The evening world. Newspaper, August 5, 1922, Page 13

Diana (the huntress), his manly suit by SIR HENRY DERCUM girl to become his. tective, ILL there be a bobby to hear her scream, north of the Zambesi There were two per- 66 fons in the It was a small room, looking out ever St. James's Park, and attached to the library the great house. It was meant for the comfort of one who wished to withdraw from the brary book at his Ieisure or to make some room. Londen of in order to examine some annotation, There were a table, two comfortable chairs, and ‘a paintir rather | for th n, represent. ing an affalr of on iw snow- covered highway in the rear of French column, presumably Na Poleon’s arfny in Russia The conversation between the two persons in. the room Donald Muir and Monsienr JonauAle, the Prefect of Police of Paris, had passed its preliminary stage The youth d in one of the great chairs was a typical product of t ariste of England. He was litt more than a boy, but he had already somethin , the almost preten re grace, But not et n this an inflection of his votee, in ver ght in the chair, vell-cnt even clothes—his ushed together and gripped » hand that could not remain r his intensity of feeling. ve xd looking boy, @ single st ny feature—his eye brows were night and whil his hair, weathered by the outdc was straw-colored, It gaye his: blue eyes at all times a s pression, to had come with the the Monsieur Jonquelle London American port forge for a conference Amba and he had remained a And when him to sador on pass mbassy ball asked guest at the the Ambassador hear the boy and help him if he could, he had gone with Lord Donald Muir into the little room beyond the great had brary. The Ambassador had explained the matter to Jonquelle. He had given girl's mother was him each detail; American; she had married the Karl of Rexford; she wa dead; Rexford was dead, and here was the dilemma Monsieur Jonquelle knew each of the persons in this dra especially Sir Henry Dercum, ad been in the English foreign and at time attached to the Embassy in Paris, Monsieur Jonquelle now before a window looking out into the night that enveloped London, T boy continued to speak. “Will he not he ber anywhere he likes, Monsieur? The Prefect of Polic gesture, as of one rejecting a sugges- tion. The was unconscious, The man was thinking of what Lord Donald Muir was saying “T suppose he has the her anywhere he likes, Femains within the juris English law." “Surely,” replied the boy fe a clever beast; he will ke the jurisdiction of the service, one was standing the right to take made a slight gesture to him. right to take providing he liction of the p within lish Jaw."* ONSIEUR turned slight! outlined agi square of the tm the windo’ “Then why do about it?” he said, There came a sudden energy Lord Mulr's voice. “That is all very wéll as a theory,’ fhe said, “but it is quite different in tact The English south of Africa; that It ig a very fine theory, as it used to be lectured into us at the Hill—a great empire providing precisely the JONQUELLE his face was inst the black night framed we have this fear into law is, the theory runs THE EVENING WORLD’S COMPLETE NOVELETTE ad nd THE CHARACTERS. THE DAUGHTER AND HEIRESS of the late Earl of Rexford, gallant explorer, and his charming American wife, also dead rosebud of a girl, though she looks like a flower This has the heart of She is adored by LORD DONALD MUIR, clean, fine, upstanding, but blocked in Outwardly of peed reputation, Der- cum is actually a fortune hunter and a satyr—intent on. forcing the He is her legal guardian. guardianship is very much questioned by Lord Donald Muir. no proof for his suspicions, and appeals to that dynamic-minded de- The validity of this He has MONSIEUR JONQUELLE, the Prefect of the Police of Paris same measure of protection for its at the most distant point of its dominiun that it provided for him in the very capital itself. That is a nearly as I can remember it subject It is fine theory.”” “It is a magnificent theory,’ plied Monsieur Jonquelle, “and land has always endeavored to 1 tain it.’ Lord Muir twisted brown hands gripped them his gloves; his “But England can't maintain it; that is the very thing I mean, What protection can the law of England give her in northwestern Rho- sia? ‘The law of England will run there in theory, but it's Dercum's damned will that will run there in fact."" He gripped the gloves suddenly with both hands, s though he were ut to destroy them. Will there be a bobby to heag He leaned forward in his intensity “And what will she be when she comes out? And she won't come out until Dereum’s ready, I will tell you what she will be, Monsieur Jonquelle; she will be what Dercum intends her to be He looked at the Prefect of Police, his fage covered with sweat. Then he continued “Do you think this fine English law will do her any good then Jonquelle came a s t two aw from the window. He It down at the boy. His face wis composed with that, vague ex 1 it always took on when his interest was very n awakened Sir Henry Dercum," he said, “will haye some instincts of a gentleman.” “If he has any instincts of a gen tleman,”’ replied the boy, with a sud- den energy, “he has kept them so far concealed, London does not know about this man. I have had him looked up. He was unspeakable in Hongkong, No members of the Eng- lish colony came down to the boat to see him off, although sent the Empire, beast; one can't get at him. “[ wanted my solicitor to his confirmation as guardian, but he did repre- But he is a clever resist he said 1 was not a party in interest."' The in intense vigor. I wonder why the law is always so anything that is portant. I had rather see her go to the devil than to Dereum, ‘The devil ius a reputation for what he De tation in I man’s voice was charged with helpless about im- is, and am has a carefully built up repu- mdon for what he is not— with that sporting instinct r to the English, ‘and a gentleman, when the fact is, he is a 4 thief when it comes to the accumulation of s an explorer that is dea crook, lenuitie data, and a bounder! But he is not a fool, and that's what makes him so damnably dangerous; he is infinitely clever.” HE Prefect remained whe had standing, looking down at the man in the chatr, is face in its vague repose, dilemma of Lord Donala Muir mp! been The profoundly essed him “I am very much puzzled about this “I cannot say that I trust Deroum, but I can say that 1 have no reason not to trust him, fe matter,'’ he said, In et, he has acted, the American Am- ador tells me, with extreme dell- y. The property which the girl takes from her mother les in Ameri- He has made no effort to exercise any control over {t; he has, fn fact, advised the Ambassador that he would be plea ca. d to have the trustees of her 8 estate continue to administer this property until the girl becomes of age to receive it, That did not sound like a man with a design, “qt obtain mothe: was the quite possible for him property in America and the transfer of the funds Into his custody, under the English sale of thia Melville Illustrated—— __b By A MYSTERY TALE WIT law, but he takes the other course, ment of Scotland Yard, used to say This does. not seem precisely con- when he had a perplexed thing to take sistent with your estimate of the up with France: ‘We ean unravel tt man."* if Monsieur Jonquelle comes up with There was a note as of a bitter « + inspirations from heaven.’ laugh under Lord Muir's answer Will, monsieur, T have come to you “It's precisely consistent with my f these inspirations."* estimate of him What the brutes Prefect laughed softly, This after is the girl; when he gets her, 1 Was perhaps his greatest he will get everything with her Why © 1 4 sert of intuition arising at hurry? When Dercum has degraded ¢¢!toin complicated stages of an af- her enough, he will get all the rest of the sudden swift realization of it; he knows what he is doing.’* some essential hitherto unobserved fe hui: oe“ Up, RUMOR . Jonquelle continued to smile “And 1 can't stop him," he said, TP! Young man was looking at him “uniess Igo and kill him: und the “it! a tense, serious expression. beast is too clever to be Killed except Yt Will have one of these inspir- in the nastiest way. ‘The duel has “* ” Monsteut Jonquelle he gone put with the lace coat,’ ne Pit luughs at me with his little reptilian HE Prefect of Pollee began to eyes under the heavy eyelids. ‘Have walk about the room a bit of patience, my boy; I have no He was disturbed that Lord objection to you, if you please my Donald Muir should come to THE EVENING WORLD, SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 1922, Davisson Post Will Johnstone. A The crowded Mmbassy ball moved Ko. In the snow hut, on the canvas below them, jewels, the gowns table, was his diary, written up. Be- of women, the colors of uniforms, side it, on the blank sheet, were a gave the thing the aspect of an almost dogen paragraphs in whieh he had dl barbaric saturn The dense crowd rected the appointment of Dercum as ‘ overflowed otto the Lord Muir bronze ed and was lost in stairway. guardian for 1 all cu ily and direction of his estate. the immense t seeking the one Monsieur Jonquetle passed these about whor was froutly COn- things through his mind as he de cerned, The ect of Police went aconded—the brilliant Inughter, tt slowly down the stairway, moving murmur of voices below, making his hand along the mahogany rail gwirt of noises. Te remembered some under which, in a magnificent frieze, of the details arising in a wood-nymph entangled in a flow ing vine fled the from pursuit of his return eatyrs. He was more disturbed than A solicitor of some official authority SES HROS REST, SHES G = tO aa ts had ventured a doubt about the HIS girl was the daughter 6f handwriting on the page beside the that charming American woman last entry in the diary. But it was who had married the Karl of shown to him that the writing of In Rexford She was lovely as numerable pages of the diary var her mother had been lovely in that due to the cold or to the physical con vanished decade to which now, at this dition of the writer at the time ns tt fuga ward, But you must wait a little; him with this affair. [tewas not a she is quite y« ' le thing in whiely he ought to take to be youthful and impetuous, but it part. Outside of some courteous ui makes life ditficyt A guardian.’ cussion at the request of the Ameri That's what he And 1 ‘ Ambassador, he did not how what he thinks, and 1 know wha t was possible for him to have any is going to do.” thing to do with the matter And The Prefect e interrupted: further, it disturbed him) that this “What, prec youth should come depending upon “Tt will be just you a What was to him the absurd phase of moment ago," a detective reputation, He is laying 7 Scotland Yard called his sudden keen to set into swift insight into some complicated the earth. It is eas a Matter “the inspirations from heaven girl worked up, ¢ ‘Ny when she of the Prefect of Police of Paris,"’ and has the big legend of ber father be- not precisely with a complimentary fore her, He will do precisely what accent, The thing annoyed him. But I have said, take her into Southerm he smiled at the youth in the char Africa. that vague, placid smile for which the He got up with sudden energy nan Wag famous. “The ‘law can't stop | “Ido not see what I can do, my dea must be something, ani Lord Muir,'* he to “but I shall be iration that may said: I come to you, mon: “To me," s any receptive insy arrive, Let us go down,’ you believe in Pr ere They went out of the little re The young man | 1 the Pre- into the great libr fect intently It was a long, immense rdom, ani “Yes, monsicur,”” t aid, “that is the doors were closed, As the precisely the reason 1 came to you. 4 d through, the music from be It is true that the An uscended, and the yast confusion of dor has a point of atta man yolces, like ‘the hum of sor because of these A listant insect hive. nquc ile but that is not the thir the door, and they were at ont upon, My unele, wher was ( wn immense sea of human figure of the Criminal In Depart- gay, brillant 3 “THE WORDS, ALTHOUGH UN- DER-UTTERED, CAME CLEARLY TO HIM.” The persons in Dercum's expedi tion, persons whose integrity could time: of the Prefect’ mind was het be doubted, lad been but a few tontinuallyerevertini: He Hadwa | minutes behind hime in entering this the girl moving in the dunes, and this SHOW hut in whieh the Earl of Rex youth who with so little tact had oa frd had been found, and they had at this evening, in all the confusion of Once, at Dereum’s direction, written an Embussy affair, asked to speate thelr signatures at the bottom of the vith him alone pag He had not e greatly th The diary had been immediately Hurl of Rexford; he was too typically authenticated. It could not have been n Englishman, following conventions afterward changed. And it was that seemed a trifle out of modern wn that these signatures, written times; but he was compelled, in a in that immense eold by benumbed measure, to admire him. While other fingers, varied from the normal sig men wasted their fortunes in the friv- natures of the individuals returning olities of London, this man had spent to their common enyironment of lift what he could get in exploration, in In fact, no one could said who the have fitting out expeditions to discover un- had written these signatures if known places of the earth. And he men who had written them that day, went with them, enduring the hard- at Dercum’s direction, in the snow ip and peril, hut on the canvas table, had not been He had died in his greatest venture. present in England to establish the The whole expedition had perished on fact. ‘The diary, the ink, the pen one of the wind-swept plateaus of the were there on the canvas table, and Antaretic. It was I 1 who had these men had established by their gone in to find him, and he had found signatures the authenticity, of this lim frozen to death—the y does writing beyond question frozen, in one of those fearful der wns of temperature that sometimes T THIS moment « tall man end in an immense blizzard on wearing 4 — distinguished tls wind-swept plateau order passed the Prefect of From Dereum's report he had Police. ne reached Rexford alive. The Monsieur," he sald, “are you per expedition had eyidently held out haps receiving an inspiration from jay against the blizzard. ‘The Warl heaven on our Hyde Wark murder?” Rexford had been the last Jonquelle smiled | s \ | | i THE | Ny commen BY GERALD STORY OF A HARD-BO ORDER YOUR EVENING THE BULL BAITERS Illustrated by WILL B. JOHNSTONE BEAUMONT ILED UMPIR —AND A GIRL | WORLD IN ADVANCE ¢ minor daughter, with the formal matter of Dercum’s appointment after STARTLING SOLUTION. “It would be my only hope he said, “against the superior intelli- gence of Scotland Yard."' And he went on. by the incident He was annoyed cape from this ridiculous pretension! As he entered the crowd overfow- ing on the bottom of the stairway, he catight « glimpse of Sir Henry Der- cum and the girl in an eddy wh the great newel-post turned. Dercum's big shoulders would be any- beyond where conspicuous He was a ma ive Englishman, with & wide, Oriental face, purr by good feeding, and little reptilian eyes under heavy lids that them very nearly obscured The man had a habit of lifting his head when he was very much con- cerned, as though to get a better view of his subject without the effort or the danger of raising his eyelids The girl before him was in the splendid lure of youth; her dark hair was lifted, by some subtlety of the coiffeur's art, Into a beautiful, soft background. her for her fac dark yes and her delicate skin were exqui- Sitely brought out by tt the first bud of life, and she was very She was in lovely, But there was more than mere physical beauty; there was the of inexperience, the turous youth that does not question, and Ike charity, bell that inexperience which is gayly ready charm charm of adven- eth all things: for any adventure into what it beau- tifully imagines to be a fairy world The Prefect of Police saw the ex pression bedded into Dercum’s heavy face, and he knew what it meant. He heard also the sentence he was speak. ing: “You will need a Dit of change from all this artificiality.” *The girl laughed so soon, Sir Henry ed over her, his head thrown back In a slow, heavy-lidded expression as though It were a physi- cal caress “Ah, no," you will have inherited some of your father's Do I look stale His eyes tra he sa “but interest in the waste places of the earth, How would you like to go with me and find a lost river?" [should love It," she suid. “Where rivee, Sir is your lost He ‘Let us find a sald, Henry? looked about him at somewh * he ‘and [ will show you a map." Th t out of the er tra- versed the long hall that «ins parallel to St. James's Park and entered the conservatory Monsieur Jonquelle followed, Der- cum's words had almost the sting of . blow, It was the verification of Lord Donald Muir's anxiety. If love were blind, Jonquelie reflected, it had surely the intuition of the saints, Der- the plan which Jonquette red academic und unlik ractical and on the way JONQUELLE mservatory, the gay everywher ONSIBUR went into the ¢ through fringes of crowd flouting like gorgeous butterflies disentangled from the mass. He stopped besld an immense vase filled with Japa nese chrysunthemums of a peculiar color, huge like a shock of hair on an immense stem. ‘They entirely ob scured him, and he did not move. It was not in any definite plan that he had entered the conservatory and stopped behind this mass of flowers He had been by the swift verification of this boy's to reflect on it followed to r what Dercum said; the details he said would be now unim- portant, It was the man's intention alone that and this inten- tion required no further explanatory surprised, shocked fear, and he wished It was not that he had hea of what mattered, word He felt a sudden and desperate anxiety. This girl, lovely and inex- perienced, was entirely at Dercum's as her guardian he would have usive control of her, and with the wished he will; exe’ what he The English law, nto man’s cleverness, would accompli his char, girl concern Itself about tnten uld not be established. It would itvelf only with the overt act, and when Dercum resorted having put tl would not tions that concern ty that he would be beyond @ running of the King's writ. Jonquelle felt seu for reflection, and he stopped But would have It, he stopped t the ph would have had followed in deter Monsieur himself re unmoying, without a plan, r every Word that Der, y say, Sir Henry ay hac atl wr fu beyond him—b\ 1 flowers, on a bench ndow, Theip words, althe arly to tion, im moyed in uously evident, Would he never es The man was gotting the ture of a Tand of mystery into his story; he wax deftly manipulating the girl's faney he was calling her Interest tm he father's adventures to his aid; he wo making a wonder expedition out o: this thing he had !n mind. No ele ment of thrill or color Im this adven ture was lacking. Jonqueile could almost see Dercum’s finger on the map. But the map would be only a property of the thing he was staging. He did not explair precisely where this river lay, or the route to it. But on some golden afte: noon they would unship at a seaport assemble a fantastic company and « into anme lost country that would by like the Wood beyond the World, © the waste regions of some fairy king dom, And they would go now, t very summer, when the London » son had slacked a little. Dercum was beginning to specify dates. Jonquelle could not see him but he knew that the bit of pencil moved on the map; he would arrange everything. From the few words « the girl, reaching him across the Jap anese chrysanthemums, she was en tranced. A butterfly entangled In 11 lusions —she was ready to go, and she would go. And with his clear vision, the vision not accustomed to be obscured by de tall, the Perfect of Police saw that the thing could not be prevented. One could Interfere with the custody of guardian only with an established in tent In an English court. This intent must be based on evidence, and there would be no evident there would not even be the knowledge that the thing was contemplated. With in finite cleverness Dercum had drawn the girl into @ conspiracy of silence ‘They would arrange it; they would keep their own counsels, and the would go. It would have all th secret, alluring charm of a fairy ad venture. ONSITEUR JONQUELLI heard the pledge of silenc and knew that they coming out. He saw, also looking down the long hall toward t! drawing-room, Lord Donald Muir ad vancing in his search. He would here in a moment; the three of then wert would meet, in a moment, just be yond where he stood behind tt chrysanthemums, Already Derew: and the girl were very nearly up to him What would he do? P was something surely to be Tho world behind its harsh, in machinery must be con trolled by some immense consider impulse. All the operations of lif could not be abandoned to a mer physical fatalism, to unthinking, or to a could not change, something in the fore the nt tur visite laws that wer tendency that There must |) universe to inter iniquity of human ntions und this indifference of na ! And suddenly, with a flash o: » Jonauell what had hap pened in Roxford's snow hut, on the au of the Antarctic, during the twenty minutes that Dereum had been saw there before his expedition had eome up—he saw it as clearly as though | had been looking on He ealled to Lord Donald Muir, and he advanced to meet Dercum and { win “Sir Henry,” he said, “will you 1 ase these young people to the danc: and walk a moment with me Dercum lifted his big Orlental fa looking out under his heavy eye He moved the tips of the girl's tinge to his lips, and he nodded to Muir “You will be a very — brilliat couple,” he said. “I shall be charmesi to observe you And then he turned to M, Jonquelle “Ah, Jonquelle,* he said, “I have hot scan you since the old days in Paris The Prefect of Police put his hand through Dercum's arm and drew his along beside him, down the hall, wit) an ease of manner as though he we the warm companion of a lifetime “My friend, 1, "Lam going to ask you to release this guardianshi; and go wm your expedition alone." Lan wen stopped suddenly, his body rid “You have overheard,” Jonquelle smiled gesture “It is one of the perquisites of the Service de la Surete,"’ he sald. will grant my request, Sir Henr:; Your request?" Dercum's voice was almost a stutter, “I grant It?’ The Prefect of Police took a firme of his arm Walk with me? he sald; “we may 1 Ah, yes, my friend you will g “Why sh he said He made a alight ant it.’ ld [ grant it pray?” said d Mon will not h crim 1as just Jona f wish to answer in the Eweli pstion that urred to me." The Prefect of Police laughed; twe ted with a Continenta persons conne embasay were regarding him, Ther he went on: “How did it happen, Sir Henry that when you came on Lord Rex ford's expedition on the Antarette pla tewu, that morning, when you en ternd his snow hut some twenty min whead of th other members of your expedition, and in that low tem ture : found everything frozen, food, the very merewy in the the bodies of the dead 111 it happen, Sir Henry’—an¢ 1 moved on Dercum's arm like tress —"thow did it happen tt invas table was no mometer arved Metrope sit a ce, New Yor, \"