OCR Text |
Show f "A Will M ' 7 WYNDHAM COPYRIGHT 6y 8AR5E i HOPKINS W N U SERVICE ""'A ly what Trent required. It was an old frame mansion of sixteen rooms standing in twenty acres of land. The rental was low because the absentee owner had allowed his property to get into a bad condition of repair. To the west the gardens came to an end on a bluff about twenty feet above the railroad. An Iron bridge crossed the tracks from this bluff. There was a flight of steep steps, with a padlocked gate at the bottom which descended to the flat land by the Hudson side. A feature of the place which seemed to Impress Trent was a flower garden, gar-den, a hundred yards square. Id tho center of this waste was an old ro- It was three o'clock when Trent stopped before the brown-stoDe house where Clarke lived. "Clarke," he said, after a short conversation, con-versation, "did anybody ever tell you you looked like a cop?" "It's been a godsend to me," be was told. "1 could get through the police lines any time at all Just on my face. Having to lick a bunch of cub reporters' report-ers' into shape began it Why?" There was a gravity about Trent's manner which be had not before revealed. re-vealed. "Have I ever asked a favor of you?" be demanded Clarke looked at bim puzzled. Trent had done him Innumerable good turns, as this very house proved. He had asked nothing in the way of repayment, re-payment, "No, son, you never have, and you could have asked quite a plenty. What's on your mind now?" Anthony Trent talked to him for ten minutes. Clarke Interrupted him now and then with a pertinent question. "Will I do it?" he said, when Trent finished. "Boy, you know d D well I will." "That's a tremendous relief," Trent s-aid gratefully. "When everything Is ready I'll phone you and send a car for you. Tell your wife you are touring tour-ing with me if she seems anxious." "You've got a hard assignment ahead," Clarke commented, "and there's a raft of difficulties to overcome. Suppose Sup-pose he doesn't come through?" "I shall be in the soup," Trent confessed. con-fessed. "I'm not disguising the fact that this Isn't exactly legal, but 1 feel we can pull it off. I wouldn't ask you and the others If I thonght there was much danger. I'll admit the risk, though." "He ought to be a tough bird," Clarke commented. "He got away with it all right at the trial." On the face of it, the Weems comedy com-edy seemed dead loss. But Trent had ideas concerning pictures which he did not share with his partner. It was to the Fort Lee studio he took his way after dinner. Weems was "shooting" at night, aDd the six-reel special would also be In course of production. Trent spoke to the technical director. di-rector. "Which of those carpenters you're laying off do you recommend?" He had learned that with the completion of the feature's big sets not so many hands would be required. "Those four," said the technical director. di-rector. "Stafford, Clancy, Cleveland and Dale." When Messrs. Stafford, Clancy, Cleveland and Dale were paid off they secured instantly other positions. They knew Trent had an interest in a production. pro-duction. They presumed he was to be one of the new lights in filmdom. They had seen many such in a heaven where comets and falling stars were common phenomena. ' Stafford was the foreman. He was a superior sort of mechanic who aimed at being a technical director some day. There were conditions in this new job which were unusual, but board and lodgings', plus pay, seemed too good to peril with questioning. The Grant house party on his second sec-ond visit was of a different character, as Anthony Trent recognized. Only Kathryn Holland remained of those who had been there before. Less attention was given to linger ing dinners and more to dancing and tennis. Payson Grant greeted Trent with effusion. He felt rather out of it with the younger men. He had played tennis only to find bis wind was gone and his heart fluttering. ' La Belle Alliance had been floated off on the highest tide of the year; she was undamaged and now in charge of harbor authorities. ' Investigation had discovered stolen property of all sorts. Redlich and his companions would not be brought to trial for some time. One of the problems wh'ch perplexed per-plexed Trent was how to deliver another an-other of Sutton's messages to Grant without attracting suspicion to himself. him-self. It was unlikely that Grant would think one of his guests culpable; but there was always the possibility of it. As before, he was struck with the lavish richness of the hous-e and Its appointments, it represented part of the fortune Sutton had amassed and laid at the feet of the woman who betrayed be-trayed him. A lawyer had told Trent that her position was secure. The gift had been made freely and without compulsion. com-pulsion. From the covert looks she continually gave Payson, Trent did not think the second husband was proving any more satisfactory than the first. Under the steady Influence of the stimulants Grant found he could not do without, he was developing a coarseness coarse-ness of face and manner which gave her increasing irritation. Before long she knew she would hate him. There were thorns with her roses. (TO BE CONTINUED.) CHAPTER X Continued ! 21 "That 1 cannot say. Colonel Ogilvie was killed in the war and so was Von Bchonbrunn. The man who was my secretary In Old Westbury you remember re-member Edward Conway? be Is dead. Madame de Berlaymont, who was with me In Long Island, she is In prison in England for a long term of years. No, I think I am in no great danger, except from your police." po-lice." Lying back In her chair she stared out to sea. Trent wondered what of the past she was trying to capture or forget. He would have given a great deal to know bow much of ber . heart was filled by the two men she had loved. Probably she was a ro- mantle girl when she met de Beaulieu and married him. The feeling bad almost certainly been genuine. And then there was the ex-officer ot lancers, lan-cers, Captain Monmouth. Perhaps In the bitterness of. findiDg bis pride greater than his love, she bad put aside all thought of him. "There, were statements about you In the papers yesterday," she said, after a long Interval of silence, "which Interested me very much. There was a reference to a certain lady of rank to whom It was said you had been engaged." "It was true," he said quietly. "Some day I may have the opportunity opportu-nity to tell you of the extraordinary circumstances which took me to her home." "It was said that she died very suddenly." "Yes," be 6ald slowly, "that Is true. 1 have never spoken of it before. I have never felt able to. Looking back it seems like a dream. You know what 1 bad been. Well, 1 was taken Into the heart of one of those old, exclusive English families who do not welcome strangers or open their gates ' to wealth. It was there 1 felt the agony of being trusted when 1 was not worthy. One can't fight off love. I tried to, but It was too big for that. I was safe there. I felt like a battered bat-tered ship which has come unexpectedly unexpect-edly Into a sheltered harbor. , Because Be-cause I was a guest in such a home none suspected me or even inquired. Yet, my own country folk did, because be-cause 1 did not grace the pages of their social registers. . . .1 wonder won-der if anyone will be able to understand under-stand me wlen I say that I was thankful she died tefore. she could find out the life I had led. A score of times I wanted ro tell her, but she wouldn't listen. She thought 1 wanted want-ed to confess some conventional Indiscretions Indis-cretions such as gambling debts. It was not in her heart to believe the man she loved had been a professional thief. I do dot mean she was too u - proud to believe that. Rather It was her love which bad cast out all doubt. "We were to have been married in a few weeks. We were riding together. to-gether. She was a very daring horsewoman horse-woman and put her hunter at one of those granite boundary fences they have In Cornwall. She had taken the leap before, but perhaps this was the moment when ber beautiful life was marked to end. I am not a religious man, mademoiselle; I have been one who sneered and disbelieved; It was not any fear of hell that made me give up the old ways. It was to keep faith with her." The woman listening said no word She could see that to such a silent, reserved man a this the relief of being able to speak ol what he had kept hidden was very great. "And yet I am glad that she died then, for It would h.,ve broken her heart to find me out. Her father had great properties In Australia, and we , were to have gone there to live, I think he knew th-re were secrets I dared not tell him. He was a very wdse and sad old man. Sometimes I think we might have lived without the shadow falling on us. But this meeting meet-ing of yours with Pierre Ivedlich reminds re-minds me of what might have been In store. I do not think 1 could ever have had complete rest of mind There is a high sense of honor which will not permit itself to he betrayed even by love. I realized that as I went Into the church, my nead bowed as a mourner, and saw weeping weep-ing men and womeu there Instead of wedding guests." He did not speak again until the launch came to Its dock. At the door of the Central Park apartment he left her. "I don't feel like talking to them tonight. You have been very good to listen to me." lie pressed ner hand and turned away abruptly. CHAPTER XI Trent Becomes a Producer. David More returned to Fort Leo with a list of five houses which might litiit his employer. One of the five seemed to t,e exact "I Shall Be In the Soup," Trent Confessed., Con-fessed., iced summer house. From this nothing noth-ing of the house or road couid be seen. In front of It was the broad river. "I like privacy," Trent told the agent "You'll surely get It here," said the man. "You are not overlooked and you've no Dear neighbors. There's Iron gates to keep the crowd out, and there's one of the few outlets to the river which Is legally yours to use. I haven't a more desirable property on my lists. If you want to buy 1 can make you a very low price." "1 might even do that In six months' time," Trent said. The situation was delightful, and he had long been thinking about giving up city life. It would be a pleasing jest to make his home within a few miles of the famous prison. It was plain the agent was Impressed Im-pressed by Trent's way of doing business. busi-ness. "I'd like to have you In this part of the world," he said. "Take It from me, this side of the river can't be beat for beauty and convenience. As to train service, there Isn's such a good one anywheres." Trent gave him a check to stem the flood of eloquence which was let loose. "Are you able to leave the store for a couple of weeks, maybe more?" Trent asked More. "I want you to come here and have the place cleaned up I don't want you to have your' family here. You can get what yon want at the local stores. Don't en courage tradesmen to call. Is (hat clear?" "Absolutely," said More. "I'll keep em Off, Mr Trent A little exercise won't hurt me now I'm all rested up." "1 shall he hark In a few days. I want you to get nere before noon tomorrow." A quality Trent appreciated In Da iid More was his lack of Inquisi tiveness. None of the unusual er rands upon which Trent had sent him elicited surprise. His not to reason why. |