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Show 17 OMAAUN BARBER , 9 lYNOPeii. fm trnm Th ry cpan with a fwfnihy March in th orra, bun of Mrs. a waalthy widow. Ji la whn Mr. MUlonr, nwklm-tuvitka. acaltorln tha tllamonria all ovar iinr, a tha floor. Curtl Ortawuld a rut Hruxton Band. wiiiy man in lav with klr. Mia. i..nr, naihvr up th fma. tirlawnld airpa on what Is auppoaad to b tlia Maharana ami rruahaa brtddit'larva ll waa nut th II. rl. A Hin- fnulna. doo An alt the lon titxTt laivr pronouni-(uUlltutm for tha original. On of lha minim diamond la found In Ilia rontn a of KHnnr Hulrnmb, ronn1ntlal rnmptn-In- n f Mra. Mlaalnnar, Hha la Dotwltlialanillnc Mra, Mlaalonrfa Iwllrf Brrtd, hrr Innnrvm. kloaniima. In an ui-- t mn manalon. two Hindoo, who ara In to rwovr lha Maharnn, dl. Amrlruaa lha arraat. iMeotlvea llrli tnka Ha tak tha tha raa. up of r. Htch, Elinor' flnH. in running I down tha raa criminal, llrlla learn that duplkataa of Mra. Mlaalun-r'- a diamond rra mad In i'arla on tha orlr of Elinor Holcomb. Whlla walklna-- tints la d. bound and by Hindoo. Ma la Imprianned In Uartd houaa, but makia hla aarap. Ha la convinced that tha Hindoo ara matarlaJIv lnir.iwt in tha raa. Pralandlna; It U lirtli Iniarvlrwa tha fiwaml aa to rrportar, th rar diamond of India. In - r(d i s CHAPTER XIII (Continued.) Brita frowned slightly at be read (be message, then with a heavy fountain pen that fairly raced over the paper, and, addressing bli by bit cable word, be wrote: Waa Maharanee "Logan, Parla. made there, too?" Drltx tapped a bell and looked up aa a Headquartera patrolman opened the door. "Ruin tola down to the Western Union office, be aald. Take It our-aeir, ana eee that it goea at once. It waa when bla thought- - were tan gled tn the lightest of knots that card waa brought to him by the twin brother of the heavy-rootebluecoat who even .then was supposedly on bis way to the Western Union office with the cable to Logan. snow mm in, saia unit arter a glance at the name; and, aa bla visi tor entered, he swung his feet from the desk, advancing halfway to the door, and extended hla hand cordially. "How do you do, doctor?" he aald. "1 hope I see you cheerful." A wan smile broke the fixity of the .f doubt about Its existence. In nere la a piece of It now" andfact, be showed Fitch a flake cf the false dla. rnond. "But you don't know, and I don't know what we have loth got to know, and that Is who made It, where It was made, by whom was It made, why was It made, and for whom was It made? The sooner we work out that end of the game, my dear young man, the better It will be for that little girl up In Centre Street" The doctor's eyebrows began to contract There waa a peculiarity In the facial gesture. Something was going on In his scientifically Inquiring mind. The brows drew together until their separate lines curved Into the form of a minute Interrogation point; little knobs of skin gnarled under the bristles; his eyes focused until they almost crossed. He clasped his bands behind his head and atudled the cell ing. A rather long silence followed. Smoke spiraled from the detective's cigar and eddied upward. The detective's keen glance waa leveled at the doctor's Intellectually sharpening face. It waa In a reminiscent tone that Fitch at last spoke. When It comes to guessing, I'm no good." be said. "I haven't been trained to guesa. The little I know Is the result of careful study and patient analysis; but there are a few things besides pharmacopoeia tn my mind and memory, and one of them may help us a little." He shifted bis position until he turned a square front to the detective. " "Way back In my ambulance days," he said, "there waa a case that your question reminds me of. It was one of the fcrst I bad after I went to Belle-vuIt was a call to a queer little old shop in Fourth Avenue. You remember thot row of rookeries filled furniture stores, up with second-hanart dens, old curio shops, and so on, on the west side of the avenue, aome-wherIn the Twenties?" A nod from Brits was the only reply. "Well." continued the doctor.' "this call was to one of those curiosity shops. It was kept by a queer little old chap who doctor's countenance for an Instant, must have starved himself to death to and be shook his head slightly. carry out some object he had. He "I don't see how there can be any sold curios for a living, and played cheer for me," he aald, "as long as at alchemy for amusement cracked, that poor girl Is a prisoner In the you know. At any rate, he wasn't all Tombs. When are we goli.g to get her there. His neighbors looked on him out?" as a harmless lunatic, and In spite of "I know Just how you feel about It, bis solitary habits, he was pretty popdoctor," said Brltz sympathetically, ular. It was owing to this popularity "but youll have to leave that In my that he didn't die In the back part of hands for the present Miss Holcomb his own store with all the busy traf must stay where she Is awhile lon- fic of a busy city Just a few rods out side. A neighbor beard a noise like ger." "But surely," persisted the "physl-Iclan- , an explosion and, running In, found "It cannot be necessary to leave him on his back all covered with some her there forever to establish her In- chemical that waa turning his clothes nocence. Tou know she Is guiltless; Into porous plasters. The neighbor 1 know It; Mrs. Mlssloner knows It, turned In an ambulance call, and I was and It would noUiake much to bring the answer. I found the old man half all her acquaintances to the same suffocated and wholly unconscious, view. Why must we wait?" and as I was pretty nervous from In"Now, let us talk" said Brits. "You experience, It was about all 1 could and I have fenced long enough along do to bring him around. I wanted to this line; let's get down to business. take him back with me, but he wouldYou know something about chemistry, n't have It; said he was Just as well that's certain. Do you know enough off where he was; didn't like the hosabout It to tell me whether any prog- pital anyhow and wouldn't go, so I ress has been made In recent years fixed him up where be was. AfterIn the manufacture of paste Jewels?" ward, In the eiuberance of my youth"Can't say I do! haven't been much ful seal, I called on him outside of Interested In that line until this out- working hours, and kind of looked rageous attempt to prove Mlas Hol- after . him. He pulled through all comb a thief." ' , right, but he waa a pretty badly "Well, It's about time you did." said charred old person for a long time Brits meaningly. "I don't see what after that As soon aa he was well good It Is to a girl to have an M. D. enough to take care of himself, I left for a lover If he can't be of any more off going there, and that Is the last use to her In a case of this sort than I have seen of him." lilnks of the Hardware Club, or Jenks "What caused the explosion?" asked of the Retail Grocers' Association. firltz. Now, you know how these, false gems "I believe he was experimenting are made, don't you?" with some chemical couldn't get him I "I know pretty well." and Fitch to tell me anything about It; he got gave him the formula with which the ) rad as a hornet every time I touched mlnute men of the Jewel trade were upon It I learned, however, from familiar for purposes of neighbors that he was Interested In precious stones, and In his later years "Well, I'm quite free to tell you," the Idea became firmly fixed In bis continued Brltz, "that the whole ques- mind that If be only tried long enough, tion of Miss Holcomb's stay In the spent money enough, mortified the Tombs depends on our success In find- flesh sufficiently, he would be able to ing out who made the Maharanee dia- make diamonds." mond. I know who turned out the "What sort of stuff did he succeed other stones had Logan over there In making?" asked the detective. for several weeks in Paris, you know." "You can search me," said Fitch. "1 The detective then sketched rapidly never got a look at any of It His for Fitch the detailed Information sent cranklets would never make any sort to him by his assistant across the wa- of admission to me about the stuff he ter. "But I cannot get a line on the was making. All I know la that man Maharanee diamond. I've been over who told me about the experiments every place in this neck of woods in was quite positive that waa the crack fact I've gone over the whole country In the old chap's brain that he could with a comb. I've had every make diamonds, and could make them Important city In Europe canvassed, just as well In a few hours as nature and the sum-tota- l of all these Inquiries could in a thousand years." 'a that nobody knows any live maU ' "So must have the explosion who could make an Imitation of the ; ' been?"' real Maharanee anything like good "Some fusBlng around with the Inenough to deceive Simple Simon. gredients he was going to convert Now. you Just get that scientific think-"i- Into gleam and glitter. That's all I apparatus of yours going, and help know about it There you have it me puzzle out the . problem. We know Now, what do you make of it?" there was a fake Maharanee diamond. said Brltz as he put-h- is "Well," U nd to pieces under Grls-old'- s heels to the floor with a click, "what heel In Mrs. Mlasloner's opera we'll make of It won't be made down box. It was picked up by a man from here. I'm glad that memory of yours 'he Orient this Swami whatever his worked In the long run; but It might "anie is, the sort of combination priest have saved me an extra hazardous "id scholar who says he's here to 'joy ride' If It had worked sooner. "pread the propaganda of the Buddhist Come along! and he moved toward Ial'h among the elect of New York the door. ; ciety. Sands saw the diamond; "Where are you going?" asked the M'sa March saw . It; Grlswold saw it, physician. of course, Mrs. Mlssloner heraelf "To the Bleecker Street station." "d it In her own hand. There la no replied Brltz, "and from there to far-awa- y fine-toot- as-tsts- e. Fourth Avenue as fast as the local that she has broken any taw of God can take us. Guess we woiA wslt for or man!" tail." "Are you sure this Is viae. Doris? "Then you think," said Fitch eager- Inquired Bands gravely. As he stood ly, "there may be a clew In what I've beside her. It was difficult to control told you?" the Impulse to pour out before bar the "What's the use of thinking," al- deration be felt at sight of her new most snapped Brits, "when we can loveliness. She had never seemed know? There's Just one way to know, more beautiful than when she was and that's to go. Come, let'a go," moved by sympathy for the girl who As they walked briskly down the at that moment doubtless, wss won Headquarters building, Brits paused dering If she had forsaken her. at Manning's office, pashed a button "Wise or not" returned the widow, and. when the door swung open, thrust "I shall do It Something tells me his hesd In long enough to say: she la la need of sympathy this very "See you later. Chief; going up day. Why, Bruxton, bow do we know town for a llyje while." what effect this dreadful Incarcera "8U1I fighting It out on that Una. tion might have upon her? It may eh?" was Manning's return. warp her entire nature: It may wreck "Yes-,- said Brits calmly, "and It ber health. Please do not try to dis suade me. I have made up my mind may not take all winter either." The detective and the doctor were to are ber, and I shall go there at so absorbed In the subject aa they once." raced down the subwsv stairs that It waa a short dash for the auto up man Broadway, up Centre Street to the they did not notice a dark-facewho, after a keen glance at their Tombs, snd It was with little difficulty faces, hastened east In Bleecker that Ssnds obtained for Mrs. MlsslonStreet and sprang Into a waltlna cab er permission to see the prisoner. at the next corner. Elinor came around the corner of the corridor with more animation In CHAPTER XIV. ber step than It had shown In many a day. She had hardly been able to ' Old Friends. 's believe her eyes on reading Mrs. Bruxton Sands was as genuinely asname on. the card thrust tonished aa a man of dellberatenesa through the grating of her cell Long could be when a clerk entered the ago iie had made up ber mind that private room of his office suite In a the cialn of circumstances, or perhaps Bowling Oreen skyscraper and told an enemy, had sown In her kind him a lady wished to see him. He waa friend's mind suspicion that she was about to Instruct the clerk to ask for guilty. As the days rolled on and ahe rethe lady's card when, glancing over ceived no word from Mrs. Mlssloner, the youth's hesd, be glimpsed a gol- the conviction grew upon her. Even den gleam under a big hat with sweep- this very day she had given up the ing plumes through the doorwsy and hope of rehabilitating herself In the In an Instant was crossing the thres- eyes of her employer. Not that It was hold with both hands extended. an employer she mourned In loss of confidence. "My dear Doris!" be said. "Tbla Is Mrs. Mlasloner's The really good of you. Things were get- rich widow waa her friend; had been ting a bit dull this morning." her family's friend, and hod been tbe Mrs. Mlssloner smiled In that p.r-- first to offer her a refuge In the ter-Mis-loner- e h " g was-grou- . Brltx Frowned vadlng way Slightly as He Read the Message. that long ago had pene- trated to the very core of the millionaire's inner consciousness. That smile illuminated Sands' somewhat gloomy sanctuary. He welcomed Mrs. Mlssloner to a comfortable chair beside his broad desk, swept aside the heap of formidable papers with great gold seals and fluttering legal ribbons, and leaned back In his chair quite content to wait a century for his visitor to speak again, provided her smile should continue to beam upon him. "No, it is not about Investments," said Mrs. Mlssloner, noting the restrained Inquiry In her admirer's eyes. "I felt I had to talk to somebody about Elinor; and Dorothy, you know, Is too amiably responsive to be of any use. Bruxton, what am I to do about that girl?" "I'm sure I don't know," he said at length. "I suppose something ought to be done." "I don't care what the detective says! exclaimed Mrs. Mlssloner, "I am not going to let Elinor Holcomb thhik any longer that her friend of years believes her to be a thief. It Is unbearable! The man told me that I must not interfere In the case if I expected htm to vindicate my secretary; but I am not going to be governed by anyone to that extent I I am am going to see Elinor to terrible that place going straight and assure her that even though I permit her to be kept there, I refuse to entertain for a moment tbe idea to-da- rible days following discovery of the fact that her kindly, gentle father, after a lifetime of high endeavor, had left her without the provision she knew he always Intended to make. "Dear Mrs. Mlssloner!" cried Elinor, hastening toward the widow as she read affection and complete belief in ber countenance. "You' have done many lovely things for me, but this Is quite the dearest! It seems hard even to. picture you In such a place, and the reality" - "You poor child!" exclaimed Mrs. Mlssloner, hardly controlling her voice. "What about yourself? If it is distressing to me to come here, It Is terrible for you to be here. How can you stand it?" "One learna to stand many things," she answered, "when fate commands; yet If anyone had told me a few weeks ago that I could so much as retain my reason In a place like this! Now that you are here, it seems far easier. Oh, but It Is good of rou to come!" The widow took the girl's hands In her own and patted them softly as she whispered words of encouragement She could not trust her voice to speak "for the first few moments. As she looked at Elinor's slender grace and the deathless honesty In her soft, gray yes, the horror of the girl's situation came hbme to her with redoubled force. It was by a mighty effort, and by that alone, that she prevented herself from sweeping the girl Into her arms and making a dash wit kj her for the freedom be yond the great steel door. For an In stant that Impulse almost got the upper hand of her common sense. Had not Ssnds been there, she might have done something so foollab as to com plicate ber young friend's position still further In tbe ryes of all the rlty'a newspapers and tbelr readers. As It wss, she Increased tbe tender ness of her csresaes, and sought to soothe Elinor's agitation with little love words such as had long been common in their dnUy intercourse. But this tendernoas only recalled to Ell nor all tbe affection, safety, and shel ter she had left behind her In Mrs. Mlasloner's home, and at tbe thought she broke Into uncontrollable sobs. The millionaires dincomrort was augmented a thousandfold by this scene between the women, lie shift ed nla weight from one foot to the other, crumpled tbe rim of bis derby bat until It bent like tbe brim of an Alpine, and at length, unable to view tbe girl's distress with anything like equanimity, be walked to the other and stood end of the reception-roolooking through the giant latticework at tbe tide of traffic In Centre Street It was not until the widow had restored Elinor's calmness, not until she bad assured tbe trembling prisoner of her love, confidence, and full belief In ber Innocence a hundred times, not until tbelr emotion had affected even the matron long Inured to human woe. that the girl saw Sands. His sturdy bulk, the square set of his shoulders. the uncompromising fidelity la his strong face, gave her a new sense of pleasure. Surely her case could not be desperate with two such loyal friends to defend her! For tbe space of a she forgot even Fitch, although her lover at that moment was hastening uptown with Brits in quest of tbe missing thread that should lead to ber vindication. Still with her arm around Mrs. Missloner's ne extended her band to waist Sands, and thanked him In a way more effective than any mere girlish prettlness for the proof of his faith In her that he had given In coming with Mrs. Missloner to see her. . "Not that it would take much persuasion to make you accompany Doris anywhere," she said with a smile, and she was not at all remorseful when she noted the dark flush of pleasure that spread over his features. "But I cannot help taking comfort In the fact that you have come to see me, and that very evidently it bad cost you no struggle to do so. If all of you could only know what these long weeks have been to me, you would understand how' deeply the sight of old friends affects me. Here I have been In a world apart Tbe poor creatures who share this dreadful home with me only make my situastar-flash- , tion worse, for I can do nothing for them, and yet the sight of tbelr mis ery distresses me beyond words." Elinor did not know how much she had been spared by the considerate-nes- s of the warden In assigning her to a tier of cells In which tbe more brutal Inmates of the Tombs never were confined. She had had only a glance of the nether depths. Grave though the charge against her was, the good old man, whom an accident of poli tics had placed In control of the pris on, had recognized from the first that ahe was of finer mould than anyone who had been entrusted to his cus tody In his whole term of office, and he had seen to It that her eyes and ears were not assaulted by the sights and scenes of the blacker depths. Years passed, and Elinor was a woman of much graver maturity ere she knew how much of misery she had escaped. The visit of Mrs. Mlssloner and Sands did Elinor so much good that, when they went away, It was with a lighter heart she returned to her cell, with renewed courage she steeled herself to await tbe efforts of tbe good friends and the devoted lover she knew were working to clear ber name of the frightful charge Donnelly and Carson had lodged against ber. Her confidence In Dr. Fitch was not misplaced, for in the short time when Mrs. Mlssloner In her limousine was speeding back to her home In Millionaires' Row, and Sands, in a brougham, was returning to his office in the Bowling Green buildfng, Fitch and Britz were standing on a Fourth Ave nue corner a short distance north of Twenty-thirStreet, gazing with disskyscraper that may at a twenty-storstood on the site of the little old curio shop to which duty had called the young ambulance surgeon years after another, patiently repeating persistent InqulrtM as to what bad become of the veteran curio dealer. Blank stares and equally blank answers were the result until Brits, In a tiny tobacco shop that was the center of all the old times places huddled together for protection sgslnat the encroachment of progress, unearthed a memory Incarnate In a man, who, Fitch said, might have been the twin brother of the amateur alchemlat "Yes," said the man, "I remember him. and It's a funny thing to me that snybody who ever saw blm could ever forget htm. He waa the queerest little old duck I ever rsn across." Brits thought If anyone could be queerer than the ancient tobacconist be would have to step out of a page of Dickens. Tbe Incarnate memory recalled that the curio dealer had been taken away a week or two before his shop w torn down to clear the ground for the foundation work of tbe great sky scraper. "No, be didn't go away. He was taken awsy. "Anything wrong with htm?" asked Brits. "Well, not exactly what you might catl wrong, so to speak." quavered the ' "I wouldn't old tobacco merchant go so far as to say there waa anything you might exactly call wrong with blm, but neither wvild I undertake to tell you that he waa altogether what you might call right" and be touched his forehead significantly. "Oh!" said Brits. "Ward's or Randall's?" "Huh." said the old tobscconlst "I don't know what you mean." "Why," said the detective, "what I mean Is did they take him to the Asylum or to the Workhouse?" "I reckon It wouldn't. have been any use to take him to the Workhouse," said the tobacco dealer, "because, so far aa I know, he never done no work In all bis life, and he was too old a dog to learn the habit by that time. No, I guess they took him to the other place; but what do you want to know for? Are you missing belrs?" Brits and Fitch laughed. "No," be said, "my friend here Just wants to brush up an old acquaintance." When the two had bought enough cigars to recall faintly the dreama of prosperity that bad Inspired tbe old man's youth, they strolled to the Twenty-thirstreet corner, where they Jumped aboard a crosstown car that took them to the Island ferry. d TO BE CONTINUED.) , A FATHER'S TIMELY WARNING The Winsome Charms of the Right Girl Exceed All Possible Horror of Heredity. "Well, air," said the old gentleman. presume you have come to aak me for my daughter's band?" "Yea, sir, that would be my Ideal "1 birthday present" "And do you realize the responsibili ties of married life; what you will have, to" 'Indeed, sir," interrupted the youth." "you need have no fears with regard) to Janet's future. I have a good position in my father's bank, and my prospects are excellent In fact I am to be made a director of the institution in a very short time." "Very good. But that was not ex actly the matter I Intended to refer to. Have you have you ever looked over Janet's mother carefully?" Tbe young man was puzzled, and he showed It . "How do you like my wife?" "I hold Mrs. Peck In the highest re spect" . "Oh, that's all right then. Well, sir. though you may not believe me, when Mrs. Peck was twenty-twshe waa Just as sweet and pretty and "charm ing as Janet is now; was Just like ber. In fact" "Yes. really T" "And you still want Janet?" "Life would be a nightmare to me without ber." "I suppose, then, I must yield. But." be added, as the young man rusted away, "my conscience is clear, any- way!" Called the Bluff. "The only way you can legitimately keep out undesirable persons from a hotel Is to raise the price or to assert that your bouse Is full," said a botel clerk, "but you never know when tbla may fail. "A couple once came up to register whom I sized up at once as the kind we were particularly anxious not to "You are sure this Is the place?" take In. 'I am very sorry,' 1 said to asked the detective. the man, 'but the house Is absolutely "I filled "Absolutely," said the doctor. and the only thing I could offer went over there to get some brandy you would be a small suite.' for the old man when I was working 'What's that?' demanded the trav him out of his stupor." eler, and I explained that it consisted "Well." said the sleuth, "so far as of a small parlor, bathroom and bath. " 'What's the that old curiosity shop Is concerned, price?' he asked. we're up against It; or, what la worse, "'Twenty-fivdollars a day,' I re we are not up against It. We are con- plied. ' 'I guess that will be all right,' sail fronted by this steel and stone monI guess there's no use the stranger calmly, and he registered. and strosity, wasting time making Inquiries there; He bad me." but there may be a few The Ignorance of Casey. with memories along this block, and we'll see what we can find out You Casey Phwat kind av a horse is take that side of the street, and I'll cob?" ' take this." Mulligan It's wan thot's bee Britz and Fitch went Into one shop raised Intoirly on corn, ye Ignoramuts d y e old-time- |