The evening world. Newspaper, September 11, 1915, Page 9

CHAPTER XXIl. (Ommtinvad Just in Time, K here, I'm not one to mince matters,” he began roughly, with intention, “Do you know that you ‘ have rendered =. yourself Hable to « long term of penal servi- tude, if not to be hanged, for con- spiracy to murder me?’ “To murder you, sir?’ she feigned @ giggling surprise, “You are jok The captain ignored this spurious e@m00d, and went on inexorably; “To murder me and all aboard, and to _ @estoy the ship. There ts evidence t® prove it. Now, if you are not Prosecuted with the actual criminals, we-that is Mrs. Armytage and I— @mpect something in return for our leniency. san “What wo demand of you,” he went =} @ “is that you should keep ailenc “* about what has happened on thie trip. AvRbe man who came aboard with your mistress and misbehaved himself, you may have been told, is not Mr. Armytage, but an escaped lunatic . tho closcly rogembles him--the in- vidual, in fact, against whom the oe of your American friends hould really be directed. You know ho he on?" T heard him say he was Nigel Lu pores name of the gentleman m the mistress was Orst engaged r) replied Crispin humbly. ? “Well, what we want of you is to be silent about the man's identity, ne proceeded. “Are you willing to ‘Maubscribe to absolute secrecy—in con- owgiderntion of being allowed to go ascot cy es," Crispin murmured faintly. “Then get out of this,” said the y@aptain, rising and sheking himself. » “I gannot go sir; you must tell @omething,” sho gasped. “You ¥ think that they would to acht?” eeto blow up the yacht ‘I eald so, and I meant tt,” enapped his wrathful disgust the captain, in & moment to alert atten- ‘There was no further need to drag the information from her. With a ewolubility that refused to be checked, jefut in which the captain discerned laethe truth, she described how she had been on deck looking toward the shore wetor the return of her mistress, when eowhe had observed a small boat, Stemanned by a single rower, approach -3°the yacht. She herself stood in the vlabadow of the deckhouses, but for ‘the fraction of a second the rower’ , face was lit up by a gleam from one °' af the portholes. It was the e ayne, one of the Americans, At first she thought he was making fay, to come aboard, but his course and, rowing close under the yacht’s side, had along toward the stern. He ‘yemained there over ten minutes be- saw the boat again, and then eturning toward the landing stage, Captain Ciawford had enough. Cutting short heard Crispin's Teunication with Frayne on this oc: casion, he pushed her out of the chart-room and ran up on the bridge. oe 1 at the engine-room bell and a rp order to the man at the wheel brought the Idalia to @ stop within six of her own lengths. ‘With Crawford's knowledge of where to look, the exploration did not take lon, In a quarter of the captain's screw driver hi drawn the last of the acrews which *© the patient Frayne had driven home ‘the night before in happy ignorance ““¢hat his approach had been obgerved. Crawford bandied his prize very -Tgingerly. "I am going to drop this “thing into the sea," hi hardly giving his trusted companions a glimpse of the oliskin-covered bo he let it fall out of sight into the safety of the deep. CHAPTER XXIII. At the Half-Way House. DSLIE ARMYTAGE, after leaving the hotel at Ex- mouth, congratulated him- self that the field was clear for him to keep faith with tion of the lezvous from the map shown him by Berthe Roumier, ‘was to walk out some two miles alteton Road, and ing inn called Half-way House,” strike into @ series f lanes which would bring him to 6 Beacon, He could not go wrong, as there was a flagstaff on the top, gible for miles, + Len, he came to tho inn he saw the flagstaff on the crest of the West Down, and thence onward he had no difficulty in reaching his ‘ After passing the Halfway he left the main road and fol- ed a.lane which presently dwin- died into a moorland footpath and go brought him to the gorse-clad summit of the headland, .& sheep-track diverged from the “path Into a wild and rugged tract of *fandalide that sloped by ever varying egradients down to the pebble beach 300 feet below, Lesile turned down- into this scarped and bramblo- eddvered wilderne: r 8 the became a scram! ere he liad to guiokly jump enide ad 6 numerous quagmir webareceiied Loats and at’ be ngers ti f ' eegt a : i 3? Passed into the parlor, Two gentie- | ng the room, seated | ide of the fireplace, | and they looked up on his entrance One was Soorrier Voules, the other Payter Frayne. ‘Good evening, gentiomen,” he nal4 “No, | ageure you that there is no oc. | casion for alarm. There ls no one behind me. eeeaty' Bete been co. cupying this room all the afternoon—- till T went out for a short walk just now. There is nothing that I know of to prevent your rigidly adhering to your programme with @ full sense of @ecurity.” He clomed the door and advanced towards the fire, drawing forward a chair and seating himself between the two, with his feet on the fender. Frayne emitted a growl tiit might have meant relief or anything, but | Voules, whose methods were none! the less deadly because they savored of the velvet glove, stood up and pointed to the chair—an easy one— which he had vacated, “Pray sit here, sir,” he said “I fear that I must unintentionally have Syppeperned you of your seat.” “Not a bit of it,” Lestie replied with a laugh, “I am very comfortable where lam. Besides, this is a public room, and no one has any private rights in it. So, my friend, you did not credit me with common honesty,” he added, turning affably to Frayne, who had not ceased to glare at him. Voules, who had resumed his acat, pace sign to his companion and, stretching out his thin fingers, tapped Leslie on the knee, “I, at any Pate, am convinced of your bona fides, sir,” he said. Tam eure I apologize very hum- ly,” said Lesiie with genuine regret. ‘Nothing was further from my) thoughts than to be offensive or to Invite @ quarrel, It may interest both of you to know that.L came out here thia morning with no more sinister motive than to shake off the detective | and, incidentally, to reconnoitre the ecene of our rendezvous so aa to give you the least possible troub) “By George, sir, but you grit,” Voules exclaimed. And, in- spired by the trrepressible curiosity of the average America: the back of motives, he ve got through the mill so straight Lesiie merely nodded, for he did not care to drag Marion's name into @ discussion with his murderers. But tho silent gesture convinced Frayne, who had never ceased to Watch him, more than words could have done. The band that had been thrust quite openly into his hip pocket came out again and went straight to the bell. “It kind of makes one sorry,” he mused aloud, lansing into his vernac- ular in his unwonted emotion, And then, as he jerked the old-fashioned tasselled cord, he caid: “1 guess there's no call for us to be so fluffy. We're all men, anyhow. You'll drink with me, stranger?” “With pleasure—provided you do: overdo it," Leslie replied with a s! nificant smile at the glass which Frayne had already emptied. “I have ‘t a right, I think, to expect the favor of a steady hand and no bungling.” The landlord came in for the orders, and presently there was to ba seen in the homely parlor of hia Wayelde inn the curious spectacle of three men hob-nobbing together, two of whom were pledged, with his own consent, to do the third to death in the coming nigh: Suddenly, in the midst of an argu- ment between Frayne and Leslie on the merits of Tschatkowsld ag an ex- ponent of weird themes, the door of the parlor slid open so’ quietly that it would have escaped observation but for the flicker of the draught~- fluttered oj] lamp, As it was, the men looked round, ‘$here stood Berthe Roumler in the doorway, like a brilliant picture in a dingy frame, regarding the sympo- sium with questioning eyes. CHAPTER XXIV. The Figure by the Bush. PRTHB closed the door and » came slowly forward, di- vesting herself of her heavy sable stole, Scorrier Voules anticipated Frayne in rising and relieving her of the fur, and set a chair for her, which for the moment sho Ignored. “Quite a enug party," she ex- claimed, glancing at the tumblers and sniffing at the tobacco smoke “A chance meeting, 1 presume, and three , sensible men decided to make the best eh?’ hat is ao," Voules replied, "This gentleman sought the obscurity of the inn in @ praiseworthy effort to throw Quayne and his assistant off his track, Frayne and I are in here in obedience to your orders, not hav- ing been followed by antique shadow. So we all, concluded to bury the hatchet for an hour or two,” "The beat thing you could have done,” gald Berthe, and sinking into the chair she laughed merril, thinking of how neatly 1 old watohdog the slip," she explained; “also of how funny It is that you, Mr. Lukyn, should have been dodg- ing the same crowd as ourselves, Considering our-—well, divergent in- terests, it has the elements of a dra~ matic situation.” {t bade fair to be embarrassing at first," Lesiie replied, falling in with wr mood. He had voluntarily yielded bimagif to these people, and he saw no reason for being “nasty” ith fhem now, It wae grimiy of Wi Re fhe o FAO &s to soldiers of opposing armies who meet in the full of battle at some in- terveniig stream, to exchange cour- te: with those who mean to kill you @ little later, In fact, his sense of humor came to bis ald Berthe Roumler gazed thoughtfully @ fire without replying. From he eat, fur ne had backed his to make room for her, Les! had a view of the mobile, vivac face in which the lips were sometimes youthfully ripe and full, and anon but @ thin red curve. Just now they were tight drawn back to the teeth, firmly set, and the girl's brows were puckered in a puzzled frown, Suddenly movements “You remember your affiliation to the Knights of Industry and.your con- duct afterwards? How came you, a man of fine instincts and natural honor, to act as you did toward Matt Dempsey and others, making hungry wives and fatherless children in our capitalist-ridden land?” leslie could only shake his head, wenuinely bewildered, He had no knowledge of the causes which had wet the vendetta going againat Nigel Luk Berthe had poured it all out to Marion, but he had not @een his wife since, Berthe seized on the blankness in his face as her justification, “I see how it is—you were insane when you were guilty of such baseness,” she exclaiinéd in.a tone of relief. “That salves our consciences, for we are punishing you for what you were cunning brute—not t you are now.” » had better leave it at that,” he sald with a shrug. “You cannot ex- pect me to go into the physiological reasons which led me to incur the displeasure of your soolety, I have, however, a favor to ask, which may make your operations easier and safer, and lighten my suspense.” “L can guess your meaning, Berthe. "You want to put the eloc! forward a bit—to hasten the affair?’ ‘Exdotly,” Leslie replied. “As clr- cumstances have brought ua together h why not settle it at once? It as dark now as it will be In the mid of the night. There will be no ono near that desolate cliff on a cold win- ters evening, You would be able to leave the neighborhood once for all by one of the late trains, whereas if you walt till the small houra you will be tied to Exmouth till totmorrow, with the risk of having Quayne to reckon with, Also, this inn will close at ten o'clock, and both parties to the contract would have to wander about in the open—a cheerleas and ridicu- lous proceeding, "A genuine good acheme,” Voules's comment, So it was arranged that the Amert- cans should leave the inn first in a body, and make their way to the cliffs, and that Leslie should follow them @ quarter of an hour later, They dvul, aid Lesile i and leaned against the mantel-piece, look- ing down at Berthe, who had covered her face with her hands. An ancient grandfather clock ticked out the fleeting seconds with a horrid inal ence that by some queer paradox of nature affected the woman who had played so strenuously for a man's life and, a8 she thought, had won, more than the man himself, She looked up at the clock—lercely, as though she would have loved to #mash tt to atoms, “It ls terrible,” she muttered, “That clock makes it a thousand times worse,” And, minute by minute, it was be- coming later atill. The inexorable on, and acaul- id was The Evening World Daily Magazine. Sa The Ave — ) SHOES WILL BE “FAN CIER” THAN EVER qT a — bi sKirt cs WE FASHIONABLE FALL SILHOUETTE turdvy. BLoon: Witt ‘ie NEC@ssary V Use SHADES POR Veksy SwoRT SKIRTS 2 HAT CJ WILL BE HIGHER FUR TRinteD PANTALETTES September escing in his desire for silence, made no further attempt to converse with bin who: sands were so quickly running out. She sat with her bead buried in her hands (l/l Lesiie took his hat from the table. Then sbe rose and faced him, “Goodby, Mr. Lukyn,” she said. “L pray to God that it may never again be my lot to serve those with whom ! am associated by taking buman life.” When he had stepped out into the night and struck into the lane leading to the cliffs it distracted his thoughts to wonder and puggle over the com- plex characters of his vicarious enemies, And he came to the con- clugion that character had nothing to do with it, except so far as cun. ning and technical skill had justified their selection. It was the power of organized human hate, else, surely, a woman smitten with remorse even to weeping would have relented and heid her hand from the fell tusk she had undertak: The night, aided by the glitter of stars in a clear sky, was not 6o dar« that on nearing the Beacon he could not see the spectral shape of the flag- staff rising from the summit, And the wind, which had freshened since morning, Was making weird music in the iron stays, helping to guide him to his goal. Having found the way, it could hardly be called @ path, leading down from the brink of the cliff into the rugged tumble of tle landsllp, he paused for a minuto on the verge, All the sloping ground immediately below him was black with the shadows of the undergrowth trending downward fo the beach; but, beyond, the sea shimmering faintly in the starlight sent up & booming sound—like @ death knell He had resolutely refused to think of Marion since he had posted the letter to her, but now @ wave of recol- lection, tempting him to linger, swept over him, This, too, he stemmed with i 4n effort, and plunged downward into the “Floors.” The descend at first Was #o steep that in the darkness it was a stumbling scramble; but thirty vet lower down he got into gentler ground, and began picking bis way among the sloe bushes and quagmires, wondering when the blow would fall --hoping that {t would fall soon, “Ah, now it comes!" he thought, drawing «a tong breath, For a little ahead of him a tall fig- ure was standing, scarcely visible in the still darker shadow of a wild shrub that lifted its leafless arins to to meet his fate, CHAPTER XXV. ing the deck of the Idalia after detaching and sinking ahead” on the course for Pxmouth, and then presented himself in the page of the yacht, We ought to pipe all hands to “We have been very near to death— all of us.” of bis destruction of the deadly con- trivance, Aunt Jane cl; her efter the sky. The Motor Launch. the infernal machine, gare saloon, Marion and Aunt Jane at prayera and give thanks to Almighty And he told of the discovery con- She manner of And he went onward and downward C APT, CRAWFORD, on reach- orders for “full 6 once questioned him as to the stop- God," eald the captain reverently. aequent on Crispin’s revelation, and her kind, in an agony of terror foi bygone danger, but Marion was agi- tated for a more potent reason, “The wretches!” she eried. “But do you not see what this means, Cap- tain Crawford?) When they let me go yesterday It was because they be- lieved that they had been succensful in destroying my husband and all on board. They can know nothing of Nigel Lukyn's escape from the asy- lum, and 1, in good faith, told them that my husband was Mr. Lukyn, If they come across my poor Leslie they will certainly murder him, This dia- bolical attempt shows that their re- assurance of me was all a pretense, and that they are as cunning as they are pitiless!" The captain could not deny the force of her words, but he did his best in his kindly fashion to comfort her, “Mr, Armytage'may have the op- portunity of enlightening them that he is the wrong man,” he said, “If ho discloses the cireumstances of his marriage and informs them that Lukya, as he will believe, ta still at the asylum, he will get through all right.’ The captain was @ poor actor, and spoke with very little conviction, knowing full well that peopie who would endeavor to blow up @ ship to wet at one man would not be likely to give him a chance to explain matters before they struck. And Marion saw the forlornness of the hope all too surely, . * she said; “my sheet anchor is Quayne, the detective. If he has arrived at Exmouth as a result of my telegram he will protect Leslie.” But, as we know, Quayne ha to Cornwall on business wht kyn's destruction of the wireless ap- gone 's errand. d Crawford, as he jeft he sooner we are back there the better. I'll drive the boat along as quick as triple expansion engines can move her, and we've got wind and tide with us.” Tho short day was waning when the yacht rounded Berry Head, and, skirting the grand sweep of Torbay made for the gap in the Bouth Devon » through which the Exe wan- to the sea, Long before the Idalia crept across the bar into the mouth of the river darkness had fallen, making extreme — caution necessary to avoid the sandbin'ss, In her impatience to lund as goon as it was possible, Marion had dressed and had joined the captain on the bridge. “Tl want the motor-launch dropped inte the water the instant we atop,” she said, "I must go ashore and look for Lesie, Just he went to look for me yesterdu she added, with @ nervous laugh, Capt, Crawford passed on the or- der and turned to Marion, whose face as eoen by the light of the binnacle lamp was a picture of fear battling with hope. “Have you any definite where to lo, ho asked. The house in Holroyd Street, of course,” was the answer, “If he is not there und the Americans are gone I shall go to the police and make & clean breast of everything— in the hope that they will find traces,” Bo they elld past the lighted win- dows on the sea front and groped their way to their former anchorage the faithful Saunders standing by the davits to superintend the lowering of the launch, Marton left the bridge, in order to lose not a moment, and went to the head of the accommoda- tlom ladder, I[t had already been dropped into position, The rattle of the cable told her that the anchor had found its home in the river-bed at last, and immedi. afterwarda the creaking of the was tn blocks and @ faint thud announced that the launch was in the water, Saunders edged the tiny craft to the foot of the ladder, and Marion was on the point of ending when «a wild commotion on the deck of the yacht gave her pause, Turning quick- ly, she saw what had happened. Nigel Lukyn had broken loose from custody, and, pursued by the two @ailors he had outwitted, was rushing madly to- wards her, Thinking that she her- self was the object of the frantic charge, she shrank back from the head of the ladder, But, no, he did not seem to see her, or, if ao, to care. Tearing by in the frenzy of hie mad- ness, he halted suddenly at eight of the quarter-master guarding the lad- der, felled him with @ well-directed blow, and scampared like & monkey down into the motor-launch, Thero floated up a cry of consterna- tion, a shriek of maniac lat and, in quick succession, a splash in the water; and an tn t later the “tiek-tack” of the motor told that the launch was start! “Never mind him,’ collecting ther wits, manned, I must go ashore at once,” And they flew to do her bidding, CHAPTER XXVI. The Last Chance. fj OHN QUAYNE’S career dg a detective had been a justly | | ;rosperous one, but after his fatlure to get into wire- less communication with the Idalla, he felt that it dragged the balance down against all previous successes. He would gladly have wiped the slate clean of the latter if he could only win now. Yet it seemed hopeless, The yacht was somewhere on the sea with a devilish device on board which was timed to destroy her at 4 o'clock that afternoon, while Lea- He Armytage, his client's husband, hourly peril from vengeful enemies, And he, John Quayne, was out of touch with both, He could neither warn the yacht or protect the man who, for reasons which his shrewd brain was beginning to piece to- wet had given him the slip, He paced the platform of the little Cornish station in impatience for the train to come in, yet in doubt As to where to book for, At last, however, just as the whistle of the engine urged prompt decision, he went into the oltice and took @ ticket to Exmouth, ‘The latest telegram from his ansistant, Peckthorne, despatched at noon, tn- formed him that the Americans were still there, and that was the place for him. The first person he encountered on the platform was his trusty assist Peckthorne, looking even more de shortly, leading the old man aside. “They've slipped me, sir—the lot of ‘em,” was the anaw "They left the house separately, the two men first, and the woman last. Acting on your Instructions, I let the men run loose and @tuck to woman, What dows #he do but march stratght off to the police station and stay inside a good ten minutes, When she came out 1 was ready to go on agatn, but she played @ bluff that fairly choked me off.” “What did sho do?” asked Quafne hoarsely, “Came up to me as bold as brass and eaid that she had been to com- plain to the sergeant that I'd been annoying her her Peokthorne trotted by tis ghiefe wide ae they made thelr way out of tne es | reliway terminus th . a u ta on, mm eo on.” exciaimed hf of the utmost wv arrangement tween the carcass If he knew where Lesiie Army had gone be would have « keen Bo- tion draw trom shadow! mier, he had gone to t) house where he had # vious night, ing & much-needed meal the youn woman who waited on him bi talked to him of @ well-dressed gen- tleman, quite out of the ordinsry run of the customers of the niace, who had come in early th and had fast. He Nin face, fiwure and clothes ¢ ety with that deacription of Mr. Armytege he had been dressed when Pack thorne had seen him with Quayne at the hotel on the previ Reacon, sir, and tereated in hearing thi ton near by, “Your ears have served you better than your eyes to-day. We will drive out there at once. Go and get a fy with a good horse and bring it down to the landing stage, I must go there For he was still clinging to the hopa that_the Idalla might have put back to Exmouth, or sought some other port under atress of Nigel Lukyn. The long journey from Cornwall, with @ ined before Lestie co what ho ought to do, darted forward from eprang and was lost to view. wel lakyn swayed al gare h - ng heap tilt the ‘ated twitch, and was then avi! ® rugwed contour of the foreground, But just as Leslie was about to de- scend to see if any remnant of remained, the two Americans ment, and, it Into one or agmires. “He'll He there tit §1 Voules, a9 the core ol leaving only the di noon = . rama Se itartit why at nase with the landalip in the tedious wait at Exeter, had absorbed #0 the hi of daylight, and it war dark nde ng reached the front—so dark “The Teate it Pave by “apy re izing the three pole-masts an the twa yellow funnels visible In the irhostly éffulgence shed by the yacht if. He hailed a mon abe hat dat landed his catch of hertingw ond whose boat was bumping against the quay. A tow minutes later Quayne’ hoy to J copupied je same place a foot of the accommodation ladder whence Nigel Lukyn had just starte! seaward in the motor launch, In an- other moment he was on deck, where Marion was waiting till the boat which who had ordered should be ready. “The explosive hine—you know of it?" the detectlv hoarse whisper. It was no occasion for, ceremonious greeting. ‘Safe--forty fathoms under the sea, thanks to a hint from Badger, Marion replied. “But what of my husband? You have seen bhim—you TS of him? Ny r, Quayne, for God's sake, let tho news be good.’ T saw him yesterday, but not to- day. Still, no nows Is good news, or ought to be accounted # Mi Quayne evasively. ‘You do not know where he is?” Not for certain, but I bad just obtained information which may lead, ie to him, I was about to test it, but T had to see that the Idalia wi wafe firat. I will start now at on and you my report of what has passed afterward, But what of n? te ‘se raving mad and haa only now stolen my motor launch and put out to sea, That, however, is of no consequence, I, too, have many things to explain, and we can make our @: ibafges a® we go to look for Le my boat is manned * my vieo and don’ Mrs, Armytage,” he said. “There may bo danger, In any case your Presence would be likely to hamper m What you uay about danger quite nettles it,” replied Marion, moving to the gangway, ‘ollow me into my boat, please, and pay off your own boatman, 1 am not going to | sight of you, my friend, UN you have brought ‘me to Lesli So it was that when they had wained the shore and found Peok- thorne wailing with a Wwell-horsed fly, Quayne handed Marion into the Vohicle and ordered the driver to take them out to the “Half Way House’ at Littleham, Peekthorne sat on the box seat, wo that as they made the mo- mentous journey the detective and his nt Were free to talk without re~ rye, Quick question and answer followed on both sides, tll each was in possession of the separate happen. ‘use on Jand and sea during the past twenty-four hours, The smashing of the wireless ap- paratus on the yacht by Lukyn in- terested Quayne Intensely, aa ex- Plaining his failure, aw did the sub- sequent chain Which led to the dia- covery of the infernal machine, Marion, too, heard of Quayne's meet- ing with Loslle and of their proceed- ings on the previous evening with bated breath, But w he came to 2 his th had given bim of @ bargain with Luk inexorable foes, she broke down and wept. It was, therefore, with glistening eyes that whe descended from the fly the door of the waya to which Peekthorne's cut had brought them, She was about to rush tuously into the house, but Quayn arm. "I will go firet, 1€ you please,” he eaid, Vor his quick eves had noted a shadow on the blind of the parlor— the shadow oh 4& woman, whose fash- jonable ear and garments, as plorea. cs the blind, were mo’, what m \e sees restraining hand fell on her Pla hie inquired in a (py ieee or to meet him in their ‘ont higher ground, but the pair into the undergrowth lower down, id he heard their footsteps clamber. upward away to hie right, hie way ashore at that poin ipod while climbing trom on, “If they have killed Marion shall not escape,” he cried in his anguish, and the thought him to hasten hig return to the ¥ ‘he tap-room had been full of - wart countrymen, and it would easy to hold the Americans till police could arrive. Yet he must not tread too closely on the of Voules and Prayne, or he might them and #0 alackened his pace, when he éventually reach “Halfway House,” Scorrier and Fayter Frayne had already como fter reporting to Berthe ponaee the accomplishment of their ask. So it was that when Leslie entered the inn parlor he came upon « gir! all unstrung and with traces of tears From force of habit ahe was adjusting ber hat before the mirror previous to depart: y and it mirror that she aw the reflection of her visitor. uttered a little cry, and to him shrinkingly, as if app: by one risen from the dead. geaped. me,” replied Lasile. It was no time for verbal.preoision, “Where are the men?” But Berthe ¢ould not speak-—she could only look at bim and m lips—and in a few words he ex- plained what had happened—how a murder had been done which he had witnessed; but how he argued from Lukyn's presence there that another and ‘greater crime had to be laid to ir door, ‘So, you see, if I had killed instead of that poor wreteh I should have given my life and got nothing in return,” he finished. "You cannot expect any mercy from me, Mille. Roumier.” T do not,” she made answer, it was characteristic of her that coolness had returned with knowl of the clroumstances, “You then are really Mr. Armytage, the ‘double’ of Lukyn, and told us that you were he in the hope of saving your wife? I will only say from my heart that T would rather suffer the last penalty of your Jawa than have hurt a it of your head. Ah, now you wil able to hand mo over to justice; is Mr. Quayne.” For the detective stood tn the door- way, his eyes moist with a great re- lief at seeing Lesite safe and sound, Quayne turned his beaming counten- ance and spoke to some one behind him, and the next moment all Les- He's vengeful feelings died away as at the touch of a magic wand. Wor there was his wife, running toward him) with ousatratanes eal un- noathed by any euch catagtpophe es he bad plotured, and with her beau- tiful face eloquant of love and trust, "he erled.; “Marton!” Lestie—really and truly Leslie! Yes, I know all about you, dearest, and just why and how you have done all the nauehty things you have, And you are forgiven for all of them, ex- cent for that last wild sacrifice, you would have made tn vain.” And, all paneeting se nes Quayne and Berthe S