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Show '.?fWPK U U, u s1 CJ Lars u y ;; i wJUrV r tyV'VV AUTHOR OF r )W VJ WK r JTXMG'Z CASGf CAVENDISH rii'l W'j nf ooo Illustratiows- "fSI Ci "Jt COPYRIGHT, BY RANDALL PARISH rather than a weapon with an ,o,dd, fanciful hilt. There were stains -upon the polished steej ; and the moment I saw it, I knew where It had attracted my attention before as a pin in Marie Ma-rie Gessler's hat. . CHAPTER VII. I Seek Miss Conrad The Threads Become Be-come Tangled. I grasped the thing In my hand, holding It up incredulously into whatever what-ever faint light I could find. There was no question as to its Identity ; I could not doubt. This was the same peculiar ornament I had observed that evening in the girl's hat, or else its exact mate. I recalled the quaint shape of the miniature hilt too clearly to be mistaken. Then this car was the one in which she had departed with Gustave Alva two hours before. What had occurred in the meanwhile? Something Some-thing serious evidently. The dagger on the floor would indicate a struggle, or at least a hasty departure from the vehicle. I stood staring at it, slowly comprehending compre-hending the probable meaning of those dark stains on the blade. Their nature na-ture could not be determined In so dim a light, yet when I touched them with my finger it became discolored. My God! could It be blood? BJood! it was blood ; then this had been a scene of tragedy, of awful crime perhaps. The discovery sickened me but I had I I I II I I II Mill! l l I'ti.iM- Mie would ,Kivt guarded I :iKiti:tsi- ui;li danger of fliseovury. 'A'Ly. that (iireli'sni-as alone inlg!".t ruin every he..; uf esrape. might bring ! her to the wtectr'.c chair it as 'ianining evMenee. I (hire ii. it remain there in the presenee of this grisly spectacle. To lie found would fasten the hideous crime upon me, while such a story as I must tell would never be believed. I did not know even who she rea'Jy was, or where she might be. I cared nothing noth-ing for Alva's death; horrible as It was, I was conscious of no regret, bu' I must not he mixed uo In the affair. Tin; only thing for mo to do was to disappear, and leave the police to make their own discovery. And the knife? the weapon which had done tiie deed? What should I do with I that? 1 I did not hesitate long. I would protect her from discovery if I could; at least until I was myself convinced n her guilt. Therie was no longer the .slightest doubt In my mind but what his was her act. Everything pointed straight toward her. Yret there mlgtit be a reason, a worthy cause, and, ih tny case, she had done a service to the country- The world was better off with this conspirator dead ; nor would I denounce the one who had taken his life. I hid the knife In a pocket of my coat, and hastened down the side street toward the nearest car line, my only desire being to escape that neighborhood as swiftly as possible. By a quarter of three I was safely In my room at the hotel for the first time feeling a sense of real security. Yet It was not to sleep. I did not even undress, except to remove my wet outer-garments before flinging myself my-self on the bed. My brain wouldn't rest, and I lay there staring up at the ceiling, while my mind reviewed over and over again every incident of the night, and planned for the morning. How would the murder of Alva affect the plot I had started to overcome? Would It continue under some other leadership? Who? And the money? what would become of that? What readjustment of plans would Harris consider necessary? Once I knew his conception of the situation, I could better regulate my own action. Mfetin-while Mfetin-while the only safe course was to remain re-main still, and profess ignorance Then I had the engagement at 247 Le Compte street that might reveal something of importance to help me solve the problem. I got up, removed the dagger from my pocket, and examined it in the electric light. It was a toy weapon, yet sufficiently dangerous, for all that, and I looked at It with a sense of horror. hor-ror. How could a woman have ever thrust even that keen blade with one blow through to the heart? Yet the evidence was before me. Those dark stains" were blood human blood dried now, but unmistakable Id their proof of crime. I washed the teel, leaving the blade bright and polished ; then wrapped It carefully, and hid it away at the very bottom of my bag, locking the latter against possible inspection in-spection ,by a curious maid. I felt relieved re-lieved once I had the weapon out of sight. The morning papers contained no reference to the tragedy the body of the dead man had not been found in time. There would be noise enough when it was, no doubt, for Alva must have been widely known and ranked as of some importance. Even if his identity was never established, If no suspicion was aroused as to his position, posi-tion, and secret work in this country, yet the very mystery of the case would create a sensation. But perhaps he had papers on his person of value. I regretted not having searched his pockets. Then the conviction cam.e. that possibly here might be the true solution of the murder a desire to secure se-cure some documents the man carried. I went down to Costigan's place on foot, not being entirely certain of tht exact location. It was an ordinary corner saloon, with a stairway leading to rooms above. In the morning hours, the barroom was nearly deserted, but the man at the bar, looking me over cautiously, said that "Mr. Parker" had already gone out, and had left no word as to when he would return. I was rather glad, yet I left a telephone tele-phone number, with a request that I be called whenever he came back. I waited Impatiently for the call in my room, but none came. It dawned upon tne that in all probability Harris was frantically endeavoring to find tht-whereabouts tht-whereabouts of Alva, as yet having no suspicion of his death. I telephoned Costigan's, but "Mr. Parker" had not returned. I sent out for a noorj edition, eagerly eager-ly scanning Its columns, but finding nothing. Surely the deserted car, with Its grim burden, must have beep discovered before this. The polio must have suppressed the news to enable en-able them to work In secret; thvj might have found some evidence in the dead man's pockets, or In the dart-recesses dart-recesses of the car, by which they stll.' hoped to capture the assr.s-- n. I remember entlng In a basement restaurant, where I was "-otally un, known, and then depart'"'-'-' for tho rendezvous on Le Compte street. 1 approached the number t,;vpn with serious misgivings. If the n.-illce were actually on the trail, scire knowledge of this place might be !;; ir possession, posses-sion, and I could not be too cautious. . 1 There is no ConrrfV (TO HIS CON'1 i flCIl.) Ilifl MURDER! Synopsla. In a New York Jewelry store Philip Severn, United States conHiilar agent, notices a small box which attracts him. He purchases It. Later he discovers in a secret cpmpartment a writing giving a : clew to a revolutionary movement In tills fountry seeking, to overthrow th Chilean government The writing; writ-ing; mentions a rendezvous, and Severn decides to Investigate, Finding Find-ing the place mentioned In tiie writing writ-ing apparently deserted, Severn visits a saloon In the vicinity. A woman In the place is met by a man, seemingly by appointment, and Severn, his suspicions aroused, follows them. They go to the designated des-ignated meeting place, an abandoned aban-doned Iron foundry. At the rendezvous ren-dezvous Severn Is accepted as one of the conspirators and admitted. He meets a stranger who addresses him as Harry Daly. The Incident plays into Severn's hands and he ' accepts it. His new acquaintance la a notorious thief, "Gentleman George" Harris. Concealed, Severn hears the girl address the conspirators. conspira-tors. She urges them to hasten the work of revolution. The girl discovers dis-covers Severn listening. She accepts ac-cepts his explanation of his presence pres-ence and asks him to meet her next day. He tells her his name Is Daly. She is "Miss Conrad." Harris informs in-forms him of a scheme he has to secure Jl, 000,000, the revolutionary fund, and offers to "split" with him. Sevrn accepts. Severn learns it was his new friend and a "Captain Alva" who had lost the box which started him on the trail. Harris tells him the woman Is Marie Gess-ler. Gess-ler. He arranges to meet Severn next day at Tom Costigan's saloon. CHAPTER VI Continued 9 If so, who then was "Miss Conrad?" Not Marie Gessler, certainly, under another name, for she would have returned re-turned to Washington. There was no doubt as to that, for Alva had agreed to take her direct to the depot in his own car, and would scarcely leave until un-til she was safely on the train. Probably Prob-ably the other woman was a confederate confed-erate with whom she would communi-.cate communi-.cate by telephone. My clearer judgment judg-ment told me all this, made me fully conscious of the danger of keeping this appointment, yet never swerved me from an intention to do so. Marie Gessler's eyes were frank and honest ; they had looked directly into my own, pleadingly I imagined, and I retained a blind faith in her no ordinary circumstances cir-cumstances would overcome. She was Involved in this criminal conspiracy there could be no doubt as to that but why? under what conditions? "What could ever have driven so womanly wom-anly a woman to such an association? jWns her appeal to me an effort at assistance? as-sistance? Was she blindly endeavoring endeavor-ing to learn in this way if I was worthy of trust, and confidence? This hope would not down ; It remained insistent, in-sistent, persistent. I would keep my word ; I would go to the place designated, desig-nated, at the hour set ; I would go nrmed, prepared for whatever might occur of treachery but I would go. Perhaps here was the key to the whole mystery ; and once I solved her connection con-nection with the plot, particularly if It absolved her from blame, and the necessity of exposure, I could go forward for-ward with clear conscience, and land these others where' they justly belonged. be-longed. I must have covered four or five blocks immersed in such thought, almost al-most forgetful of my surroundings, my head bent low before the rain, my feet carelessly slushing through the water iu pools on the sidewalk. I met no ne, heard po sound to arouse me; all about was dark, desolate, forlorn. Then suddenly I became conscious of some unusual obstruction just ahead. At first I took It for a wrecked wagon lylnjf against the curb, but another tep ferward revealed the truth a deserted de-serted teurlnf car, Its red tail-light plastered with mud, and barely visible. I approached with a feeling of relief; It wag nt wreckedt no sign of accident acci-dent wag to be noticed. Even In that dim light I euld see the machine was no common car, a sedan, Its glass brll-Hant brll-Hant In spite of the rain spatters, and Its paint gleaming brightly. I stared about wonderingly, but could perceive nothing to account for the presence of such a car, or its apparent ap-parent desertion. Up and down both streets not a figure moved ; not a sound reached me but the slough of the wind, and the patter of rain. I shivered with the loneliness of it all, ns curiosity led me to cross the muddy parkway to assure myself as to what this strange desertion meant. There was no one In the car. I could look straight through the dimmed windows, against the glare of e street lamp n block aiiy. One of the rear doors stood half open, and, tempted by It. I bent over and felt nithin. My mind touched some object ob-ject on the door, and I instantly straightened tip with the thing tripped !:-, my fingers. It was a long, Uiln bladnd dagger an ornament It Was a Long, Thin-Bladed Dagger. to go on. I wrenched open the forward for-ward door and peered fearfully within. with-in. I could not but know instantly what I tw a dim, huddled form leaning forward across the steering-wheel, steering-wheel, one hand yet on the spokes, with head dangling helplessly, upheld only by contact with the windshield. I knew the man was dead before I touched the cold hand ; his very posture pos-ture told that and how he had died ; instantly, from a stab in the back. I could not see his features, the darkness dark-ness hid them, but desperation drove me to pass my hand over the concealed con-cealed face; the upturned mustache, the exposed teeth, grinning Ironically in death, left no doubt as to who he was the Chilean soldier and attache, Captain Alva. The awful horror of it paralyzed my very brain. She must have done this ! That girl must have killed him! But why? for what reason? rea-son? for what purpose? Could It have been in answer to insult? Had the man dared to press his advances once they were alone? and had she resisted? re-sisted? I would not question his inclination, in-clination, yet this was not possible. The knife lay on the floor behind him, Just as plucked, blood-stained, from the wound. The girl, then, was not even rjding beside him ; she could not be to have dealt such a blow she must have been alone In the rear seat. There In the dark, unnoticed by the man driving, she had leaned forward, and driven that sharp blade unerringly unerring-ly home to the heart. He had suspected sus-pected nothing In time to raise even an arm in self-defense. Then dazed, frightened by her terrible deed, forgetful for-getful even of the knife In her terror, she had dashed it to the floor and fled into the darkness, leaving the rear door open behind her. That was the story; that must be the story. My mind pictured the scene in all lis horror. Yet what could account ac-count for such an act? What cause could transform this woman, this smiling-faced girl, into a murderess? Her leaving that weapon behind would seem to proclaim that the deed was done in haste, on the spur of the moment; that it had not been In any way premeditated and plunned. OLh-( |