The evening world. Newspaper, December 31, 1915, Page 11

) eyee—any on “It is still there, in every generation Nevelized From the Pathe Photo Play of the Same Name by Will M. Ritohey. (Copyright, ih, by Albert Payson Terhune) SYNOPSI8 OF PRECEDING CHAPTERS, t SR See tS ee . “The Red Circle,” repeated Borden dully. there. And it has marked one member person marked by it has always been a criminal. The ‘Decoration of the Curse of Heaven,’ I have heard it called!” 1s 1 on my hand, always of my family. The CHAPTER III. “Twenty Years Ago.” RED CIRCLE! God help us! muttered the nurse once more, ‘aa June looked at her, dazed, incredulous, ‘The ray of garish sunlight that had streamed in at the open French window making @ Doudoir, lost ite radiance, path of gold across the floor of the Jum, her knees beside Mary, watched the light shrink and fade. The moan euddenly became gray. She orept closer to her old nurse and threw ier arms around her, Her right hand clutched the biack-covered shoulder ely. ‘The whiteness of her flesh against the black material was intensified by | the circle of scarlet. It glowed with a jurid brilliancy under her terrified ‘ou know about the Red Circle? Won't you please tell me?" she en- treated, “You must know, because I can see you recognize it, Don't you e088 how terrible it is for me? Mary, won't you tell me?” ‘The nurse's arm tightened around the slim young body. Unconeciously thee lapsed into the soothing , automatic patting that she had used #o often te put the baby June to sleep. I don't know 4, I know you no well!” sho id. “ "t He to me. ou are y eort that le made to Ue well so plainly in your could see you think you ¢ a kindness to keep this ere trod me—whatever it might t you're not, I know how dearly you love me, and I ask you, on account of that love, to tell mo what you know of this brand that is upon "t you?” “tr ig deeperately to evade the tor- of questionings, the nurse up, unclasped the clinging rose from t! el . “Tar taco took on the haggardness ‘of one who is awakened from what seemed? to be a grucsome nightmare, Gmty to find that it is a grim truth, The vasue, haunting dread that had her for twenty years was 4 , a cap seid and real it locked ath. - Muroed trom the kneeling figure went quickly through the door @own the stairway, one han: to her throat. ‘A Strange Dread. a looked after her, stunned by & t ‘Then slowly she , walked over to her Uttle chair before the irre S 4 blank! flection before her, not aaetine ibes was hers. The ore ‘duli and wide, the lips parted ly. Obedient to habit, she th her disar- rajeed 6. hand, © airror flashed back Ge red circle, on ts white back- ground. to her ear age sone Tze SB from the roo! she stopped sud- tap of the ing against the balustrade, On ‘the Tower floor, in the library, eat Dihatever he Msoret, J must be teept from ber. Mary had made oh clear. But what could the secret be that | June and ae ee moth: had ver was "ecrets from each other, two, And yet—— a Scant ‘she had decided, Mum- Fe eoftly, ahe ran cown } che mane ) wary. x 5 \s i pas paper and smiled ‘every ae the mischievous face bent her. reading, mumsie? Regular inet Oh, only the news- on o's dead, dear? Bonen: terest tn f tn the ( they're doing ses atid Se la } adh Sanskrit to me, Where's Serv? Have you seon her? Where ™ ou Farting gtri"—ire. areve her hands in moc! mF, ‘ever cultivate the habit wait! ae to Have one question an fore you ask five others? eet through that door there, ot ten minu re aM1 don't blame her, you pean her with questions the bs Sere nh her.” to onte te ‘mother a kiss from ne ene her fingers and ran out throug? Yee tons ‘window. On the verandn she ‘da in search of the gcanned the Erowney garbed figure. “e trim, i; D in a little clump Page.» side Petone bench, Sitting on D swaying to any fro, with this 4 was Mary. ry clasped hands, : “sown the ate went th) and and ye supplication: i “Don' ine, precious! Don't as) Sots don't know. T couldn't a pleased,” she moaned, and paises her ands to ward off June's The girl eat down and put a loving arm across her shoulders, “Promise Me!’ who bring up children and love ghe began slowly, “al- ‘ways {t thoge children are grown. Once ebaby, aiwaye ‘@ baby, to lov- mothers and dear, foolish old But I'm not a baby any Mary. Especially not since the pore thing that happened to-day. am branded—I am guilty of— Seamed gayety bad fled. Her rose to a hysterical pitch that sharply into the quiet that was them, Mary put a quick hand jover the trémbling lips, cutting off ‘Phe plea. ni table and sank into the “Hush! Oh, daritng, hush!" she be- sought. ‘They will hear you at the house. You musn’t say a word about {t any more, not even to me—you mustn't think of It ever again. Prom- lae.” “I can't promise anything,” per- sisted June, fighting to regain her composure, “untl you tell me about this mark that haa soiled my hand— tell me what you know of it Just now, when I came downstairs and to my mother, I had to hide my right hand, for fear she might see that aw- ful thing. Yet, if you refuse to tell me about it now, I shall go straight to her and ask her.’ “Oh, no! No!” “Then tell me.” Aa she got up from the bench the old woman leaned heavily on the young arm beside her, for support. She looked cautiously toward the house and then in the opposite direc- tion, With the same nervous fear she stared Into the shrubbery surrounding them, then sank back onto the bench, her lips moving as if in silent prayer. “I'm afraid—I'm afraid,” she repeat- od weakly. “Tell m “God knows I've kept the secret #0 far—she never knew nothing about It your mother—and nobody! ‘There isn't anything you can keep @ secret forever. But if I cquld ‘a’ protected you from it always, precious, I would ‘a’ given my soul, pretty near, to do %. It all happened so long ago-—tw. “urged June, gently patting her writhing hands. “Twenty years ago Mra. Travis went West on a trip with Mr. Travis,” said Mary, speaking rapidly, as if forcing each word, “I went along—l was tho maid. It was a terrible place, out West was, in those days. And the place we went to was a mining town where there was nothing but shacks and saloons and rough-looking men and half-dead looking women. At the end of the trip Mrs. Travis was pretty near spent. She oughtn’t to have been travelliny at such a time. But she Just would insist on coming along. I remember Mr, Travis and me had to pretty near carry her into the place where we were going to while we were there. It wasn't lar hotel—the sign said ‘Gem Saloon, Also Rooms.’ ‘Jake’ was the name of the man who kept ft, and downstairs, when we went in, was nothing but a barroom ali filled with tobacco smoke and smell of liquor. ‘There was tables with men drinking and gambling and they stared it us like we were strange animals. The Confession. “Jake led the way up the stairs and Mr. Travis and me put our arma around poor Mrs. Travis and just lift- ed her up that rickety stalrcase into the bedroom on the second floor, Mary's eyes stared dully,' back through the mist of twenty years, Her voice faltered—and stopped. “The bedroom on the second floor," Tepeated June, “and then’ “And then we put her to bed, be- tween us, Mr. Travis and me. He had to go down and speak to some men, on business, He had gone out West on sone business about @ gold mine he was interested in, you know. And the reason Mrs. Travis went along was because she was so sick and nervous, she said it would killed her to stay behind. And then, that afternoon, Mr. Travis and most all the men in the town went into the moun- tains to see @ new gold claim. “They were the roughest looking lot, an’ there was one a big, powerful fel- low, a gambler—'Jim Borden’ they called him.” “Jim Borden!" cried June, “Why!"— “And was rougher even than the rest of ‘em; but they all minded what he said. They went off riding on horses and mules with packs and guns slung on their backs and I remember I lifted Mra, Travis out of bed and into a rickety, old rocking chair near the window #0's she could wave her hand goodby and throw @ kiss to Mr. ‘Travis. “That night her Mttle baby was born. I was all alone there and it went awful with her—I thought she was dying. After @ little while I called Jake and I told him about the baby, He sald it was fine and he'd send one of the boys out to the mine to Mr, Travis with a note and tell him about the good news, “Then, just as be was going down the stairs again he turned around and said he'd have to make it @ double Rete, becauge Jim Borden's wife had fust had a baby an hour before and Jim would want to know, too,” A sharp little breeze that epran; from nowhere rustied the branches 0! the trees, and moved the low bushes with a sudden wild touch, The old nurse jumped to her feet, dragging frantically at June's hand, The unexpected break In the tension that had held her tortured the girl's nerves, It was with difficulty she stifled the shriek that rose to’ het lips. “It was Just the wind,” she heard herself saying as she pulled Mary down on the bench beside her, “Just the wind, It startled me. And Jako sent the note to father and Jim Bor- den, you were saying?” A Midnight Battle. “Yes, he sent the note, Oh, the night was long. Mrs. Travis waa un- conscious. And every minute of the time when I wasn't trying to bring her to I walked the floor with this mite of a baby of hers trying to save them both “The next morning early, it seem’ outlaws outside the town heard that a big shipment of gold was In the road- house waiting to go out. They knew most of the men was away at the mines, so they attacked the plac I'll never forget the minute I heard Short and sharp— the first firin, mostly revo! ‘hots. “Ali of a sudden, Jake and another man run out and started to gather up the women and children from th shacks and bring them over to the roadhouse, I watched from the win- dow, with the baby In my arms. And I saw Jake and one of the miners named Joe, carrying a woman In @ wrapper from one of the shacks—e@ poor, white thing she was—and right behind them ran another woman with @ little bundle wrapped in « shaw! in her arms. “I could hear the women and chil- dren herding In, in the barroom down- stairs, 1 could hear ‘em calling, frightened, for their husband that wasn't there. Then I heard the doors slamming and the bolts shot into place. And in the midet of it all tho door of the bedroom flung open and Joa and Jake came in dragging the sick womhka between ‘em. ““This is Jim Borde wife, says Jake to me, ‘and here’s Mrs. Toole Jim's by u oan’ her'll ck women and And we said put Jim's baby down “ THECHARRED NOTE MAKES LAMAR SUSPECT THAT JUNE 15 THE VEILED woman" on the bed next to Mrs. Travis—it was one them narrow, no ‘count beds—and went to fussing over Mrs, Borden, And 1 just walked the floor with the other baby and prayed. The fieht w awful! Ever and @gain some woman downstalrs would scream id would ery for its father hear the m The women v ‘em and helping ‘em all they could— but they weren't tke men. ting lasted ail morning— re near the end of and th trength; and the the outlaws, &t the saloon door—that near he was-—when he heard a shot from a different di ‘Slim Bob’ duck an ge a slink ing alongside @ high wood f ‘ at the same time one of the th. men that s carrying a big timh that they were g in the aloon door his tracks! “Away off in the road at the ede of the town we saw galloping horses, and then men scrambling off horses! backs and running toward us. They were the men back from the mines! They fired as they ran and the out- laws turned ta! trying to escape all except a few—‘Sli Bob’ was one of ‘em. I saw Mr. ‘avis make for him and then I made up my mind I'd go downstairs and call Mr. Travis to come straight up to his poor, uncon- scious wife. “On the table was Mrs, Travis’ open grip, just as I'd lett it when the baby ing to use to bitte dropped dead in woolly things in it. So I laid the baby on them when I ran downstaira—{t was safer than the bed. It was safer than the bed,” she repeated tncoher- ently “Mary—Maryl" June shook her slightly. “Don't forget any of it now you mustn't, do you hear? You mustn't! You left off where you went downstairs.” “And when T was going out of the room,” continued the old woman, King as if she were In a “tranc "Mrs, Borden must ‘a heard her Jim's voice downstairs, ‘cause ahe kinda tried to pull up out of the chatr and then when I was halfway down the steps I heard a shot and something falling. “Downstatre, in the barroom, it was ll shouting men, with women crying on thelr shoulders and little children hanging frightened to their mothers And I beard big Jiu Horden a } THE EVENING WORLD, FRIDAL, DECEMBER 31, A Mystery Romance of Heredity Jake about his missus and then jump- ing up the steps three at a time with @ look like the smile of heaven on bis stone-cut face, Father Slain. “But in all Travis and I began to be afraid, thinking of that woman who layitig unconscious in house, With great fear and hesita- tion June raised her eyes, They fell the beautiful that she had felt, up to legitimate portion now, was her An Impostor! lzed for life with the Red Circle of It was too horrible—too un- her very soul. he arm of tho older She clung to woman with a hi was pitiful, and ed up to the path to- loved ‘him 80, bed upstairs ho one was looking, I ran out on the there f found shot through the heart! own poor father, who never even held me tn his arms,” murmured June, her eyes filling with “My father! nb? Mary was saying. “Nobody ‘knows—nobody — will need to know, And then"—— “1 don't know how long I was there “Look!” June broke in with great beside him on my knee went on, wiping her eyes. I was there the walk, staring up at the house!” Mary's eyes followed her pointing She saw a tall, slender young man In well-cut clothes, scanning the horizon, as if uncertain that he had reached his destination. asked the nurse, quickly, alarmed at the girl's trepida- tion. ‘Ite Max Lamar—the crime spe- Ob, my precious—a 1 heard some heavy, on the porch use and kind of stagger of the roadh ross the roa ak, little wail of @ newborn child. But I didn’t notice much, just then. “I just wandered back into the ea- loon like I was in a nightmare and clallst stumbled up the steps, falling over m; skirts and pfeking myself up; untll got into the bedroom. middle of the room, hanging over the table, with her eyes glassy staring and her chin dropped was Jim Borden's 1 “A detectivel There, in the ips curled slightly, a crime ape- great difference be- tween the two, Mra. Travis, still unconscious with @ baby beside her.’ June slipped again to her knees be- mide Mary, her eyes fixed on the old woman's face, her hands so tightly clasped that the knuckles were white “There ain't any difference, lamb, fter you! And It's you he's after—he's found out—he's found when they're “Hush!” June commanded yuldn’t have he's coming to see me. to the other day, at the prison imagining things, you and I us—and tt isn't good to do that. Come hours before 1 got up from the chair It was only when [ remem- bered how queer It was that the baby in the grip didn’t ery that T jumped up sudden and went to mot it. The grip was empty, was nothing but the dent ft» little had. made In and over on the A New Fear. Seizing her hand, June dragged her over the lawn toward the side porch. ed bravado she How ridicu- and ours had been a boy.” with a sudden her heart pounded s reast and her lips were dry and shrank away from Surely crime was its own pun- Ss i i, horror in her eyes, sho stretched out hands in an ef- raw the girl back ishment {f guilt ‘always carried in tts n to the aide Was still sitting Her paper had slld fr m her fingers saw by the regular shoulders that oman on the bed with nd she faltered; then ra moment there was @ dropped a Mgnt # ber arms wide, Juge cried with a atart, t the girl's actions. a@ moment bef: ught best at the time,” i terror of a life tragedy had lived in Travis was dead. Mrs. Travis caine to, what could I tell A baby was there, me knew it wasn't her? killed her to tell her. Fhe didn't know no one knows." “And I—I am'"— June gasped out heard June say, guyly, “someone is coming to see us—to see me,” she “Do you remember Mr, Lamar—the erime spectalist that we met at the prison? the walk now, be down tn a minute,” She ran toward the stairway, emphasized. I never told. she doesn't know He's coming u Will you tell him I'll A Revelation, Mary looked steadily into her ter- rifled eyes and gripped her hands je back of Jim Borden's right eo said heavily, zz 6. pale bronze Ui Jap butler, passed on his way to an- “And mumste,” called June sauetly from the first landing, “be eure your conscience is clear, Lamar discovers ali things.” From the hall above she watched, Travis had greeted “there was a Remember Mr, ‘Circle’ Jim out there. Just, as later, was born. It had a lot of soft, white, © een, until Mrs I don't betteve 1t-—I'm d to control the girl, game—whe | would this one to the end, And in the end, she would wear the victors crown. The germ of adventure bred quickly in her blood, into a sobbing heap at Mary's fect. Very gently the old woman lifted her and held her close: “You are Jim Borden she declared, with a solemnity that brooked no dispute, tho crime curse, But we must guard She must never know," She motioned vaguely toward the play at any “Marked with the fastenings of her hurried to her She would put on something and arrange her hatr differ- THE FOURTH CHAPTER OF “THE RED CIRCLE” WILL BE PUBLISHED 1915. ently, A bundred ways and means of fascinating and hoodwinking this very calin and assured young man crowded Into her brain, Standing at the door of her room was Mary, her eyes wide with fear, “You mustn't go down, darling, * she urged nervously. “He's emarter’n you are—ho'a in the business of hunting people—and you're only an tnnocent lamb, He'll tear your throat in no time.” You dear old foolfsh!" June an- awered lightly, “come in and help me dress, Get mo a pretty dress, ‘The brown one, I think, And, Mary dear, make me fascinating enough to addie the head of even a crime specialist.” She leaned forward and pressed her laughing face close to the mirror of her dressing table. A little, blown wisp of hair tumbled tnto her eyes. Impatiently, she brushed ft Back, then stared open-mott at her lifted hand. An Ill Omen. Bpeechiess, she pointed to it, As they watched, with unbeliéving ba the ring of scarlet faded to a deep rose, then paled to pink. Almost im- mediately it vanished, leaving an un- blemished white surface. At sight of it June bent and kissed the spot In a paroxysm of joy. It's gone—it's gone!” she cried tn hysteric gles, and wrapped Mary fn a crushing bear b “That's a good sign. I believe in signs, don’t you, You poor, nervous, old thing, Do I look all right, in this gown? Do I look pretty and fascinating and—?* “Don't be so gay!” pleaded the old woman, fearfully, “Somehow, It seems 80 awful for you to be laughing fust now, and thinking you're going to get the best of that man. I*— June reached down, gras) her wrinkled, trembling hands and startod whirling her about in @ mad, merry circle, laughing at her breathless ex- postulations the while. Suddenty, in their wit s, her elbow struck a pedestal in the corner of the room, It swayed peri- lously for a accond, then toppled to the floor—the large case upon it smashing to a thousand fragmenta, At the sound June stopped #0 abruptly ‘hat Mary was thrown against the wall and caught at the door jam to keep from ne. The old woman eyed shattered bits with superstitious mingtving, “It's an omen!" she muttered half herself, “Bee what you've done! “Oh, everything’s an omen to you, e@weet old calamity croaker!” Jaughed June. “Tf you spill salt, you blind people by throwing it over your shoulder and missing your aim—you look on a hand mirror simply as something to be dropped to bring seven years’ disaster—acd I'M bet you'd woar your hat inaide out if it were possible to.” “I would not,” denied Mary meekt: “And as I've always sald, I think a o! of superstition has kept many a weak soul out of jail. ‘There's something about breaking a vase, too, Lor’, I can remember my father repeating tt to us children, ‘He who breaks a vase, they say, lives to rue the!" “Nonsense!” ridiculed June, “have Yama clean up this mes#—there's a doar, And Mary, peek down through the bantsters and watch me disarm the @uspicions of Mr. Lamar—the great crime specialist !* And laughing at the horrified ox- pression on the old woman's face, the misohtef-possessed girl darted down the stairway and into the library, “I'm so glad you came," she said simply, as she took Lamar’s hand, “When I asked you I was afraid you never would-—you're eo busy—and so important.” y- At “Busy, Miss Travis, Important mainly to one Max Lamar.” “Now it's in order for me to eay, Oh, yes you are. Don't you suppows I read the papers? And then you'll he papers!’ with scathing ction. nar Iwughed, but somehow there was not keen enjoyment in the found that came from hia Ups, He disliked sang-froid in a woman, In a girl he loathed it, He dubbed it “flapper filp- panoy"—especially when tt bordered on personal criticism of himself or his work. “If you young people will pardon my leaving you for a moment,” Mrs, Travis got up from her chatr, «0 and hold counsel with my gardener. Y just brought me word that the hrubs have arrived.” lar arose and bowed deeply as she left the rv Out on the porch Yama was ng about quietly, swiftly, arranging the low wickor chairs and straightening the Indian rugs: June @ropped into the chair her mother had just vacated and Lamar sat opposite her. “T want you to tell me such lots of things,” she began enthusiastically. “Your profession must bring day afte: of thrills, suspense—tragedy, Wilt you tell me something of criminals as you know them? I've tried to study them Just a bttle and’ Trapped! There was @ smothered exclama- tion; it was another eound that came from the stairway, June looked up just in time to eee a portion of a black shirt move from the hall out on P to the porch, Then foniowed a low- toned order in Mary's voloe—the words “broken” and “vase” drifted in through the open window, By @ lengthened shadow and @ reflection tn the window pane June saw that the nurse was standing, hidden, just out- eide the still It amused the girl. It reminded her of @ Honeas standing over cub when the hunter drew near. But this man Lamar was #0 mild, #0 perfectly harmless—doubtiess he was a sleuth of great reputation, but under this roof he was merely @ courteous man of the world, who called because he was Interested in hor, ‘T'll raise the ante,” Lamar broke in on her musinge—then caught him- self. “I beg your pardon, Miss Travis. I have no reason to believe you that you are familiar with poker terms. I meant that I'd bid one hun- dred times the orthodox amount -of one cent if you'll tell ma what your thoughts were just then, Whatever they were, they were indulgent, cyn- teal and amusing; because your eyes mirrored each one of those moods.” managed to mock-serious “You appall me, Mr. answered laughingly. ing Just then of the number of crim- foals you must have met.” “All kinds; and many of each kind,” be started gravely, "And, if you really don't mind talking of suo By Albert Payson Terhune — The Newest PATHE Picture, Now Being Presented at Leading Motion Picture Theatres of Greater New York 1O8OHDHHHHHGDDIHHDOHDHODHODOHHGHDGAGHHHHOIOs, HHS. EDOOA glow on the back of things, I'd Like to ask you something. Before we met yesterday in the park Miss ‘Travis, did you see anything of @ yelled woman tn black?” Outside, on the poroh, a chair scraped along the floor, June heard the abarp intake of Mary's breath. “Ak woman in black?" repeated be | calmly, though every ene ae Way “was susteaiy chilled. “Yes, Just before I met you. A woman in biack—veiled.” A mischievous twinkle dawned in the girl's eyes, It would be great to lead this man on—this wonderful crime specialist — deliberately play with him—make him pursue false clues; then iS he thought he was on the right track, pull wool over bia eyes and get him adrift! She won- dered at the crazy impulse. But had no power to resist it. believe I did pass such a wom- an.’ She brought out the words slowly, as if unwilling to make the statement positive, "Yes, now that I think about it, I'm sure I did. Lamar leaned forward in his obeir ‘and half-unconsctously placed a hand upon her arm. “Think, Miss Travie—think!” he urged. “If you can remember enoush about this woman to give me the slightest clue IT may be able to un- ravel one of the greatest mysteries that has ever bewildered the Police Department.” “What am f to think?” asked June, smiling into his eyes. “Think of where you saw her—what she did—where she went—at what thme—whether there was any one that attracted you to her—it"— Down the stairs came the siesk patter of Japanese feet in Amerioan shoes, Lumar turned, impatiently, as Yama advanved to the centre of the room, balancing a dust pan and brush in one lean, yellow palm, the other extended with a bit of charred paper fluttering stiffly from it. In cleaning up the debris of the broken vaso he had apparently found on the floor this forgotten and damning bit of evidence. The Peril Again. “Pardon. May this be honorable value to Miss June?" he intoned flatly. A gentle breeze, floating in at the window, caught the ragged edge of the burned slip and tilted it back at ® sharp angle, disclosing a cream white section upon which worda in printed seript and @ penned signature showed distinctly. Lamar started at sight of the Le ment. June reached out vaguely, nod- ded, smiled as best she could and took the paper from the butler’s hand. “Thank you. Yes. You may go.” With Lamar's eyes upon her it was an effort to say even that. As Yama disappeared through the doorway, Lamar turned upon her. “What is that?” he said, sharply. “This?" she inquired faintly, ie the paper before her. “Yea What is #?” Without waiting for her enewer and before she had a chance to regain her shattered composure, he took the burned document from her hand and examined it carefully. lie ps twisted at one corner, and his heavy upper lips half-veiled his eyes as he watched her move, restless. ly, under his crutiny, The genial caller has all at once changed back into the man-hunter, “Where did you get it? he asked at length and this time implied that con- viction had taken place of suspicion, “That piece of paper, you meant sho faltered, sparring for ume. “This portion of a burned promia- “Why-er-why, the vellea wi black dropped that note as she bur- ried by me. Lamar walked up close to her and Jooked steadily into her wavering eyes. “Can you show me where you saw her?” be asked coldly, “Do you mind? June laughed easily. “Why, of course, I Won't mind, Mr, Lamar,’ You're making this trifing incident such a frightfully serious af- fair that it rather amusea me, Do detectives—I beg your pardon—do ‘ime specialists alwa: have to fast- en on such silly things to track their criminals? Lamar {gnored the sarcasm, “You will come?” he repeated, “Vl be ready to go out with you in two minutes.” she promised, running lightly up the staira. The Veiled Woman. A Ddiack figure moved juickly across the porch and entered at a small side door. Lamar darted to the window too late to see more than its shadow. With the note still in his hand, he walked a few feet toward the stairs and stood looking up, his brows contracted, his eyes narrowed, Upstaira in the Dboudotr June dragged @ hat from its box and stood before the mirror ewinging it on her hand. As she turned to leave the room Mary, breathless and shaking with terror, hurried through the door and threw her arms about her “You sban't wo!” she declared pas- sionately, “My precious, my lamb— you shan't be led to the slaughtor. He suspected you. He has from the firat, He came to spy, not to visit . Don't go, dearie—dont go!” “IT have brought it on myself,” June answered dully, “I've got to go. With bls suspicion aroused, don’ See It's the only thing loft to dc She leaned wearily against the old woman, gripping her arm fow support “Dll be able to turn bis suspicion aaide—I don't know bim-—but I'll do it, Oh, I'm #0 tired!" At the foot of the stains Lamar was waiting for her, His manner was now a trifle overcourteous, tempered by @ mild strain of banter. Yama, stand- ing, expressionless, at the door, held out his hat, Max took it and tilted it at just the proper angie—then he and June left the house, chatting merrily, “When I am myself,” sobbed June, “I loathe the things The Red Circle makes me do. But when the circle begins to throb and scourges me on from one mad crime to another ;—some power I can’t control.” my hand, something Upstairs at the window of t gis sitting room, Mary mood behth the draperies, motioniess, and watched face ro. Fear had dulled pee oe po . fut suddenly the t burst hor brain, Failing os Taised aloft her aloud. “God, suspects her! There danger for my Uttle rh ‘God te we wi oar mi trouble—tell moe what to tor" i. bay! From far down the street the eehe of June's merry laugh came back to a a * prayed in agony. “You will remember precisely where she passed you?’ Lawar was saying euavely, “You see, ordinarily, it is enough to remember just about where @ thing happened. But when you’ tracking criminals it must be where.” “If you become any more profes- sional and technical I shall get so mixed up I won't remember any- thing,” June warned him jokingly. “I'm all shivery, right now! thinking tt great fun to be a sleuth.” “Really?” observed Lamar, her keenly. “I trust you will cont to find it ‘great fun,’ Miss Travis,” “Here!” cried June mock di ally, “right on this spot ta I should say passed the velled in black; that is, where she me, I mean.” he Was pointing a tragic foret at a small spot in the flagging. Ae her eyes met Lamar's coldly skept! gaze she broke Into a mischievous Ht- tle titter, But almost immediat e laugh died on her lips; her face to an ashen «ray, her eyes closed yulrively, and ‘when they again there was terror In thetr dep| Lamar threw his arm about her, she swayed toward him, Then dently @ startled cry burst from and she raised her arm lin pointed. ‘Turning, the detective saw @ an tn bi a long coat hid ‘ure, a thick vell shrouded her tures. She stood motionless on walk In front of a huge tree. Incredulous, Max loo! aeomed unconactous of “Tn that the one?” be hoarsely. “Is that the woman passed you?” { Gtunned by the horror of {% Bil, June nodded her head. Immed! y Lamar left her side and Rape 4 stroll atmiessly toward the 1 een hia beart, Hila faite in lifted from restored. I 3 H i i tf walked mole away. Lamar qi fearful of what she after him. Suddenly the woman black cut across a lawn, into a run. The folds her cloak ballooned out behind hes, long vel snapped sharply. They her Mft a corner of the veil ran. To the Rescue. “Mr. Lamar! Mr. Lamer!* = om! Ee i Hy a desperate effort to catch a corner: the flying cloak. His foot cong one of the small, whitewash with which the driveway bordered. H He stumbled, muttered a vivid thet, caught bis balance and on; just as June reached his Around the corner of the house was nothing to be aeen. The prey eluded them. June saw the crime spectaltet his fist flercely, His quarry had him the slip. The girt found « derful exhilaration in the fact, If Lamar had seen the smile of original suspicions would have renewed in spite of visual evidences, ant she watched him his chim eud- ienly yes from thelr socket and a sie, ergot yet suave, dawned around his mouth. At ths rear of the house stood a farage. Across its freshly peat, light fi oer sprawled a bloteh ¢ nky black, laste: a pA Pi red there by the The breeze died. The bl fluttered and fell, banging te Mmp folds. With three bounds Lamar reached the garage door and ing at the adft cloth. He st: the door, thinking it would give the pressure. But it was locked woman tn black had darted Inte Sarage and had locked the door ind her. But in her haste she had also caught a corner of black coat in the closed door, ” When Lamar turned to June gre beads of sweat stood on his fordueed “At last!” he said exul ‘anthy, have the veiled woman this me perhaps—the mystery of the Cirele!"" 4 t the edge of the v4 2 so tightly, recognized it, It was--her own! was living a nightmare—ni ightmares didn't last forever—it would end seen it must end soon! =~ nd Inside the garage, flat door (imprisoned by the “Soule age she could not tear free) the women dlack pushed the veil back from her y-white face and prayed: ‘God keep my lamb from harmf (To Be Continued.) 7% Besant |