Show SE R I 1 A 21 L STORY R y ELUSIVE I 1 ISABEL SO A ita E L by JACQUES FUTRELLE by M KETTNER HETTNER coarr cipu K tbt hr 1 by the th amon ted sted bunett copyright p y IM I 1 by the berr I 1 kompany 19 SYNOPSIS count dl di cosini the italian ambas I 1 Is at dinner with diplomats when a messenger summons him to the em bassy where a beautiful young woman asks for a ticket to the embassy ball the ticket Is made out in the name of miss isabel thorne chief campbell of the secret service and mr grimm h a head detective are warned that a plot Is bresli g in baslington wasi Was ington lington and grimm goes to the state ball tor for information his at te tion Is called to miss isabel thorne who with her companion d disappears 18 appears A shot Is heard and benor senor A alvarez varez of the mexican legation la is found wounded grimm Is assured miss thorne d d it he visits her demanding knowledge of 0 the affa r and arrests pietro nril miss thorne visits an old bomb maker and they discuss a wonderful ond erful experiment fifty thousand dollars Is stolen from the office of senor It the minister from venezuela and while dete eUNes are in vesti gating the robbery miss thorne ap pears as a it guest of the legation grimm accuses her of the theft the money Is restored rep but a new mystery occurs in the di disappearance appearance of monsieur Bols segur the french ambassador elusive miss thorne reappears bearing a letter which states LIM the ambassador has been kid taped and demanding ransom the am cassador bas returns and again strangely dis appears later he Is rescued from an old house in the suburbs it is d sc that pietro Petro shot benor senor alvarez and that he is 1 prince d abruzzi grimm figures in a mysterious jail delivery he ile orders both miss thorne and d abruzzi to leave the country they are conveyed to new york and placed on a steamer but return grimm a coffee Is drugged ind upon regaining consciousness he finds linds a sympathetic note from frond isabel thorne the orators against the government are located d and their scheming Is over heard grimm orders d abruzzi to de stroy the unsigned comrack compact isabel corn com him to obey and Is termed q a trait ress by the conspirators CHAPTER continued I 1 personally caused the destruct tion of the compact after several sig natures had been attached mr grimm amended throughout I 1 have acted under the direction of mr campbell of course you were in very grave personal danger the president went on it was of no consequence said mr grimm simply the president glanced at mr air camp bell and the chief shrugged his ders you are certain mr grimm and the president spoke with great deliberation you are certain that the representatives of the latin countries have not met since and signed the compact I 1 am not certain no replied mr grimm promptly I 1 am certain how ever that the backbone of the alliance was broken its only excuse tor for ex destroyed when they per bitted me to learn of the wireless percussion cap which would have placed the navies of the world at their mercy believe me gentlemen it if they had kept their secret it would have given them dominion of the earth they made one mistake he added in a most matter of fact tone they should have killed me it was their only chance the president seemed a little star tied at the suggestion ahat would have been murder he remarked true mr grimm acquiesced but it seems an absurd thing that they should have permitted the life of one man mail to stand between them and the world power for which they khey had so long planned and schemed scheme d his high ness prince benedetto d abruzzi be cleved as I 1 do and so expressed him self he paused a moment there was a hint of surprise in his manner I 1 expected to be killed of course it seemed to me the only thing that could happen they must have known of the tar far reaching consequences which would follow upon your escape mr grimm why t they kill you mr grimm made a little gesture with both hands and was silent may they not yet attempt if the president insisted its too late now mr grimm ex they had everything to gain by killing me there as I 1 stood in the room where I 1 had interrupted the signing of the compact because that would have been before I 1 had placed the facts in the hands of my govern ment 1 I was the only person outside of their circle who knew all of them only the basest motive could inspire them to attempt my life now there was a pause the secretary of state glanced from mr grimm to mr campbell with a question in his deep set eyes do I 1 understand that you placed a miss thorne and the prince under that Is you detained them he queried it if so where are the they y now I 1 don t know was the reply just before the explosion the three of us entered an automobile together and then as we were starting away I 1 re something which made it necessary for me to re enter the house when I 1 came out again just a few seconds before the explosion the prince and miss thorne bad had gone v the secretary a lips curled down in disapproval wasn gasn t it rather ansual to put it mildly to leave your prisoners to their own devices that waya he asked well yes mr grimm admitted adm eted but the circumstances were unusual when I 1 entered the house I 1 had lock ed a man in the cellar I 1 had to go back to sale sane his life otherwise oh the guard at the door you meana came the interruption who was it ita mr air grimm glanced at his chief who nodded it was mr air charles winthrop ran kin of the german ero lassy said the 3 oung man mr rankin of the german ambas sy was on guard at the door de banded the president quickly yes we got out safely and that means that germany was the president paused and startled glances passed around the table aft er a moment of deep abstraction the secretary went on so so miss miss thorne and the prince es are they still in this coun try that I 1 dont don t know replied mr air grimm he stood silent a moment staring at the president some subtle change crept into the listless eyes and his lips were set perhaps I 1 had better explain here that the personal equation enters largely into an affair of this kind he said at last slowly it happens that it entered into this unless I 1 am ordered to pursue the matter further I 1 think it would be best for all concerned to accept the fact of miss thorne a escape and he stomped personal equation mused the president just how mr grimm does the personal equation enter into the affair the young man a lips closed tightly and then there are some people mr dent whom we meet frankly as ene mies and we deal with them accord angly and there are others who op pose us and yet are not enemies it is merely that our paths of duty cross we may have the greatest respect for them and they for us but purposes are unalterably different in other words there la Is a personal pers onal enmity and a political enmity you tor for instance might be a close personal friend of the man whom you defeated for pres ident there might he stopped sud denly go on urged the president I 1 think every man meets once in his life an individual with whom he would like to reckon personally the A ral P or this note mr gr rm mm Is surprising young man continued that reckon ing may not be a severe one it may be less severe than the law would provide but it would be a personal reckoning there Is one individual in this affair with whom I 1 should like to rec reckon lon hence the personal equation enters very largely into the case for a little while the silence of the room was unbroken save for the steady tick took of a great clock in one corner mr air grimm s eyes were fixed unwaveringly upon those of the chief executive at last the secretary of war crumpled a sheet of paper im patiently and hitched his chair up to the table coming down do n to the facts its like this isn t ita he demanded briskly the latin countries by an invention of the r own which the united states and england were to be duped into purchasing would have had power to explode every submarine mine be fore attacking a port very well this thing of rif course would have given them t e freedom of the seas as long as we were unable to explode their submarines as they were able to explode ours and this is the condl tion which made the latin compact possible it ita he looked straight at mr air grimm who nodded therefore he went on it if the latin compact Is not a reality on pa per it if the united states and eng land do not purchase this this wire less percussion cap we are rig right lit back where we ae were before it all happened arent TZ 7 every possible danger from that direction has passed t the world war of which we have been talking is rendered impossible isn t it a question answered mr grimm it you will pardon me tor for suggesting it I 1 would venture to say that as long as there Is an invention of that importance in the hands of nations whom we now know have been conspiring against us for fifty years there Is always danger it seems to me if you will pardon me again that for the sake of peace we must either get complete control of that invention or else understand it so well that there can be no further langer danger and again please let me call your attention to the tact fact that the brain which brought this aling inu inh existence Is still to bs be reckoned with there may some day come a time when our submarines may be explode ed at will regardless of this percus slon sion cap the secretary of war turned flatly upon chief campbell thia this woman who Is mixed up in this affairs 7 he demanded this miss thorne who is she who Is shea repeated the chief she a a secret agent of italy one of the most brill ant perhaps that has ever operated in this or any other country she Is the pivot around which the intrigue moved we know her by a dozen names any one of them may be correct the brows brons of the secretary of war were drawn down in thought as he turned to the pres dent mr grimm was speaking of the I 1 personal equation he remarked point edly I 1 think perhaps his meaning Is clear when we know there is a woman in the case we know that mr grimm has done his duty to the last inch in this matter we know that alone and unaided practically he has done a thing that no living man of his relative position has ever done before prevented a m word or d war but there Is further danger he him self has called out attention to it therefore I 1 would suggest that mr grimm be relieved of further duty in this particular case this is not a moment when the peace of the world may be imperiled by personal feel of of kindliness for an individual mr air grimm received the blow with out a tremor his ills hands wera still idly clasped behind his back the eyes fastened upon the presidents face were still listless the mouth absolutely sol without expression As mr grimm has pointed out the secretary went on we have been negotiating for this wireless percus sion cap I 1 have somewhere in my office the name and address of the in with whom these dons have been conducted through that it Is possible to reach the anven tor and then I 1 hugget that we vote our thanks to mr air grimm and relieve him of this particular case the choleric eyes of the president softened a little and grew grave as they studied the impassive face of the young man its a strange situation mr grimm he said evenly what do you say to withdrawing 7 I 1 am at your orders mr pre prel I dent was the reply no one knows better what you have done than the gentlemen here at this table the president went on slowly no one questions that you have done more than any other man could have done under the c icum stances we understand I 1 think that indirectly you are asking immen ty for an individual I 1 don t happen to know the liability of that individual under our law but we e can cant t make any mistake now mr air grimm and so and so he stopped and was silent I 1 had hoped mr president that what I 1 have done so tar far and I 1 don t underestimate it would voul have dhave at atlease least earned far r me the privilege of re daining in this case until its con elusion said mr air grimm steadily if it is to be otherwise of course I 1 am at history tells us mr grimm inter erupted the president irrelevantly that the arbu frou farou trou of a woman s skirt has changed the map of the world ri you believe he went on suddenly that a man can mete out justice fa r ly severely it if necessary to one tor for whom he has a personal regarda I 1 do sir perhaps even to one to a woman whom he might love I 1 do sir the president rose please wait in the anteroom for afew a few minutes be he directed ar hr grimm bowed himself out at he end of 0 half an hour he was again summoned into the cabinet chamber the president met him with out stretched hand band there was more than mere perfunctory thanks in this there was the understanding of man and man you will proceed with the case to the end mr grimm he instructed abruptly if you need assistance ask for it if not proceed alone you will rely upon your own judgment entire 1 b if there are circumstances which make it inadvisable to move against an individual by legal process even if that individual is amenable to our laws aou ou are not constrained so to do if your judgment is against it th re is one stipulation you will either secure the complete rights of the wireless ireless percussion cap to this gov eminent or learn the secret of the in ventson so that at no future time can we be endangered by it thank you said mr grimm quiet ly I 1 understand I 1 may add that it Is a matter of deep regret to me and the prest dent brought one vigorous hand down on the young man mans s shoulder that our go government has so few men of your type in its service good day CHAPTER we two mr grimm turned from pennsyl vania avenue into a cross street walked along halt half a block or so climbed a short flight of stairs and en an office Is mchoward Mif Mn Howard in ina he queried of a boy in attendance name please mr grimm handed over a sealed sealed envelope which bore the official lin print of the department of war in the upper left hand corner and the boy disappeared into a room beyond A moment later he emerged and held open the door tor for mr grimm A gen tieman mr howard rose from his seat and stared at him as he entered this note mr grimm Is ing he lemarl ed TO BE |