Salt Lake Tribune | 1917-03-25 | Page 54 | Newest Craig Kennedy Stories

I 1 Newest Craig Kennedy Stories h""v;U i III. The Diamond Queen. HKT Sylvania Quarantine mlrl- ' l IMKllt- Ktranne death Ra- l I waruska. Retain ymj in in- t crest steamship company. Thompson, Purser." Kennedy had torn open the envelope of 11. wireless message that had come from somew here out. In the At Ian tic and had Jum lioii delivered t-i him at dinner on evening. Jin read it ipiirkly and lo.isert if over to me. "Rawaruska," ! repeated, "lio you suppose th:it means the riever little kus-sia.ti kus-sia.ti da ii'T r who was In the 'Revue' la h t year?" "Then! cniild hardly be two of that un-iiHnal un-iiHnal name who would lie referred to ho familiarly," returned Craig. "Curious ' tia t we've had not hing in t lie li elc: s news about It." "Perhaps it has been delayed." I bii?-fcesled. bii?-fcesled. 'I.eL mc Hug up the iStar. They may have something now." A lew minutes later I rejoined Craig at the table. A report had jut he-en received re-ceived by the Star that Rawaruska had been discovered late the night before, unit un-it n.S'-tons In her room on the Sylvania. The ship's surgeon had been su riirnoned, but before he was able to do anything tor her .she died. Uence Rawaruska, I knew, was a popular popu-lar little Russian dancer abroad who had onie to America the season pruvlourt and had made a big hit on Rroaduay, Heauti-ful, Heauti-ful, stiMnge,, fiery, she incarnated the mysterious mys-terious Slav. 1 last ily over t he telephone. Kennedy made arrangements to go down to Quarantine Quar-antine on a revenue tug that wan leaving to meet tho Sylvania. The tup had scarcely cast off from the lattery, where we met it, when a man, who had beeji watching us from a crevice of his turned-up ulster collar, quietly edged over "Von are Professor Kennedy, the detective?" de-tective?" he began. "1 undei-Htood," he went on, not waiting wait-ing for a reply, "that von are Interested in the ra.se of that Utile Russian actress, ; ilinva ruska ?" Still Kennedy said nothing. ".My name Is Wadeof the customs service," pursued the man. nothing a hashed. "Von have heard, r suppose, of I ho great amber diamond. 'The Invincible?' Invinci-ble?' " Kennedy nodded and T thought hurriedly hur-riedly of all the big stones I had ever lieHrd the Pitt, the Orlops, the Koh-i-iMPor, the Star of the South, the Cullinan and ot hers. "The Invincible, you know." he added, is the largest amber diamond in the world, almost the size of the famous'CuI-linan, famous'CuI-linan, over three hundred karats. It was found in the dry diggings of the Vaal liver, a fw miles from Kimberley. The dry diggings are independent of the I e Meeis eombine. of course. Well, Us owner has always been In the position of Mark Twain's man with the million-dollar hank note, who found it too large to cash. No one knows .lust what an amber diamond dia-mond of that size is really worth. This one is almost perfect, resembles the huge top of a decun ter stopper. It's a beau-tiful beau-tiful orange color and ha; been estimated at well, as higTi as close to a quarter of a million, though, as I said, that Is all guess work." "Yes?" remarked Kennedy, more for politeness than anything else. "The Invincible." Wade whispered, shielding his lips from the keen, biting . gale, "was last known to belong to the He Gucrres of Antwerp. One of my especial es-pecial agents abroad has cabled me to look for it. lie thinks there is reason to believe' it will be smuggled into America for safe keening- d urine: the troubles in Relgium. The Do Guerres are well-known well-known dealers in diamonds, one of Hie leading- houses In the vfty of diamonds.' r.s Antwerp has heen called. Ono of the De Guerras Is on the Sylvania. the junior partner " He paused, then added: "the husband, I believe, of Rawaruska. ij thought perhaps you might be willing: to' try to help me." "I should bo glad In," replied Kennedy tersely. Nothing more was said on the trip and a t last we came to the Svlvanin, lving grim and dark of hull off the little .luster .lus-ter of Quarantine buildings, with mvriads of twinkling lights on her, far above but sea reply relieving the blackness of the leviathan form. Thompson, the purser, a quiet, nnex-ci nnex-ci table Englishman, met us as we came over the side, a nd for the moment we lost sight of our new-found friend. Wade. "Perhaps you didn't know it," informed Thorn pson as we made our way through the ship, "hut Rawaruska was married-had married-had been for .some time." "Who was her husband?" queried Kennedy, Ken-nedy, seeking confirmation of what we had already heard. "Aj-mand De Guerre, a KeUian. of Antwerp," Ant-werp," Aas the reply, "one of t he pa rt-ners rt-ners in a famous old diamond -cut ting firm of that city." Kennedy looked at thp purser keenly for a moment, then asked, "Were they traveling together?" "Oh. yes that is, he had engaged a room, but you know how crowded the boats are with refugees fleeing to America Ameri-ca from the war. He gave un his room, or ratlur his share of it, to woman, a proiessional saleswoman, well known, I belipve. in Antwerp as well as the Rue de la Faix in Paris and Maiden lane and Fifth avenue of your city, a Miss Hoffman Hoff-man Elsa. Hoffman. She shares the room with Rawaruska. while pP Guerre took his chances in the steerage." As we walked down one of the main corridors we noticed ahead of us a seemingly seem-ingly very nervous and excited ger tie-man tie-man apparently in a heated conversation with another. "Monsieur Do Guerre." whispered Thompson as we approached. The two seemed to tie just on the point f parting, as we rieared them, and, I think, our approach hastened them. 1 could not hear what one of them said, but I heard De Guerre almost hiss as he turned on his heel, "Well, sir, vou were the last one seen with her alive." A moment later the purser introduced us to De Guerre. "Vou must find out the truth." he cried eagerly. "Already they are saving rbat it was suicide. But T cannot believe be-lieve it. No she was murdered !" Rawaruska, we found. had occupied room 1SK. on the port side of one of the lower dt-eks. The stateroom, apparently, ran to the very skin of the vessel and I he ports opened directly on the water, nol upon Hp outside deck, as with thf room ; at.ove if. 1 1. was an outside room at the end of a sort of eross ai!--wav. and it was Impossible that anvone code h,ie reached it exeept through the corridors. cor-ridors. Attached to it was a litrle bath and dl reet 1 y across from The ha f h. on the other side, was another small room which was occupied by her maid, Geciie, a Kreneh girl. In the main bedroom was a double bed. a eoucn. h wurd robe ;md a small, thin-legtd thin-legtd writing or d ressing table. (hi the white bd bi v the. now cold and marble figure of the ..rce vivacious htfle dancer who had enchanted thousands in life petite, bnniet'e. voluptuous. Her finely chiseled features. lacking that heaviness which often characterizes European women, were, however terribly d ra wn a nd her perfect completion On which she had prided herself was now all mottled and bluish. I could not help ob- serving th;it there seemed to lie every evidence t hat. t he girl had been asphyxiated asphyxi-ated in some strange manner. The purser, as soon as we came aboard, had summoned the ship's surgeon, and we had scarcely arrived at Rawaruska's room when he joined us. He was one of those solid, reliable doctors, not brilliant, but one in whom you might place great confidence, a Or. Sanderson, educated in Edinburgh, and Ion? a follower of the sea. "Was there any evidence of a struggle?" strug-gle?" asked Kennedy. "No, none whatever," replied the doctor. doc-tor. "No peculiar odor, no receptacle of an?" kind near her that . might have held poison?" "No, nothing that could have been used to hold poison or a drug." Kennedy was regarding the face of the little dancer attentively. "Most extraordinary," extraor-dinary," he re ma rked slowly, "t hat congested con-gested look she has." "Yes," agreed Dr. Sanderson, "her face was Hushed and blue when r got to her cyanotic, I should say. There seemed to be a great dryness, of her throat and the muscles of her throat were paretic. Her pupils were dilated, too, and her pulse was rapid, as if from a greatly increased blood pressure." " Was she conscious ?" asked Kennedy. "She seemed to he in a state of amnesia." am-nesia." replied Sanderson slowly. "FCvl-dently "FCvl-dently if she had seen anything she had forgotten or wouldn't tell." "Who found her?" asked Craig. "How was she discovered?" "Why, Miss Hoffman found her," replied re-plied the purser quickly, "She called one of the stewards. She had been sitting in the library reading until quite late and Rawaruska had retired early. It must have been nearly midnight when De j Guerre and a. friend, pausing at the li-I li-I brary door on their way from the smoking smok-ing room, saw Miss Hoffman, and all three stopped in the Rilz restaurant for a hite to eat. "De Guerre walked down the corridor with Miss Hoffman afterwards," he continued, con-tinued, "and left her a-s she went into the room with his wife. Perhaps a minute min-ute later she screamed. She had turned on the light and had found Rawaruska lying half across the bed. unconscious. IVJ iss Hoffman called to the si eward to summon Dr. Preston, but he came to me first, instead." "Dr. Preston ?" repeated Kennedy. "Yes. a young American physician, the friend who had been with lie Guerre in the smoking room part of the evening, and later made up the party in the restaurant, res-taurant, " vouchsafed Sanderson. "The man De Guerre was talking to as we came down the hall," put In Thompson. Thomp-son. "I've talked with him now and then myself," admitted Sanderson; "a bright fellow who lias heen studying ahroa-d and after many adventures succeeded in cettinrr a eross tbp horrlpi- Into Molbinrl a nd thence to Kngrla nd. He managed to squeeze into the steerage of the Sylvania. though, of course, like De Guerre, was classed as a first-cabin passenger. He , had become very friendly with Rawaruska Rawaru-ska and her party while they were waiting wait-ing for bookings in London." Thompson leaned over. "The steward in the corridor tells me." he said in a low tone, "that curly in the evening Dr. Preston and Rawaruska were on the promenade deck together." Kennedy said nothing, but was now leaning over the body of the little dancer, looking- at the upper region of her spine d ttentively. Quiet ly, from a group of three or four little red marks on her back he squeezed out sevein drops of j liquid, absorbing them on a piece of sterile gauze. A moment la.ter De Guerre, who had quietly slipped away during the ex-; ex-; animation, returned, and with him was a young woman. "Miss KIsa Hoffman," he introduced. Klsa Hoffman was of a fascinating type. tall, finelv gowned, of superb poise, physically perfect. One could not help admiring her deep blue eyes and blonde radiance. Still. In spite, of her evident poise, the tragedy seemed to have oppressed op-pressed and unnerved her. She did not seem to be a ble to add much to the scanty stock of facts we had, even after repeating the story of her discovery of Rawaruska. "I I think perhaps Mr. Kennedy ought to question Cecllle," she suggested finally, final-ly, turning toward De Guerre, who nodded his assent. A sudden movement in the passageway-followed, passageway-followed, and the door opened quietly. A man entered, a youngish fellow of fine physique and attractive face. I recognised recog-nised him i mined iately. as Dr. Preston. His apparently usually debonair manner wn visibly subdued by the presence of death. .Evidently he had just heard that someone some-one was investigating the tragedy and had hastened to be- present. Both De Guerre and KIsa nodded to him, a trifle coldly. As Kennedy moved away from the. bed. Dr. Preston contrived to place himself near him and apart from the rest. "Mr. Kennedy," he began in a husky undertone, "they tell rne you have been engaged to investigate . this this awful affair." Kennedy assented "If there Is anything T can do to help you," Preston added anxiously. 1 hope you will command me. In fact," he added add-ed as Kennedy nodded while Preston glanced covertly at He Guerre and Miss Hoffman. "1 hope you'll get ai the trut h." "Thank you." responded Kennedy, meeting his eye squarely this time ; "1 sha II be giad to call on you If occasion arises." rai. had complrted 11 haMv search of the room, with its little d peeing fable, two t -links, and a cabinet. Kv-r thine seemed to have ben kept In a rno-t neal and orderly nut nner by i he attentive -ille, who was appnrentlv a modtl servant. ser-vant. The little white ba throom was eouallv immaculate and Kennedy passed ticvf to an evamitiHtion of the little room of the French maid. '"rilie wa a pretty, dark ittie bcin-, with snapping black e es. ,As I ran my e; e over the croup that was now intently watch' nq; Knndv a t work . fi( n i ed I a u s; h t El sa M off-man off-man vein c'eilie sharply, and I am sure that once a t leant those black eyes snapped back a wireless message of defiance de-fiance at t he peneira ting eyos of blue. "The door was not locked, you say?" repeated Craig, following up one " of the lirt of his own question? to Ce-cilie. Ce-cilie. whh-h had resulted in unearthing; this new fact. j "Non, monsieur." replied Cecilie in ac- j rented English which was harming, j "Mam'selle we all called her that, her stage name used to leave it open in case of fire or accident. She had a terrible fear of drowning." "But her valuables?" prompted Craig raig had completed a haMv jarch nt t . z. the room, with its little d Psins table. f two trunks, and a cabinet. Kvo thine - Sfe--L Z's '" 'r f" seemed to have been kept In a mn-t neal 'ZZ :'- ? ry US ttX ' ''Sr: ft and orderly manner by the attentive Z,- . -, ( yf Zi-? 01 vg Ceniic, who was appH renth- a model aer- J O v:.fi'' Jx vant. Z "I Wit" The little w'nite bathroom was X'Ji'f y i Vu C eouallv immaculate and KennMy passed VV kS7J 1 itU$ . f ticvt to an evaminH t ion of the little room &'' M ! M R of the French maid. 'rilie was a prfttv. Ci- ' M l' I P dark ittie being, with capping black Ojf ' " lff lib As I ran my eye over the group that A jyA ' HPrfT1 i lir was now intently watch-ng" Kennedv ; j T lV- U 't I P at work. 1 fa ivied I causht KIsa Hoff- iij 'if. . , W I I S i tl P man ex-eins Cecilie sharply, and I am ! U ' ' !'! g I I I sure that once at least those black eves ! 4- U I'll I ! tl IF snapped back a wireless message of de- ll tUff -f:t I. lild I B 1 fi fiance at the penetrating eyw of blue. ( ' jji , II Ph I!1 i ' "The door was not locked. "vou sav?" i "J j filf ' III jj I repeated Craig, foltowing up one of j ; ' i7f s ' fA 1 ! r the tir?t of his own questions to Ce- t II A' ' VAtf '11 1 H 1 1. cilie. which had resulted in unearthing III tt; AyZ 8 ! i M ' J this new fact. jj ip'hjf 'AX ' H UM W "Non, monsieur." replied Cecilie in ac- W if ..' . VZ . I i'HI'I 1 1!! Will cented English which was ..harming. ;'L A I Lil !ijfe l v "Mam'selle we all called her that, her 'j U, '' 1s-, 1 Mi II llt'Rill stage nameused to leave it open in Uw7 .''.' ocSZ"$x 1 hllMl "'Unl1 I ' case of fire or accident. She had a 1 ' W -fel T W, I As I glanced in I was astonished to see him talking earnestly to Cecilie. unicKiy, vs. tenmg the effect of his question. "AH In the ship's safe, in care of the purser." replied Cecilc. "So were Miss Hoffman's." "Yes," corroborated Thompson, "and. besides, the corridors and passageways are well patrolled by stewards at all times." The search of Cecjiie's room, which was smaller and more scantily furnished, took only .a few minutes. A suppressed exclamation from Craig served to divert my attention from the study of t hose arouna me to 1 he stud v of Kennedy himself, and what he had discovered. Hidden away in the back of a drawer in a small chiffonier, he had come across several articles that aroused interest If they did not whet the blade of suspicion. sus-picion. "Mon Dieu !" exclaimed the maid as Kennedy suppressed a smile of gratification gratifica-tion at the outcome of the search. "But that is not mine!" Kennedv drew out from the back of the drawer, where it had been tucked, a little silken bag. He opened it. In the surface tt seemed that the bag was empty. But as he brought it cautiously closer to his face to peer in, T could see that just a whiff of its contents was enough. "What have you there?" I asked Kennedy. Ken-nedy. "Cayenne pepper, snaff and some other chemical." sneezed Craig. "Very effective to throwr into the face of anyone," he commenfed, closing quickly trie bag bv its loose drawing strings, "that is. if yoii merely want Jo blind him and put him out temporarily." t did not pay much attention to the protests of the mafd, nor the look of triumph that crossed the face of Elsa Hoffman and the surprise exhibited bv Dr. Preston. For Kennedy had picked up from the same drawer a little toilet vaporizer, too, and was examining it minutely. "What's that?" I queried, mystified by his actions. "Something th French secret pervice spies call the bnd perfume. " he returned frankly. "An a nesthetic so incredibly rapid and violent tha t the spies, 'usually women, who use It wear a filter veil over their own mouths and noses to protect themselves." Cecilie was protesting volubly, now In fair Knglish, now in liquid French, that she knew absolutely nothing of the articles. 1 wondered whether Rawaruska herself might not have placed them there. Alight she not have heen a spy, one of those clever little dancers who had wormed themselves by their graceful agility into the good graces of some of the world's lead ing men and marie Russia a recognized recog-nized diplomatic power? Something like the same idea must hae been suggested to Dr. Sanderson, who was stan ling next me. for he bent over and remarked to me in an undertone, under-tone, "1 suppose you realize that the position po-sition of the Russian government has undergone un-dergone a marked change since the Russian Rus-sian dancers have won international popularity?" pop-ularity?" "Why. I have heard.' he continued, "that t he beautiful young women of the Imperial ballet mingle in the society of the capi tals of the world, make friends with politicians, social leaders, high officials, offi-cials, and evert a great influence in favor of their own country wherever thev go. No doubt." h added, "they sometimes convey valuable information to the foreign for-eign office which would not be obtained In any other way. Some of these dancers are past masters In the art of intrigue. Do you suppose Rawaruska ami the rest have had the task set for t hem to win back the public opinion of our count rv, which departed from iis traditional" policy of friendliness during the Japanese war?" 1 mafic no answer. I was engrossed in considering the, primary fin-s;hn. 1 could not persuade myself that I Cuerre ; ciired greatlv for his wife, except, perhaps, per-haps, to be Jealous of anyone else having her. He was loo attentive to KIsa Huffman, Huff-man, and she. In turn, was not of the type to care, much for anyone. As for Dr. Preston. could not exactly fit htm into the scheme of things. We proceeded up the hay on the Sylvania, Syl-vania, but were able to discover nothing further that night. As we left the ship at the dock in the morning we ran across Wade, who was quietly directing a dozen or so of his men. "Any trace yet of the Invincible?" asked Craig. The customs man shook his head gravely. grave-ly. "Not yot," he replied. "Put I'm not discouraged. If wo miss it here in the customs inspection it will be sure to turn up la ter. There's a shady .leweler on Fifth avenue. Ma.rgot. who knows these Antwerp people pretty well. I have a man working there, a diamond culler, and other agents in the trade. Oh, 111 hear about it soon enough, if it is here. Only I'd like to have done something spectacular, something that would count for me at Washington. Have you found out anything?" Briefly Kennedy told him some of the scattered facts we had discovered, just enough to satisfy him without taking him Into our confidence. "I'm going to be busy in the laboratory, Walter," remarked Kennedy as our taxK cab extricated itself from the ruck of the river front streets. "I don't know that there is anything that you can do except well, yes. I wish you'd try to keep an eye on some of these people-that people-that maid, Cecilie, especially." We had learned that lie Guerre wa.s to stop at the Vanderveer and later in the morning 1 dropped into the hotel and glanced over the register. Pe Guerre was registered and Cecilie had a little room, I also, pending the disposal he would make ' of her. Miss Hoffman had rooms of her own, which .she had evidently re-engaged, with a family in a residential street not far from the hotel. The clerk told me that De Guerre was out, but that the maid had returned after having been out alone, for a short time also. The lobby of the Vanderveer was fairly crowded with people by this time ! and I found no difficulty in keeping in the . background and still seeing prettv much everything that went on there. I happened to glance up and catch sight of a familiar lace. It yas Dr. Preston making Inquiries for someone of the room clerk. I dodged behind a pillar and wa i t ed . A few moments later, Preston, who had received an answer from whoever he was calling, edged his way toward one of the deserted litlle reception rooms near a side carriage entrance. Tt was some minutes before I could .make up my mind to risk passing the door of the little parlor and being discovered. dis-covered. As 1 glanced in I was astonished aston-ished to se him talking earnestly to Cecilie. Her face was averted from me and I could not read over her expression. expres-sion. I kept on, turning back to the lobby, where I found a posit ion near the booths which gave mo a conccaiPd view at least of the door of the parlor around an a ngle. Perhaps five minutes passed. Then Cecilie and Dr. Preston suddenly emerged from the reception room. With a word, she almost ran down the corridor in the direct ion of the rear elevators, and Preston came slowly toward me. It occurred to me that If I emerged .hist a he passed he would not he likely to suspect anything, and 1 might have a chance to study him. 1 did so, and was quite amused at the look of surprise on his fac as I greeted him. St Ml I do nor think he thought I was shadowing him. We paused for a moment on (he street, after a conventional conven-tional exchange of remarks about the tragedy to po-r litt le Ra waruska. "That Miss Hoffman seems to be a very capable woman," I remarked. "V-yes." he agreed, as I caught a side-lone side-lone glance from the corner of his eye. " believe she has had a rather checkered career. understand that she was a nursi1. a trained nurse, once." The remark was made deliberately. 1 fancied. What his purpose was. I could not iaihom, but I felt that in the instant while he had hesitated he had debated and made up ids mind to pay it. He pulled hastily at his watch. "I'm going downtown on the. subway to clear up some of tl-re muss that this European business has got me in with my bankers," bank-ers," he said quicklv. "I'd be glad to have you call on me 'at any time at the Charlton, just up the avenue a bit. Good-day, Good-day, sir. . I'm glad to have met you." Mechanically 1 looked at my own watch and decided that J had left Craig undisturbed undis-turbed long enough. As I entered the laboratory T saw before be-fore him a peculiar, telescope-like instrument, instru-ment, at one end of which. In a jar of oxygen, somet bins was burning with a brilliant, pe net rat ing flame. He paused in his work and I hastened to' I el I him of the peculiar experience J had had in the forenoon. But he said nothing, even at the significant actions of Dr. Preston. "How about those things you found in the maid's room?" r asked at length. "Do they expla In Rawaruska s death?" "The,, trouhle with them." he replied, thoughtfully shaking his head, "is that the effects of such things lasr only for a short time. They might have been used at first but there was something used afterward." "Something a f ter ward ?" I repeated, keenly interested. and fingering 1 he telescope -like arrangement curiously. "What's this?" "One of the new quart?: lens spectroscopes spectro-scopes used by Dr. Dobhle of the Knglish Kn-glish government laboratories." he answered an-swered briefly. "T think chemist s. police po-lice officials, coroners and physicians are going to find it most valuable. You see, by throwing the ultraviolet part of the spectrum from a source of light such as1 I obtain from the sparkling of iron in oxygen through the lenses of a quartz spectroscope, the lines of many danger- ! ous, drugs, especially of the alkaloids, can be distinctly and quickly located In t he sped rum. Bach drug pro luces a j characteristic kind of line. Wc use a i qua rtz lens because glass cuts off the j ultraviolet rays. Why. even the most ; minute particle of poison can be do- j tected in this revolutionary fashion." i He had resumed squinting through t lie i snect roseope. 1 ! "Weil." I asked, "do you find anything there?" He had evidently been using the piece of gauze on which he had preserved the liquid from the peculiar little marks on Ka warn ska's spine. "Narcophin," he muttered, still squinting. squint-ing. "Narcophin?" I repeated. "What is that?" "A derivative of opium-morphine. There's another poison here, too," he addpd. i "What is it?" "Scopolamine." be answered tersely. "Scopolamine h vdrobromide." "Why." T ex cl aide, "tha t is the drug thev use in this new 'twilght sleep,' as thev call it." "Exactly," he replied, "the da mmar-schalf. mmar-schalf. I suspected something or the kind when I saw those little punctures on her back. Some people show a marked susceptibility to it : others just the reverse. re-verse. Evidently she was one of those who go under it quietly and quickly. I looked at Kennedy in amazement. "You err n see." he went on. catching the expression on my face, "If it could be uncd for medical science, it could also be used for crime. That's the way I reasoned, rea-soned, the way someone else must have reasoned." He paused, then went on. "Someone thought out this plan of using narcophin and scopolamine to cause the I w Might sleep. to keep Raw am ska Just on the borderland of unconsciousness, d est roving rov-ing her memory and prod ucing forget -fulnesf. That is the damiuarsehlaf ; perception per-ception !s retained, but memory lost. You are acquainted with the test? Thev show an object to a patient and ask her if ,he S'-e? it. Say half an hour later. It Is shown again. If she remembers it It Is a sign that a. new injection is neressary. "Only In this case the criminal went too far. disregarding the danger of the 'hing. Scopolamine In too great a quantity quan-tity causes deatii by parulvids of re.-pi ration ra-tion a paralysis, by the way. against which artificial respiration and all means of stimulating are ineffective because of the rigidity of the muscles. And so you see. in this case Rawaruska dle.l." I could not help thinking of Preston, the young doctor who had been srud ing in Germany. More than likely he had heard of and had investign t ed the Krleberg "twilight sleep" treatment. Wade of the customs service had. as 1 have said, told us that he 1 ad several se.cret agents about in the trade, constantly con-stantly picking up bits of information that might interest the treasury department. depart-ment. It did not surprise Kennedy, t hereforc, la le In t lie forenoon, to have "Wade call up and tell him that nmong the early callers at Margot's, the jeweler, was the maid Cecilie. "That is where she must have been before I reached the Vanderveer," X exclaimed. Kennedy nodded. "But why did she go there?" he asked. "And why was she talking with Preston?" Inasmuch as 1 couldn't answer the , quest ions I didn't try, but waited while Craig reasoned out some method of attack at-tack on them. "Since it's known that we're working on the case of Rawaruska," tie ruminated ruminat-ed half ail hour later over an un tasted lunch, "we might just as well take the risk of seeing Maigot himself." So in the middle of the afternoon we paused bofiore Mat-got's window, and then sauntered in, like any other customers. Kennedy engaged the salesman in talk about necklaces and lavallieres, always leading the conversation around to 1 he largest atones that he saw, and dwelling particularly on those that '.vere colored. As listened trying to throw in a word now and then that would not sound absolutely foolish, I was impressed by a feeling that Margot's, even though it was such a fashionable place, was what might be called only a high-class shyster's. "I'm much interested in orange stones," remarked Kennedy, casually turning up a flawless white diamond and discarding it as if ii did not Interest him. "Once when I was abroad I saw the famous Invincible, and a handsomer gem than it is I never hope to see." The clerk, ever obliging, replaced I he tray hefore us in the safe and retired toward the back of the shop. A moment later he returned. "I'm sorry," sor-ry," he reported, "but we haven't any such stones in the house. But I believe we expect some In a few days. If vou could " "I shall remember it," Interrupted Kennedy Ken-nedy brusquely. "I'll be in again. Thank you." We turned toward the door. In an instant in-stant it flashed over me that perhaps they were recntting the big Invincible. "Just a moment, please, gentlemen," interrupted in-terrupted a voice behind tis. A short stocky man had come up behind us. "I thought you did not look like purchasers, pur-chasers, nor yet like crooks," he said defiantly. de-fiantly. "Did I hear you lefer to the Invincible?" In-vincible?" It was Margot himself, who had been hovering about behind us. Kennedy said nothing. "Yes." he went on.' ' "I am cutting a large diamond, but it is not like the Invincible. In-vincible. It is much handsomer one that was discovered right here in the countrv in the new diamond fields of Arkansas The diamond itself is already sold. And you would never guess the buver. oh neva.ir!" "No?" queried Kennedy, "Nevair:" reiterated Margol. . "It could not be delivered to a woman who was once the maid of Rawaruska the Russian dancer?" Craig asked abruptly. . Margot shot a quick and suspicious glance at us. "Then you are. as I suspected, a detective?" de-tective?" he cried. Kennedy eyed him sharply without admitting ad-mitting the heinous charge. Margot returned re-turned his look and I felt that of all sayings that about a dishonest man not being able, to look you in the eve was itself the least credible. He In mgly. "Well, perhaps vou are right." he said. "But. whoever it is, he i.s luckv- to have bought a stone like it so cheaply'" We returned uptown to our apartment to find that in the meantime Wade had called up again. Kennedv got him on the wn-e. It seemed that shortly after we left Margofs Cecilie had called again and had gone off with a small, carefully wrapped package. "A strange case." pondered Kennedv. as he hung up the receiver. "First there is a murder, that looks like a suicide, then the sale of a diamond that looks tike a fake." He paused a moment. "They have worked quickly to cover it up; we must work with equal quickness if we are to uncover them." With almost lightning rapidity he had seized the telephone again and had our old friend First Deputy O'Connor on the wire. Briefly he explained the case, and arranged for the necessary arrests that would bring the principal actors in the little drama to the laboratory that night. Then he fell to work on a ilttle delicate electrical instrument consisting, outwardly outward-ly at least, of dial with a pointer and several little carbon handles attached to wires, as well as a switchboard. T know that Kennedy did not relish having hav-ing his hand forced in this manner, but when, after dinner, those whom O'Connor had rounded up began to appear at the laboratory, no one would ever' have imagined thai he had not the entire case on the very tip of his tongue, almost al-most bursting forth an accusat ion. De Guerre had complied with the police I order by sending Cecilie alone in a cab, and later he drove up with Miss Hoff- man. Dr. Preston came in shortly after- ; ward, shooting a keen glance at Cecilie. i and avoiding more than a nod to De ! Guerre. Margot himself was the last to arrive, protesting volubly. Wade, of course, was already there. "I really must beg your pardon," began be-gan Kennedy, as he ignored the querul-ousncss querul-ousncss of Margot. the late arrival, adding add-ing significantly, "thai is, of all of you except one. for monopolizing the evening. "I am going to put to you first a hypothetical hy-pothetical case." he continued quietly, "fyct us say that the De Guerres of Antwerp Ant-werp decided 1 o smuggle a great jewel 1 into America for sa fe keeping, perhaps for sale, during the troublous times in their own country. "Now. any man would know." he went on, "that he had a pretty film chance when it came to smuggling in a. diamond. Hesid-s. c ery one knew thaj. ' he Ho Gucrres owned this particular stone, ot which fchull speak later. Hut a woman? Smuggling i.s .second nature to some women." 0ulcklv ho ran over the strange facts that had been unearthed regturding the death of the dainty Russian dancer. You were right. Monsier Do Guerre." he concluded, turning to the diamond merchant; "it was no suicide. Your wifo was killed unintentionally, it is true but killed in an attempt to steal a great diamond from her while she was smuggling it." De Guerre made no answer, save a hasty glance at Wa.lo that did not carry with it an admission of smuggling. "You mean to say, then Mr. Kennedy," Margot demanded "thai while Rawaruska Rawaru-ska was smuggling In the big diamond of which you speak somebody heard of it and deliberately murdered her?" ( "Not too fast." cautioned Craig. "Think again betoro yon use those words 'de liherately murdered.' If It had been murder mur-der that was intended, how much mro surely it might have been accompltsUe-i by more brutal methods or by mora scientific. No, murder was never 'deliberately 'de-liberately intended." He atupped, as if to emphasize the oint, then slowly began to distribute to; eac'. of us one of the carbon handles fl had seen him adjusting to the peculiar little electrical instrument. i "Det me reconstruct the case," bel hurried hur-ried on, giving a final twist or twXth Instrument itself, now placed beforcVi on a table, with its dial face away fromW us. "Rawaruska had retired for the night. Where had she placed the diamond? If would probably take a long search to find if. Well, the twilight sleep was chosen because it was supposed to bo a safe and sure mean 4 to the end. Keen if she retained re-tained some decree of consciousness sh would forget wha t happened. That is Iartly the reason for the treatment, anyhow any-how the loss of memory. "Someone believed this was a safe and sure anaesthetic. First perhaps a whiff of the secret service 'bad perfume' to insure that she would nol cry out then an injection in-jection of narcophin and scopolamine another and Rawaruska was unconscious. uncon-scious. "Then camo the. search. "Perhaps she was rest less. A not her injection settled that. At last the great diamond was found. Hut the twilight sleop meant not. forget fulness, but death, to Rawaruska ! "What was to be done? The diamond must be recti t anything to hide its identity, iden-tity, at once, and at any cost. And Margot? Mar-got? The story of the Arkansas diamond and the sale Js a blind. The case is perfect" per-fect" Kennedy raised his eyes for t he first lime from the st udy of the little electrical elec-trical machine before him. and caught the eye of Cecilie, holding it, unwilling. "Did you ever hear of 1he great diamond, dia-mond, the Invincible?" Kennedy smashed out. Cecilie's breast, which had showed a wildly beating heart as Kennedy told of how her mistress had died, was calmer now. Her air of surprise at the mention of-the diamond was perfect, Elsa Hoffman Hoff-man was gazing at her, too, in tense interest. in-terest. De Guerre was outwardly cool, Margot openly cynical. Freslon leaning forward in ill-suppressed excitement. "I have lately been studying." he re-marked re-marked casually, "the experiments of Dr. Yon Pfungen of Vienna showing the protective pro-tective resistance of the human skin against an electric current. Normally, this resistance averages from seventy to . eighty thousand ohms. In the morning, owing to the accumulation of wapte products, prod-ucts, the resistance may mount ffNrnoat double. In persons suffering froni-vouts froni-vouts anxiety, it decreases to five thoi sand and even down to a thousand ohniB in cases of hysteria. Von Pf ungen lias also measured a human being's emo- tional feelings by the electric current, have a copy of his instrument here. Thvfe is one person who sits gripping IZ-ar-bon electric ha ndle connected w'JT' this galvanometer who, to begin with, had a 'resistance of over sixty thousand. But when T began to tell of how Rawaruska met her death, of tiie hypothetical case I have built up by my observations and experiments ex-periments here in this very laboratory, the needle of the galvanometer started to oscillat e downward. K went down until it reached thirty-eight thousand at the mention of murder. When I said the case was perfect. It had got as low as under ' twenty thousand, swinging lower and lower low-er as the person taw hope depart! "Preston." cried Kennedy, suddenly wheeling on the young doctor, ""through our regard honorable, I am sure for Rewaruska you have let yourself ba drawn into doing a little amateur detective detec-tive work. It me warn you: Instead of clearing up the case, you merely laid yourself open to suspicion. Fortunately the galvanometer absolves you. You should have known that Cecilie was onlv a tool. De Guerre, your black wallet that all diamond dealers carry thank you Wade that's it." Kennedy had turned from Preston to Cecilie, then to De Guerre, so suddenly that no one was prepared for the signal sig-nal he gave to t lie customs officer. Wade had covered the surprised dealer and was now emptying out the contents of the wallet. There, on the tahie, gleaming in the light of the laboratory, lav a wonderful brilliant, some 300 carats perfect in its blazing crystalline orange beauty. Them it lay. a jewel which might charm and arouse the cupidity of two hemispheres. It shone like a thing of life. Tet back of its orange fire lay a black tragedy. Margot was on his feet instant 1 v. "That is not the " ".lust a moment. Mr. Margot." interrupted inter-rupted Kennedy. "I think Mr. Wade will be able to show that it is the Invincible when he matches up the parts that ha e been hurriedly cut from from the wonderful won-derful Arkansas diamond," Craig added j sarcastically. "Miss Hoffman, Dr. Pres-I Pres-I ton teils ns that before yon were a dia- mond saleswoman you had been a trained : nurse!" The look Elsa Hoffman flashed, vher calm exterior refused to conceal her emotions emo-tions longer, was venomous. Kennedy was the calmest one of all, as he tapped the little galvanometer significantly sig-nificantly with his index finger. "De Guerre," he exclaimed, leaning forward for-ward slightly., "you and your lover. Elsa Hoffman, planned cunningly to rob your brothers. But. instead of robbers merely," he ground out, "you are murderers"