j The Secret Adersary i r I ' : "" By AGATHA CHRISTIE J (Copyricht Dodd, M.d & Company) 4 CHAPTER XVI Continued. 20 "Bit on the Sunday afioniiwn a mossage was Immslit to tlie house. Tlioy wore all very disturbed. Without With-out their knowing, I listened. Word had come that he was to he killed. I needn't tell the next part, because you know It." i She paused. "Then the papers," said Sir .Tames slowly, "are still at the back of the picture in that room." "Yes." The girl had sunk back on the sofa exhausted with the strain of the long story. Sir .lames rose to his feet. lie ooked at his watch. "Come." ho said, "we must go at once. Yon have been followed here not a doubt of it. When we leave the house we shall be followed again, but not molested, for it is Mr. Brown's plan that we are to lead him. But the Soho house is under police supervision super-vision night and day. There are several sev-eral men watching it. When we enter that house, Mr. Brown will not draw back he will risk all, on the chance of obtaining the spark to fire his mine. And he fancies the risk not great he will enter In the guise of friend!" Tuppence flushed, then opened her mouth Impulsively. "You know who Mr. Brown Is. don't you?" "Yes." said Sir .Tames gravely. "I have been morally certain of his identity iden-tity for some time ever since the night of Mrs. Yandemeyer's mysterious mysteri-ous death." "Ah !" breathed Tuppence. "For there we are up against the logic of facts. There are only two solutions. Either the chloral was administered ad-ministered by her own hand, which theorv T reject utterly, or else " "YesV "Or else It was administered In the J brandy you gave her. Only tliree i people touched that brandy you, j Miss Tuppence, I myself, and one ' other Mr. Julius ITersheimmer !" Jane Finn stirred and sat up. re-i re-i garding the speaker with wide, aston-, aston-, Ished eyes. Springing to her feet, she j cried out angrily : ! "What do you mexj? What are you j trying to suggest? That Mr. Brown i Is Julius? Julius my own cousin!" "No, Miss Finn," said Sir James. "Not your cousin. The man who calls I himself Julius Hersheimmer is no relation re-lation to vou whatsoeer." I CHAPTER XVII Mr. Brown. Sir James' words came like a bomtv i shell. Both girls looked equally puzzled. puz-zled. The lawyer went across to his desk, and returned with a small news- ! paper cutting, which he handed to Jane. Tuppence read It over her shoulder. It referred to the mysterious mysteri-ous man found dead in New Y'ork. "As I was saying to Miss Tuppence." Tup-pence." resumed the lawyer, "I set to j work to prove the Impossible possible. pos-sible. The great stumbling-block was the undeniable fact that Julius Hers- ! heimmer was not an assumed name. When I came across this paragraph my problem was solved. Julius Hers-heimmer Hers-heimmer set out to discover what bad become of his cousin. He went on; j West, where he obtained nous of her and her photograph to aid him in his search. On the eve of his departure j from New York he was set n)xin anil murdered. His body was dressed In flinhhy clothes, and the face disfigured disfig-ured to prevent Identification. Mr. j Brown took his place. He sailed Im- j mediately for England. Since then be ! bad been hand and glove with those sworn to bunt Mm down. Every secret se-cret of theirs has been known to Mm. j Only once did ho come near disaster. i Mrs. Yandemeyer knew his secret. It was no part of his plan that that huge i bribe should ever be offered to her. j But for Miss Tuppence's fortunate change of plan, she would have been far away from the flat when we ar- 1 rived there. Exposure stared him Ml the face. He took a desperate step, trusting In his assumed character to evert suspicion. He nearly succeeded but not quite. i "Now we're ready. I know bettei than even to suggest going without yon. Miss Tuppence " "I should think so Indeed!" Sir .lames' car drew up at the corner cor-ner of the square and they got out. A policeman produced a key. They all knew Sir .lames well. The three entered en-tered the house, pulling the door to J behind them. Slowly they ununited I (ho rickety stairs. At the top was the ragged curtain hiding the n s wliere Tommy bail bidden that day. Tup-! Tup-! pen.-e liud beard 1li sPtv from .lane I In her character of "Annette." She lo..ked at the tattered elet with Interest. In-terest. Even noiv she could almost MT'.ir It tiinved :i4 though sonienlle was behind it. Siipp"sing Mr. Brown .liiljus was there w ailing. Impnsihle of coin se! Siie must not ghv way to this foolish fiincjing this curious Insistent feeling that Mr. i Brown was in the house. M:n'. ! What was Hint? A stealthy f..otep on the stairs? There wnn someone In tho boun ! Absurd 1 Sh n-na ! -. -inning fiv storVa). Jane bad gone vt-night to the plc-nr plc-nr of Murnrrlto. She unbooked It with a steady hand. The dust lay thick upon it, and festoons of cobwebs lay between it and the wall. Sir James handed her a pocket-knife, and she ripped away the brown paper from the back. . . . The advertisement page of a magazine fell out. Jane picked it up. Holding apart the frayed inner edges, she extracted two thin sheets covered with writing! No dummy this time! The real thing! "We've got it," said Tuppence. "At last. . . ." Sir James took it, and scrutinized it attentively. "Yes," he said quietly, "this Is the ill-fated draft treaty!" "We've succeeded," said Tuppence. There was awe and an almost wondering won-dering unbelief in her voice. Sir James echoed her words as he folded the paper carefully and put it away in his pocket-book, then he looked curiously round the dingy room. "It was here that our young friend was confined for so long, was it not?" he said. "A truly sinister room. You notice the absence of windows, and the thickness of the close-fitting door. Whatever took place here would never be heard by the outside world. "Yon feel as we all feel THE PRESENCE OF Mil. BROWN. Yes" as Tuppence made a movement "not a doubt of It MR. BROWN IS HERE. . . ." "In this bouse?" "In this room. . . . Ton don't understand? I AM MTt. BROWN. . . ." Stupefied, unbelieving, they stared at him. The very lines of his face had changed. It was a different man who stood before Iheni. He smiled a slow cruel smile. "Neither of you will loavt this room alive! Shall I tell yon how It will be? Sooner or later the police will break in. and they will find throe victims of Mr. Brown three, not two, yon understand, under-stand, but fortunately the third will not he dead, only wounded, and will be able to describe the attack with a wealth of detail! The treaty? It is in the hands of Mr. Brown. So no one will think of searching the pockets pock-ets of Sir James Feel Edgerton!" There was a faint sound behind him, but. Intoxicated with success, he did not turn bis head. He slipped his hand into his pocket. "Checkmate to the Young Adven turers." he said, and slowly raised a big automatic. But. even as he did so. he felt himself him-self sei.-ed from behind In a grip of Iron. The revolver was wrenched from his band, and the voice of Julius Her-sheimmer Her-sheimmer said drawlingly: "I guess you're caught redhanded with the goods on yon." The blood rushed to the K. C.'s face, but his soif-contro was marvelous, as he looked from one to the other of his two captors. He looked longest at Tommy. "Yon," he said beneath his breath. "Yon! I might have known." Swing that he was disused to offer no resistance, their grip slackened. Quick as a flash his left band, the hand which bore the big signet ring, was raised to his lips. . . . "'Ave, Caesar! te moriturl saln-tant,'" saln-tant,'" he said, still looking at Tommy. Then his face changed, and with a long convulsive shudder he fell forward for-ward In a crumpled heap, whilst an odor of bitter almonds filled the air. CHAPTER XVIII A Supper Party at the "Savoy." The supper party given by Mr. Julius HersheimniiT to a few friends on the evening of the ,'!oth will long be remembered re-membered in catering circles. It took place In a private room, and Mr. ller-sheimnior's ller-sheimnior's orders were brief and forcible. for-cible. He gave carte blanche and when a millionaire gives carte blanche he usually gels It ! The list of guests was small and select. The American ambassador Mr. Carter, who had taken the liberty, he said, of bringing an old friend, Sit William Beresford, with Mm, Archdeacon Archdea-con Cowley, 1 r. Hall, those two youth ful adventurers. Miss Prudence C-owley and Mr. Thomas Beresford, and last, but not least, as guest of honor. Miss Jane Finn. To most people the ":uh, the mncli-herahleil mncli-herahleil "l.iihor Hay," had passed much as any other day. Speeches were made In the Park and Trafalgar (Csquare. Straggling processions, singing the "lied Flag," wandered through the streets in a more or less aimless manner. man-ner. Newspapers which had hinted at a general strike, and the Inauguration of a r i g ii of terror, were forced to hide their diminished heads. The bolder bold-er and more astute among them sought to prove that peace had been elTecli'd by follow ing their counsels. In the Sunday Sun-day papers a brief notice of the sudden sud-den death of Sir James Pin-1 Edgerton, the famous K. ('.. had appeared. Monday's Mon-day's paper dealt appreciatively with the dead mall's career. The evacl manner man-ner of his sudden death was never made public. Tommy had been right In his fore-rnM fore-rnM of the situation. It had been a one man show. Ieprlved of their chief, the oi ganbatlon fell to pieces. KranuMilu Nil made a precipitate re turn to Russia, leaving England early on Sunday morning. The gang had fled from Astley Priors in a panic, leaving behind, in their haste, various damaging documents which compromised compro-mised them hopelessly. With these proofs of conspiracy in their hands, aided further by a small brown diary taken from the pocket of the dead man which had contained a full and damning damn-ing resume of the whole plot, the government gov-ernment had called an eleventh-hour conference. The labor leaders were forced to recognize that they had been used as a cat's-paw. Certain concessions conces-sions were made by the government, and were eagerly accepted. It was to be Peace, not War! But the cabinet knew by how narrow nar-row a margin they had escaped utter disaster. And burnt In on Mr. Carter's Car-ter's brain was the strange scene which had taken place In the house In Soho the night before. He had entered the squalid room to find that great man, the friend of a lifetime, dead betrayed out of his own mouth. From the dead man's pocket-book he had retrieved the Ill-omened Ill-omened draft treaty, and then and there, in the presence of the other three, it had been reduced to ashes. . . . England was saved ! And now, on the evening of the 30th, in a private room at the Savoy, Mr. Julius P. Hersheimuier was receiving his guests. Soon the supper party was In full swing, and with one accord Tommy was called upon for a full and complete com-plete explanation. "Tommy's been the goods this trip! And. Instead of sitting there as dumb as a fish, let him banish his blushes, and tell us all about It," "Hear! hear!" "There's nothing to tell." said Tommy, Tom-my, acutely uncomfortable. "I was an awful mug right up to the time I found that photograph of Annette, and realized that she was Jane Finn. Then I remembered how persistently she had shouted out that word 'Mar- 1 VjKv I -.iV-"Vk f . .-s "It's Her Handwritinfl, All Riflht," puerile' and I thought of the pictures, pic-tures, and well, that's that. Then of course I went over the whole thing to see where I'd made an ass of myself." my-self." "Go on," said Mr. Carter, as Tommy showed signs of taking refuge In silence si-lence once more. "That business about Mrs, Yandemeyer Yande-meyer had worried nie when Julius told me about It. On the face of It, It seemed that he or Sir James must have done the trick. But 1 didn't know which. Finding that photograph In the drawer, after that story of how It bad been got from him by Inspector Brown, made me suspect Julius. Then I remembered that It was Sir James who bad discovered the false Jane Finn. In the end, I couldn't make up my mind and Just decided to take no chances either way. 1 left n note for Julius, in case he was Mr. Brown, saying say-ing I was off to the Argentine, and I dropiM-d Sir James' letter with the offer of the job by the desk so that he would see It was a genuine stunt. Then I wrote my letter to Mr. Carter and rang up Sir James. And then I got a bogus note from Tuppence and I knew I" "But how?" Tommy took the note In question from his pocket and passed It round the table. "It's her handwriting all right, but I knew It w asn't from her because of the signature. She'd never spell b ' name 'Twopence,' but anyone who'd never seen It written might quite easily do so. Julius had seen It he showed me a note of hers to him once - but Sir .lames hadn't 1 After that everything was plain sailing. 1 sent off Albert post haste to Mr. Carter. 1 pretended to go nway, but doubled back again. When Julius came bursting up In bis car, 1 felt !! w asn't part of Mr. Brown's plan and that there would probnhly be trouble. I'nless Sir James was no-tnally no-tnally caught In the act, so to sp-oak, 1 knew Mr Carter would never believe It nt him on my unsupported word " "I didn't," Interposed Mr. Certec, ruefully. Tluit's why I seKt the girls off to Sir James. I was sure they'd fetch up at the house in Soho sooner or later. I threatened Julius with the revolver, because I wanted Tuppence to repent that to Sir James, so that he wouldn't worry about us. The moment the girls were out of sight I told Julius to drive like h 11 for London, and as we went along I told him the whole story. We got to the Soho house in plenty of time and met Mr. Carter outside. After arranging ar-ranging tilings with him we went In and hid behind the curtain in the recess. re-cess. The policemen had orders to say, if they were asked, that no one had gone into-lhe house. That's all." And Tommy came to an abrupt halt. There was silence for a moment. "By the way," said Julius suddenly, "you're all wrong about that photograph photo-graph of Jane. It was taken from me hut I found it again." "Where?" cried Tuppence. "In that little safe on the wall In Mrs. Vandemeyer's bedroom." "We all kept back something or other," said Tuppence, thoughtfully. "I suppose secret service wort makes you like that!" Mr. Carter rose to his feet. "I will give you a toast. The Joint Venture which has so amply Justified itself by success !" It was drunk with acclamation, "There's something more we want to hear," continued Mr. Carter. He looked at the American ambassador. "I speak for you also, I know. We'll ask Miss Jane Finn to tell us the story that only Miss Tuppence has heard so far but before we do so we'll drink her health. The health of one of the bravest of America's daughters, to whom Is due the thanks and gratitude of two great countries !" r CHAPTER XIX -Trm. And After. "That was a mighty good toast, Jane," said Mr. Hersheimmer, as he and his cousin were being driven back in the Rolls-Royce to 'the Ritz. "The one to the Joint Venture?" "No the one to you. There isn't another an-other girl in the world who could have carried it through as you did. You were just wonderful !" Jane shook her head. "I don't feel wonderful. At heart Tru just tired and lonesome and longing long-ing for my own country." "That brinjs me to something I wanted to say. I heard the ambassador ambassa-dor telling you his wife hoped yon would come to them at the embassy right away. That's good enough, but I've got another plan. Jane I want you to marry me ! Don't get scared and say no at once. You can't love me right away, of course, that's Impossible. Impossi-ble. But I've loved you frfm the very moment I set eyes on your photo and now Tve seen you I'm simply crazy about you ! If you'll only marry me, I won't worry you any you shall take your own time. Maybe you'll never come to love me, and If that's the case I'll manage to set you free. But I want the right to look after you and take care of you." "Oh, Julius!" "Well, I don't want to hustle you, Jane, but there's no sense in waiting about. Don't be scared I shan't expect ex-pect you to love nie all at once." But a small hand was slipped Into his. "I love you now, Julius," said Jane Finn. "I loved you the first moment In the car when the bullet grazed your cheek. . . ." In the meantime the Young Adventurers Adven-turers were sitting bolt upright, very stiff and ill at case, in a taxi. They sat very straight and fore-bore to look at each other. At last Tuppence made a desperate effort. "Rather fun. wasn't it?" "Rather." Another silence. "I like Julius," essayed Tuppence, again. Tommy was suddenly galvanized Into life. n "It has been fun, hasn't It, Tommy? I do hope we shall have lots more adventures." ad-ventures." "You're Insatiable. Tuppence. Eve bad quite enough adventures for the present." "Well, shopping Is almost as good," said Tuppence, dreamily. "Think of buying old furniture, and bright carpets, car-pets, and futurist silk curtains, and a polished dining table, and a divan with lots of cushions " "Hold hard," said Tommy. "What's all this for?" "Possibly a house but I think a flat." "Whose flat?" "You think I mind saying It, but t don't In the least 1 Ours, so there!" "You darling!" cried Tommy, his arms tightly round her. "I was determined deter-mined to make you say it. I owe you something for the reMitless way you've squashed mo whenever I've tried to be sentimental." Tuppence raised her face to his. The taxi proceeded on a course round the north side of Regent's park. "You haven't really proposes now," pointed out Tuppence. "Not what our grandmothers would call a proposal. But after listening to a rotten one like Julius's, I'm Inclined to let you off." "You won't be able to get out of marrying mar-rying me, so don't you think of It." "What fun It will be." responded Tuppence. "Marriage is called nil sorts of things, a haven, mid r refngn and a crowning glory, and a state of bondage, and lots move. But do yon know what 1 think It Ik?" "What?" "A. sport !" "And a d d good sport, too," wvW Tommy. IT11I0 KXn.J