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Show nd he said abruptly. find him!” And ports. he sat “YT! down to CHAPTER A Bo G) “byILLUSTRJACQUES FUTRELLE ATIONS 4y M.G.Ketiner 1y 1908 1909 Conference him—Irll read the the * Dark, |lumined path across the ambassador’s 'desk; the heavy leather chairs were |mere impalpable splotches in ihe | shadows; the cut-glass knobs of a mahogany | light and é4y THE ASSOCIATED SUNDAY MAGAZINES 4y THE BOBBS- MERRILL COMPANY was cabinet caught the :eflected it dimly. the vague, glint of Outside night drone indefinable of a city asleep, unbroken Boissegur by any has a latch-key sound that was distinguishable, until | to the embassy?” finally there came the distant boom Count di Resini, the Italian ambas| “Of course.” sador, is at dinner with diplomats when |= “Anything unusual happen last | of a clock. It struck twice. a messenger summons him to the empassy, where a beautiful young woman | night—that is, Thursday night?” Seated on a coueh in one corner of asks for a ticket to the embassy ball.| Nothing, Monsieur—that the ambassador’s office was Mr. is. nothThe ticket is made out in the name of | ing we can find.” Grimm. He was leaning against the Miss Isabel Thorne, Chief Campbell of the secret service, and Mr. Grimm, his Mr. Grimm sat silent for a time and | high arm of leather, with his feet on nead detective, are warned that a plot is fell to twisting the seal ring on his the seat, thoughtfully nursing his brewing in Washington, and Grimm goes to the state ball for information. His atfinger. Mr. Campbell knees. If his attitude indicated anyturned around is called to Miss Isabel Thorne,| tenticn moved thing except sheer comfort, it was a paper weight one inch who with her companion, disappears. A | and shot is heard and Senor Alvarez of the | to the left, where it belonged, that he was listening. He had been while Mexican legation, is found wounded. Monsieur Rigolot, disappointed at their there for two hours, wide-awake, and Grimm is assured Miss Thorne did it; he visits her, demanding knowledge of the amazing apathy, squirmed uneasily in absolutely motionless. Five, ten, affair, and arrests Pietro Petrozinni. Miss fifteen minutes more passed, and then his chair. Thorne visits an old bomb-maker and they discuss a wonderful experiment. Fiftv “It would appear, then,’ Mr. Grimm Mr. Grimm heard the grind and whir thousand dollars is stolen from the office remarked, of an automobile a block or so away, musingly, “that after of Senor Rodriguez, the minister from his Venezuela, and while detectives are incoming toward the embassy. Now it mysterious disappearance the ambasvestigating the robbery Miss Thorne apwas in front. sador has either twice returned to his pears as a guest of the legation. Grimm accuses her of the theft; the money is house at night, or else sent some one “Honk! Hon-on-onk!” it called restored, but a new mystery occurs in there, first to bring plaintively. “Hon-on-onk! Honk!” the letters to the disappearance of Monsieur Boissegur the Krench ambassador. him for signature, and later to get The signal! At last! The automohis cigarettes?” bile went rushing on, full tilt, while SYNOPSIS. there was a tense note in his voice, “the ambassador of France had _ disappeared, gone, vanished! We searched the house from the cellar to the servyants’ quarters, even the roof, but there was no trace of him. The hat he usually wore was in the hall, and all his other You may hats were accounted remember, for. Monsieur, that seems to be true. But where is he? Why should he not come back? What does it mean? Madame Boissegur is frantic, prostrated! She wanted me to go to the police, but I did not think it wise that it should become public, so I came here.” | “Very well,” commented Mr. Grimm. “Let it rest as it is. Meanwhile you peering that led gone a that Tuesday was cold, but all his top-coats were found in their proper places. So jt seems, Monsieur,” and repression ended in a burst of excitement, “if he left the embassy he did not go out by either door, and he went without less, up It now, toward into the the sound hat or coat!” the of in the distance, still was obviously some The open car door was it swallowed he sat there. noise in the LEZ ie i A hall. feet from the noiselessly to his hands on listening with he sat motion- Mr. for Grimm a moment, then are windows, went on, then: “As about ten, know,” I un- you callers? Letters? They were “Non, Monsieur, exclaimed non!” emphatically. , the secretary “Vous avez— that is, I have known his signature for years. There is no doubt. The letters were not of a private nature. If you Would care them ?” ly. He to look at the copies of offered the duplicates tentativeMr. Grimm read them over slowly, the while Monsieur Rigolot sat nervously staring at him. They, too, Seemed meaningless as bearing on the Matter in hand. Finally, Mr. Grimm nodded and Monsieur Rigolot re sumed: “And Wednesday night, Monsieur, another strange thing happened. Monsier Boissegur smokes many cigarettes, of a kind made especially for him in France, and shipped to him here. He keeps them in a case on his irssing-table. On Thursday morning his valet reported to me that this case oi cigarettes had disappeared!” ‘Of course,” observed . Grimm,| ‘; jf paper while demanded for his safety and release.” A pause. “And to whom, may I ask, was this demand addressed ?”’ “To Madame Boissegur,” replied Miss Thorne, “I have the envelope in which it came. It was mailed at the general post office at half-past one o'clock this afternoon, so the canceling stamp shows, and the envelope was addressed, as the letter was writ ten, on a typewriter.” “And how,” inquired Mr. Grimm, after a long pause, “how did it come into your possession?’ He waited a little. “Why didn’t Monsieur Rigolot report this development to me this afternoon when | was here?’ “Monsieur Rigolot did not inform you of it because he did not know of it himself,” she replied, answering the last question first. “It came into my possession directly from the hands of Madame Boissegur—she gave it to me.” Grimm was peering darkness, through straight the into her and about Va.:—‘‘I am enjoying better ™ believe I can safely say now that Tama well woman, I was reared on a farm and had all kindsof heavy work to do which caused the troubles that came on me laiter. For five years | during the Change of Life I was not able to lift a pailof water. I had hemorrhages which would last for weeks and 1 was not able to sit upinbed. I suffered a great deal with my back and was so nervous I could scarcely sleep at night, and I did not do any housework for three years. ‘‘Now I can do as much work as any woman of my age in the county, thanks to the benefit I have received from Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound. I recommend your remedies to all suffering women.’’— Mrs. MARTHA L. Hotutoway, Odd, Va. No other medicine for woman’s ills has received such wide-spread and unqualified endorsement. We know of no other medicine which has such a record of success as has Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound. For more than 30 ears it has been the standard remedy or woman’s ills, i; | ees se If you have the slightest doubt that Lydia E, Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound will help you, write to Lydia E. Pinkham Medicine Co, (confidential) Lynn, Mass., for advice. Your letter will be opened, read and answered by a woman, and held in strict confidence, Ree + ance ne es po nantenrtmeraeienint ~o STERN NECESSITY. | tet half once, and the problem is al- Grimm sat why,” perfectly he asked, still. slowly, “are of course.” (TO BE CONTINUED.) FACTS ABOUT THE SHAMROCK is an Entirely ous A as erent of old reassure may Still out Point madame. Rested to her that if Monsieur Boissegur signed the letters Tuesday night he was, at least, alive; and if he came or sent night, for the cigarettes Wednesday I shall call at the he was still alive. No, it isn’t embassy this afternoon. Give ‘advisable to go with you now. me your latch-key, please.” Monsieur Rigolot produced the key and passed it over without a word. “And one other thing,’ Mr. Grimm continued, “please collect all the revolvers tha; may be in the house and If any take charge o%them yourself. one, by chance, heard a burglar prowlmight he ing around there tonight shoot, and in event that either kill Monsieur Boissegur or—or me!” When the secretary had gone Mr. Campbell idly drummed on his desk as he studied dinate. “Sg much!” “It's young Miss man face the he of his commented Thorne again,” as if answering subor- finally. said the a question. “Perhaps these reports I have re ceived today from the Latin capitals may aid you in dispelling that myssuggested, and Mr. tery,’ Campbell eagerly. over them Grimm turned “Meanwhile our royal visitor, Prince unremains d'Abruzzi, Benedetto known?” The young man’s teeth closed with a@ snap. “Tt’s only a question of time, Chief,” on house the The Switch. for which was walting. Minute after minute passed, and still nothing. There was not even the whisper of a wind-stirred drapery. He was about to rise, when, suddenly, with no other noise than that of the sharp click of the switch, the electric lights in the room blazed up brilliantly. The glare dazzled Mr. Grimm with its blinding flood, but he didn’t move. Then softly, almost in a “Good evening, Mr. It was a woman’s unsurprised, whisper: Grimm.” voice, pleasant, perfectly modulated. Mr. Grimm certainly did not expect it now, but he knew it instantly—there was not another quite like it in the wide, wide world—and though he was still blinking a little, he came to his feet courteously. he “Good morning, Miss Thorne,” corrected gravely. plant Now his vision was clearing, and he saw her, a graceful figure, silhouetted against the rich green of the wall Her lips were curled the draperies. least bit, as if she might have been smiling, and her wonderful eyes reflected a glint of—of—was it amuseThe folds of her evening dress ment? fell away from her, and one bare, white arm was extended, as her hand still rested on the switch. “And you didn’t hear me?” still in “I didn’t think you the half-whisper. Now I’m going to put out the would. lights for an instant, white you pull in Varl Emerald entirely dif wise affpcts the no in sections attaches of name the the name is one of the to which is peculiar grows in the to Black medic and wood abundance. sorrel are designated as shamrock in The wood sorre’ certain localities. may, in be fact, song of shamrock the red clover is Ordinary and story. in the shamrock called sometimes United States. after But, not should be all, a pretty interfered experts—what -anical long so names, ‘atin ‘eafed ‘age try? bit of green of the fathers grew in by with bo their three ould coun near the Crisp, the cot Titanic Tolstol. Everything in Tolstoi’s character, an eminent Russian writer says, attained “As a drinker he fitanic proportions. absorbed fantastic quantities of liquor As a gambler, he terrified his partners As 4 sol by the boldness of his play, dier he advanced gayly to Bastion 4 the bastion of death, at Sevastopol, and there he made dying men laugh at his He surpassed «very witty sayings. one by his prodigious activity in sport as well as literature.” Package Served with cream, avi or fruit—fresh or cooked. sentiment matters as the =” Post Toasties great in States country, Of Enjoyment— clover, for instance, known in vari ous sections of Ireland as shamrock United the | A Large White Ireland. ravaging : as shamrock known plant is no is Neate can eg tere will.grow only in Ireland. It will grow climate temperate and thrive in any fact. In cultivated. properly when there famine for the harvest has been destroyed. Therefore the dispatch of more mis sionaries has become urgent.”—La Pe tite Republique. It is plant hop clovers, Trifolium minus. a mistake to think that this attend, The Cannibale Need Food. An officer of the French colonial army brought a letter from the chiet of a group of missionaries in the southern islands of the Pacific not long ago, which winds up as follows: “T regret to tell you that our little company can do little against the fa naticism of these poor wretches. More from exported generally that tn He—Isn’t your bathing suit rather loud? She—It has to be loud. I'm trying to mash a deaf old millionaire. over, is an various that under Ireland he in isle romance Hand Plant of the isle. Ireland plant Emerald Her Different Sections rose by any other name would be sweet, and the fact that the sham: rock “The letters Monsieur Boissegur had dictated were laid on his desk by the he queried. dollars here, pearance. Mr. Grimm turned his listless eyes full upon Monsieur Rigolot’s perturbed face for one scant instant. “No doubt of it being his signature?” the you here now?” “For the same reason that you are here,” she replied readily, “to see for myself if the—the person who twice came here at night—once for the ambassador’s letters and once for his cigarettes—would, by any chance, I knew you were make another trip. containing nothing that might be construed into a reason for the disap- inpressively—‘those letters bore his signature in his own handwriting!” Odd, health than I have for 20 years, and I leis. passive face, At length he looked up indolently, listlessly, and the switch snapped. She crossed the room and sat down; Mr. Grimm sat beside her. “I think,” Miss Thorne suggested tentatively, “that that accounts perfectly for Monsieur Boissegur’s disappearanee.” “It gives one explanation, at least,” Mr. Grimm assented musingly. “Kidnapped—-held prisoner-—fifty thousand “And enough, % volubly, excitedly. “In the anxiety and uneasiness following the disappearance they were allowed to remain there overnight. On Wednesday morning, Monsieur”’—and he hesitated in Safety. | Miss Thorne’s eyes questioned his im- Mr. say; stenographer,” Monsieur Rigol& rushed read ambassador.” Telegrams? commonplace our How It May Be Passed eee Grimm for this Telephone messages?” “I made inquiries in that direction, Monsieur,” was the reply... “I have the words of the servants at the door and of the stenographer that there were no callers, and the statement of the stenographer that there were no telephone calls or telegrams. There were only four letters for him personally. He left them all on his desk—here they are.” Mr. Grimm looked them over leisure- ly. at From 40 to 50 Years of Age. ready solved. There merely remains the task of finding and releasing the therefore no one except the stenographer saw him after ten o’clock?” “That is also true, as far as I know.” '“Any matter E F I L S ' N OF WOMA past five she sent for me and placed it in my hands, together with the singular details following upon the am bassador’s disappearance. So, it would seem that you and I are allies “Oui, Monsier, C’est—” Monsieur Rigolot began excitedly. “I beg pardon. I believe that is correct.” him the o'clock this afternoon; morning?” saw we see I have traveled in the time 1 have been an agent for my government. Well, Madame Boissegur re ceived this letter about half-past four derstand it, Monsieur, no one except you and the stenographer saw the ambassador after ten o’clock in the “You then—then Tokio, later in Berlin, and within a few weeks, here in Washington. You nodded. you and face—a white daub in the gloom, shapeless, indistinct. “T have known Madame Boissegur for half a dozen years,” Miss Thorne continued, in explanation. “We have been friends that long. I met her in “If he left the embassy?” Mr. Grimm repeated. “If your search of the house proved conclusively that he wasn't there, he did leave it, didn’t he?” Monsieur Rigolot stared at him there ure,” Mr. discuss Mr. Grimm. “And | may inscrutable He stopped helplessly and his gaze alternated inquiringly between the benevolent face of the chief and the expressionless countenance of Mr. blankly down, “Why?” \ and Mr.'Grimm removed his seat and dropped them the floor. Thus, with his knees, and listening, every faculty strained, \ on, mean, \, went Monsieur—I \ he “Certainement, \ “Monsieur,” XIili.—(Continued.) oS CHAPTER | “Monsieur shades must have a—a conference.” The switch snapped. The lights died as suddenty as they had been born, and Mr. Grimm, moving noiselessly, visited each of the four win dows in turn. Then the lights blazed brilliantly again. “Just for a moment,” Miss Thorne | explained to him quietly, and she| handed him a sheet of paper. “I want you to read this-——read it carefully— then I shall turn out the lights again. They are dangerous. After that we re XIlll. in the The white ravs of the distant are light filtered through the half-drawn velvet hangings and laid a faintly il- AZ COPYRIGHT COPYRIGHT find golden-brown bits of white corn — delicious and wholesome — A flavour that appeals to young and old, ‘‘The Memory Lingers’’ Sold by Grocers. | Ee we a |
