened tg look at the snow beneath the window. In a flash I froze, my outstretched hand yemained suspend- ed in mid air, When Burke, Maillot and I had been in this room an hour or ao ear- lier, the snow was then like an unsul- i ‘ablet upon which no. character had been. written; but since that time —during the very minutes I had been busy in this room, perhaps—it had re- ceived a record. mebody with un- Bee ee Sra ea epouen 8 oman’s—had walked aroun from the front of the house to the window. r looking in—poasibly at me intent upon my inveatigation— the mysterious prowler had departed again, but not as he had come. The retreating footsteps extended away at @ right angle from the house, and at @ short distance disappeared among some shrubbery. A moment's reflection made me feel sure that only my presence in the room forestalied a rather perilous undertaking. Why should anybody want to look in, simply, and why adopt such @ compromising means of tering, if the temptation had not mn extraordinarily powerful? My hesitation was but momentary. I flung open the window, le: ut and comenced running along th of the daring, unknown visitor, visit had been #o recent that I was epurred by a faint hope of overtaking the fellow. I had not proceeded far before I heard a shout from the house. I glanced back without slacking, and @aw Stodger staring at me in amaze- ment from an upstairs window. Mo- tloning him to remain where he was, #1 continued to follow the footprints. As soon as the bushes screened me from the house 1 arrived at a point where the trail presented a new as- pect: the distance between the im- ses measurably widened, signify- Ing that my unknown caller had broken ‘into’'a run the instant the shrubbery concealed him from t house. 1, quickened y pace. The chase led me to a low stone wall marking the boundary of the premisés, across some vacant lots, to the intersection of two streets, where the presence of @ trolley line discouraged further pursuit. On one of the corners, however, stood a grocery of the subi fety; and when] arrived hatless and out and eyed me curiously. “Did you see anybody just ahea? of me come this way?” I pante: “Yep,” returned the gro Mellow came running across those lots not her fellows five minutes.ago. ‘Th W waiting for him on the corner here, “Three sothers!" 1 excluimed. I hadn't the leant idea what it all meant, “Yep,"\ watd the xrocer, came there were four Chinymen.” I could do no more than vent my bewilderment in ejaculatigns “Chinamen!" 1. “Or Jap been Japs; they didn't have no pig- tails.” Well, there was nothing else for me to do but turn round and go back the way I bad come, The grocer could tell me no more, and I was coinpletely stumped. Why four Chinese—or Jap: should be interested in my move- ments, in the Page house I could not in the last Imagine. But one thing was certain, I had “skirted the border of some secret, Geaperate enterprise, It challenged Gfrecuiy all my powers and capabill- “strode along 10 a deep, moody ewverie, mnconsciousiy scanning each Yn turn gf, the absurdly small foot- iY vaulied the low wall inte Premises, and before L had fairly recovered my — balance, *T ‘younced upon a folded sheet of paper eae A overcoat the grocer cume “When he The whole bunch caught @ down car. They was remarked the grocer, “Come to think of It, they must 've I had not been upstairs yet, I had seen enough of the relative posi- of the different rooms to reco ize the one indicated by the cross, throom. CHAPTER X. The Second Story. HE ruby bad disappeared be- tween 1f o'clock last night and the time of Stodger’s arrival — shortly before three in the morning. One of the two men who had passed the night in the house might have secreted it. Their presence offered the most plausible explanation. Was Maillot the one? Well, Maillot did not have the ruby. And now, if a search of Burke's per- son and belongings resulted as the former search had, why, I must look to some hiding place near at Hand. The erstwhile secretary submitted without demur to an examination of hia clothing, and without any change Of expression that I could perceive, The flight of stairs above the land- ing gave upon a hall which—except- ing in the front, where there was a large diamond-paned window—en- tirely surrounded the stair-well and was continued by @ lateral passage connecting the gables or wings. One leaning over the balustrade at the top looked down upon the ascend- ing stairs, the balcony midway up, and a good portion of the spacious hall reer bey jJateral hall gave access to all tharooms on the sec beng 4! @ second Arriving at the head of the stairs I first gave my attention to the ota gere. This pieco of furniture was simply @ pedestal of shelves, with. out sides, front or back, so that t tilt it in any direction far out of the perpendicular would mean to spill its urden of old newspapers and period- th icals. Maybe it would have been conven- Jent in a music-room, but situated where it was it was certainly in the way of anybody using the stairs. If person unfamiliar with the house should ascend the stairs in the dark, the instant he turned at the top he must almost inevitably collide with it—a circumstances which I was to have brought home to me a few nights later, with consequences which missed being fatal by only the slen- derest of margins. But efter all, concluded, if @ atranger missed it only by a mirecie it might have served a double purpose here; no one slept in the second story ordi- and it would make a burglar alarm, as well as a repository for the fron candlestick and the sea- shell*match receptacle, And the railing itself also hold a record, Stout as were the uprights sustaining it, it had received the im- pact of a body sufficiently heavy to throw it askew. At this point on the railing there was @ deep triangu- lar dent, destined to assume a high place in solving the problem of Felix bs murder, hen I stood directly in front of the bathroom door | could look down over the balustrade to the landing— the body had been removed to a more suitable place—and | could also see the front door and most of the first floor hall. A dozen or so feet west of the stair- well two doors opened upon the lat- eral passage. They were directly op- posite each other; the front room having been the one occupied by Maillot the previous night, while the other was Burke's. Now as I allowed my glance to rove along the dim-lighted hall in the di- rection of the two bedchambers, it was at once arrested by some small ~-aud atthe distance, indistinguish- able—object lying in the centre of the floor a few feet beyond the two doors, 1 went and picked It up. It was the shabby leather jJewel- euse. But now {t bore many indications of extremely rough usage. It was not only open, but empty; the lid was bent twisted out of shape, and hamgs- ing precariously by one damaged hinge. The leather was freshly tora and seratehed, while the loner Loing of faded blue salin had been slit ta ber of places. 1 contrived after anu Rone manipulation Lo Ket the box into & semblance of its former shape, and then slipped it into @ pocket of my cout, Neither Maiilot's room nor Burke's quence, In the former I noted the open Wardrobe door, and, owing to it8 position suive to the bed, was obliged to adnait the likelihood of 3 lot's accldent. [In the other room, in @ small leather satchel, were the papers by which Burke accounted for his presence, They were of no interest to me. I turned them over toe Mr, White, who, with the other gentl men, Was just departing. With a feeling of lively anticipation T entered the bath room. [ had for- gotten that this room alone had been designaced by a distinguishing mark on the chart, which [ had found while following the mysterious footprints. But L discovered nothing to justity my hopes. The place was monoto- nously like other bathrooms in which 1 had been, 1 gave it an exception- ally thorough overhauling, then went carefully over it once more—even re- sorting to my magnifying glass from time to time—but all to no purpose; the room was discouragingly wantin hing that might be regarded aga clu Inthe end T fell to musing over a bar pf common laundry soap on the wlationary washstand, It was im possible not to contrast this humble detergent for it was of a bigness and coarse yellowness to suggest the largest possible quantity. for the smallest possible price—with the dead man’a wealth I recalted, with a smile, that Burke had smelled of laundry soap, and that Fy ay poet ae a © wash stand in Maillot’s room had been no soap at all. Passing through the bathroom I emerged upon the landing of the rear Across the landing was an- other small room, which contained, besides @ dust-mantled chine, nothing but some broken and worn-out furniture. I followed the stairway to the bot- tom, and about balf-wa} @ bit of flattened paraffin about the size of my thumb-nall. After re-ascending these stairs stood once more looking idly down over the balustrade. ig the way I recon- structed the night's occurrences in this house—the fatal its which began when Felix Page bade Maillot good-night, culminated in the older man’s death, and ended in the flight of the murderer. Aft ir, Page and Maillot sep- arated, for some reason the former He went to the safe to dispose of the box containing the ruby; after that he returned to the While he nodded over the fire the thief stole to the safe, opened it with the combination, the ruby but everything else the atrong box contained. But cautious as tho thief is, some noise penetrates to the in fancy we sequence of had not retired. eloeper's consciousness may see the old man—fox, pirate of as ho had been called— every faculty alert and strained to etch the betraying sounds. In a moment he bestirs himself to ascertain what is afoot in his house at so unseemly an hour. he enters the hall from the library, in time to behold the marauder—by the latter's own candle flame I was posi- tive—ascending the front stairs. episode de- assumes baffling aspects. If the thief had not been a member of the househyld--even but # tempor. why should gone up the stairs instead of leaving the huusy by the nearest way? so stealthy if} recoguiged him? ut the master of the hou the stairs behind t about the time he arrives at th head of the stairs the thief vanishe Pake pause to light followed the thie else why did Mr which stood upon the etagere? Matal move, that! In some manner the bulustrade; the thief is alarmed, although so! revealed anytuing of much conse-e have closed ely, but & man with murs in his heart. Which door hud it been ) or yet some other door? wre given a strong lix Page knew the man, for he and the assassin do not immediately Ni Some words certainly pass. aper in the heavy tron candlestick burn long enough only for the fcattered about over the floor, those that ran Mke congealing tears down the side, fancy the outraged and mystified old gentleman demanding an explanation, and before long «<- ploding with wrath, the thief stanit- Once more we Indication that 1’ drops of. pai “with the good Suddenly the struggle is precipi- tated by the infuriated householder endeavoring to recover his property. We may safely assume that it was by no gentle means that he sought once the battle ‘o between the head of the stairs and the lateral passage, quite up to the bathroom door. thief is striving to retain the leather box, the other to wrest it from him. It is pretty certain, too, that the old gentieman hastily put down the jron candlestick before he grasped wages to and Reasthe western angle of the balus- dam Seems to Have an American Passport” 27.20%. tma. trade—and in the end, as the combat in one of its uncertain revolutions sweeps past it, the thief frees him- self with a desperate effort, snatches it from the floor, and becomes an assassin. The dull impact of the blow, as the acene is blinded by sudden darkness ‘the crash of the body against the railing; the dominant jar when the body —and the dark deed i ‘What next follows? Panic on the part of the murdere! ‘we may be sure, as he nds second in a stupor of horror at what he has done; then he must have flown—whither? It 1s at this juncture that Alexander Burke steps into the ball, and beholds nothing in the light of his own candle. It ts at this point that Royal Maillot springs from his bed, collides with the open wardrobe door, and straight- way forgets the tumult in his own physical suffering, unttl Burke raps upon his door, And it is at this point that, unless there was some third person in the house, either one or the other of these two young men has deliberately lied. In turning them both loose I trusted to convict the guilty man by his own comduct. It will develop how far my course was Justified. The mute but vivid testimony would seem to lead, step by step and with straight to the pri- nd the possibility of having been tho person who struck the blow. First, he would have been but as @ babe in Felix Page's powerful Brasp; there would have been no struggle at all. Second, the fellow was an arrant coward, and he would never have of- fered the loast resistance unless con- Vineed that he was in linminent peril of his Ife--which was improbable. ‘The rear stairway was associated with tho thought of Hurke's coward- fee, for hw had chosen that way to accompany Stodger: whowe shoe sole bad left the flattened fragment of parartin there? . For some time T had been alone in the houxe-suve: of course, for the still, sh d form. ‘he place was as silent a iy tomb, ‘Phen of @ sud- den @ sound smote Upon my ear that brought me in # flagh to attention. There is a certain fascination about a door slowly opening In a house which you suppose to be empty, Until you have found out the catise you ascribe tt to anything from ghoste to Bengul tigers, and even then may be sure of a surprise. It was with #ome such sort of mus- pended animation that I stared down over the balustrade and walted, my look glued upon the front door, It swung inward with a slowness tn- expressibly aggravatin, And then I recoiled with a little ery, Miss Genevieve Cooper was stand- ing In the lower hall, pale and trem~- Ding, ag! darting quick nervous glances every direction, CHAPTER XI. A Pact, \Tr my involuntary expression } of amazement, Miss Cooper | looked up and our eyes met. Her charming face immediately broke into « smile; her fears seemed to fall away into the mystery, was one that filled me with joy. sirislinbessdadbrenaeatanelr yoda The Sma By: Ella Middleton ‘Tybout. hls Book oo the Stende Will Coot You SLES.” You'Uht I for'8 baat, “To be sure—they coulda safer hands. Hut it is the {mi J “It was only a silly impulse,” she de- that I no longer command or fa a , in @ flustered rejection of the the confidence”—— 0 “it was very stupid of me to “Pooh!” I unceremoniously express it. Pray forget it. ° © © “Burke, if I were y: ra be 1 must go.” She darted an uncom- chteful how I emphisised an fortable glance toward the door. “You would be an invaluabie aid,’ »f innocence toward this ‘There's no implication or I said simply. “The idea, instead of about; I'm oy too willing to toll see being impertinent, gratifies mo more frankly that I am something than I can express; I'm sometimes than suspicious of you. I iw tat # very blind, Mias Cooper. And think, you haven't told you may be the instrument of freeing” might about this Mr. Maillot from all suspicion or lucky that I haven't run’ you In be blam Such an alliance will entail fore this. Is that plain enough?” ny demands upon your time; from He recoiled @ step, with & qUeefand now on Thal make no move that we hissing intake of breath. have not threshed out together.” “How lovely!” ahe murmured, joy- a mind to make you prove your And you will always find mq was ‘ ready, And then I told her everything bes dy there was to tell. I recounted ever incident that had befallen me si ‘thas ce coming to the house, every fragment tho silence with a blunt de: U of possible evidence that my search hat ruby + ha had brought to light; to all of which she listened with the closest atten~ “Switt, be muttered, “I have Stimiy. “I would like: sda j@ stared me so long feeling. Rave mo an uncanny “Burke, where's 't “Swift,” he said, scarcely eve: ; whisper, “I'm a peaceabl gz tion, interrupting only occasionally Neverthelens 1 resent you to elicit more comprehensive informa. I can't do it openly jn the cireum=¥i . aged stances; this murder ties my hands; tion, Verily, how I had miajudge tet—da, y ‘ait her! in you!” he auddeniy agat Next I strove to prepare her againet me, “if my silence would bang Tt will try yor the inquest. ur Maillot, I'd bite my ‘tongue out strength to the utmost,” sald 1, fore 1d ever utter anot ow ‘There you have it.” What with Mr, Maitiot’s injured ne What coupled with the struggle p the fight.and Burke's inability to hi “Royal may have to go to jal ene interrupted, In @ troubled voice. ald, Mis delivered the déath-blow himself.you “out.” 5 aes ode, must anticipate the worst, ‘ So,” said T at last, “it's to sovtelliy saord 10 fare between you and me, is‘it well Tak you against Matiioer?! “Yor tective,” be é 3 @ care, Burke, I “It's not unitkely, If the coroner’@ mean to find out. And I promise you Sig jury fastens the crime upon him the that when I do you'll get all you have coroner will have no alternative ex- coming to you. cept to hold him for the gree¢ jury. If we could show that | was in the house last night it would help him tremendously, “But bear in mind, Miss Cooper, ird person pudence to say suavely, “Fo! is forearmed, you naw." male “Thank you,” he now had the im- ‘You get out of here, Burke, r id, without heat, eying him steadily, I strove earnestly to allay her fears, At the door he palieed and looked “that the inquest will be merely @ back; for the briefest instant reat- efin- preliminary hearing, of conse. less glagce linger: quence further than the tent to able pemt up the stair well. So there. which it will excite comment and Ins fluence public opinion; that’a the worst feature of it for an innogent man. Whatever we may succeed ta to m accomplishing will in all. probability come after the Inquest.” J card [Thad found lying “Miss Cooper,” no man—except from her like the dissolving of a gun-smitten mist. “Mr. Bwift!” she exclaimed under xpressed re- “May I come up?” she went on ir will you come down?" ‘While I. doscended to her, she be- gan to talk—the merest bit flurried, but with a direct, fearless glance which the dullest comprehen- sion must have understood. jure, has my syim- '—she was suddenly breath ‘our estimation, jot the gullty”— hot the—the My smile checked 0. “You read a meaning into my speech that was not in my mind,” I said— and immediately regretted it. countenance at once reflected a deep “Please, ploane, be inscrutable with m “Misa Coope: haps unnecessary warmth, “heaven ould not be frank It did Hott veduird this appeal from you to spur me on to find a way for Mr, Maillot out of for undentably-- whether by his own fault or by ac- cident—he's in a very serious one. Maybe, if you will state more defi- nitely just what you want to know, T can then tell you.” “Even @ mere. man,” jagely ‘could not have remaified d to the fact that Helle end children—are awfully straightforward manne! simply impossible for me not to have sought you out—if not here, then at the police station, or wherever it is you make your headquarters.” I remarked that a message would have brought me speedily to her, in quick —protestation. “There is no place where we could have been private—to-day. And, be- sides, I wouldn't have put you to #o much trouble. 1" I interrupted, have been only too glad. “I want to know, Mr. Swift, is it going to appear that Royal Maillot murdered his uncle?" She spoke very quietly, very earnestly. forbid that I with you, Th his predicament, Royal—foolish fond of each other.” “LE could not help that their affection ts—or rather {mmoderate.” Instantly a tiny Hne apreared be- tween her brows; she was all serlous- Murder is an” ugly word; I marvelled that she did not shrink from it. “Why are you so anxious to know, 00! jp for Mr. Maillot frankly meeting ‘though that would be @ auf- She paused a “There you may have my interest in this matter—my reason for med- informed me. welfare means @ great deal to me just how much you can perhaps best understand after hearing a bit of my history. Have you the patience? =f am two years older tha but reared together as we have been, we are more nearly sisters than cou- Indeed, I even belleve that we together than ters; we love euch other very, very ficient reason.” ment, biting her under lip in the in- tensity of her musing, fectly candid with you; I'm going to jay bare my mind—and my feelings. I pray that you will do the same by Am | presuming too much?” T realized this morning, cooded, after I had clumsily begged hor to, “that Royal ls in a desperate plight, though why or how he came to be I can't understand realized, tuo, that told will appear incredible even ridl- “You can ee, theo, how anything affecting ber will equally affect me, Hello has been gently nurtured; she hikh-spirtted, te organism that t ken, the story he in @ proud, but of @ delle Well believe that! son, nothing for that rea- hort of an udminsion of Kult from him would cause consider bim as @ participant capacity, Mr P n my anxiety, Ma. Swift? that 1 would 1 ch dreadful chance ** ‘Miss Cooper,” said I at length, wsume for just a Maillot is gullty: would you cou me, for the reasons you have stated, “Your loyalty does you credit I murmured, for lack of anything bet- oment that Me, 1 “Loyalty?” she er “Oh, Mr. Swift with emotion, That's not the word! speak in toyal's behulf, aithough ¢ would do much for him ‘in any case. Glatresafully. “Hetore you go on,” I quletly ob- is my honest opinion, Hepremee re, vary Tevaranly man has done to involve hinself in tam sure that he is no cold-blouded assassin; my tof his character could not be so far at fault, “Por the same reason Tam strongly inclined to belleve his story, prepose ppears standing alone, at. It was that clreumatance whteh finally overcame my reluctance to In- trude upon you. puzzled, though, baffled, by bis ex- rdinary story.” ot baffled, 1 trust," I said “Well, no; perbap were greatly that I'm looking beyond him he guilty man.” e drew @ long breath of relief lasped her hands tn her lip. how little did either of us realize that we had disposed of one difficult situ- to turn round and ourselves facg to face with another, want to learn--oh, everything about this dreadful affair—all the little di I want to enlist your sympa- thies for Royal; not against him.” foes, My candor, to which she bad mado such a powerful appeal, soon led to an Impasse; one that nei in the least pre “1 wondered,” she continued shyly, “supposing I knew every detail of this crime that you know Only in this one part ade haste to add, ns xo much to ma." My pulses leaped, The idea of hav- ing this lovely girl ag a coadjutor, to «ive her sharp wits free play with the harassing minutiae which had not only arisen but were bound to continue to arise as I went deeper her of us was ANOTHER TARZAN STORY! “THE BEASTS OF TARZAN,” a sequel to “TARZAN OF THE APES,” by KE. R. Burroughs, will be The Evening World’s Complete Novel for the week beginning Monday, Noy. 30. In this great story Tarzan goes back to the Jungle and takes up his former life with the wild animals who were his boyhood friends and if t could aid Remember, “The Beasts of Tarzan” will begin on Mond: It ts a date you can’t afford to forget. oncealed safe. She od eo reading aloud the inscrip- hereon: blessings of the season. lap. Shoe sat bolt upright, and di- rected at me a look of surprised be- wilderment, “Ciaral” she gasped. “Why, ment. that's’ front door, “Listen!” Miss Cooper whispered, | man.’ Light, stealthy frotstepe ; sounded nat ch, Next fant upon the p knob wan b cautious hand. CHAPTER XII. The Cipher. slowly revolving door-knob. E nat riwid and breathless, .Thla.’ dod, tip of . “E found W With our eyes siued to:the bh PNG ud At last a feint click an- of her excitement. nounced that the latch was , The bit of pater, Pemane tures inches jong vy et ineh .wi wae © almost parchment-like focus and bore a number of characters written in. black Take “At the: tinee Lary et it suggested a -obmbination; t after @ minute's intent examina- ton, during which the girl could Teleased. ‘Then the door opened few inches, to reveal the slender fig- ure of Alexander Burke. Munifestly he was ignorant of our Provence, Neithor I nor Miss Cooper stirred, and Burke wis for the time being blinded by having come 80 tlence, abruptly from the mow glare into idea.. “Good for was tribute, ‘The’ color Soapieeck ie admiring — ciecks. “I wonder, now, since ‘Were keen enough to find 1 m \« the comparative dimness of the hall. I regretted that we were not ina position to follow his movements un- observed, for of course he muét be you cun make attracted to us the instant elther of ¢stly--do tus stirred. I was exceedingly curious #mined that to loarn what had brought him back to hin employer's house, And now he did a singular’ thiag. His hand was still on the knob, and only his head and the upger part of his body projected through the door- way. Mise attitude was that. of a ¢hyptostaph? It tells wheres strained Listener; and bad I not.been there to testify to the contrary o1 ht have sworn that he received warning not to enter, The silence, however, remained absolutely unbro- Ail at once a shildder convulsed his fraine, He slowly withdrew bia head, as if fearful of disturbing the hous lifelww oceupant, Next he delibe utely closed the door, without enter- tng at all. Miss Cooper turned t finazement, and for at fous that 1b wa bylussed myself t. by such singular conduct, But in a What the paper bore: second 1 comprehended; the fellow _ TWo disks one at either end, and was afraid 4 oy labeled ty Then, che Qgures 1 lwughed quietly, and lal to. 4 11, 15, nd 5, each with ap errew my rompanibar vy Ona exgiaine pointing way or another, After “He expected to find the house thronged with people, and the undisturbed stilness dismayed him. * * * Careful! He's still on the pray that you be showered with ‘With Her face went suddenly white. The hand holding the card dropped to her j 1" ex We both atarted and looked.et the ‘lalmed she, “I heard ail, Mr. @witth ing slowly turned by @ ed upon an ind bouts Jay thi ti terest, id it? y j@ centre | of ini The get was open: ty turned blank eyes fias! “You devil!” hastily through th ture—“you devil!” Next instant he Was drew a great breath of relief. mete eae eo the li eyen bright with suppressed exci 7 “What @ horrid _¢ no wonder Uncle Alfred ‘I looked aharply at ‘her: what earthly reagon.ahould Alfred Sluette ; have for “dispising Fel ‘ivate secretary? Bruit a 4 1 + If 1 was net much* min it je leat! “A cipher?” I cried, al acarcely restrain her eager I was obliged to pode: ith head on wide, 10 stared regretfully at the Bit of paper, on we ag ty ¢ i bi arf i pba Maresh yi al Le ag: (7 i a story! “init this what ER Lich . reasure is, does it not? as Gianoing at her beautiful, antmasedeah countenance, I answered tri noions “Yes;" but added, “It at least me to a treasure that nattainadld,’ For an tngtant she was puzzled, she bent suddenly over the cipher asked no more yentanes fe We had jsone in to the big Ii i table, where with heads fe a close together, we studied im all bisos. the seemingly meahingléas ctraras- : tera, But after some minutes to this exercise we were constral to give it up as hopeless, This studying tt T sald: ‘ "Maybe we shall understand it later. Some ciphers, you know, to be read only in connection porch, hesitating between desire to sometiing’els®; I think this fs a énter and fear to make the attempt, 29¢. Let's put It away and t Slay quietly into the library; J mean om ates that I know you com to find out what he's after, if L can, Ile duesn't peed to know of your being here.” fhe colored and nodded tn compres heasion, and at once tripped across the hall, carrying with her the card and Jewel box “Mind, I shall be close at hand,” 1 whispered after her; which sbe acknowledged, before the door hid her from me, with ono of ber bright, friendiy smiles. I then went and threw the front annouricement. “That faded card’’—I pointed to It ly!fg upon the table, and aoted her fave instantly grew grave-—* did you start so when you frst io6! t it—just as we hoard Burke on the pore “Mr. ift, that ls my aunt's Bangs writing—her name.” bandess “Do you mean Mrs. Fluette™ 1 was tm truth unprepared for this blumt 2” +598 s uy x va. ane feplied stmply. .* ; “Then I fear that our pact ie to ba Bs door wide open, Burke jumped as tf ghort-lived, after adl. ‘This cu bin, “Como in," said I, dryly. “I came for the papers I brought ned to the file cuss. red tronically not a joking matter, Mr. At would be decidedly awkward ing pty Switt for me to have them misplaced, ‘Then I can set your mind at ease: upon one curved I gave them to Mr, Ulysses Wahl naming Mr. Page's lawyer, lagt ‘evening; they should b® reflections, waa I allowing mysei® say! L stientiy* cursed myself fone Ja Mr. Page wanting them?" I biundering fool. The siN's gray fi the pinched look of it, frightened me, T started from my chair. , 1 had unexpectedly fired # shot at tragedy ig twining its tentac: ea, Neat op er home than either of us dreamed” ~ What, in the bitterness of my ow: For'h “an i had drapped torwanas for her head had drep, and @he ¢ hakea by a storm of tearg, + oe (To Be Continued), | 4 5