Show A 6 zay 71 az ea 00 W contina Cont inu d from last week S 1 W W CHAPTER V the florentine box aber her a young man meets face to face he the girl giri ot of his dreams artistic or amatory tt e nature of things re quires that he shall be dressed to the queen s taste it is not very agreeable to rave ave her birst bi in upon you when vou look ready tor for the oven like a thanksgiving turkey and forbes for all his amatory flights was and is a clean kindly honorable loung joung man capable of rising to heights as shall be een ivil whit it the devil are you doing here 9 thundered the elderly nan man forbes mumbled behind his hand dar sense sells like ike I 1 a 17 O 0 e tongue around his cheeks something is lied from his numb lips that sound ed like thank yo i what has happened 9 demanded the girl A gentleman in a black mask janet the sate safe we have been robbed I 1 told you it would happen the girl and her father rushed over getting ii 11 to each other s way neier saw the ruby nor her the mon ey but he has taken mv jewel box the girl stood up leant leaning ig against the wall her eyes shut forbes ex 13 5 lr ra what v been going on here pecked her to crumple up and sink to the floor like one of piffle s heroines MY jewel box in a low murmur I 1 beg pardon said forbes but I 1 d be extremely grateful it if you d take os off these things what time is ita it antly what time is it if bawled the girls girl s father well you youre re a cool hand quarter after nine quarter after ninea haven 11 been here any longer than thata what I 1 want to 0 know is what are you doug dou g here at alla the elderly man picked up the extension tele phone i 0 father ratler what are you going to doa do doa irately why send down to the club for the caterer what do you ou 9 if you call the police you 11 only make me very unhappy 1 I forbid you good lord her father set down the telephone roughly have your own way but some fine night well have oar throats cut forbas star d at the girl much as toni shed no hysterical wringing of bands hands no rushing about aimlessly only a quiet acceptance of the frenita ble she did not riot want the police la in vesti gatlon gation would only make her un happy what had that box contained 9 then his astonishment gave place to speculative admiration he saw her profile on the covers of the world wide her arms filled with gorren rod corking cover he could use the head tor for a year at least no hesitant art editors when they saw this what a finif NN will ill you kindly tell us how you came here the girl turned to I 1 lorbes inquiringly I 1 am mortimer forbes he said simply 1 her ea e ebrown remained elevated the illustrator I 1 to no change in her expression exp sha she had never heard whim of him and she gasn wasn t a foreigner either forbes was rather abashed I 1 came in here believing it to be the apartment of mr air jillson my friend jillson 9 oh now we are getting somewhere know him same club lives oi 01 er us moved in last week soon find out whether you youre re telling the truth or not ill go up and get him if he knows mr ah all forbes dully not that ivories v vas as a vain man but he believed it a matter ot of course that everybody bad had I 1 heard of him or reen aaen his work forbes forbel it what you say is true L i r the excited arent 04 dl nit likit I 1 ia comi coral ete the tile jentei ce duc jcu icu iii the apartment the girl walked over to the sale safe again ani d about she was as pale pate as 4 illy lily you saw a man in a maska yes you saw him take a box yes A florentine affair the stole was biting Bain ain full he made no attempt to open it she nodded then she held out for bis his inspection a large roll of crisp green and yellow bills he couldn t have seen it replied forbes understanding her gesture do you know how much is therea I 1 naven haven t had the pleasure of count in ing 9 it curtly I 1 oame in here ex pecking to see a poker game instead a pistol was held hold at my head and I 1 was politely requested to be seated oh he was very polite bitterly the girl dian didn t apologize fifteen thousand dollars she said it mus angly fit cihat hat in these days of checks cheeks do you carry so much loose in your safe for I 1 drew it from the bank this morn ing tomorrow an agent from an em era erald firm in D delhi ihl Is coming with a necklace I 1 ordered it was to be casti cash it Is to be made up of thirty stomps lame larne grew the tales of hera zade daughter of the grand vizier thirty emera da ds at five hundred each f would she let him sketch her head she sat down her arm flung across the back of a chair and her face halt half in the tarry farry sleeve the money slipped from her fingers and fluttered like autumn leaves at her feet was she fortes forbes could not tell I 1 am sorry he said but would you mind untying these treasures on the word of a gentleman I 1 shant shall t make any effort to go away it was all a mistake on my part yet I 1 am glad I 1 blundered in I 1 mav be able to help you to recover the box my hands are so numb and I 1 do not be lieve I 1 have any feet oh she got up and came over to him and deftly removed the and the embroidery grate fully forbes stretched himself women ought never to leave their jewels in boxes A box like yours is an invitation to any burglar who sees it it contained nothing but letters I 1 keep all my jewels save one at the bank letters 7 forbes laughed softly well the rogue will be nicely sold that a something the girl returned to her chair and there she sat staring stonily into the black cavity of the safe forbes tried to stand up but swayed cockily and plumped back into the sheraton which being genuinely antique protested ominously pres antly he tried it again walking doudt fully round the chair sure of his balance at last he picked up the b bills is made a compact roll of them and laid them in the girl s lap thank you she said just as it if he had tottered her a cup of tea I 1 CHAPTER VI crawfo crawfod d a luck were the letters valuable 7 9 he asked without realizing the imberti nence of the quist qu cution lon her ellen silence ce was rebuking enough I 1 beg your pardon forbes returned to the sheraton he lie was not so strang on his legs as he had believed having nothing else to do he took inventory of his sur soundings roun dings and what he saw subdued him he was an amateur collector but shades of tte old chap in le peau de chagrin A fi alvator kosa rosa a pencil drawing by da vinci a model of a bastion a corot with the original sketches surrounding it a marvelous camp scene in the broad humor of brouwer a lenfers a framed letter by peter paul rubens with a fat in the corner dozens of small can vases beyond price and there was a vase of imperial ox blood a piece of dirado worth a kings king a ransom a chi nese wedding scene done in blue king fisher feather fortes forbes glanced beail derecly at the embroidery which had been so ruthlessly wound about his ankles fit to have graced the walls of the dewan in del hi lit as a background for shah jehan s peacock throne and there were jap anese silk tapestries of the softest most beautiful colors the world has yet known a square of hang ing as a portiere between the living room and the library old armor steel inlaid with gold 0 of the period ot charles V kermans bob bok haras karuks real old shimmering rugs a cabinet filled with apple green jade snuff bottles and flowers small wonder she had never heard ot of J mortimer forbes of piffle co and from among all these treasures the beggar had taken only a leather box which he could have dupla bated in ill the via in flor ence tor for less than fifty francs broken into the safe for it overlooked a for tune in untraceable bank notes a a by 15 well there were let lei t i t tera fe r i and letters and aan there i ere fer r er tain kinds of inestimable value to the blackm blackmailer alleri f but this was not the place to come for them poor be beggar when he might have taken away that frans hals worth its size covered with ural gold the girl was practically oblivious of his presence he studied her face again why there ought to be file in it instead of that look of ashes in a fury she would have been as magnify cent as judith his heart sank a lit tie tle no romance here for J mortimer however well he might come to know her I 1 ought to have risked a chance with the man he said but I 1 tras was cup 0 ia Z A avas practically oblivious of his presence perfectly dumfounded at the sight of him she turned her eyes upon him sur sedly as if he had suddenly b arst into the room through a window or a hole in the wall and she had never heard of J mortimer forbes well that was quite possible A young and fiul tal woman who went ai for jade snuff bottles and pieces of shah abbas rugs was not to be expected to bother about magazine covers ard h heaven eaven knew there were enough of them thein breakfast foods and soaps and hair tonics he had thrown away a bril llant career because it was easer easler to earn money than to strive for good work he and piffle were in the same boat too fond of avocado pears and ten teny year earold old champagnes now it was too late Is there anything I 1 can doa no if you don t mind I 1 should ilka a drink of water oh ohl she got up quickly the bills scattered about the floor again forces forbes was becoming more and more positive that he ha was in the middle of some wonderful nightmare he lie ex pecked nothing less than a goblet of chinese bendable glass but as she returned with an ordinary tumbler he got himself in hand once more for the second time he retrieved the bills this time she tossed them into the safe fifteen thousand dollars ao ho he would have tossed a tailor s bill into the waste basket and often did then in came tha th young woman s father jillson and a very pale door boy mort you old vagabond what the deuce have you been up to now cried jillson good evening hiss mear son so her name was where had he heard that name before why that imbecile of a boy there told me the third floor left and here it Is I 1 called up sir but you did not hear me you were in such a hurry I 1 came on new toda today jillson smiled you may go I 1 shan shall t report you this time the boy vanished gladly enough now sup posing we send for the policed no said miss deter it might attract other thieves I 1 do not want the police 01 01 the newspapers to know anything about the affair the bo box will be re turned when he finds nothing but let ter la in it I 1 it mr jerked his shoulders jillson scratched his chin forbes sighed well then forbes but I 1 beg par don forbes miss Mear a aud ad d her father forbes miss mears n Is an old friend of na ne an artist sorry youve had all this incon vengence ven lence said decently it was a clever scoundrel narel seemed to krow about our affairs lured us downtown falso telephone call nd harm done replied jillson allson locking his arm in forces fores good night hope the box is returned when the thief finds there a nothing able in it the girl smiled in i detached way now jill old man said forbes on the way up to jillson alison s a word about this and never forgive you did speak before the boys no you re sate safe enough M mums in 0 the word it if it will ease you mighty good joke on you though we ve been waiting tor for you for or an hour hoar rang up your studio your club and your favorite bar crawford s having his usual run of luck four card draws and all that and he s four hundred ahead of the game at this minute hes always the devils luck but lucky at cards unlucky at love oh punk I 1 there s hap blest married man in town and he w wins five thousand a 1 ear only crawford craw f oid s lic lude li isun is uncanny canny good old who are the pearsons Mear sons sr I 1 heard the name before he s a thorough going clubman hang it I 1 mean the girl and all those museum pieces oh she shea s the niece of that ratty old cobber the curio callec tor lett left his millions to the girl and ard the best ot of his collection As I 1 under stand it she must use the collection as furniture he rowed with all the museums over a big ruby but don dont t set your eye there my boy we call her the frozen lady alison flung open the door here he Is 1 boys got into the wrong apartment koto bring the brandy there theres s your chair and play em ein close his friends greeted forbes bolster bously they had made sundry wagers as to what had detained him and the consensus 0 of f opinion was that he had seen a pretty face and followed it which was indignantly denied forbes sat down next to crawford who slapped him on the shoulder he liked crawford the best of all his friends crawford the kindly the loyal tte tle silent the scholar who wrote brochures on ancient hieroglyph tes who was as rich but who lived like a sensible lawyer lawyers s clerk who was al ways agreeable and charming whose eyes had t that hat calm steady unchanging gray of the sea where it nears the horizon he fought shy of women but he was not one of those mentally deficient apes who call themselves woman oman A haters he merely avoided them why no one knew many were after him tor for his money and many sought 0 u him for his own safe sake but he W was 1 1 not to be caught I 1 forbes was eager to get him alone and to recount his extraordinary ad venture for crawford Craw tord was an n acel lent judge of adventures being a great hunter and a famed arch eolo gist his past bristling with the most amazing exploits which the newspaper writers had not yet stumbled upon he lived alone in a barn of 0 a house in a most unfashionable district sur rounded by mummies and waited upon by a valet who always looked to forbes as if he had stepped out of one of the carton nages strange that the barbay man Is generally as empty as a sucked egg while the mum chap over there in the corner is S nabad the sailor in an ill fitting contraption f from rom poole s though crawford s tailor was impei cable more afore likely tom and corn com pany of yokohama for crawford had a mysterious way of turning up in strange places of sailing without advising friends of returning as quiet ly as though he hd had been spending the week end over in connecticut he was very fond of the artist knowing the real man below the egg froth and crumbly piecrust pie crust of larity wake up old boy wake up ral lied crawford as he raked in the pot this is deuces wild tonight and an ace full eslit isn t worth the cardboard its it printed on get into the game the night Is young the chips rattled into crawford s compartment early the winter before forbes had broken his leg while riding to hounds over the westchester the surgeon had given him ha an anesthetic during the setting of the bone the drug had not befuddled his brain but it had taken away all sense of feeling from his just now he the same bewildering numbness jill son swept up the cards riffled them prettily and dealt deuces wild forbes picked up his cards icalla crawf Craw crawford ord tord the cut knuckles emeralds and pearls and rubies rubles and florentine boxes crawford Craw tord CHAPTER VII vill A real detective one of the greatest detectives in the world in his own opinion and what was more remarkable still in that of his wife sat down to his eve ning meal he called it supper as they called it immediately after the stone age when man and woman be gan to form habits this supper con aisted of corned beef cabbage and boiled potatoes haggerty heaped his plate proceeded to slice the three into a coarse hasa and sprinkled it liber ally with salt pepper and vinegar he was not a talkative man at his meals which he thoroughly enjoyed having a constitution far more rugged than that of the united states in that it was not open to promiscuous amend nor was mrs haggerty trou brou bled with the vapors of the fashion able she ate as silently and heartily as her lord and master they finished off the meal with quarter slices of rich mince epie pie washed down the whole with of aromatic |