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Show elusive! ISABEL i n By , a JACQUES FUTRELLE J Copyright, ly.M. bv Tho akhh'1rU'iI .sumluv Maifiir.lnos. Cuuyrltfht liWU. by Tho Bobbn-llerrlll Company. 11 SYNOPSIS. Count dl Rnslnl, the Italian ambassador, ambas-sador, is at dinner with diplomats when a messenger summons lilm to the embassy, em-bassy, where a beautiful ynnriK woman asks for u ticket to the embassy ball. The ticket Is made out In the name of Miss Isabel Thorne. Chief Campbell of the secret service, ond Mr. Grimm, his head detective, are warned that a plot Is brewing in Washington, and Grimm f?oes to the state ball for Information. His attention at-tention Is called to Miss Isabel Thorne, who with her companion, disappears. A shot is heard and Senor Alvarez of the Mexican legation, Is found wounded. Grimm Is assured Miss Thorne did It; he visits her. demanding knowledge of the nffalr. and arrests Pletro Petrozlnnl. Miss Thorne visits an old bomh-maker and they discuss a wonderful experiment. Fifty thousand dollars Is stolen. from the office of Senor Rodriguez, the minister from Venezuela, and while detectives nre investigating in-vestigating the robbery Miss Thorne appears ap-pears as a guest of the legation. Grimm accuses her of the theft; the money la restored, but a new mystery occurs in the disappearance of Monsieur Polssegur the French ambassador. Elusive Miss Thorne reappears. CHAPTER XIII. (Continued.) "You knew I was here," repeated Mr. Grimm musingly. "And may I ?" "Just as you knew that I, or some one, at least, had entered this house a few minutes ago," she Interrupted. "The automobile horn outside was a signal, wasn't it? Hastings was in the car? Or was it -Blair or Johnson?" Mr. Grimm did not say. "Didn't you anticipate any personal person-al danger when you entered?" he queried instead. "Weren't you afraid I might shoot?" "No." There was a long silence. Mr. Grimm still sat with his elbows on his knees, staring at the vague white spotch which was Miss Thome's face and bare neck. One of her white arms hung at her side like a pallid serpent, and her hand was at rest on the seat of the couch. "It seems, Miss Thorne," he said at length casually, "that our paths of duty are inextricably tangled. Twice previously we have met under circumstances cir-cumstances that were more than strange, and now this! Whatever injustice in-justice I may have done you in the past by my suspicions has, I hope, been forgiven; and in each instance we were able to work side by side toward to-ward a conclusion. I am wondering new if this singular affair will take a similar course." He paused. Miss Thorne started to speak, but he silenced her with a slight gesture of his hand. "It is only fair to you to say that we that is, the Secret Service have learned many things about you," he resumed in the same casual tone. "We have, through our foreign agents, I raced vou sten bv sten from Rome to Washington. We know that you are, in a way, a representative of a sovereign of Europe; we know that you were on a secret mission to the Spanish court, perhaps for this sovereign, sover-eign, and remained in Madrid for a month; we know that from there you went to Paris, also on a secret mission mis-sion perhaps the same and remained re-mained there for three weeks; we know that you met diplomatic agents of those governments later in London. We know all this; we know the manner man-ner of your coming to this country; of your coming to Washington. But we don't know why you are here." Again she started to speak, and again he stopped her. "We don't know your name, but that is of no consequence. We do know that in Spain you were Senora Cas-savant, Cas-savant, in Paris Mademoiselle d'Aubi-non, d'Aubi-non, in London Miss Jane Kellogg, and here Miss Isabel Thorne. We realize re-alize that exigencies arise in your calling, call-ing, and mine, which make changes of name desirable, necessary even, and there is no criticism of that. Now as the representative of your government govern-ment rather a government ysu have a right to be here, although unaccredited; unaccred-ited; you have a right to remain here as long as your acts are consistent with our laws; 5:ou have a right to your secrets as long as they do not, directly or indirectly, threaten the welfare of this country. Now, why are you here?" He received no answer; he expected none. After a moment he went on: "Admitting that you are a secret agent of Italy, admitting everything that you claim to be, you haven't convinced con-vinced me that you are not the person who came here for the lei tors and cigarettes. You have said nothing to prove to my satisfaction that you are not the individual 1 was waiting for tonight." to-night." "You don't mean that you suspect sus-pect ?" she began in a tone of amazement. amaze-ment. "I don't moan that I suspect anything," any-thing," he interposed. "I n-.eati merely ' that you haven't convinced me. There's nothing inconsistent in the fact that you nre what you say you are, and that In spite of that, you came tonight for " lie was Interrupted by a laugh, a throaty, silvery note that he remembered remem-bered well. His idle hands closed spasmodically, only to be instantly relaxed. re-laxed. "Suppose, Mr. Grimm, I should tell you that Immediately after Madame Bolssegur placed tho matter In my hands this afternoon, I went straight to your office to show this letter to you and ask for your assistance?" she Inquired. "Suppose that I left my card for you with a clerk there on being be-ing Informed that you were, out remember re-member I knew you were on the case from Madamo Bolssegur would that indicate anything except that I wanted want-ed to put the matter squarely before you, and work with you?" "We will suppose that much," Mr. Grimm agreed. "That is a statement of fact," Miss Thorne added. "My card, which you will find at your office, will show that. And when I left your office I went to the hotel where you live, with the same purpose. You were not there, and I left a card for you. And that Is a statement of fact. It was not difficult, owing to the extraordinary circumstances, to imagine that you would be here tonight just as you are and I came here. My purpose, still, was to inform you of what I knew, and work with you. Does that convince you?" "And how did you enter the embassy?" em-bassy?" Mr. Grimm persisted. "Not with a latch-key, as you did," she replied. "Madame Bolssegur, at my suggestion, left the French window in the hall there unfastened, and I came In that way the way, I may add, that Monsieur l'Ambassadeur went out when Ire disappeared." "Very well!" commented Mr. Grimm, and finally: "I think, perhaps, I owe you an apology, Miss Thorne another one. The circumstances now, as they were at our previous meeting, are so unusual that is it necessary to go on?" There was a certain growing deference in his tone. "I wonder if you account for Monsieur Boissegur's disappearance as I do?" he inquired. "I dare say," and Miss Thorne leaned toward him with sudden eagerness eager-ness in her manner and voice. "Your theory is ?" she questioned. "If we believe the servants we know that Monsieur Boissegur did not go out either by the front door or the rear," Mr. Grimm explained. "That being true the French window by which you entered seems to have been the way." "Yes, yes," Miss Thorne interpolated. interpo-lated. "And the circumstances at- "The Ambassador." tending the disappearance? How do you account for the fact that he went, evidently of his own will?" "Precisely as you must account for it if you have studied the situation here as I have," responded Mr. Grimm. "For instance, sitting at his desk there" and he turned to indicate it "he could readily see out the windows overlooking the street. There is only a narrow strip of lawn between the house and the sidewalk. Now, if some one on the sidewalk, or or " "In a carriage?" promptly suggested Miss Thorne. "Or in a carriage," Mr. Grimm supplemented, sup-plemented, "had attracted his attention atten-tion some one he knew it is not ,at all unlikely that he rose, for no apparent ap-parent reason, as he did do, passed along the hall " "And through the French window, across the lawn to the carriage, and not a person in the house would nave seen him go out? Precisely! There seems no doubt that was the way," she mused. "And, of course, he must have entered the carriage of his own free will?" "In other words, on some pretext or other, he was -lured in, then made prisoner, and!" He paused suddenly and his hand met Miss Thome's warningly. The silence of the night was broken by the violent clatter of footsteps, apparently approaching the embassy. The noise was unmistakable some one was running. "The window!" Miss Thorne whispered. whis-pered. She rose quickly and started to cross the room to look out; Mr. Grimm sat motionless, listening. An Instant later and there came a tremendous crash of glass tho French window in the hallway by the sound then rapid footsteps, still running along the hall. Mr. Grimm moved toward the door unruffled, perfectly self-possessed; therf was only a narrowing of his eyes at the abruptness and clatter of it all. And then the electric lights in thej hall flashed up. Before Mr. Grimm stood a man, framd by the doorway, staring unsee-ingfy unsee-ingfy into the darkened room. His face was haggard and white as death; his mouth agape as if from exertion, and the lips bloodless; his eyes were widely distended as if from fright clothing disarranged, collar unfastened and dangling. "Tho ambassador!'" Miss Thorne whispered thrlllingly. I n CHAPTER XIV. I ' ! jl" A Rescue and an Escape. Miss Thome's voice startled Mr. Grimm a little, but he had no doubts. It was Monsieur Boissegur. Mr. Grimm was going toward the enframed figure when, without any apparent reason, the ambassador turned and ran along the hall; and at that instant the lights went out again. For one moment Grimm stood still, dazed and blinded by the sudden blackness, and again he started toward the door. Miss Thorne was beside him. "The lights!" he whispered tensely. "Find the switch!" He heard the rustle of her skirts as she moved away, and stepped out into the hall,' feeling with both his hands along the wall. A few feet away, in the direction the ambassador had gone there seemed to be a violent struggle In progress there was the scuffling of feet, and qulck-drawD breaths as muscle Btrained against muscle. The lights! If he could only find the switch! Then, as his hands moved along the wall, they came in contact with another hand a hand pressed firmly against the plastering, barring his progress. A light blow in the face caused him to step back quickly. The scuffling sound suddenly resolved re-solved itself into moving footsteps, and the front door opened and closed with a hang. Mr. Grimm's listless eyes snapped, and his white teeth came together sharply as he started toward the front door. But fate seemed to be against him still. He stumbled over a chair, and his own impetus forward sent him sprawling; his head struck the wall with a resounding re-sounding whack; and then, over the house, came utter silence. From outside out-side he heard the clatter of a cab. Finally that died away in the distance. "Miss Thorne?" he inquired quietly. "I'm here," she answered in a despairing de-spairing voice. "But I can't And the switch." "Are you hurt?" "No." And then she found the switch; the lights flared up. Mr. Grimm was sit-ting sit-ting thoughtfully 'on the floor. "That simplifies the matter considerably," consid-erably," he observed complacently, as he rose. "The men who signaled to me when you entered the embassy will never let that cab get out of their sight." Miss Thorne stood leaning forward a little, eagerly gazing at him with those wonderful blue-gray eyes, and an expression of of perhaps It was admiration ad-miration on her face. "Are you sure?" she demanded, at last. "I know it," was his response. And just then Monsieur Rigolot, secretary sec-retary of the embassy, thrust an inquisitive in-quisitive head timidly around the corner cor-ner of the stairs. The crash of glass had aroused him. "What happened?" he asked, breathlessly. breath-lessly. "We don't know just yet," replied Mr. Grimm. "If the noise aroused any one else please assure them that there's nothing the matter. And you might inform Madame Boissegur that the ambassador will return home tomorrow. to-morrow. Good night!" At his hotel, when he reached there, Mr. Grimm found Miss Thome's card and he drew a long breath; at his office he found another of her cards, and he drew another long breath. He did like corroborative details, de-tails, did Mr. Grimm, and, of course, this ! ' On the following day Miss Thorne accompanied him to Alexandria, Alexan-dria, and they were driven in a closed carriage out toward the western edge of the city. Finally the carriage stopped at a signal from Mr. Grimm, and he assisted Miss Thome out, after which he turned and- spoke to some one remaining inside a man. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |