| Show the girl in the mirror CHAPTER XI continued 15 she dlan look laic no lady what was coln on no he mut lauric rushed back to alg rooms with pounding heart and on the way opened and road at a glance his first note from doris it was written in pencil seemingly on a crap of paper torn from the pad he had seen on her desk lone island I 1 think an old house on the sound somewhere near sea cliff remember your promise no police that was all there was to it there was no address no signature no date the writing though hurried was clear beautiful and full of character in his rooms he telephoned the garage for his car and read and reread the little note then still holding it in his hand he thought it over two things were horribly clear shaws plan had matured lie had taken doris away and this was the staggering phase of the episode he seemed to have gone willingly at least ehe had made no protest though a mere word even a look of appeal from her would have enlisted sams help and no doubt stopped the whole proceeding why she uttered that word the answer to this too seemed fairly dear doris had become a fatalist she had ceased to hide or fight she was letting things go his way as she had declared she would do down that dark avenue she had billed his wnm laurie dared not even glance ills mind was too husa mailing its agile twists in and out of the tangle granting then that she and gone doggedly to meet the ul almate issue of the experience whatever that might be she had ne less appealed to him baurle for help and why did ehe know approximately where she was to be taken why why why again and again the question and recurred to him and this time it dug itself in despite alg love for her and he fully realized that tats was what it was despite his own experience of the night before he had hardly been able to accept the fact that she was must be in actual physical danger when now the breath of this za alon blew vcr him it checked alg heart beats and chilled his very soul in the next instant something in him alert watchful and suspicious ad dressed him ahle an inner voice shaw will threaten this voice said lie will fight and he will even chloroform chlor form hut when ft comes to n showdown to the need of definite final action of any kind he wont be there he Is venomous bed like to bite but he has no tangs and he knows if the vision of shaws face when ho lanil choked him during the struggle at last night again recurred to laa ale he knew now the meaning of the look in those projecting eyes it was fear though he had carried oft the rest of the interview with entire assurance during that fight the creature had been terror stricken he 11 have reason for fear the next line I 1 get hold of him I 1 aarle reflected grimly ant eliat feir was of him not of doris what might not arts he undergoing even now he went to the little sate in the w ill of his bedroom and took from it nil the ready money he found there oh if only bodnev were at home hut sir banga had gone out the hall ann sald he also informed mr devon that his car was at the door the need of consulting rodney increased in urgency as the difficulties multiplied laurie telephoned tn favorite restaurant to ep f office to sonya s hotel at the he was suavely assured that mr bangs was not in tho place at the office the voice of an injured boy informed him that there wian t never nobody there till half past nine over the hotel wire colorful tones held enough surprise to remind laurie that he could hardly hope that even budding romance would drive him to the side ofa alie lady so early in the morning he hung up the receiver with n broan of disgust ind busied packing n small bag and selecting n greatcoat for his journey also he went to n drawer and took out the little pistol he had taken from dors in the tragic moment of their first meeting holding it in his hand he 1 heretofore throughout his short but varied life young devon had de upon alg well trained fists to protect him from the violence of others hut when those others were the kind who went in for chloroform and this time there was doris to of he dropped the revolver into his pocket and ahot into the elo antor and out on the ground floor alth the expedition to which the op was now becoming accustomed his car was a two seated racer fit slender and hoea he took his pi ice at the wheel the ma pulsated like n living thing limiting with a passionate desire to be air I 1 aurie s wild oung heart felt lie amme longing but hla year in new tork and taught him respect for iti traffic laws and this was no time 0 o take chances carefully almost sedately he ronde hla way to alien up to the queensboro Queen and that mighty runway to long island here his block t patience slender at the best was with deep breath ho by ELIZABETH JORDAN C by th century corory Co brulc let her out to a speed 0 sixty miles an hour A cloud had obscured the sun quite appropriately he subconsciously felt and there were flakes af pf snow in the air As he sped through the pray atmosphere mo sphere the familiar little towns he knew seemed to come forward to meet him like rapidly projected pictures on a screen Flush lne little loeck Man husset ll oslyn glen head one by one they floated past ue made the run of twenty two miles in something under thirty minutes to the severe disapproval of several policemen who shouted urgent invitations to alro to slow down one of these was eo persistent prepared to obey but just as the heavy band of the law was about to fall its rep recognized young devon and waved him on with a forgiving grin this was not the first time lau ale had burned up that stretch of roadway at the sea cliff station he up then on a sudden impulse stopped his car at the platform with sharp precision and entered the tiny waiting room from he ticket win dow a pretty cirl looked out on him falth the expression oft sudden interest feminine aies usually took on when this young man was directly in chelc line of vision with uncovered curly head deferentially bent he addressed he mada tho run of twenty two miles in something under thirty minute her had she happened to notice a dark limousine go by an hour or so before say around half past eight or nine the girl shook her head she had not come on duty until nine anaf even f such a car had passed she would hardly have observed it owing to the frequency of the phenomenon and her own exacting re laurie admitted that these cespon would claim all the attention of any mind but was there any one around who might hae seen the car any one say who made a specialty of lounging on the platform and watching the of the towns life in this its throbbing center no the girl explained there were no station loafers around now the summer was the time for them then perhaps sue could tell him if there were any nice old houses for rent near sea cliff nice old houses eay overlooking the sound and a lit tie out of the town Ln urles newly acquired will power was proving its strength with every fi antic impulse in him en ing for action for knowl edge for relief from the intolerable tension he was under be presented to the girl the suave appearance of a bouth at peace with himself and the hour i the abrupt of the gen interest to surprise the lady she looked at him with a suspicion which perished under stir expression in his brilliant eyes what he meant laurie soberly explained was flip kind of house that maht ap peal to casual tourist who was pass in through and who had dropped into the and there had suddenly realized the extreme beauty of sea cliff the laughed bhe aasc n nice carl ho decided and he back at her for now bh was becom ing helpful yea there was the varick claie n mile out and right on the waters edge and there was the old blehl place also on the bound these were close together and both tor rent she had heard also there was a bouse in the opposite direction and on the waters edge she did not knoy the name of that house hut ehe and observed n to let sign on it last sunday when the was out driving those were all the houses she knew of she save him explicit instructions for reaching all three and the interview ended in an atmosphere of mutual regard and regret indeed the jadv even left her ticket office to follow the gentleman to the door and watch the departure of hla chariot laurie raced in turn to the varick place and the blehl place shaw he suspected had probably rented some such place just as he had rented the east side office but a very cursory inspection of the two old houses coa vinced him that they were tenantless tenant leis yo smoke came from their chimneys no sign of life surrounded them also he was sure they were not sufficient ly remote from other houses to suit the mysterious shaw the third house on his list was more promising in appearance for it stood austerely remote from its neighbors but on its soggy lawn two soiled ahll dren and a dog played in carefree abandon and from the side of the house came the piercing whistle of an underling cheerily engaged in sawing wood and shouting cautions to the children quite plainly the closed up shuttered place was in charge of fl caretaker whose offspring were in temporary possession of its grounds baurle inspected other houses dozens of them he made his way into barange Bt range new roads nowhere was there the slightest clue leading to the house he sought it was one in ahe afternoon when with an exclamation of actual anguish he swung his car around for the return journey to tho station for the first time the hopelessness of his mission came home to him there must be a few hundred houses on the sound near sea cliff how was he to find the right one perhaps that girl had thought of acme other places or could direct him to the best local real estate agents perhaps he should have gone to thorn in the first place he felt dazed incapable of cleir thought As the car his eye was caught by something bright lying farther up the road in the direction from which be bad just turned for an instant he disregarded it then on second thought he stopped the machine jumped out and ran back there at the right by the wayside lay n tiny jagged strip of silk that seemed to blush as he stared down at it slowly be bent picked it up and spreading it across his palm regard ed it vi 1 ali eyes that unexpectedly were wet it was a two inch bit of the roman scarf hacked off evidently bv the same hurried scissors that had severed the end in his pocket ho realized now what that cutting had meant with her hare and hounds experience in mind doris had cut off other strips perhaps halt a dozen or more and had undoubtedly dropped them as a trail for him to pick up possibly he had already passed several but that did not mat ter he was on the right track now the house was on this road but far ther up he leaped into he car again and started back he drove aery slowly forcing lie reluctant racer to crawl along and sweeping ery inch pt the roadside with a careful scrutiny but he had gone more than a mile beffie found the second scent this was another bit of the ald silk dropped on a country roid that turned off the main road at a sharp angle alt a heartfelt exclamation of thanksgiving be turned into this bypath it wai narrow shallow rutted and apparently little used it might stop anywhere it blight lead nowhere it wound through a bield a meadow M bit 0 deep wood through which he saw the bleam of water then quite suddenly it again widened into a real road merging into an avenue of tree that led in turn to the entrance of a big dark gray house in a omber set tine of bedara baurle stopped bis car and thoughtfully nodded to himself this wa the place he felt that be would have recognized it even without that guad ing flame of ribbon it was BO ab sol the kind of place shaw a melodramatic instincts would lead him to choose there was the look about it that clings to houses ions untenanted a look not wholly due to its unkempt grounds and the heavy boards over lt windows it had been without life for a long long time but somewhere in it he knew life was stirring now from a side chimney a thin line of smoke curled upward on the second floor shutters newly unbolted creaked in the january wind and yes there it was outside of one of the windows as if dropped there by a bird bung a vivid bit of ribbon rather baurle backed his car to a point where he could turn it and then raced back to the main road his primitive impulse had been to drive ap to the entrance pound the door until some one responded spon ded and then fiercely demand the privilege of miss mayo but that he knew would never do he must get rid of the car come back on foot get into the house in some man ner and from that point meet events ns they occurred facing this prospect be experienced an incredible combination of emotions relief and panic recklessness and caution fear and elation lie had found her for the time being he frantically assured his trembling in ner belt she was safe the rest was up to him and he felt equal to it he was intensely stimulated tor now at last in his ears roared the rushing tides of life CHAPTER XII the house in the cedars lesi than halt a mile back along the main road laurie found a coun try garage in emch he left his car it was in charge of a silent hut intel person a somewhat unkempt and haggard middle aged roan who agreed to keep tho machine out of eight to have it ready at any moment of the day or night and to accept a handsome addition to his regular charge in return for his discretion ue was only mildly interested in his new patron for he had classified him without effort one of them college bos this young fella was and up to some lark just what form that lark might take was not a problem which stirred henry burkes sluggish imagination less thin twenty hours before his seventh had been born and his wife was delicate and milk was seventeen cents fi quart and the garage business was not what it had been to the vie alm of these ob reflections the appearance of a handsome youth who dropped dollar bills around as it they were seed potatoes was in the mature of R miracle and an overwhelm ing relief ills mind centered on the ave dollar bills and his lively interest in them assured baurle of burke 3 presence in the garage at any hour when more balla might possibly be dropped while he was lighting a cigarette baurle asked a few ques alons lio owned the big house back there in the ced ir grove on the bluff overlooking the sound burka dlan t know all he knew and freely told was that it had been empty ever since he himself had come to the neighborhood most two years ago baurle strolled out of the garage with a well assumed air of edice to the perplexities of life but his heart was racked by them As he hesitated near the entrance uncertain which wa to turn ho saw that be hind the there was a tool shed and following the side path which led to this he found in the rear of the shed a workman s bench evl dently little in these cold janu ury days tacitly it the als coverer to solitude and meditation and baurle gratefully dropped upon it lad of alie to escape burkes eye and uninterruptedly think things out but the of calm reflection was not for him than theoretically of course his plan would be to wall until night and then sheltered by tho darkness to ap the house like a hero of melodrama and in coma way secure e trance but even as tills ready maue campaign presented itself a dozen objections to it reared up in hla the arst of course aia alie delay it was not yet two in the afternoon and d w not tall until flie sea unwisely assum ing that it would be safe to approach alie place as soon as darkness ame in three hours all sorts of things might happen and he prospect of marking almo during that while his unbridled raa tap twp with him waft one baurle cobio not faco BB |
