| Show J ff Q 0 11 followed her lighting the way by Q masv 71 GMT AZAR LL CO SYNOPSIS atad mad dan maitland Malt land on reaching his new lork bachelor club met an antrae five young woman at the door janitor 0 hagan assured him no one had been within that day dan d sc a worn an a finger prints in dust on his desk along with a letter from his atto ney maitland Malt land dined bannerman I 1 s at torney dan set out tor for to get h s f tarn am ly jewels during h s wal wait t to tl ti e co country seat he met the boung oung oman in gray whom he had seen leay leav ing hs h s bachelors club her auto had broken down he fixed it by a ruse she lost hi maitland Malt land on reaching home lady in gray cracking the sate safe containing his gems she apparently took him for a well known crook daniel anisis half hypnotized maitland Malt land opened his safe toon the jewels and gave them to her first forming a part in crime the real dan an sty so by police of the world appeared on the same in shiori ma fiand overcame him he met the girl cuts outs de the ho se and they sped on to new york in her au to he had the jewels and she promised to meet him that day ma ti fiand d received a mr ana th introducing h himself himself as a detective to shield the girl in gray maitland about to show him the jew els supposedly lost lot was felled by a blow from knaths ana th a cane the latter proved to be an sty himself and he secured the gems anasty who was maitland Malt land a dou ble masqueraded as the latter the criminal kept ma fiand s engaged ent with tl tie te girl in gray grav he gan gave e her the gems a after falling in love at first ight s they were to meet and divide the loot malt land revived and regretted missing his engagement anasty masqueray masque rad ng aa as ma aland narrowly avoided capture through h mysterious tip the g girl ar I 1 in g gray r y visited ma aland s apartments durin during g h s absence and returned gems being d s covered on return CHAPTER IX continued but not to rest the portion of the mentally harassed sleeplessness was his and for an hour or mole moi e he tossed upon his bed upon which he had thrown himself without troubling tro ibling to undress pondering to no profit 0 his the hundred problems difficulties and disadvantages suggested or ere abed by the events of the past 24 hours rhe gray girl anasty the jewels himself unflagging his thoughts cir cum navigated the world of his ro mance touching only at these four ports and letu ining always to linger longest in the harbor of sentiment the glay gill strange that her personality should have come to domi nate his thoughts in a space of time so brief and upon grounds of inti anti macy so slender slen derl who and what was as shea what cruel rigor of circum stance bad had impelled her to seek a live lahood in ways so sinister at whose door must the blame be laid against nhat flaw in the body social should the indictment be drawn that she should have been forced into the ranks of the powers that prey a girl of her youth and rare fiber of her cultivation her charm and beauty the shear loveliness of her her grace and gentleness her ingenuous sensitiveness her wit they combined to make the thought of her to him at least at once terrible and a delight remembering that once he had held her in his arms and gazed into her starlit eyes and inhaled the impalpable fra grance of her he trembled was both glad and afraid and her ways so hedged about with while he must stand aside im potent a pillar of the social order se cure in its shelter and see hei het hounded and driven by the forces of lae law harried and worried like an unclean un clean thing forced as it might be to resort to stratagems and expedients able to preserve her liberty it was altogether intolerable he jle could not stand it and yet it was written that their paths had crossed and parted and were never again to touch or was it must be so written they would never meet again after all her concern with her inter est in him could have been nothing permanent they had encountered under strange auspices and he had treated her with common decency for baich she had repaid him in good measure by permitting him to retain his own property their account was even and she for ever done with him that must be her attitude why should it be anything else oh the devil excia med the young man in disgust and rising took his distemper to the window leaning on the sill he thrust head bead and shoulders far out over the garish abyss of metropolitan night the hot breath of the aits fanned up in stifling waves into his face from the street below upon whose painted pavements men crawled like insects round amov ing spots to each his romance under his hat the window was on the corner over looking the junction of three great highways of humanity twenty third street with its booming crosstown cars stretching away into the dark ness on either hand broadway fork in ing off to the left its distances ging into a hot glow of yellow radi radl ance fifth avenue branching into the north with its desolate sidewalks oddly patterned in areas of dense shadow and a cold clear light over the way the park loomed darkly for all its scattered arcs a black and silent space a well of mystery it was late quite late the clock in front of dorlon s he craned his neck to see made the hour one in the morning the sidewalks were corn com ively deserted even the pillared portico of the fifth avenue hotel des of loungers A timid hint of coolness forerunning the dawn rode up on the breeze he 1001 ed up and away northward foi many minutes over housetops stenciled black against the glowing sky his gaze yearning into vast dis dig of space melancholy tingeing the complexion of it s mind he fan cled himself oppressed by a vague un easiness unaccountable as to cause unless from the sublime to the ridiculous with a vengeance his thoughts turn bled gone the glamour of romance in a twinkling banished by rank ma he ile could have blushed for shame he got slowly to hi hip feet ir resolute trying to grapple with a con that never before in his exis tence had he been called upon to con sider he hart had just realized that ne fie was flat strapped for cash he ile had given his last quarter to the cabby hours back he ile was registered at a strange hotel under an assumed name un able to beg credit even for his break fast without declaring his identity and thereby lading laying himself open to cion discourtesy insult of course there were ways out he ile could telephone bannerman or any other of half a dozen acquaintances in the morning but that involved exola nations and explanations involved rr aking himself the butt of his circle for many a weary day there was money in his lodgings in the chippendale escritoire escrito lre but to get it he would have to run the gaunt let of reporters and detectives which had already dismayed him in prospect 0 ohagan hagan ah I 1 at the head of his bed was a tele phone impulsively inconsiderate of the hour he turned to it give me nine o eight nine madison please he said and waited receiver to ear there was a slight pause a buzz the voice of the switchboard opera tor below stairs repeating the number to central central a appropriately mechanical reiteration another buzz a silence a prolonged buzz and again the sounding silence i hello he said softly into the transmitter at a venture no answer hello then central irritably go ahead you ve got your party hello hello A faint hum of voices rig rising ng an and falling beat against the walls of his understanding were the wires crossed 9 he lifted an impatient finger to jiggle the hook and call central to order when something crashed heavily he could have likened the bound sound without lyphout a strain of imagination to a chair being violently overturned and then a woman a voice clear ac cents informed with anger and pain no and then say that s my mistake that line i 3 ou had s out of order I 1 had a call for them a while ago and they didn dian t answer guess you 11 have to wait central central he pleaded desperately I 1 say central give me that connection again please ah ali say the matter with you anyway t I 1 tell you that line was out of order ring off I 1 automatically maitland returned the receder to its rest and rose white lipped and trembling that woman s voice CHAPTER X consequences breathing convulsively wide eyes a little wildly fixed upon his face in the lamplight the girl stumbled to her feet and for a moment remained cow ering against the wall terribly shaken a hand gripping a corner of the pack ing box for support the other pressed against the bosom of her dress as if it in attempt forcibly to quell the mad ham mering of her heart in her brain a turmoil of afi affrighted righted thought but one thing stood out clear ly now she need look tor for no mercy the first time it had been different she had not been a woman had she been unable then to see ee that the ad venture Int intrigued rigged maitland with its spice of novelty a new sensation fully as much as she herself the pretty woman out of place interested and at him he had enjoyed playing the part had been amused to lead hei her to believe him an adventurer of met tie fie and caliber little inferior to her own as he understood her lous impatient of the quibble of et but adroit and keen witted and distinguished and set apart from the herd by grace of gentle breeding and chivalric instincts how tar far he might or might not have let this enjoyment carry him she had no means of surmising not very far not too tar far she was inclined to be lieve strongly as she knew her per sodality sona lity to have influenced him not fai far enough to induce him to trust her out ot of sight with the jewels he had demonstrated that to her humiliation the flush of excitement waning manlike soon had he wearied of the game she thought to her mind in distorted retrospect his attitude when leaving her at dawn had been ansin cere contemptuous that af a man re lieveld to be rid of her relieved rell eved to be able to get away in unquestioned pos session of his treasure true the sug that they lunch together at eugene s had been his but he had forgotten the engagement it if ever he had meant to keep it it if the notion had been more than a whim of the moment with him and 0 hagan had bad told her by telephone that maitland Malt land had left his rooms at one 0 clock in ample time to meet her at the restaurant no he had never intended to come I 1 ie e had wearied yet patient with her true to the ethics of a gentle man he be had been content to let her go rather than to send a detective to take his place and this was something by the way to cause her to revise her theory as to the manner in which anasty had managed to steal the jewels it if malt land had ha gone abroad at one and with out intending to keep his engagement at eugene s then he must have been despoiled before that hour and with out his knowledge surely if it the jewels had been taken f from rom him with his cognizance the hue and cry would have been out and anasty would not have dared to linger so long in the neighborhood to be just with herself the girl bad not gone to the restaurant with much real hope of finding maitland Malt land there curiosity had drawn her just to see it if but it was too preposterous to to credit that he should have cared enough quite too preposterous it was her cup her bitter cup to know she had learned to care enough 4 I 1 at sight and she recalled with what pangs ot of shame and misery begged expression how her heart had been stirred when she had found him as she thought true to hia his tryst even as she recalled the agony and dis dig tress of mind with which she had a moment later fathomed anistes impersonation for of course she had known that maitland Malt land was maitland Malt land and none other from the instant when be he told her to make good her escape and leave him to brazen it out a task to daunt even as bold and resourceful a criminal a as anasty and more especially it if be he were ere called upon to don the mask at a min ute utes a notice as maitland had pretended to or if she had not actually known she had been led to suspect and it had hardly needed what she had heard him say to the servants when he thought her flying hotfoot over thi th lawn to safety to harden suspicion into certainty 1 I and now that he should find her 1 14 here a second time a trespasser doubly an ingrate that he should have caught her red handed in this abominably ungrateful treachery she could pretend of course that she had returned merely to restore the jewels and the cigarette case and he would believe her tor for he was generous she could but she could not not now yesterday the excitement had buoyed her she had gained a piquant enjoyment from befooling him playing her part of the amateur cracksman in this little comedy of the stolen jewels but therein lay jay the difference yesterday it had been comedy but today to day alit to day she could no longer laugh for now she cared A little lie ile would clear her aes es but it was not to be cleared that she now so passionately desired it was to have him believe in her even against the evidence of his senses even fn the face of the worlds world s con dem nation and to prove that he too toot cared cared tor for her as hia his attitude toward her had taught her to care ever since leaving him in the dawn she had fed her starved heart with the hope faint hope though it were that he would come to care a little that he would not utterly despise her that he would understand and forgive when he learned why she had played out her part nor believe that she was the embodiment of all that was ignoble I 1 coarse and crude that he would show a little faith in her a little faith that like a flickering taper might light the way for love but that hope was now dead within her and cold she had but to look at him to see how groundless it had been beef how utterly unmoved he was by her distress he ile waited patiently that was all seeming so very tall a pillar of righteous strength distin gulshen and at ease ln jn his evening clothes waiting patient but cold dis passionate and disdainful 1 I 1 am waiting T you see might alight I 1 BUS sug debt that we have not all week for our our mutual differences his tone was altogether changed she would hardly have known it t tor for his voice its incisive clipped accent accents were like a knife to her sensitiveness she summoned the reserve of her strength stood erect unsupported and moved forward without a word he stood aside holding the lamp high and followed her lighting the way ay down the hall to the study a chair while be he proceeded fid gravely to 14 the desk put down the lamp super flukus now the gas having been lighted and after a moment moments s thought faced her with a contemptuous smile fand and lift of hia his shoulders thrusting hands deep into his pockets wella he demanded cuttingly she made a little motion of her hands begging for time and assent ing with a short nod he took a turn up and down the room then abstracted ly reached up and turned out the gas when you are quite composed I 1 should enjoy hearing your statement I 1 have none to make so sol with his back to the lamp towering over and oppressing her N w ith the sense of his strength and self control that Is very odd isil t if I 1 have no no explanation to give ghe that would satisfy you or myself I 1 she said brokenly I 1 I 1 don t care what you think with a flicker of de fiance flance believe the worst and ant an 1 do what you will have me arrested he laughed sardonically oh we won t go so far as that I 1 guess harsh measures such as arrest and impels are so unsatisfactory to alf 1 concerned but I 1 am interested to know why you are here her breathing seemed very loud iw im the pause she kept her lips tight fearing to speak lest she lose her mastery of self and hysteria threatened the fluttering in her bosom warned her she must be 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