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Show Ihc RETURN P6HT BAMEOPKlNi yy.N.U. SERVICE "lou haven't forgotten tomorrow, 1 nope." "Not for a moment," she returned. "I shall be waiting at nine. It seems a shame we cannot bring poor Captain Cap-tain X." The names of the immured were never mentioned. "Would it not be possible?" "It would be far too dangerous." While this was true, Anthony Trent could not conceal from himself that he did not want a third person on the trip. Sutton was already fortunate in having Mademoiselle so close at hand. CHAPTER X Confessions Trent was conscious of a certain restraint between him and Mademoiselle Mademoi-selle Dupin during the first few miles of the journey. She had made np her mind that she would not add to the many obligations she was under. And yet to broach the subject seemed ungracious. un-gracious. But at the apartment they were so rarely alone that here, aboard, was the only opportunity. For his part, Anthony Trent was thinking how little he knew of this beautiful and accomplished woman CHAPTER IX Continued 20 At the ferry, Weems voiced his de-lres de-lres to get out again to the coast to make pictures. Fort Lee, he said, was dead. Nothing doing in the East. In the West one could work outside all the year, and his comedies were to be , v all exteriors'. Ere the Fort Lee .illl was ascended, Trent was offered the chance of becoming one of the leaders of the film Industry. Weems proved It on the back of an envelope be had wrung from the reluctant Bubbard, who carefully removed the contents tiefore he parted with It It was difficult diffi-cult to judge from the back- of his prospector's head just what effect his eloquence engendered. "For the love o' Mike," he said, as Trent passed David More's little store, "say something." "I'll think It over," he was told. "To begin with, I'd like to see how pictures pic-tures are made." Weems took this as encouragement. "You shall see everything the studio has to show," be declared. "They know me." Weems was disappointed that Trent decided not to permit wholesale presentations. Weems grumbled about It to the girls. old life. Yet how many men who bav lived better lives tiian I could yon co vlneeT Collective prejudices senri Innumerable In-numerable men baiik to the crime they want to escape." "Didn't you enjoy the Grant house party?" she asked, after a silence. "Not at first In the beginning I felt every man was watching me suspiciously." sus-piciously." "We pay," she sighed, "whether In prison or out of It" "Ail this isn't very cheerful. Is It?" he returned. "I suggested this trip to keep you In good spirits, and we both drift Into morbid moods." Ee reached for nis glasses. "What do you see?" she asked. "The good ship La Belle Alliance In the offing." A number of small craft passed and repassed the stranded vessel. She lay pathetically on ber side, a mass of rusty red and faded black. Apparently Appar-ently none of the Grant household was on the private beach. "I wonder If Mrs. Grant will let me go back," said Mademoiselle Dupin when the launch was beaded for home. "Surely you don't want to go back?" he cried. "Why not?" she answered. "1 cannot can-not remain where 1 am any longer. I shall never cease to be grateful for what you have done. Some day I may be able to repay you. I cs9 never forget what you rescued me from. But you must see I cannot be a burden to you any longer. "Burden 1" he scoffed. "That Is absurd." ab-surd." Nevertheless be saw that nothing would alter her. "If you must go I cannot hold you back, but please don't go back to Deal yet That might upset my plans and bring suspicion sus-picion on you. Do me this favor. Stay on with Mrs. Kinney until my scheme for Sutton succeeds or fails. You are putting me under obligations. He was morose and gloomy till you went (here, and I want him at his best Don't go back on me now," he pleaded. "If I can believe I am helping you It Is different," she said, "but I only suspect more of your generosity." "Sometimes you have looked at me," she said, "as though you wanted to know about my past I have felt It as strongly as If you had spoken." "You cannot Imagine how much I have wanted to know," he returned, "but I haven't any right to ask." "I think I should like you to know. My father was Russian and my mother French. They died when I was quite young. For years 1 was at a convent In Parla My guardian was a Colonel Ogiivle, who had been fo- a time in the Russian service with my father There was very little money left from the estate. My father was suspected of liberal tendencies tend-encies and his lands confiscated. Yet, when 1 joined Colonel Ogilvie and his friend Count von Schonbrunn In Cannes, It was given out I was an heiress. I was not yet eighteen. They took a splendid house for me, which was In reality a gambling establishment, establish-ment, although 1 did not know It There is much money among the visitors visi-tors to Cannes, Nice and Pan, and there was a vast profit In the house. The police broke up the establishment at Cannes. So we moved to Nice, "I'd have introduced him to all the big ones, whether I know 'em or not I don't get him at all. He seems more Interested In the mechanics of the game than the other parts," Weems added. "Look at him, will yon?" Trent was asking questions of a technical director when he could have talked with a star I "He must have money," said the lead a little wistfully. Look, Horace, the studio manager Is talking to him now." "I had to tell the old grafter I'd got new money In," Weems said a trifle apprehensive as to his Immediate future. fu-ture. "That release Is bound to come, and then I can pay up everything. If they crowd me too much they'll lose It all." "So will you and me," said the lady Soberly. The studio manager merely said that If Mr. Trent had an Interest In the ; Horace Weems Productions, would he be responsible for their financial Indebtedness? In-debtedness? "1 will not," Trent said concisely. "To begin with, Mr. Weems has stated that the company has all assets and no liabilities." "He's behind on last week's studio rental. Here's the statement." Trent looked over the items. He was no more anxious than another man to waste his money, but he accompanied ac-companied the manager to his office and pidd the accounts. He did not give the money because he felt any responsibility re-sponsibility for Weems, and he did not uim at production. He was willing to settle the bill- because he had certain definite knowledge to acquire and had given himself a week to get it In. "I'm going down to the village," Trent told Weems. "I shall be back Id half an hour." David More was finishing a story In a magazine devoted to light fiction when Anthony Trent came in. He had read of the Deal Beach exploits, and was peculiarly interested. He thought he understood now why his client had been so anxious to lenrn the details he hud been set to gather. "Here's another commission," Trent said In the security of :i small parlor at the reur. I want to rent for as short a term as possible a house with large grounds running down to the Hudson. I don't care what sort of repair re-pair the house is in or wtiat you have to pay. There's a place J have In mind sxmewhere north of Ossining which was empty when 1 passed through the town last It's the kind of rundown estate not modern enough ' . to attract the rich commuter and too expensive for middle-class purses to keep up. Here's some money for a deposit 11 necessary. I'll come and slf!7 o leas when you've got a few to 8elf-ct from. Remember that 1 must huu grounds that are not overlooked. over-looked. Also I must have an uninterrupted uninter-rupted view of the river." When Trent saw Weems again he looked upon a different man. Now that the embargo was removed, Hor ace was feverishly finishing a comedy. "What picture is being made over there?" Trent asked. "A six-reel special," Weems returned. re-turned. "A crook ptory. Go and take a peek " The studio manager Introduced Trent to the director and stars and answered his many questions When Trent got back to the Van lioden apartment he was possessed of a vast amount of information. He was having to pay for It, but the price would be cheap If the end he sought were attained. Later in the evening he called up Mrs. Kinney, spoke a little to Sutton and Uen talked to Mademols-elle Dupin. where there was a scandal about crooked play. And so on In other cities. You may believe me or not, but 1 was kept in ignorance of this. 1 was convent-bred and had been taught obedience to my guardian. I married Count de Beaulieu before I was twenty. He thought I was an heiress, and my guardian and Von Schonbrunn thought he was the head of the rich branch of his family. Instead, In-stead, he had nothing. When It all came to light, he left me. I had news of his death while you were staying in Old Westbury." "I remember," Trent said. It was this death which had seemed to clear the way for her -marriage to Captain Monmouth, the man who had repudi ated her so strangely. "Afler he left me, and 1 found out what sort of a man my guardian was. 1 Joined the rest of them, knowing full well their way of life. I think 1 wanted to avenge myself oj ail men. I was in London for a season and then came here. Vou know what I was here. That is all." Her story was very much what Trent had imagined it to be. Certainly Certain-ly she had more excuse for her career than lie had for his He believed ber wholly when she said she had been for so long in ignorance of the men surrounding her. "Are there any people over here, men and women with whom you were associated in the Riviera, who mighl recognize you?" (TO BE CONTINUED.) Late In the Evening He Called Up Mrs. Kinney. and how much more he desired to lenrn. What, he wondered, was her early" history? i The launch was a fast one, and soon overhauled a liner going through the harbor shipping at half speed. "It's the Brabant," he exclaimed, and told the steersman to go as clos to her as be could. "1 came over in her," Trent told the girl at his side, "and met a very decent de-cent sort of purser aboard. I've an Idea i can use him If he is still there. She should be back here in exactly twenty days. I had a fearful qu trter of an hour on that staunch ship when I left Dover." He told her of his n-terview n-terview with the inquiring purser. "The tragedy with people like ue," she said gravely, "is thai there must always be the fear of such inlerviews. "1 know." he answered, a little gloomily. "That very thought is never far away from me. I can never be certain that some one hasn't .'ovoteo Just as itiUch thought to gttring me as 1 have given to evading capture. I mistrust people on whom 1 ought to rely. I am invariably looking for motives. mo-tives. Sometimes 1 think 1 have slain the ability to enjoy people." "Am I not to be trusted?" she asked. "You are different," he answered. "You can understand because you have suffered too. That Is why you and I should always be good friends I know you will never go back to the |