Show C E R I 1 A L STORY r WEN S A mn lim B eal L E by JACQUE JACQUES FUTRELLE bv M p h ht 1908 by the ABB ass ft e ed d b ady aday S nee s t 1 qu by Y the bobba merr company Y SYNOPSIS count dl di rosin the ital an ambas akl fabor s at d with d when it messenger sun mons hin to the em 44 lassy I 1 assy where a beautiful young woman a R aks ks ka for a ticket to the embassy ball it tl TI e t ceet Is made out in the name of za al ss isabel thorne chief campbell Lam of vt tap p secret i service and mr armm gr mm his it eld detective are warned ta atiat t a plot Is tead bimm brewing a washington and grimm goes lo 10 0 the state ball tor for information his at Is called to miss aliss isabel thorne aiho A ho with her companion disappears A gismot a shot Is I 1 eard card and senor al arez of the mexican legation Is found wounded ilir m Is assured miss thorne d d it he visits her demand ng knoAl knowledge edge of the 1 afa r and arrests P etro Petro miss chorne 0 r n e vis ts Is an old bomb maker and they rh escuss I 1 Is u a wonderful experiment fifty thousand housand I 1 dollars la is stolen fro n the office of flee of senor Rod ruez the minister fron fro n venezuela and while detectives are in tie robbery miss thorne ap rears as a guest of the legation gr mm min accuses her of the theft the money is restored but a nev ne v mystery occurs in the disappearance of mons eur Boisse eur zur th the french an cassador bas E asive M ss thorne reappears bearing a letter which tales that the ambassador has been kid a d demanding ransom the am I 1 a returns and agra aga n strangely d s appears CHAPTER XIV continued the house Is two blocks west along klong that street there he explained and he indicated an intense ting thor just ahead it Is number ninety seven five minutes after we enter you will drive up in front of the door and wait it if we don t return in fifteen minutes come in after us do you anticipate danger miss thorae queried quickly if I 1 had anticipated danger re plied mr air grimm I 1 should not have r permitted you to come with me they entered the bouse house number ninety seven with a key which mr grimm produced and a in nute or so later wall ed into a room where three men were sitting one of them was of 0 a coarse repulsive type large and heavy another rather dapper of su polish evidently a foreigner and the third the third was dor Gois BoN segur good morning gentlemen mr air grimm greeted them then ceremony emoni bously Nion monsieur Bols segur your car ariage is at the door the three men came to their feet instantly and one of them he of the leavy 1 eavy face drew a revolver mr grimm faced him placidly do youk nov what would happen to you it if you billed killed me mea he inquired pleasantly you wouldn t live three minutes do you imagine I 1 came in here blindly 7 9 there are a dozen men guarding the entrances to the house a pistol shot would bring them ih in put down that gun eyes challenged eyes tor for one long tense instant and the man carefully laid the weapon on the table mr air grimm strolled over and picked it up after which he glanced inquiringly at the other man inan the ambassador ambassadors s sec see ond guard and you are axe the gentleman I 1 dare say who made the i ec essary trigs trilis to the ambassador ambassadors s house probably using his latch latchkey keya 7 he remarked in il 1 st for the letters I 1 to be signed and again for the c ga there vas no answer and mr grimm turned questioningly to mon Bols segur silent white of face motionless yes monsieur the ambassador ambassador burst out suddenly his eyes were fixed unwaveringly on miss thorne and your escape Monsieur 9 con t aued mr grimm I 1 did escape monsieur last night the ambassador explained but they knew it immediately they pursued me into my own house these two and another and dragged me back heie hetel mon dieu monsieur c est 1 that s all that a necessary remarked mr grimm you are free to go now nov but there are oti ers monsieur nois segur interposed desperately two more ere below and they will not allow they will attack mr air grimms grimm s listless eyes narrowed el sl ghaly and he turned to miss thorne she was nas a little white but he saw enough in her face to satisfy him I 1 hall escort monsieur Bois segur to fals his carriage miss thorne he sa d almly these men will remain here tint antl I 1 I 1 return take the revolver if of them so much as wags his 4 head shoot you are not not afraid no she sm led faintly I 1 am not afraid mr grimm and the ambassador went down the stairs and out the front door mr grimm was just turn ing to re enter the house when aroi brorn above came a muffled venomous era as ash a shot he ile took the steps going up at a time miss 4 thorne was leaning against the wall feet A door in a far corner of the room stood open and the clatter of footsteps echoed through the house one ot of them leaped nt at me and I 1 fired she gasped in on he ile struck me but I 1 in I 1 in not hurt she stooped quickly picked up the revolver and made as if to follow the dying footsteps mr grimm stopped her it matter he pid quietly let them go and after a while eam earnestly estly it if I 1 had dreamed of such a such a thing as this I 1 should never have consented to allow you I 1 understand she interrupted and for one instant her outstretched hand rested on his arm the der perfectly safe responded mr grimm two of my men are wit i him CHAPTER XV master mater of the S tuition As the women omen A rose and started out the gentlemen over their cot cof fee and cigars miss thorne paused at the door and the blue gray eyes flashed some subtle message to the french ambassador who after an in slant stant nodded then resumed his conversation As he left the room a few minutes later he no that mr grimm had joined a group of alito automa maniacs macs ot of which mr cadwallader was the enthusiastic cen ter he spoke to his hostess the wife of the minister from portugal for a moment then went to miss thorne and dropped into a seat beside her she greeted him with a smile mile and was still smiling miling as she talked 1 I believe monsieur she said in french ou sent a code message to the cable office this afternoon 7 his eyes questioned hers quickly and nd please bear in mind that we ne probably are being watched as we ae talf she went on pleasantly mr grimm is the man to be afraid of smile don dont t look so serious she laughed outright ies es I 1 sent a code message he re plied it was vms your resignation 7 9 yes well it ant of course she informed hymanl him an 1 her eyes were sparkling as if something amusing had been said one of my agents stopped R nothing can stop Us noth ng it I 1 may add that it will not be sent the ambassador ambassadors s eyes grew steely then blank again mademoiselle what am I 1 to under stand from that he demanded you are to i i der stand that I 1 am absolute master of the situation in wahington at this moment she re piled plied positively the smile on her lips and the tone of her voice were strangely at variance from the be 1 I let you understand that ul t ou wo id receive yo r in chions from paris now I 1 know they will reach you by cable tomor ro v ditl in a week the compact will be s ened U whether hether you approve of it or not it will be s ened for your country by a special envoy whose au dhority As greater than bouis his highness the prince benedetto d abruzzi has he reached wash agton he ile is in washington he ile has been here for some time incognito she va as silent a moment you ha e been a so irce of danger to our plans she added it if it had not been for an accident you would st 11 have been comfortably kept out in alexandria where mr grimm and I 1 found you please remember monsieur that we will III sh what we set out to do nothing can stop us nothing at 3 1st about abola the same moment the name of prince d abruzzi had been used in the dining room bit b it in n a dif ferent connection mr cadwallader was reciting some incident of an auto mobile trip in italy whon whan I 1 e had been connected with the british embassy there ahe prince was driving he said and one of 0 the best I 1 ever saw cork ing chap the prince democratic you know and all that sort of thing he ile was inq scion of royalty who mind soling so ling his I 1 ands by diving in under a car and fixing it himself at that time he v was as mcl ned to be wild v ild that iv was as e fht or nine years ago but they say now he has settled down to work and is one of the real diplo n abic powers of italy I 1 haven t seen him for a halt dozen years how old a man is ll 11 he asked mr grimm carelessly thirty flie ali e thirty eight perhaps I 1 dont know replied mr cadwallad Cad walla der its odd I 1 ou know the number of princes and bl ie bloods and all that sort of thing one can find knocking about in italy and germany and spain one nei er hears of halt half ol 01 them I 1 never had heard of the prince d abbruz zi until 1 I 4 ent to italy and I 1 ve heard jolly well little of him since except mr cadwallader lapsed into silence as he sat staring at a large group photograph which was framed on a wall of the dinin dining groom room isn t that the royal family ot of italy he asked he ile rose and went over to it by jove it is and here la Is tl e prince in the group the pic pie ture was tal en I 1 should say about the time I 1 knew him 4 mr grimm strolled over idly and stood for a long time staring at the photograph he can drive a motor sou ou know said mr air cadwallader admix angly and italy is the place to drive them they forget to make any speed isis over there and if a chap gets in your way and you knock h in silly they arrest him for obstructing trifle you know new over here it a chap really starts to go any place in a hi rry some bally idiot holds him up have you ever been he dupa A upa quer led mr grimm 0 10 o but I 1 expect to be every day nt nas as the reply ive got go a new motor ou know and I 1 ive ve never been able to see how fast it is the other eve ning I 1 ran up to baltimore with it in an hour and thirty seven minutes from alexandria to druid hill park and that 8 better than forty miles I 1 neer never did lef lei the motor out you I 1 now be cause we ran in the dark most of the way mr air glimm was wa s still still gazing at the photograph did you go alonea he asked there s no tun fun motoring alone you know senorita rodriguez T as with me charming girl what A little while later mr air grimm out into the drawing room and made his way toward miss thorne and the rr french ambassador mon boissen r rose and offered his hand cordially I 1 hope monsieur said mr air grimm that yo i are no worse off 03 for 3 our your our unpleasant experience 7 not at all thanks to you v was as the reply I 1 hive just thanked miss thorne for her part in the affair and I 1 in glad to have been of service interrupted mr grimm lightly the ambassador amb asador bowed ce emoni remont bously and moved away anay mr grimm dropped into the seat he had j left boue left the legation haven t youa he asked you drove me out she laughed drove you out be he repeated drove ou out why it was not only ble but it was was rather ious be cause of the constant esp anage of 0 jour our mr biair blair and your mr air johnson and your mr hast she explained still laughing so I 1 ha e n oved to the hotel hill ard mr grimm was twisting the seal ring on his little finger I 1 ra m sorry if I 1 made it a ble for you he apologized ou see it s necessary to no 0 o explanation miss thorne in I 1 understand I 1 in glad you do he ed seri serl busl how long do you intend to remain in the city really I 1 don t know t tw 0 three four weeks peri perl aps I 1 was just wondering senorita rodriguez came toward alem N e re go ng to play bridge she said and we need you isabel to make tl e four come I 1 hate to take her away avay mr air grimm mr air grimm and al ss tho ne rose together for an instant per her slim wl te hand rested on mr grimm s sleeve and she staged stared into his eyes un with a I 1 atle of melan choly in her own they left mr glimm there TO BE CONTINUED |